Tower Defenders - Ryan and Noah

Hi pals! Welcome to our first community interview with our new friend Ryan!

I found Ryan from a comment on one of our threads where he mentioned his son played The Tower and that pulled at my heart and I had to reach out. 

And no, The Tower is not “a kid’s game”. It’s an idle tower defense game with spreadsheets and sub stats and trees and runs that reward patience. Funny enough, patience is something Ryan wanted Noah to learn. So somewhere in-between choosing Tower skins, spending medals willy-nilly, and ranking tournament players' names, that’s what happened. 

Here is a conversation I had with a dad and a son who have built a whole shared language around this game. Noah even answers a few questions himself, and I am so glad I asked them.

Walk us through a typical "Tower session" with Noah, whose idea is it usually, and who ends up more invested by the end?

So this has evolved over time. When we first started in  May 2025 he would insist on starting the run and be quick to max damage meter. That was his absolute favorite. Nowadays it’s land mine damage haha. (note from Sam: Kid after my own heart, love my land (mine) buddies.)

Since the workshop is mostly gold boxed, we usually leave the tower running all the time. We’ll both periodically check it, he’ll choose the relics to display, the tower skin, and the background.

What was the "certain well-known advertisement" moment you had mentioned in our first conversation like? Did you show it to Noah right away, or did he discover you playing first?

Oh you know the one of Fudds at the computer explaining he’s the creator and how his community breaks his game? Haha! Charming!

Noah discovered me playing it, saw all the shapes and buttons and we were both hooked!

You mentioned on Reddit that Noah does a full "analysis" of the tournament brackets, what does that actually look like coming from him?

So this is quite funny actually, he will insist on looking through each player in the bracket and then tell me whose got the silliest names and whose placed high before in our bracket. He’ll then want to check it every 5 minutes.

Has Noah ever made a call in-game (an upgrade, a module choice, shattering something) that turned out to be surprisingly good?

I can't recall a specific call in-game, but there was a time when I went to reroll some sub stats, only to find 300k were missing…he had spent all of the cannon modules and rerolled mythic sub stats onto them.

What's the most chaotic thing Noah has done to a run you were actually trying to take seriously?

This hasn't happened in a while, but a few times I've checked the game and ALL the event medals went missing… but somehow our modules had increased a level… 

I mean, I like it! So with that being said, is there a rule in your house about who's allowed to touch which account/run, or is it more of a free-for-all?

This has evolved over time.  We both actually had a tower in the beginning, he had an old iPad his grandma gave him 👀. He made it quite far leveling up his second favorite stat: defense absolute! We’ll usually start runs together, and won't catch the end until after 10-12 hours. He’ll check it when I'm at work and claim rewards etc. We always do tournaments together, he’ll pick the backgrounds, tower and display relics etc. He's younger and gets really excited for it.

There really aren't any rules per se except to ask me before he buys a relic or spends medals.

Has Noah picked up any tower defense instincts from watching you play other games, or is The Tower his first?

Tower is his first. We’ve dabbled with others, but the Tower is just like no other. It's been my hope Noah would learn the value of patience and long term planning. He's certainly gotten better with saving the gems for event relics, event medals for bots and doesnt spend them on…module shards haha.

Does Noah call the game, the enemies, or the modules anything silly? For example, I call Smart Missiles “gummy worms” and I named my Towers wall Rufus 🙂 

Aside from wall-e for the wall, we really haven't given nicknames to enemies…yet!

Have you noticed The Tower teaching Noah anything outside the game (patience, numbers, strategy, decision-making)?

Noah has definitely improved with his patience and not jumping to spend gems, medals. I think it also piqued his curiosity with numbers/math. He won multiple awards last year for math and reading, I'd like to think the Tower and games in general have been a positive influence with that.

Is there a boss, enemy, or mechanic Noah is scared of, obsessed with, or thinks is "the coolest"?

The first time we saw fleets in the game he was like “what the heck is that?”  But we usually refer to scatters as “shatter sharts” because it's just funny.

What's a moment playing together that you want to remember forever?

The first time we hit legends, he claimed it, we both looked at each other with awe, wide eyes, and astonishment and then started cheering!  

If Noah could redesign one part of the game himself, what do you think he'd change?

He’d like to know exactly what his wall regen is. ;) 

Serious answer though, he couldn't answer, he likes the game the way it is. If you ask me, spikes on the wall if sharp fortitude equipped hehe!

Do you two have a shared goal in-game right now (a tier to reach, an event to win), or is it more just vibes?

Noahs quick answer was “just more vibes” 😊

Any funny things Noah has said about the game that you still quote?

“Why did you gold box damage meter?”

What would you tell other parents who play games their kid loves to "help" with?

A family that plays games together, stays together. Seriously, we have lots of laughs. But as with anything, moderation is key.  Let the good times roll!

And a little lightning round for Noah!

Noah, what's your favorite button to push and why?

The 5 gem claim buttons, because they give us gems. 5 to be exact.

If you were a Tower, what would you look like?

A shark named Carl. (Note from Dad: I tried to get clarification but there were too many giggles)

Who's winning more? You or dad?

Both, 6-7. (Note from Sam: bahahahahahahahahaha.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

A weatherman and a construction builder. 

What’s your favorite Tower memory with Dad?

The modules, orbital augment was the first we merged into mythic and ancestral.