Local Thunk Didn't Play Any Roguelike Games During Balatro's Development...Except Slay the Spire

Balatro developer Local Thunk has shared a comprehensive development history on his personal blog, revealing a unique approach to game creation. Throughout the development of Balatro, Local Thunk consciously avoided playing other roguelike games, with one notable exception. Starting in December 2021, he decided not to play any roguelikes, including deckbuilders, which he had never played before. His reasoning was rooted in his passion for game development as a hobby, not a profession. He wanted to explore and innovate without the influence of established designs, even if it meant making mistakes and reinventing the wheel.

However, in a surprising twist, Local Thunk broke his rule once after a year and a half, when he downloaded and played Slay the Spire. He was astounded by the game, describing it as "Holy shit, now **that** is a game." His initial intention was to study Slay the Spire's controller implementation for card games, but he found himself engrossed in the game. He expressed relief at having avoided playing it earlier, as he feared it might have led him to copy its brilliant design, either intentionally or subconsciously.

Local Thunk's blog post provides numerous insights into the development process of Balatro. For instance, the game's working folder was originally named "CardGame" and remained unchanged throughout development. The game was also known as "Joker Poker" for much of its development cycle. He also discussed several scrapped features, such as a system where cards could be upgraded in a pseudo-shop similar to Super Auto Pets, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' feature for playing cards.

An amusing anecdote explains how Balatro ended up with 150 Jokers. A miscommunication during a meeting with Playstack, the game's publisher, led to the increase from an initial plan of 120 Jokers to 150, a number Local Thunk found more appealing.

Lastly, Local Thunk shared the origin of his developer handle, "Local Thunk." Inspired by a conversation with his partner about variable naming in programming, the name is a playful reference to the Lua programming language's local keyword and his partner's humorous variable naming choice, "thunk."

For a deeper dive into the making of Balatro, you can visit Local Thunk's blog. 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.