Local Thunk, the developer behind the popular game Balatro, recently shared a detailed account of the game's development journey on his personal blog. In this post, he candidly admitted to not playing any roguelike games during the development of Balatro, with a single exception.
As of December 2021, Local Thunk consciously decided to avoid playing roguelike games, emphasizing that this choice was not about creating a superior game but rather about preserving the joy of exploring game design as a hobby. He enjoyed the process of making mistakes and reinventing the wheel, rather than borrowing established designs from other games. This approach, while potentially leading to a less polished game, aligned perfectly with his passion for game development.
However, about a year and a half later, Local Thunk broke his own rule once by playing Slay the Spire. He was initially drawn to it to study its controller implementation for card games but found himself captivated by the game's design. He expressed relief at having waited to play it, as he feared it might have influenced his own work too heavily.
Local Thunk's blog post also sheds light on various aspects of Balatro's development. Initially, the game's working folder was simply named "CardGame," and it retained this name throughout the development process. The working title for much of the development was "Joker Poker."
The developer also discussed several features that were considered but ultimately scrapped, including a system where cards could be upgraded in a pseudo-shop, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' mechanism for playing cards.
An interesting anecdote from the blog explains how Balatro ended up with 150 Jokers. This was due to a miscommunication with the publisher, Playstack, where the number of Jokers was mistakenly increased from 120 to 150, which Local Thunk then decided to implement.
Lastly, Local Thunk shared the origin of his developer name. It stemmed from a humorous conversation with his partner about variable naming in coding, leading to the playful creation of "local thunk."
For those interested in a deeper dive into the making of Balatro, Local Thunk's blog provides a wealth of information. IGN has praised Balatro, awarding it a 9/10 and describing it as a deck-builder that offers endless satisfaction and can easily consume entire weekends.
