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After stepping away from Balatro for 3 months, the developer only resumed work "because I was bored but the internet was out so I couldn't play Rocket League"
Even LocalThunk, the developer of the indie roguelike hit Balatro, puts off his work to procrastinate. He admits that he once took a three-month break to play Rocket League and only returned to making the game when his internet went out.
LocalThunk has been very open about his development process for Balatro. He began the project all the way back in 2021 and says breaks are very important. "A very important habit I have developed for creative hobby projects is to stop working on something when I no longer feel the drive," he says.
After one two-month break, he wrote, "My brain is teeming with ideas; I’m so excited about the game again, and I have a ton of momentum." So, the reveal that he took three months off just to play Rocket League should come as no surprise.
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He posts on Bluesky: "The reason I went back to making Balatro three months after I essentially gave it up in March 2022 was because I was bored but the internet was out so I couldn't play Rocket League."
So, maybe he didn't take the break specifically to play Rocket League, but the car football game at least distracted him enough that he didn't feel the need to get back to work on Balatro immediately.
He adds: "If I recall correctly the first thing I worked on when I picked it back up was the rotational/scale jiggling juice effect when you mouse over playing cards or when they score." That is a really cool effect that the cards have, so I'd say the break was well worth it.
His development habits weren't always so chilled out, though. He had an anxiety attack while developing the game after publishers got interested, and it became more than a hobby, and was "in super crunch mode" in February 2024 as the game was nearing launch.
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LocalThunk doesn't believe he's in any position to give advice to other devs though. "I really hate when people in my position don't see the absurd bias we have – it's useless for me to give out advice because all I have is one data point," he writes. "I spoke about this in my first blog post. I'll share what I do/did, not preach that everyone should do it too."
So, maybe don't put your projects on pause for months on end to play Rocket League. Or do! I'm not a game developer or your dad, you can do whatever you like. Just don't thoughtlessly follow the advice of others.
I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.
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