🧪・experimental

[graceful dust]

Hello people, today I have an experimental feature ready to test and I need your help. After lots of discussion here I think that testing a draw pile peek feature is warranted, so that is exactly what I have implemented. I want to share a private branch of the demo with some of you to help test this idea!

• This feature **may be removed entirely **depending on how it impacts gameplay, so don't be surprised if this feature doesn't stick
• Because of this - this version of the demo can not be streamed or used to make videos
• Within 24-48 hours, I should have enough feedback for what I need, so this private test demo will not be around for long
• There is no extra content, aside from a couple changes that will be pushed to the main demo anyway. I'll include patchnotes here as well so you know what to look out for

To access this private demo, go to Steam, click on the gear icon for Balatro Demo (Manage), then navigate to Properties > Betas > Private Betas and enter the code gettingThunky. This should allow you to select the private_experimental beta participation option. When you launch the game you should see 0.9.0o-DEMO in the main menu.

Please use this form for your initial feedback (also found in main menu of the Demo): https://forms.gle/WX26BHq1AwwV5xyH9

All other feedback, bug reports, and anything related can be discussed in this thread Please give as much feedback on the deck peek feature as you can while you have access to it. Did you create new strategies because of it? Was it not helpful at all? Let me know, it helps me a ton.

[fresh tide]

**:bar_chart: For those of you that have played the private demo branch for at least 3 runs, how often do you use the deck preview (either peek or full view)? **

🇦 Almost every hand
🇧 About once per round
🇨 Abount once per ante
🇩 A couple times over the entire run
🇪 Forgot it existed
🇫 I have not tried this feature but want to vote anyway

Appreciate Simple Poll? Boost us with a coffee :coffee:

[graceful dust]

Attention all Balatro scientists!

I have pushed another update to the private experimental branch detailed above. Here are the following updates, please give this new build a try and see what bugs/issues you can find! Discuss in the previous thread

Changes:

• Seeded runs can no longer discover items in your collection
• Seeded runs no longer count toward your stats
• Seeded runs no longer allow you to unlock items in your collection
• View Deck button only shows on hover
• Changed Blackboard to count debuffed spades/clubs but NOT debuffed wildcards
• Changed wording on Dusk to say 'Retrigger'
• Changed To Do list to always randomly select a different poker hand
• Changed the Deck Peek to have larger labels/color coded columns for Aces/Faces/Numbers
• Updated wording on Smeared Joker to be more explicit

Bugfixes:

• Fixed a bug where cards were not correctly being pseudorandomly selected by things like Wheel of Fortune, Aura, Talisman, etc.
• Fixed a bug where double clicking 'play' on the psychic caused wacky things
• Fixed a bug where glass cards with gold seals get redrawn to hand as nothing
• Fixed a bug where empty decks could not be clicked
• Fixed a bug where DNA created cards with a red back instead of the deck colour

[graceful dust]

Hey people - this experiment is now over! I have added the feature.

The base version of the game has been updated and should now be the same as the experimental branch. I have also disabled the experimental branch.

For those wondering, feel free to discuss/share/stream/make videos of the public build to your heart's content!

[graceful dust]

Hello people, today I want to share some of the design process with all your brains!

I am currently working on revamping many Boss blinds in Balatro. It has been over a year since I touched any of them and I have learned a lot of new thing - and reasons why some of the bosses are not well designed.

I have identified a list of bosses to change, and I have a preliminary list of new abilities for them, but I thought we could have a little brainstorm for some new boss abilities together!

On the chopping block:
**- The Hook

• The Ox
• The House
• The Arm
• The Fish
• The Manacle
• The Serpent
• The Pillar
• The Flint
• The Mark
• Amber Acorn
• Crimson Heart
• Cerulean Bell**

Current idea list:
**- -2 Hand Size

• All Jokers start flipped and shuffled
• First hand of round is drawn face down
• One third/half of deck is discarded
• -1 hand size per hand played
• 1 card is always preselected
• DEBUFF hand if contains a: Straight, Flush, 3oak (debuff all cards instead of autodiscarding them)
• All face cards drawn face down
• Discard 2 (more?) per hand played (This is specifically a Hook buff)
• Must alternate Plays and Discards
• Increase required score by 0.1X per card discarded
• Playing a [most played hand this run] sets money to $0**

[graceful dust]

