Local Thunk, the developer behind the popular game Balatro, has shared a detailed account of the game's development journey on his personal blog. In an intriguing revelation, he disclosed that he consciously avoided playing other roguelike games during Balatro's development, with one notable exception.
Starting in December 2021, Local Thunk made a deliberate choice to steer clear of roguelike games. He explained that this decision was not driven by a desire to create a superior game, but rather by his passion for the creative process itself. As a hobbyist, he enjoyed the challenge of exploring roguelike and deckbuilder design from scratch, without relying on established formulas from existing games. "I wanted to make mistakes, I wanted to reinvent the wheel, I didn’t want to borrow tried-and-true designs from existing games," he stated.
However, in a moment of deviation from his self-imposed rule, Local Thunk downloaded and played Slay the Spire about a year and a half later. His reaction was emphatic: "Holy shit, now that is a game." Initially, he sought to learn from Slay the Spire's controller implementation for card games, but he found himself captivated by the game's design. He expressed relief at having avoided playing it earlier, as it might have influenced his own design choices.
Local Thunk's blog post also delves into various aspects of Balatro's development. He amusingly noted that the game's working folder was simply named "CardGame" throughout the project, and the working title was "Joker Poker" for much of its development.
The developer shared insights into several scrapped features, including a system where players could only upgrade cards in a pseudo-shop, multiple upgrades for cards similar to Super Auto Pets, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' feature for playing cards.
An interesting anecdote revealed how the game ended up with 150 Jokers. Initially, Local Thunk had discussed a plan for 120 Jokers with his publisher, Playstack. A miscommunication during a subsequent meeting led to the number being increased to 150, which Local Thunk ultimately decided was a better fit for the game.
Lastly, Local Thunk shared the amusing origin story of his developer handle, "Local Thunk." It stemmed from a humorous exchange with his partner about variable naming in programming, leading to the playful combination of the Lua programming keyword "local" and his partner's suggested variable name "thunk."
For those interested in the full development story of Balatro, Local Thunk's blog provides a wealth of additional insights and anecdotes. IGN has praised Balatro, awarding it a 9/10 and describing it as "A deck-builder of endlessly satisfying proportions" that can captivate players for hours on end.
