Mike Bithell loves to keep gamers guessing

From John Wick to solitaire, game director and writer Mike Bithell loves to keep gamers on edge.

“I always want to be surprising to folks,” Bithell said.

In the mid 2000s, Bithell was on the path toward what he thought was his career dream — working for a big studio. Little did he know that his aspirations were about to take a surprising turn.

“The big (moment) for me was ‘World of Goo,’” Bithell said. “I was playing it on my lunch breaks at work and then reading an article that said it was made by two people from EA in their spare time. I remember thinking, ‘we’re allowed to do that?’ That was the trigger and that was when the seed was planted.”

In 2010, Bithell released his first solo game, “Thomas Was Alone.” That game became more successful than he could have imagined, selling nearly two million copies to date, Bithell said. More importantly, it gave Bithell the chance to start his own studio and begin to create the games he’s always wanted to make, including his most recent release, “The Solitaire Conspiracy.”

“There are these moments where you’ve either pitched something already and moved onto it or you’re in the process of starting the next thing an you’ve got a gap in your schedule,” Bithell said. “Often, that’s when you hear stories about a large number of people being laid off from big studios. We never wanted that to be something that happened to our teams, so we actively came up with the idea of doing shorts.”

The team works on smaller games that they can make quickly in order to keep his team working.

“Let’s make something cool,” Bithell said. “I’ve always wanted to play with card game mechanics and make a fun feeling card game. I thought about what I do when I’m stressed and I put on like a Marvel movie or a Mission Impossible movie, things that are fun and silly.”

The game harkens back to the over-the-top cutscenes of the “Red Alert” series and aims for a mix of fun and relaxing gameplay.

“When you make a game, you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Bithell said. “The first six hours after a game releases, the key question I have is: is anyone enjoying it?”

Luckily, fans are embracing “The Solitaire Conspiracy.”

“It seems to be really popular,” Bithell said. “People seem to dig it.”

“The Solitaire Conspiracy” followed the release of “John Wick Hex,” a strategy action game.

“We’ve done a lot of different genres and over the years, something we’ve always wanted to try was in that strategy space,” Bithell said. “Out of the blue, the folks behind John Wick came to us and said, ‘Hey, do you want to do something weird with John Wick?’”

The creators of the franchise said they were looking for the right fit for the game and didn’t want to make a by-the-books experience.

“They told us John Wick is meant to be revolutionary and meant to do things that are different and interesting,” Bithell said.

When Bithell pitched their idea to them, it was clear it was a match made in heaven.

“They went for it and didn’t stop us, which was great,” Bithell said.

The result was a stylized strategy action game that helped build the lore of the franchise, something that the team didn’t take lightly.

“None of us wanted to be the people who messed up John Wick,” Bithell said.

Bithell said he has multiple projects in the works, but can’t share details just yet. There is one thing he says is a sure thing. If you think you know what’s coming, be ready to be shocked.

“It makes me excited that we’re crazy,” Bithell said. “That’s why you build your own game studio so you can be weird. We’ll make some stuff that you’re not expecting. That’s my promise.”

Contact Lukas Eggen at leggen@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Follow @lukaseggen on Twitter.