I have a series of polls to help determine what number formatting yall prefer for large numbers! Here goes

[fresh tide]

**:bar_chart: When would you expect numbers to change from normal to scientific notation? (X.XX e+XX) **

🇦 1,000,000+
🇧 1,000,000,000+
🇨 1,000,000,000,000+
🇩 1,000,000,000,000,000+
🇪 Never, don't use scientific notation

**:bar_chart: How many decimal places would you want to see in scientific notation? (X.XX... e+XX) **

🇦 0 [3 e+15]
🇧 1 [3.1 e+15]
🇨 2 [3.07 e+15]
🇩 3 [3.073 e+15]
🇪 4 [3.0728 e+15]

**:bar_chart: What format would you prefer for scientific notation? [example number = 3,130,000,000,000,000] **

🇦 3.13 * 10¹⁵
🇧 3.13 E15
🇨 3.13 e15
🇩 3.13 E+15
🇪 3.13 e+15
🇫 3.13 X 10¹⁵

[graceful dust]

Hello demo enjoyers! If you want to give me a hand testing the newest version of the Demo, please follow along with the instructions!

I will be making bugfixes and updates that sometimes need a little extra testing, so there is an experimental branch for the Balatro Demo that you can participate in with updates before being pushed live to everyone!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Demo Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select experimental.

If you find any issues or wonkiness, reply in the thread! The major change for this update were savescum bugfixes and shuffler manipulation as well as some minor balance changes and fixes, so you can go ahead and play as normal 🙂

[graceful dust]

New experimental build is live! 0.9.3f1 mostly has some bug fixes but there is also changes to boss warning text showing up when a hand is about to be thrown out.

If you want to help test, just play on this version and report any issues in this thread!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Demo Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select experimental.

[graceful dust]

New experimental build 0.9.3i is live!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Demo Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select experimental.

Changes:

• Grim, Familiar, Incantation can no longer give stone cards
• Bull now gives chips according to the amount of money you have when it triggers
• Stone cards with seals/editions now display correctly as Stone cards
• Blue Seal/Gold cards now get both effects when triggered
• Fixed a bug where continuing a game made you go back a few rounds
• Added 'must have room' disclaimer to Seance
• Buy and use button reappears on tarots when the condition for their use Changes in shop
• Green Joker now has visual indicator if increment/decrement
• Changed Handy/Garbage tag effects
• Hands and Discards reset when 'Cash out' is selected so you can see how many of each you have in shop

Please give it a test and leave feedback/bugs in this thread!

[graceful dust]

New experimental build 0.9.3j is live!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Demo Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select experimental.

Changes:

• Fixed bug where multiple D6 tags trigger in 1 shop
• Fixed bug where orbital tag was resetting between blinds
• Fixed bug where savescumming with a negative/foil/poly/holo tag cause the tag not to retrigger
• Fixed bug where a rerolled shop becomes empty on reload
• other minor bug fixes

[graceful dust]

New experimental build 0.9.3k is live!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Demo Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select experimental.

Changes:

• Fixed issue where you could buy a pack in the tutorial shop
• Fixed bug where red seal wasn't working with gold cards
• Changed Invisible Joker and Ankh to strip copied joker of Negative
• Changed ectoplasm to increase handsize downsize by 1 per time used in the run
• Popcorn to -4 per round
• Trading card now jiggles when active
• Lose the game when you reach 0 hand size and have no cards in hand

[graceful dust]

#📢・announcements message

[graceful dust]

I've pushed a small update again - 0.9.3o - new Loc changes for a few languages
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
French
Spanish
LATAM
Dutch
plus minor changes to other languages.

Bug fixes:

• Ankh/Invisible Joker reducing the number of Joker slots when duping a negative card
• editions on playing cards in packs are now tied to ante
• Various other minor bug fixes/formatting changes

[graceful dust]

Hello everyone, I have a new experimental branch for you to test!

I have upgraded the engine version from Love2D 11.3 to 11.5 - this should fix some of the 'saving' issues people are having when their hard drives have a symlink

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select public_experimental

Please test this version and let me know if there are any issues!

[graceful dust]

Hello everyone, I have a new experimental branch for you to test! I'll be pushing this version live today to the default build and would love if people can kick the tires first!

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select public_experimental

Please test this version and let me know if there are any issues!

