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Playtest Update and Demo Plans

Hey all,

I have some big Balatro news to share today, but before I do that I wanted to say how unbelievable the love and support I’ve received in recent weeks has been - the groundswell of community passion for this game completely caught me off guard and has been both inspiring and terrifying. There is a huge amount of work up ahead so I’d like to explain how Balatro will evolve in the upcoming months.

To make sure that Balatro reaches its full potential, I have enlisted the publisher Playstack to help support it. Playstack has supported some amazing games such as AK-xolotl, The Case of the Golden Idol, The Last Faith and Mortal Shell, so I’m really excited for their help. Having Playstack take care of some of the day-to-day stuff will allow me to refocus on developing Balatro, and their expertise will help me better navigate through many of the new challenges I have been facing. Their help will also afford me to do things I wouldn't be able to do alone, such as potentially releasing on other platforms and high quality localization support.

This does mean there will be some quick changes that I want everyone to be aware of and, with you as my earliest supporters, I want to be transparent:


[h2]Balatro Playtest is closing [/h2]

If you’re queueing for the Playtest, I know you will undoubtedly be disappointed that we are closing the Playtest plan.

The truth is that the queue for the Playtest has outgrown its intended size by many orders of magnitude. As the line of people patiently waiting grew rapidly, the Playtest suddenly no longer fit its intended purpose which was to allow a few people to play the game and give me feedback.

However…

[h2]New demo: Coming September[/h2]

In September I will be launching a new Balatro demo that will be accessible for everyone.

This demo will be more compact and focused, offering a smaller slice of the full Balatro experience (This demo will not be capped at 50 rounds). The September demo will NOT be an official entry of the October NextFest, however it will be available to download and play during the same time as the festival runs.

You can get notified of the new demo going live, and stay notified on all future demos and releases, by joining our exclusive newsletter here: www.PlayBalatro.com



[h2]The NextFest demo: Coming February[/h2]

Balatro will be releasing early next year, and in February I’ll launch the official NextFest demo.

Details on this demo are still coming together, but my intention is to expand on the September demo with more Jokers, new ideas, and different scenarios.

Like with the September demo, you can sign up to the Newsletter on www.PlayBalatro.com to stay in the loop.



Thank you again for your support, and I can’t wait to share the next demo in September!

- LocalThunk

Demo now paused until October Next Fest

Hello,

The demo for Balatro has been paused until Next Fest in October. Thank you all so much for the wonderful support of the game and for playing the demo! The next version will be incorporate a bunch of the community feedback and be better than ever.

If you played all 50 rounds, you will still have full access to the new demo in October.

I have a plan and a vision for Balatro, and that involves focusing more on quality content and gameplay to ensure the final release is a game worth your time and money. I know it is frustrating for many people to not be able to play, but if you keep patient I promise you will have a great game to play in the not too distant future!

I will post any major game related updates here as well to keep everyone in the loop. Thanks again for all the kind words and support.

localthunk

Balatro Demo pause

Hello everyone!

There has been a huge influx of attention to Balatro over the past week, and before any of that happened my plan was to pull the Demo and work on polishing the game more before Steam Next Fest in October. I will be pulling the demo at the end of the week (Friday or Saturday) and revoking some Beta keys until October.

I understand the timeline for Balatro's release is a bit frustrating for people that want to play the full game right now, but I promise I have my game's best interest in mind. I want to make sure I am putting the best possible game forward and that I am fully prepared for the eventual release - along with quite a few more changes that will hopefully add dozens or hundreds of hours of gameplay in the long run. I am in this for the long haul with Balatro and I hope I can count on your patience.

Thanks for all the incredible support since I posted the demo - hope to see you try the new and improved game in October!

localthunk

Update 0.8.7c

Changes:
-Increased Jolly Joker mult from 5 to 8
-Increased Zany Joker mult from 7 to 10
-Increased Mad Joker mult from 10 to 15
-Increased Crazy Joker mult from 7 to 10
-Increased Droll Joker mult from 7 to 10
-Increased all suit multiplier cards from +2 to +4 per card of that suit
-Modified range of payouts for Misprint from 0,12 to -3,20
-Increased Fibonacci payout from +2 mult to +4 mult
-Increased Glass Joker bonus mult to +10
-Increased Even Steven payout from +2 to +4 mult
-Increased Scholar payout from +1 mult to +4 mult
-Increased Ride the Bus payout from +1 to +2 mult per consecutive hand without face cards
-Increased Bloodstone from +4 to +8 mult per heart card
-Increased Satellite from $2 to $4 per unique planet
-Increased Holographic payout from +5 to +10 mult
-Decreased Foil payout from +50 to +30 chips
-Decreased Polychrome payout from X2 to X1.5 mult

Bugfixes:
-Fixed bug where cards could be repeatedly used/sold/redeemed
-Fixed bug where enhanced cards in shop could only be purchased with joker room

Update 0.8.7b

Bugfixes:
-Fixed bug where final boss wasn't reliably showing up on ante 10, showed up earlier
-Fixed bug where the investment tag was preventing some other tags from working at all
-Fixed bug where using a voucher or planet was causing a graphical issue in blind selection
-Fixed bug where Manacle was triggering Matador with 0 discards