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Balatro!

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It’s the hot new indie darling.

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It shifted a million copies in a month, it’s[br]been streamed by pretty much everyone on Twitch,

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and it’s one of the top rated games of 2024[br]so far.

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I’ve also played it… quite a bit.

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But, this game has - and this is according[br]to its own designer - a “fundamental design flaw”.

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A “cursed problem” that the designer has[br]been unable to solve.

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Let me explain.

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First - if you somehow haven’t played Balatro,[br]it’s a card game about trying to find poker

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hands in order to score points.

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Better hands score bigger points.

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But on top of that, you can do all sorts of[br]wily tricks to boost your score.

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Special cards rack up more points.

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Crazy joker cards change the rules of the[br]game.

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And you can stack your deck - or toss away[br]cards - to make certain hands more happenable.

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It’s a really fun game - a sublime, synergistic[br]slot-machine that feels fun to play, and is

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even more fun to break.

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It’s also really elegantly designed - with[br]its clean UI, straightforward concept, and,

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well, just how much depth has been squeezed[br]out of a few key systems.

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But there’s one… interesting design choice[br]in there.

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And it’s this: the game doesn’t tell you[br]how many points you’re going to score, before

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you play your hand.

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You simply pick your cards, cross your fingers,[br]and hit go.

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Now this would be really quite helpful information.

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It could tell you to play one hand over another.

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It could tell you if you’re about to scrape[br]past the ante, or miss it by a few points.

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It could tell you if you’re about to win[br]the entire game - or lose the whole thing

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and have to start from scratch.

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And yet…

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Balatro doesn’t give you a, let’s call[br]it - a score preview.

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Of course, this was an entirely intentional[br]design choice.

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LocalThunk - the game’s anonymous Canadian[br]designer - has explained that, for him, the

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joy of Balatro lives in that precise moment[br]I just described.

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When you cross your fingers and hit play.

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When you’ve set up your point-scoring engine[br]and hope that it will bring home the bacon.

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LocalThunk says “my personal belief is that[br]the game is more fun when you set up your

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Rube Goldberg machine and watch it go before[br]knowing whether or not the hand will win the round.”

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And Balatro totally plays into this!

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There’s so much hype and pageantry after[br]playing your hand.

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The numbers tick up, with escalating sound[br]effects.

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Each card and joker steps forward in turn[br]to add their points to the total.

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If you’re lucky, the score multiplier will[br]set on fire and start to burn hotter and hotter

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with each multiplication.

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And so if you already knew how many points[br]you were going to get.

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If a bit of UI had pre-calculated the score[br]and told you that you were going to win the

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ante with this hand…

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well none of that would matter.

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In fact, it would just get in the way.

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This is not the only reason to forgo a score[br]preview, mind.

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It would also add cruft to the UI - especially[br]when you need to account for cards that have

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random properties.

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How do you elegantly show a range of possible[br]scores?

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It would slow the game down, incentivising[br]players to check every possible hand to find

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the highest-scoring combination.

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And it would change the entire feel - from[br]a chill game about vibing with cards, to a

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stern spreadsheet-style strategy game.

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And so this is a totally legit game design[br]decision, right?

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Every game designer has to choose how much[br]information to give to the player.

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Like, should you show a boss’s health bar,[br]or keep it hidden?

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Should enemies come up with their strategies[br]in secret, or should their intent be explained

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to the player?

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As I’ve explored in various other videos,[br]how much information a player has will change

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their behaviour, and change the way the game[br]feels.

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And so Balatro hides its score preview to[br]make players act more quickly - and to create

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a feeling of suspense and drama whenever you[br]play a hand.

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LocalThunk had an experience in mind - and[br]picked mechanics that would nudge players

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towards that feeling.

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A smart design choice.

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However!

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Balatro is not like those other games I just[br]showed.

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Because while the score preview is hidden[br]from the player… the information is still

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technically available!

