Local Thunk Avoids Roguelikes in Balatro Development, Except Slay the Spire

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 purposefully avoided playing other roguelike games during the development of Balatro, except for one notable exception.

As of December 2021, Local Thunk decided not to play any more roguelike games, emphasizing that his goal was not to create a better game by avoiding them but rather to enjoy the process of game development as a hobby. He wanted the freedom to explore and experiment with roguelike and deckbuilder designs without the influence of existing games, even if it meant making mistakes and reinventing the wheel.

However, in a twist, Local Thunk broke his rule once and a half years later by downloading and playing Slay the Spire. He was initially drawn to the game to study its controller implementation for card games but found himself captivated by its design. He expressed relief at having avoided playing it earlier, as it might have led him to unintentionally mimic its design.

Local Thunk's blog post also offers fascinating insights into the game's development process. Initially, the project was simply called "CardGame" and later "Joker Poker" during much of its development. He also shared details about scrapped features, such as a version where upgrades were only possible through a pseudo-shop, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' feature for playing cards.

An amusing anecdote revealed how the game ended up with 150 Jokers due to a miscommunication with the publisher, Playstack. Originally planning for 120 Jokers, a misunderstanding led to the increase to 150, which Local Thunk ultimately felt was a better number.

Lastly, Local Thunk shared the origin of his developer handle. It stemmed from a humorous conversation with his partner about naming variables in programming. The term "local thunk" was born from combining the Lua programming language's local keyword with his partner's playful suggestion of naming variables "thunk."

For more insights into the making of Balatro, readers 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 easily consume entire weekends with its addictive gameplay.