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

Local Thunk, the developer behind the popular game Balatro, has shared an in-depth look at the game's development journey on his personal blog. In a surprising revelation, he disclosed that he consciously avoided playing other roguelike games during Balatro's development, with the exception of one notable title.

Starting in December 2021, Local Thunk decided to steer clear of other roguelike games. His reasoning was rooted in the joy of discovery and the creative process itself, rather than aiming for a commercially successful product. He emphasized, "I want to be crystal clear here and say that this was not because I thought it would result in a better game, this was because making games is my hobby, releasing them and making money from them is not, so naively exploring roguelike design (and especially deckbuilder design, since I had never played one before) was part of the fun for me. I wanted to make mistakes, I wanted to reinvent the wheel, I didn’t want to borrow tried-and-true designs from existing games. That likely would have resulted in a more tight game but it would have defeated the purpose of what I love about making games."

However, a year and a half into development, Local Thunk broke his rule once by downloading and playing Slay the Spire. He was blown away by the experience, stating, "Holy shit, now that is a game." Initially, he played it to study controller inputs for card games, but found himself deeply immersed in the gameplay. He was relieved that he had waited until then to play it, as he feared it might have influenced his design too heavily.

Local Thunk's blog post also offers fascinating insights into Balatro's development process. He revealed that the game's working folder was simply named "CardGame" and never changed, and the working title for much of the development was "Joker Poker." He also shared details about several scrapped features, including a system where players could upgrade cards in a pseudo-shop similar to Super Auto Pets, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' feature that would return a card to the player's hand after being played.

An amusing anecdote explained how Balatro ended up with 150 Jokers. It stemmed from a miscommunication with his publisher, Playstack, during a meeting in October 2023. Initially, Local Thunk mentioned 120 Jokers, but a subsequent discussion led to a misunderstanding that resulted in the number being increased to 150, which he ultimately preferred.

Lastly, Local Thunk shared the origin of his developer name, "Local Thunk." It was inspired by a humorous conversation with his partner, who was learning to code in R and playfully suggested naming variables "thunk." Combined with Lua's use of the "local" keyword for variable declarations, the name "Local Thunk" was born.

For those interested in more details about Balatro's creation, Local Thunk's blog provides a comprehensive account. IGN has praised Balatro, awarding it a 9/10 and describing it as "A deck-builder of endlessly satisfying proportions, it's the sort of fun that threatens to derail whole weekend plans as you stay awake far too late staring into the eyes of a jester tempting you in for just one more run."