Thomas Was Alone was our favorite platformer of last year, but critical praise doesn’t always indicate good sales numbers. Well, as it turns out, the game must have sold a decent amount: Mike Bithell, the one-man developer behind Thomas Was Alone, has decided to quit his day job as lead designer at Bossa Studios to focus on indie development.

It’s been an amazing year for nearly all genres, but few have fared quite so well as the humble platformer. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's been the best year ever for them, although that's mostly because Super Mario World was released back in 1990. How could you possibly compete with that?

Going into Thomas Was Alone, I thought I had it all figured out. “Interesting, a puzzle-platformer featuring a cast of different-shaped cubes,” I said to myself. And, to an extent, I was correct. At face value, that is exactly what this game is. But I didn’t anticipate how much I would care for those little cubes, or how excitedly I’d cheer them on in their quest for answers. I wanted nothing but the best for them.