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

Balatro developer, Local Thunk, recently shared a fascinating development history on their personal blog. Surprisingly, they reveal they avoided playing most rogue-likes during Balatro's creation—with one notable exception.

Their development timeline shows a conscious decision in December 2021 to stop playing rogue-likes. Thunk explains this wasn't to improve the game, but rather to embrace the playful experimentation inherent in their hobby. The goal was to make mistakes, reinvent the wheel, and avoid simply borrowing established designs. This approach, while potentially sacrificing polish, prioritized the joy of creative exploration.

However, a year and a half later, this self-imposed rule cracked. After downloading Slay the Spire, Thunk exclaimed, "Holy shit, now that is a game." The reason? They were troubleshooting controller implementation and wanted to study Slay the Spire's approach to card game controls. The result? A complete immersion in the game, narrowly averted a potential design copy.

Thunk's post-mortem offers further intriguing details. The project's initial working folder was unimaginatively named "CardGame" and remained unchanged. The game's working title was "Joker Poker" for a significant portion of its development.

Several scrapped features are also highlighted: a pseudo-shop system for upgrading cards (similar to Super Auto Pets), a separate currency for rerolls, and a "golden seal" mechanic that returned played cards to the hand after skipping blinds.

The number of Jokers, 150, is revealed to be the result of a miscommunication during discussions with publisher Playstack. Initially aiming for 120, a later conversation led to 150 being suggested, a number Thunk ultimately preferred.

Finally, the origin of the name "Local Thunk" is explained. It's a programming joke stemming from a conversation with their partner learning R programming, where the partner playfully named their variables "thunk." Combined with Lua's "local" keyword, the developer handle was born.

Thunk's blog provides a much more in-depth account of Balatro's development. IGN, clearly impressed, awarded Balatro a 9/10, praising 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."