Tristan and Oliver are once again joined by the insightful Amy Goodenough as they put on their best joker-face to break down LocalThunk’s viral phenomenon Balatro into these three blinds:

• Deck Rebuilder - The low barrier of entry presented by designing on top of classic playing cards offering high familiarity
• Cheating Encouraged - Designing systems that make players feel like they've broken the game and they’re the masters of it
• It’s All In The Movement - All about the extremely satisfying physicality and tactility of the game’s user interface

Let us know what you think:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - [email protected]

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Some References:

Getting to the Heart (of the cards) of Balatro - Josh Bycer, Game Wisdom (blog)

Balatro's 'Cursed' Design Problem - Mark Brown, Game Maker’s Toolkit (video essay)

The Making of Balatro - Video Game Story Time (video)

“There is a lot more design to explore within Balatro” an interview with Localthunk - Jess Norris, XboxEra (article)

Balatro creator unveils a few slick signposting strategies - Justin Carter, Game Developer (article)