Developer LocalThunk, the anonymous individual who made Balatro, recently published an extensive breakdown of how they made the game. The post, which details all the milestones involved with launching the indie game, goes deep on personal experiences, from self-doubt and disbelief at his success to serious health concerns and anxiety attacks. It’s also about the lessons he learned about making and marketing a game that went on to sell millions of copies and won awards and nominations against the odds.
There are a lot of warnings developers can take from LocalThunk’s story, like when he admonishes himself for delaying going to the doctor so he could keep working on the game during an important period. In fact, I think any creative person can learn a few things from the post. But many of them will be even more relevant for game developers. Here are three key takeaways.
Listen to your playtesters
LocalThunk’s story has plenty of moments that point to the dev’s humble nature, including his proclivity for feedback and his willingness to implement it. At several points during the development of Balatro, LocalThunk relied heavily on people who played early builds — at first, his friends, and later, a group of playtesters.
That feedback wasn’t always constructive. Sometimes, it was the push he needed to keep writing code.
“It was really great knowing that this game was actually being enjoyed by someone I know, and I wanted to prove to him, my other friends, my partner, my family, and myself that I could make something really fun and interesting,” he wrote of his feelings after receiving “unexpectedly high” praise from a friend he shared a beta with in August 2022.
By May 2023, listening to these playtesters became an official part of his strategy: “This marks the beginning of a more player-focused development strategy I would adhere to instead of just listening to my gut all the time.”
Hire expert help if you can
Sometimes asking for help involves calling a doctor when you have an anxiety attack, like LocalThunk did a month before Balatro was released. Sometimes it looks like calling in support for things that are becoming huge roadblocks, or things you’re not an expert in, like writing music.
“I contacted Luis Clemente on the freelance website Fiverr and he delivered an absolutely amazing soundtrack for Joker Poker,” LocalThunk wrote, using the game’s placeholder name at the time, about a year before launch. “I was very nervous about this because it was (at the time) the only money I had spent or planned to spend on the game.” The game’s iconic music panned out swimmingly for LocalThunk and Clemente.
Another roadblock that required LocalThunk to hire help was porting the game to as many platforms as possible — something publisher Playstack felt was important to the game’s success. He describes spending several months on porting efforts before hiring developer Maarten De Meyer to help. He also hired a lawyer to help him negotiate his publishing deal, and his confidence was boosted up from perhaps the most important help any creative can get: support from your parents.
While LocalThunk’s story includes significant heartache (literal and metaphorical), it also includes a lot of genuine efforts to maintain his mental health, relationships, and drive to keep developing. Early in development, he took a long break from working on Balatro because he got bored. A few months later, he came back to the build invigorated and ready to implement brand new ideas: “I’m so excited about the game again, and I have a ton of momentum,” he wrote about May 2022.
Later, he describes taking a break for a surf trip with friends during a month where no other work happened on the game. The next month, he secured several instrumental pieces of the game: the score by Luis Clemente; the flame effect that happens when you get an amazing score; and the name Balatro.