In a recent thread on X, developer LocalThunk shared some of his signposting methods for Balatro, and how they helped players learn the ins and outs of his roguelike deckbuilder.
In the months since the game’s launch, LocalThunk has opened up more on Balatro’s influences and its original iterations. By his own admission, signposting is a part of general game design, but he wanted to reveal some of the “fun strategies” he employed.
Pointing to the Joker card “Four Fingers,” he noted how its inclusion in the demo provided a “huge teachable moment.” In seeing streamers’ reactions to the card while playing the game, he called it “the first moment people really understood Balatro’s hook.”
“The reaction they had when they first read that description was usually some combination of shock/understanding/excitement,” he continued. “This one card allowed them to read between the lines and understand that the game was more varied and synergistic than assumed.”
Each game takes a different approach to helping players learn its mechanics. Part of why roguelikes grew in popularity over the years was that so many modern games were criticized for having too many tutorials.
Balatro wants players to put themselves (and their decks) out there
Conversely, some roguelikes (and soulslikes) are equally criticized for being too obtuse for their own good. LocalThunk doesn’t argue for either side but found Balatro’s signposting methods to be an “extended low-calorie tutorial.”
Another Joker, “Amber Acorn,” flips and shuffles all other cards of its type. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of card order, but since it’s “way too early” in the game, he speculates that players may not fully retain it.
“[Acorn] suggests the importance of order and deepens the game in a way that, in my opinion, is a fun epiphany,” he explained. By the time you reach ‘Amber Acorn,’ the player probably should care about card order.”
One Balatro demo featured a deck that stacks doubles on top of each other. Speaking to that deck, LocalThunk said he chose it to “push players to try an unfamiliar mechanic. That’s important for them to actually fully experience the game as intended.”