The creator of an extremely successful hit on Steam is doing what many developers wish for. He plays his own game all the way through. This way, he would not only understand his game much better, but he also reports that it has helped him with stress management.
Which developer is being referred to? We’re talking about LocalThunk, the developer of the game Balatro, which was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2024. Despite the success and popularity, the indie developer only managed to complete his own game over a year later.
He announced on April 3 with a proud post on Bluesky, where he presented his success and recognition in the game: “I have beaten every deck on every difficulty! I still want to complete the game 100%, it’s really fun for me, and I believe I know my game much better now.” (LocalThunk via Bluesky)
Here you can see the trailer for Balatro:
Developer enjoys his own game
What has the developer achieved? In Balatro, there are 15 decks and eight difficulty levels that can change and make the player experience more challenging through various modifiers. LocalThunk has completed every deck at every difficulty, which means he has tackled a total of 120 runs in Balatro with increasingly higher challenges.
In a subsequent post on Bluesky, he also shares his build that helped him achieve this personal milestone.
How does he feel after the experience? LocalThunk writes in his post that playing Balatro helped him release all the negative emotions that arose after the stress of the release.
LocalThunk is a developer who started his game as a hobby project and never sought attention in the spotlight before its success and millions of copies sold. In another article here on MeinMMO, we reported on a publisher’s statement about the man behind Balatro: he found it hard to cope with the pressure of success.
How is the developer perceived in public? Despite his presence on social media, LocalThunk has chosen to remain anonymous. He simply wanted to be left alone during the development of his game, to live his life in peace. He continues to maintain this anonymity. This is exactly what helped him have a very special experience at GDC 2025 (Game Developer Conference): Developer of the best game on Steam 2024 does not want to be recognized, plays his own game anonymously in public