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Because you can just… you can just calculate it yourself.

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So, like…. a straight is worth 30 chips[br]and 4 mult.

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These cards are going to add an extra 10,[br]20, 30, 39, 47 chips, and then the two face

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cards will add another 30 each thanks to this[br]joker.

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So that’s 137 chips times 4… 548.

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Not quite enough to beat the ante.

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But close.

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And so if information in a game can be hidden,[br]or visible…

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Balatro’s score preview falls into a weird[br]half category - hidden, but attainable if

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you really want it.

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And that’s the fundamental design flaw at[br]the heart of Balatro.

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The designer wants the excitement of a slot[br]machine - but also the numerical predicability

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of an Excel spreadsheet.

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And so the only way to square that circle[br]is to hope that players won’t bother to

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calculate the final score.

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But if we go back to that timeless Soren Johnson[br]quote - “given the opportunity, players

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will optimize the fun out of a game” - it[br]shouldn’t be surprising that a number of

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Balatro players are playing the game with[br]the calculator app open on their phone, or

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with a spreadsheet set up on a second monitor,[br]or with Steam’s in-game overlay showing

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a bespoke website that calculates Balatro[br]hands.

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And - actually - this is exactly why Balatro[br]has a deck view.

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During playtesting, the game did not show[br]you which cards were left in your deck.

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But - again - playtesters could technically[br]get that information by tracking which cards

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had already been played.

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And after polling users, LocalThunk found[br]that many were doing just that - even though

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it really wasn’t much fun.

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So he added a powerful deck peek feature.

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But a score preview felt different.

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It felt like it encroached upon the DNA of[br]the game.

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It stepped on the stuff that made Balatro…

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Balatro.

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And so while the designer is empathetic to[br]people who wish to play more strategically.

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And is bummed out that the optimum way to[br]play involves busywork, and doing calculations

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outside of the game, he worries that adding[br]a score preview would spoil the fun for those

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who wish to play more casually.

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And that’s totally true!

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Making a game better for one group can make[br]it worse for another.

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As a designer you need to be certain who the[br]game is for - and then protect that player

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base from certain design decisions.

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Even if that design decision is provided merely[br]as an option.

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Speaking on the Eggplant podcast, LocalThunk[br]says “if I add an option to have this score

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preview, people are just going to click on[br]it, and they're not going to experience the

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game that I wanted to create.”

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And besides - should a designer even have[br]to endorse an option that directly goes against

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their intentions for the game?

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LocalThunk has been clear that he made the[br]game for himself - and isn’t interested

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in changing the game for other people.

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Even if there are a million of them.

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But. Here’s the rub.

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It’s one thing to make a bold design choice[br]and then stand by it, for the betterment of

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the game.

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To shun the haters and stick by your design.

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But that doesn’t really work if there’s[br]a way for players to find a way around your

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choice - no matter how tedious that loophole[br]might be.

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And we know this!

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Because this is not the first time this has[br]happened to a game.

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In fact, it’s not even the first time it’s[br]happened to an extremely popular roguelike.

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Enter: The Binding of Isaac.

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So this basement-dwelling dungeon crawler[br]is packed with powerful items and upgrades…

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but the game doesn’t tell you what they[br]do.

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They just have a name, or a cryptic tagline,[br]or maybe just three question marks.

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The game’s designer, Edmund McMillen, did[br]this on purpose to create a feeling of mystery,

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similar to the sensation he got when playing[br]games as a kid - like

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the original Legend of Zelda.

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He described that game by saying “You weren't[br]sure what things did until you experimented

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with them, and you had to brainstorm with[br]your friends and put all your findings together

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in order to progress”.

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And so to mimic that mysterious sensation[br]in Isaac - the items are deliberately left

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unexplained.

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You’ll need to pick things up, try them,[br]and puzzle out their properties.

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Finding a new item should lead to curiosity,[br]experimentation, and surprise.

