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EXPLAINED: Localthunk person | Vintage Vibes

To celebrate 2 years of Balatro, creator LocalThunk reflected on dropping out of an engineering program to make games: 'Even if I could warn myself I’m not sure what I could have said to prepare for the insanity'

"Thank you to everyone for allowing this terrible student to keep staying up too late."

PC Gamer

Balatro creator says "I'm slow" and "I am sorry" and update 1.1 is not coming this year for good reason: "The prospect of rushing the work and going back into crunch mode to get it out this year just felt terrible"

Balatro update 1.1 is now on the timeline of "it's done when it's done"

GamesRadar

Balatro creator finally gets the last harrowing achievement he needed to 100% complete his own game, now feels 'better equipped' to design its upcoming expansion

LocalThunk is free from his self-inflicted purgatory.

PC Gamer

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Balatro creator gets 'a taste of my own medicine' as he struggles in vain to score the game's hardest achievement

"Well well well if it isn’t the consequences of my actions."

PC Gamer

No, Geoff Keighley—Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was not made by a team of 'under 30 developers,' and devs say repeating the myth is 'a dangerous path'

SGF's fascination with small staff sizes discredits the integral work of external contractors and contributors.

PC Gamer

Localthunk says Balatro doesn't have microtransactions "because when I play other games that have those things it makes me want to put my computer in the dishwasher"

Now why would someone say something so nasty about microtransactions?

GamesRadar

Joy and despair as game devs fight for a Switch 2 of their own, with Smash Bros' Masahiro Sakurai lucking into one while Balatro's LocalThunk still hunting

Good hunting, everyone

GamesRadar

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Here are the best deals you can pick up in Fanatical's ongoing Level Up sale

There's no level cap on bargains. I don't actually know what that means.

PC Gamer

YouTube is conducting a 'platform-wide review' after mistakenly hitting Balatro videos with an age restriction for gambling content

"Videos featuring Balatro gameplay should not be age-restricted."

PC Gamer

YouTube has started age restricting Balatro videos for alleged gambling-related content, and creator LocalThunk is clearly getting sick of this sort of thing

"Good thing we are protecting children from knowing what a 4 of a kind is and letting them watch CS case opening videos instead."

PC Gamer

PC Gamer vindicated by Swen Vincke: Larian boss calls Balatro his personal GOTY as it sweeps top prize from devs at GDC awards

All well and good that Balatro got its plaudits, but what truly matters here is that we were right.

PC Gamer

When starting development on his hit roguelike, Balatro creator set out to recreate a made-up card game he played "thousands" of times with his friends

It "had some pretty wacky rules and a lot of bluffing"

GamesRadar

Balatro creator hits back at AI art spread on the roguelike's subreddit: "I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds"

Localthunk lands on the anti side of the AI art fence

GamesRadar

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

The momentum from this break led the developer to consider publicly releasing a game for the first time

GamesRadar

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GamesRadar

Balatro creator was "shocked" at his poker roguelike's high review scores: "I don’t think I would have rated Balatro higher than an 8 and I made the damn thing"

No need to be modest

GamesRadar

Balatro's first few hours generated over $600,000, "far more money" than the roguelike's creator had ever made: "It is the most surreal day of my life"

Its launch was 10-20 times bigger than LocalThunk thought it would be

PC Gamer

LocalThunk had made hobby games in the past, but realized Balatro was something special when a friend revealed he had played it for '20, 30, or 40' hours

The most honest endorsement you can give to your friend's indie game.

PC Gamer

Balatro 1.1 will include new jokers plus a revamp of a really confusing existing one

It also sounds like this might not be the end for Balatro.

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news in one place.

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GamesRadar

Balatro maker promises that the dodgiest odds in the hit roguelike aren't deceiving you

"Yes, Wheel of Fortune really is 1 in 4"

International Business Times

Secretive Game Developer Codes Hit 'Balatro' In Canadian Prairie Province

There are no photos or videos of LocalThunk, an anonymous computer programmer who lives in the vast and desolate prairies of Canada's Saskatchewan province, far from Silicon Valley.

GamesRadar

Balatro's creator hits out at EA Sports FC as the roguelike gets rated 18+: "I should add microtransactions/loot boxes/real gambling to lower that rating"

All tea all shade

GamesRadar

Balatro creator says the business aspect of making his hit roguelike is something he's still "learning the ropes" of

LocalThunk talks us through the hurdles of making Balatro and his future plans

GamesRadar

Balatro creator reacts to The Game Awards noms by telling you to play other indie games that weren't nominated: "I just happen to be the lucky one to be propped up"

LocalThunk says to "please give these games a try" as his hit roguelike earns five TGA nominations

PC Gamer

All Balatro's creator wants to do after the game received 5 nominations at the Game Awards is praise other overlooked developers: 'I just happen to be one of the lucky ones'

"I feel like my game just happens to be the current face of this beautiful and passionate corner of the industry."

PC Gamer

Balatro was only supposed to have 120 jokers but 'instead of correcting' a publisher mistake, LocalThunk 'just made 30 more' of them

Honestly, what a mood.

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