Holding Court With Faeries, Fools, and Finite Jest - AP Thomson | grokludo 28
Titanium Court is an intentionally bizarre, unique, and hard to describe game. It's best to go in not knowing anything – but creator AP Thomson joins grokludo to talk about some of its themes, philosophy, and behind-the-scenes stories without getting into spoilers.
It's a hard game to talk about, and not just due to its eccentricity. Before release, Thomson and the game's publisher Fellow Traveller found that players enjoyed the game more if they weren't even told what genre it was in.
Fair warning: While we avoid spoilers in this episode (and in this post), we do talk about the themes and thought processes behind Titanium Court.
"When I pitched it to them, the elevator pitch or one-sentence pitch that I gave was that it was match-three tower defence for people who like to read," says Thomson. "We eventually determined that it's the type of game that if you just go in without knowing a single thing about it, it kind of enhances the experience."
When I first played it, I bounced off it after a five hour session, thinking it was fun and excessively bizarre, a collection of seemingly disparate elements with no clear through-line. The type of thing only an individual can create, and a particular one at that, because who else would jam together match three, beach rock, cat wailing, tower defence, sports motifs, Shakespeare, and visual novels? Only a lived life contains puzzle pieces so random, yet so precise.
A phrase came to mind, heard from another indie developer: "It's indie AF."
Titanium Court is certainly indie AF, and after two decades of reviewing dudebro shooters, one comes to appreciate the avant-garde. But would I recommend it to others? To those who hadn't had every genre wear out its welcome in a conga line of FIFAs and CoDs, until the only oasis of new ideas was the indie space?
Life happened for a few days, and I (thankfully) found time to return to the faerie court. I passed a certain cusp, and walked away recommending it to all my friends, fully converted.
It answered a question for me. The hype around this game isn't just about its weirdness, despite Thomson and Fellow Traveller embracing that angle. That doesn't mean it'll be everyone's cup of tea. But is there a method to the madness?
Yes.
I hope you enjoy the episode!