What an amazing success. I waited for the mobile version to dive in and it was a perfect fit. I appreciate that he wants to stay anonymous (for his health and other reasons). Nothing makes a game developer happier than watching people enjoy their work.
Balatro was built on the Love2D framework and its success inspired me to start playing with it. I’m a novice programmer but I feel that it’s a really amazing kit and has a lovely community attached to it.
The success of Balatro is absolutely incredible, and very well deserved. It's a pity that it seemed to have such a physical toll on the developer.
Balatro's probably the most accessible roguelike deckbuilder I have ever played, and it really is a ton of fun. In a lot of ways it feels like 'outsider art' to the genre - the blog post mentioned that the developer didn't really play any similar games during development and it really shows. Balatro really is a breath of fresh air, and brings a lot of innovation to the table.
What a great story!
I've loved the game for some time now, fascinating to see how it was made
I remember watching the YouTuber Northernlion play this game and you could immediately tell that Balatro was special. The mechanics, the logic, the graphics, everything just worked.
Balatro is an absolute indie darling and one of the greatest games of this decade. I still think it not getting the GOTY was a miss, this should be a wake-up moment for the industry. Gameplay talks. Not micro transactions, not ultra realistic graphic, gameplay. If your game is fun, people will play it.
Hope many more games like this will come out in the upcoming years, if the industry learned anything.