Localthunk became somewhat of a big name in the games industry in 2024 thanks to the release of Balatro; joining the ranks of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vampire Survivors dev Luca Galente in the category of ‘澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:indie game developers🤪 whose games have ruined my life by being so moreish’. But as it turns out, fame and making a name for themselves in the game development scene wasn’t on the solo-devs mind when making Balatro.

Following the recent one-year anniversary of Balatro’s release, Localthunk released the , chronicling their work on the game from its inception back in December 2021, to release in February 2024. This diary has a ton of interesting tidbits within, like how the developer was 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历🅘史查询:shocked at the gameꩵ’s high review scores. However, that modesty is a common theme in the diary, as Localthunk’s ambition🌳s with Balatro were not🦩hing more than a playable job application.

Following a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:two-month break in development on Balatro, Localthunk was teeming with momentum and a renewed interest in working on the game, which resulted in the developer saying it was "the first time in my then 8 years of game development that I had even considered publicly releasing a game I had made." Later adding, "Normally they just end up going to a couple of friends, but honestly the ma🐬in purpose of my games wasn’t for them to be consumed, but rather for them just to be made."

However, even with the Steam release in the cards, Localthunk didn’t have any aspirations of Balatro going on to sell 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:5 million copies. In fact, it was mainly to help his future job prospects. "My partner was almost finished her PhD and the writing was on the wall that we may be moving out of province for good as sඣhe looked for a job. If this was the case, I would have to quit my job and look for work. I🥀 thought why not try and get a game developer job somewhere? To accomplish that, I thought having a Steam game in my portfolio would be a big benefit."

The developer later added, "I really didn’t have any commercial aspirations at this time. All I knew about Steam is that there were about a million games on there and that very few could realisticallꩵy make a living, so I didn’t think it was possible to consider it." This was in May 2022, but as we know now, Balatro had enough lucky sevens in its deck to break through Steam’s endless barrage of horny shovelware and become the sensation it is now.

Balatro’s development wasn’t all plain sailing however, as the developer revealed that the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:stress of indie development took a toll on his health.