Balatro's 'Cursed' Design Problem

Summary

Balatro, a hit indie card game of 2024, offers a unique thrill where players set up their hands and hope for big points, but without knowing the outcome in advance. While this design choice creates excitement, it also leads to a dilemma: the score is technically calculable, prompting some players to use external tools to optimize their play. This design flaw mirrors past issues in other games, like The Binding of Isaac, where hidden information caused unintended gameplay shifts. The designer’s struggle to balance casual fun with strategic depth presents an intriguing case study in game design.

Takeaways

• 😀 Balatro is a popular indie card game that has gained significant traction due to its unique design and gameplay mechanics.
• 😀 The game involves players trying to create poker hands to score points, with special cards and jokers adding strategic depth.
• 😀 A key design choice in Balatro is the lack of a 'score preview' before playing a hand, which is intentionally hidden to maintain suspense.
• 😀 LocalThunk, the designer of Balatro, believes that withholding the score preview enhances the excitement of the game and adds drama to each play.
• 😀 The lack of a score preview creates an engaging feeling similar to a slot machine, where players experience the thrill of uncertain outcomes.
• 😀 Hardcore players, however, can still calculate their score manually, revealing a flaw in the design as they circumvent the intended experience.
• 😀 The game's design mirrors issues seen in *The Binding of Isaac*, where players began using external tools to bypass hidden mechanics, diminishing the original design intent.
• 😀 Balatro’s score preview is not entirely hidden; it can be calculated with enough effort, leading to a divide between casual players and those using external tools.
• 😀 While LocalThunk is committed to his design, he acknowledges that such loopholes, like in *Isaac*, can lead to unintended player behavior.
• 😀 Solutions to this issue could include offering a score preview as a late-game unlock, modding support, or providing it as a cheat code for players who really want it.
• 😀 Ultimately, the case of Balatro highlights the challenge game designers face in balancing player freedom with the intended experience, especially when players find ways to alter the gameplay.

Q & A

What is the main design flaw in *Balatro* according to its creator?

The main design flaw in *Balatro* is the lack of a score preview. While the game hides the final score from players before they play their hand, this information is technically available if players choose to calculate it themselves, which undermines the intended suspense and excitement.

Why did LocalThunk, the creator of *Balatro*, choose not to include a score preview?

LocalThunk intentionally omitted a score preview to preserve the suspense and excitement of the game. He believed that the thrill of playing comes from setting up your strategy and hoping it succeeds, without knowing the exact score beforehand.

How does the lack of a score preview affect gameplay in *Balatro*?

Without a score preview, players are forced to rely on intuition and luck when choosing their hands. The tension builds as players watch their points accumulate, and the dramatic reveal of the score after playing a hand adds to the excitement.

How do some *Balatro* players circumvent the lack of a score preview?

Some players bypass the design choice by calculating the score manually, using external tools like calculators, spreadsheets, or mods. This undermines the intended experience of suspense and leads to a more strategic, but less immersive, style of play.

What is the parallel between *Balatro* and *The Binding of Isaac* in terms of design decisions?

Both games share the issue of hiding important gameplay information. In *The Binding of Isaac*, item descriptions were hidden to encourage experimentation, but players eventually found external resources to figure out the items' effects. Similarly, in *Balatro*, players find ways to calculate their score despite the lack of a preview.

What lesson did Edmund McMillen, the creator of *The Binding of Isaac*, learn from his design decision?

Edmund McMillen learned that once crucial information is technically accessible, players will seek it out, often via external resources like wikis. This led him to express regret about the lack of item descriptions in *The Binding of Isaac* and consider adding them as an optional feature.

What is the potential issue LocalThunk faces with *Balatro* in the long term?

Over time, the decision to hide the score preview could become a problem if a significant portion of the player base starts relying on external tools to calculate scores. This may lead to a gameplay experience that diverges from the one LocalThunk originally intended.

What solutions does the script propose to address the issue with the score preview in *Balatro*?

The script suggests several solutions: adding a score preview as a late-game unlock, offering it as a mod, implementing it as a cheat code, or providing it as an optional feature clearly explained to the player, similar to how other games offer assistive modes.

How could adding a score preview change the experience of playing *Balatro*?

Adding a score preview could make the game feel more like a strategy-based experience, shifting it away from its intended vibe of excitement and suspense. It might make players more focused on optimizing their hands and less engaged with the thrill of playing.

What broader point does the script make about game design decisions and player behavior?

The script highlights that game design decisions, especially those related to how much information is provided to players, can significantly affect the experience. Even well-intentioned design choices may be undermined if players find ways to circumvent them, leading to unintended shifts in how the game is played.