GamesRoguelikeAfter selling 1 million copies, Balatro creator admits it’s “held together with hopes and dreams” as game devs rally around the roguelike’s beautifully nightmarish codeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRoguelikeAfter selling 1 million copies, Balatro creator admits it’s “held together with hopes and dreams” as game devs rally around the roguelike’s beautifully nightmarish codeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Playstack)
With 1 million copies sold, Balatro has cemented itself as the roguelike hit of 2024 - despite the fact that its underlying code is apparently “held together with hopes and dreams.” After some examples of the game’s beautifully nightmarish code hit the internet, game devs are rallying to say, basically, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The original tweet that spawned all this discourse has since been deleted - probably smart - but the gist is that Balatro has bespoke code for many objects where modern programming standards would typically suggest that you build some universal ways of handling those objects. That is agrossoversimplification, and thisbreakdown from game developer Sean Barrettwill give you a much smarter overview of what’s happening here, but that’s the gist.
Balatro developer LocalThunk has been quick to cop to the idea that the game’s code is messy,noting thatit’s “held together with hopes and dreams” andjoking that"they won’t teach you that in a fancy Software Engineering course." But game developers are rallying around the idea that it’s never really been about creating clean code - if it works, then that’s enough.
Remember the goal is to ship games, not make the neatest and most elegant code routines. https://t.co/mwKeWi3We9April 23, 2024
Remember the goal is to ship games, not make the neatest and most elegant code routines. https://t.co/mwKeWi3We9April 23, 2024
If Balatro was at the top of Steam, I can only imagine it made at least a few million dollars. I don’t know of any clean code enthusiasts who can boast such earnings from their own products. They usually earn from consulting and selling books on clean code.Telling, no? https://t.co/8nRTOOcMMJApril 23, 2024
If Balatro was at the top of Steam, I can only imagine it made at least a few million dollars. I don’t know of any clean code enthusiasts who can boast such earnings from their own products. They usually earn from consulting and selling books on clean code.Telling, no? https://t.co/8nRTOOcMMJApril 23, 2024
Ultimately, that’s whatLocalThunk figures, too. “It’s not perfect but I know where every single thing is and I’m the only one that needs to maintain it, so it makes sense to me. If it’s dumb and it works then it’s not dumb!”
Wespoke with LocalThunk about Balatro’s ingenious twists on pokerearlier this year.
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