He Won the Biggest Award in Indie Games. Then He Did It Again.
The behind-the-scenes story of Titanium Court
The trouble with Titanium Court, the new match-3, strategy, visual novel chimera of a video game, which will be inescapable during 2026 Game of the Year conversations, is that it’s interesting for too many reasons. That sentence alone is sweating enough to fill a bathtub. And yet, we need to start somewhere.
Maybe I can begin with something provocative, like “Titanium Court is a COVID game?” Or I could lean into gamer discourse, and say “Titanium Court explains why ‘solo’ development is never truly solo.” Or how about I focus on a little detail that’s so unusual it’s almost impossible to believe. Like, “Titanium Court Was Made One Hour at a Time.”
For the sake of brevity, let’s go with historical significance. In March, Titanium Court won the Independent Games Festival’s Seumas McNally Grand Prize, arguably the most prestigious award in video games. Previous winners include Minecraft, Fez, Papers Please, Out Wilds, Her Story, and Inscryption. Some of the most beloved and most successful indie games of all time.
I covered the Independent Games Festival’s Seumas McNally Grand Prize. I spoke with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson, two of the creators of Consume Me, which had just become the latest game to win the Grand Prize. I’d known both Jenny and AP since their time at NYU, nearly a decade prior, and for AP, I understood the award had long been his greatest ambition. And he’d achieved it.
A few months after Consume Me was released, though, I heard rumblings from jurors at the Independent Games Festival that AP had nearly finished another game; that a nearly complete build had even been submitted for judging. Turns out, since the early days of the COVID lockdown, AP had been developing a surreal fairy tale that blended a handful of genres typically never seen in the same room.
Its name? You guessed it: Titanium Court.
Months later, the IGF would award it the Grand Prize. And in the process, AP became the only developer to win the IGF grand prize in back-to-back years, and only the second developer ever to win twice.
A historic achievement.
Naturally, I wanted to talk to AP about what that experience — and all of the other stuff too.
This week on Post Games:
Act 1: What Is a “Solo” Game Developer in 2026
Act 2: Making Titanium Court One Hour at a Time
Patreon Bonus: AP Thomson’s Titanium Court Book Club (Coming 4/27)
Act 3: The News of the Week
Guests:
AP Thomson: designer of Titanium Court
Closing Song: “Backbay Shaws (Lyrical)” by AP Thomson
On the Patreon for $5
Last week, I recorded “The History of Dark Souls” with the creators of You Died: The Dark Souls Companion, veteran games journalists and authors Jason Killingsworth and Keza MacDonald. It’ll go live on Monday, May 4! It’s the latest entry in my monthly Patreon-exclusive series, in which experts walk us through the histories of important games celebrating big anniversaries in 2026.
In the meantime, you can listen to the Patreon-exclusive “The History of L.A. Noire” with special guest Tim Rogers. You can hear the full series, weekly bonus segments, and ad-free episodes for $5! Join at patreon.com/PostGames.
Act 1: What Is a “Solo” Game Developer in 2026
Meet Ap Thomson (CanvasRebel)
The award that changes the lives of its winners (Post Games)
Consume Me (Steam)
‘Consume Me’ Wins Grand Prize, Nuovo Award at the 2025 IGF Awards (GDC)
Titanium Court wins Seumas McNally Grand Prize at 28th annual IGF awards (Game Developer)
Minit (Steam)
Memento (Wiki)
Welcome to Grey Alien Games! (Grey Alien Games)
The Game Editors (https://thegameeditors.com)
Act 2: Making Titanium Court One Hour at a Time
Titanium Court (Steam)
Beglitched (Steam)
Swap Sword (Steam)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Wiki)
Bejeweled 3 (Steam)
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (Wiki)
FreeCell (Wiki)
A story I wrote 15 years ago about my late-grandfather’s FreeCell obsession (The Escapist)
LGBTQ+ Pride Flags (Human Rights Campaign)
Downwell (Steam)
David Byrne’s Career of Earnest Alienation (New Yorker)
Flood by They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
All Hail West Texas by the Mountain Goats playlist (YouTube)
The Bob Emergency (Secret Base)
Patreon Bonus: AP Thomson’s Titanium Court Book Club
AP and I recorded a bonus episode that digs into the story, themes, and gameplay twists spanning the entirety of Titanium Court. It will be available on Patreon.com/PostGames beginning April 27!
Act 3: The News of the Week
NYU Game Center Lecture Series Presents Chris Plante (NYU Game Center)
This Week in Video Game Links
Baby Steps Developers React to 7 Minute Speedrun (IGN on YouTube)
Deleted Saves, Issue #2 (Some great stories in here!) (Deleted Saves)
How A Human Beat The Impossible Run In Spelunky 2 (Xanagear)
The best singleplayer levels in first-person PC games (Jank)
The Exit 8 movie is even better if you play the game first (The Verge)
Press Start: Video Games and the Climate Crisis (Climate One)
Romeo is a Dead Man says don’t debate fascists, kill them (Mothership)
What the war in Iran means for people who make and play games (Mothership)
Left 4 Dead’s Graffiti Is So Memorable Because It Was Made By People—A Whole Lot Of People (Aftermath)
Free Game of the Week: Neverway Prologue
From the Steam summary: “After quitting her dead-end job, Fiona starts over on a farm and becomes the immortal herald of a dead god. Make friends, fight through horrors and pay your debt in this nightmarish life sim RPG.” (Steam)
What Else I’m Enjoying
Ben Kingsley’s Taskmaster Cameo NO ONE Expected (Or Witnessed) | Channel 4 (YouTube)
Lena Dunham Is Still Trying to Figure Out Why People Hated Her So Much (NYTimes)
Chris Fleming: The one thing young people should reject if they want a rewarding life and career (Wild Card/NPR)
Song of the Week: “Backbay Shaws (Lyrical)” by AP Thomson
This is a treat! AP shared one of his original music demos. The song doesn’t appear in Titanium Court, and yet fans of the game will find it very, very familiar.
This was a fantastic interview, and I loved the description of AP’s “message in a bottle” game design. I have to point out though, to say he worked on Titanium Court “1 hour at a time” feels a little disingenuous, even click-baity. He has the capability to develop complicated systems for his side project while working his day job (he references bringing over controller input from Consume Me), plus he mentions getting a full week off to work on his own projects after every 4 weeks of working on Consume Me. Some of us as hobbyists working a day job would absolutely love to have even one week out of the full year to work on our projects.
I’m a dad who works full time outside of games, I chip away at my own projects on my lunch breaks. I was kind of hoping I’d be learning something from AP’s process listening to this interview but instead it sounds more like his favorable working conditions helped make development of the game more feasible.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this interview. I have high respect for AP and what I played of the Titanium Court demo was astounding! I just felt the need to point out something that bothered me as a listener and aspiring game developer.