Changes:

• Upgraded love2D to newest release
• Fixed issue where game would not start on MacOS Big Sur
• Fixed bug where 'completionist plus' was being unlocked without fulfilling condition
• Fixed exploit where challenge runs could despawn starting Jokers
• Fixed bug where challenge vouchers could reappear in first shop
• Removed option to continue a run you are currently playing
• Fixed issue where Mac version was rendering at lower resolution than the display
• Updated localization for most languages

[graceful dust]

Hello everyone, I have the first version of 1.0.1 ready to test. There are a lot of changes included in here so I wanted to have an extended public test to ensure everything is working smoothly before pushing it live for real, probably in about a week! This experimental version of the game is English only and will be available on Mac, PC and Steam Deck. Please let me know if Steam Deck/Windows performance is improved from the previous version

To access, click on the gear icon on the Balatro Steam library entry, then Properties > Betas > Beta Participation and select public_experimental

Please test this version and let me know if there are any issues, feedback or regression from earlier versions. Please try and keep discussion within the thread below if possible so I can follow along easier!

Thanks Balapals

1.0.1c (experimental) patchnotes are attached

[graceful dust]

Creating a thread here for performance issues in 1.0.1c - please discuss the performance of the update here and make sure to include details about your platform!

[graceful dust]

Hey people! I have a new update 1.0.1e on the experimental branch. Hopefully this should be the last one before we push it live everywhere. Localization is done for this patch and I have made various changes as well, you can see in the patch notes below.

Please check out #🧪・experimental message for instructions on how to access this build. If you are already opted in to public_experimental you should already have 1.0.1e!

This thread has slow mode, please use it for any 1.0.1e feedback but also use #🎙・server-chat or #🕹・game-discussion if you wish to discuss further! It makes it easier for me to go through all the feedback this way

• Made some non-retroactive scaling Jokers incompatible with 'Perishable' (Ceremonial Dagger, Glass Joker, Hologram, Ride the Bus, runner, constellation, green joker, red card, madness, square joker, vampire, rocket, obelisk, lucky cat, flash card, spare trousers, castle, wee)
• Removed more motion from the 'reduce motion' mode
• Changed Runner - now starts at +0 chips and gives +15 chips per straight, was +20 and +10 per straight
  - Changed Square Joker - now starts at +0 chips, was +16 chips, now increases by +5 chips, was +4- Changed Square Joker - now starts at +0 chips, was +16 chips, now costs $4, was $5 (still gives +4 chips per 4 card hand)
• Changed Bloodstone - now gives X1.5 mult per heart card, was X2 mult
• Changed Wee Joker - now starts at +0 chips, was +10 chips
• Changed Stuntman - now Rare and $7, was Uncommon and $6
• Changed Vampire - now Uncommon and $7, was Rare and $8
• Since the margins are no longer as razor thin on higher stakes, I have also slightly increased ante scaling for mid-late antes:
• Changed ante scaling in green stake:
  • Ante 3: 2400 -> 2600
  • Ante 4: 7000 -> 8000
  • Ante 5: 18000 -> 20000
  • Ante 6: 32000 -> 36000
  • Ante 7: 56000 -> 60000
  • Ante 8: 90000 -> 100000
• Changed ante scaling in purple stake:
  • Ante 3: 3000 -> 3200
  • Ante 4: 8000 -> 9000
  • Ante 5: 22000 -> 25000
  • Ante 6: 50000 -> 60000
  • Ante 7: 90000 -> 110000
  • Ante 8: 180000 -> 200000
• Changed Eternal/Rental/Perishable sticker location to be closer to the top right corner
• Banned top-up tag and Antimatter on Jokerless Challenge
• Fixed a bug where perishable Jokers were still giving their effect when debuffed
• Fixed bug in the rate at which eternal/perishable Jokers were being generated
• Fixed bug where Buffoon Pack could show up in Jokerless challenge
• Fixed bug where debuffed negative Jokers being sold doesn't reduce the number of available joker slots
• Fixed bug where sticker seeding was shared between shop and booster packs

[graceful dust]

I have made a performance update to 1.0.1e, and it definitely will need testing to ensure stability.

Please try out the new version (verify file integrity for Balatro to make sure you have the most up to date version)

Please leave any and all feedback about performance in the thread below, good or bad. Please leave other feedback for 1.0.1e in the thread above
I am especially looking for feedback of performance vs. older versions of the game (Improvements, regression)
Thanks!