From Bad Grades to Balatro

LocalThunk, the solo developer behind the hit roguelike deckbuilder Balatro, has published a heartfelt blog post titled "Bad Grades" to mark the game's second anniversary. The post tells the story of a pivotal decision that changed the course of his life — and ultimately gave birth to one of indie gaming's biggest hits.

Switching Majors in the Final Year

In the final year of his bachelor's degree, LocalThunk walked into his academic advisor's office at 2 PM and asked to swap all his classes for Computer Science courses. The move set him back a year. He didn't hesitate.

"The choice was simple. It was hardly a choice at all, really. I loved programming."

An introductory C++ course had sparked something in him — his first-ever game, a simple 4-letter word ladder, was "fun enough to play but captivating to make."

Late Nights and Invisible Games

Despite barely passing some required CS courses, LocalThunk spent his evenings obsessively coding. He built a Perlin noise terrain generator, a heat dissipation simulation, and eventually a sprawling grand-strategy-style game that took two years and was never finished or publicly shared.

"It was exactly what I wanted to make," he writes. That project became the template for everything that followed, including Balatro.

Balatro 1.1 Update Still In Development

The post also confirms what fans have been waiting to hear: the Balatro 1.1 update is still in development. No release date was given, but LocalThunk remains as dedicated as ever.

"Last night I stayed up until the early hours of the morning drawing pixel art, writing code, and listening to music in my quiet house," he writes. "Notebook of ideas open next to me, cup of decaf in hand."

#balatro

Balatro Developer LocalThunk Shares Career Story on 2nd Anniversary, Confirms 1.1 Update Still in Development