From "I stopped working on the project entirely" to "we are so back," Balatro creator says the roguelike's development was always about passion and taking breaks was essential

Balatro’s release last year had the game become an overnight success and one of the defining games of 2024, overshadowing even the biggest AAA releases. But the game’s creator, Localthunk, revealed that they had all but given up on the game mere months into its development.

Localthunk recently released the Balatro development diary; it covers the game’s development in-depth from late 2021 until it was released last February. The diary mentions a ton of interesting facts about the game (like how it stole from Slay the Spire, despite the developer not wanting any inspiration from the deckbuilder genre). However, one entry mere months into development in March 2022 an entry reveals that the game almost didn’t come to be. "Early March marked an important event in the history of Balatro, and I wanted to describe why things happened the way they did. I stopped working on the project entirely."

Localthunk explains, "I have been making games for about 10 years now, and I have been doing visual art projects for much longer, and a very important habit I have developed for creative hobby projects is to stop working on something when I no longer feel the drive. This is for 2 main reasons; first, it allows me to move on to the next idea without totally burning out on the last thing. Second, and more importantly in this case, it allows me to take time off guilt-free and possibly come back to the project later on without wrapping it in negative emotions."

And that was that; development on what was then known as ‘Joker Poker’ was over and Localthunk was moving on. That was until two months later, in May 2022, when an entry read, "We are so back. This is the last month I am away from home, but I start carving out my evenings and weekends to work on Joker Poker again." Later adding, "My brain is teeming with ideas; I’m so excited about the game again, and I have a ton of momentum."

This two-month break clearly had a profound effect on development, as Localthunk mentions, "This was the first time in my then 8 years of game development that I had even considered publicly releasing a game I had made." It’s wild to think that if they hadn’t given up on Balatro for a few months, then it may have never released, and my productivity wouldn’t have been in the gutter for the past 12 months.

Localthunk also revealed that within the first few hours of the game releasing, it had made over $600,000. Resulting in what the developer called "the most surreal day of my life."