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

In a fascinating deep dive into the development of Balatro, the game's creator, Local Thunk, shared a detailed account on his personal blog. Throughout the development process, Local Thunk made a deliberate choice to avoid playing roguelike games, aiming to explore and innovate without the influence of established designs. This approach was not about creating a superior game but rather about the joy of discovery and learning inherent in game development as a hobby.

However, this self-imposed rule was broken once when Local Thunk decided to play Slay the Spire, a decision driven by a need to understand controller inputs for card games. The experience was enlightening, and Local Thunk admitted that playing it earlier might have led to unintentional copying of its design elements.

The blog post also offers a glimpse into the game's early stages, where the project folder was simply named "CardGame" and remained unchanged throughout development. Initially titled "Joker Poker," Balatro evolved significantly from its inception.

Local Thunk shared insights into several features that were considered but ultimately scrapped, including a system for upgrading cards in a pseudo-shop, a separate currency for rerolls, and a 'golden seal' feature that would return cards to the player's hand after use.

An interesting anecdote revealed how the game ended up with 150 Jokers. A miscommunication with the publisher, Playstack, about the number of Jokers led to an increase from the initially planned 120 to 150, a number that Local Thunk felt was better suited for the game.

The origin of the developer's pseudonym, Local Thunk, stems from a humorous exchange with his partner about variable naming in programming. The name combines the Lua programming language's 'local' keyword with his partner's playful suggestion of 'thunk' as a variable name.

For those interested in the intricacies of game development, Local Thunk's blog provides a rich resource. IGN has praised Balatro, awarding it a 9/10 and describing it as a captivating deck-builder that can easily consume entire weekends with its compelling gameplay.