But it was playing Inscryption that brought everything to a head.

That was the original thing I was thinking about.

Then we ended up on the cards, because they were more fun."

Artwork of three animals piloting a spaceship as they evade missiles in Cobalt Core

But how do you paper prototype a card game when you live on opposite sides of the country?

I ask them what might have happened if Tabletop Simulator hadn’t existed.

Would Cobalt Core still have been the same Cobalt Core we know today?

Spaceship action in a Cobalt Core screenshot.

“You might just not end up with the same things.

It might be too much work.

“But it’s so easy to change it on paper.”

Two spaceships face off against each other in Cobalt Core

“I forget why [she became a crew member,” Driscoll chuckles.

She’s like a foil to the vibe of everybody else.

Her whole existence is just to be rude.”

Two spaceships face off against each other in Cobalt Core

No, no, no!'"

“We already have a cute mammal, we already have a cute possum.

If we add another character, we should do, like, a weird one.”

A trio of animals in a spaceship bemoan the lack of cockpit on a giant purple nautilus in Cobalt Core after they get a special cockpit power-up

“What if I just drew Books instead and put Books in the game?

And we were like, ‘Hm, hm, yes, yes.'”

“And you were right!”

A small critter named Books sits on a blue crystal in space in Cobalt Core

I almost described her as a specific animal, which… that can’t get out!

She has a hat on, you could’t see what kind of ears she has!"

“No, no,” Driscoll says.

Drake mocks a spaceship she was going to rob in Cobalt Core

There are many crabs that are not related to each other.

And then we just never made the second," he laughs.

But it wasn’t just the card synergies that started going awry.

A space ship fights a giant orange crab in Cobalt Core

That’s when CAT came in, your ship’s computer.

“Very little of the game’s dialogue is fired directly from the code,” Driscoll explains.

for that missile hit or ‘Is everyone okay?’

Your ship’s computer CAT yells ‘How is this better?’ at the shipyard mechanics in Cobalt Core

if you miss and take damage.

“Everything else is just a complication then.”

As for the hardest teams, Guerra and Driscoll have several theories.

A spaceship prepares to dodge incoming cannon fire from an even larger ship in Cobalt Core.

Fundamentally, though, “every team comp is viable,” Guerra stresses.

I love that there’s a place that they can challenge themselves there."

Why is there a wizard in space?

Your crew berate Soggins the frog for not having better virus protection in Cobalt Core

But that’s funnier if it’s the third or fourth round.

You see a wizard and you’re like, ‘What?

Who are you?’

A pink lizard announces themselves as Spike Two in Cobalt Core

Aside from stuff like that, the game is basically meta-progression free except for unlocking new characters."

So what’s next for Rocket Rat Games?

A well-deserved rest, by the sound of things.

Two spaceships face off near a solar flare in Cobalt Core

“I’m taking my time and it’s nice.”

“We are going to make a third thing, though,” Guerra teases.

“We like making new stories,” Driscoll concludes.

Then all bets are off.

She runs a wagon building industry in this one.’

If we’re having fun, you know, it’s a playful space."