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And that worked… for about five seconds.

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And then people figured out what all the items[br]did and put that information up on wikis and

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other websites.

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Want to know what this weird little thing[br]will do?

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Just find it on Platinum God and mouse over[br]it for a full description.

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So, like Balatro - McMillen chose to hide[br]information to create a certain feeling.

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But because that information is technically[br]attainable - this time with a Google search

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rather than a spreadsheet - a number of players[br]ended up playing the game in a completely

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different way than the designer intended.

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Arguably, a worse way.

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And so after multiple DLC packs which added[br]hundreds of new pick-ups, this has become,

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basically, the defacto way to play The Binding[br]of Isaac.

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McMillen says “People would always say,[br]"You can't play Isaac without a browser open

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on your phone."

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I hated that that's how everyone played for[br]so long... and still play”.”.

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In fact, he’s described the lack of item[br]descriptions as the biggest flaw with Binding

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of Isaac.

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This design choice has basically haunted him[br]in the years since Isaac’s release.

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And in a post in 2023, McMillen has said that[br]he’s considering finally adding item descriptions

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into the game as an optional feature.

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Perhaps deciding that it’s better to support[br]them officially, than players having a worse

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time with your game because of the way you[br]designed it.

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And I wonder if something similar might happen[br]with Balatro.

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Now, I don’t think the two examples are[br]exactly the same.

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I agree that Balatro is more fun to play without[br]score previews and I’ve never once thought

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to pre-calculate a score in the 30-odd hours[br]I’ve played the game.

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This issue only really affects a small portion[br]of the game’s most hardcore, strategy-minded audience.

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But over time, as the game’s long tail stretches[br]out, I think this decision might come to haunt

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the developer, just like Isaac’s item descriptions.

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But, if you’re watching LocalThunk, I think[br]there are ways to provide this as an option

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to these players… without spoiling the game[br]for everyone else.

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For one, a score preview is only needed by[br]players who are incredibly invested in the

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game, so the option could be granted as a[br]late-game unlock - and not as something you

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can switch on from the word go.

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Kinda like how, I dunno, how Chrono Cross has[br]a fast-forward button, but it only unlocks

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after you’ve beaten the game.

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The option could also be clearly communicated[br]to the player - like how Celeste prefaces

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its powerful assist mode with a message that[br]explains who this option is for.

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Or how Heat Signature politely asks you to[br]not turn off permadeath, please, it’s there

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for a reason.

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Or Balatro could open itself up to mods - so[br]users can hack their own score preview into

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the game, without the developer needing to[br]officially support it.

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This is actually what happened to Isaac - the[br]‘External Item Descriptions’ mod is the

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most popular Isaac add-on in the game’s[br]Steam workshop, with almost 2 million subscribers.

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That’s not great for console players, though.

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So it could instead be provided it as a cheat[br]code - so players have to actively seek this

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thing out, rather than stumble onto it as[br]an innocuous option in the menu.

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As I’ve discussed in my videos about accessibility[br]- there are plenty of ways to open a game

0:12:34.570,0:12:41.199
up to a wider audience, without necessarily[br]spoiling it for the target group of players.

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Whatever LocalThunk decides to do, this has[br]proven to be a fascinating game design case study.

0:12:47.510,0:12:51.339
About how you can change how a game feels,[br]by changing how much information you give

0:12:51.339,0:12:52.560
to the player.

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About how players won’t always act in the[br]way you want them to, especially if you leave

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open a loophole.

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And about how the best intentions in game[br]design sometimes have to change, when you

0:13:03.310,0:13:06.779
see how players actually interact with your[br]game.

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I’ll be curious to see what happens with[br]Balatro.

0:13:10.470,0:13:15.209
For now - check out this video on heads up[br]displays, where I talk more about how information

0:13:15.209,0:13:18.540
can change the way a player acts, and feels.

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Thanks for watching.