224: Titanium Court (with Emily Merritt - No Small Games)

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Join Dave and special guest Emily Merritt (No Small Games) as they do their best to unpack AP Thompson's Titanium Court. Even AP Thompson's simplified description of "a match-3 tower defense game for people who like to read" still hides a mountain of detail, so this was a fun discussion about those component parts and especially how they tie together into a genuinely interesting narrative and commentary on the way we play games and "consume" media in general. As always, no spoilers for a while- enjoy!

Guest info: Emily Merritt (she/her)

• Check out No Small Games https://nosmallgames.com/
• Follow on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/aspecificegg
• Follow on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/aspecificegg.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 Title
• 0:20 Introductions
• 4:52 Our Histories with Titanium Court
• 8:18 Top-Level Thoughts
• 14:59 Story Setup and Worldbuilding
• 22:46 Theatre Inspiration and Humor
• 33:02 Visual Design
• 41:04 Music
• 48:45 Gameplay- Jobs and Goals
• 59:23 Gameplay- High/Low Tide
• 1:12:22 "Addictive" Games
• 1:17:24 Who Should Play?
• 1:23:04 No Small Games
• 1:28:19 Spoiler Wall and Patron Thank-Yous
• 1:30:17 Spoilers- Curses Lifted
• 1:45:11 Spoilers- Story Discussion
• 1:57:00 Spoilers- Story, Continued

Music used in the episode is credited to AP Thompson. You can purchase the soundtrack on Steam. Tracks used: Chimera Solo, Timeskip Titlecard and the Ten Years Later, The One AP Doesn't Like, Metamind Defense Grid Blues, Biome Select, Fourth Quarter, For a Dollar

Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://linktr.ee/JackAllenCaricatures