[WIP] Skullatro - A Skullgirls-themed modpack for Balatro (Coders needed!)

[haughty sleet]

Introducing Skullatro, a modpack themed around the indie fighting game Skullgirls! Currently a (mostly conceptual) work in progress, this mod is planned to feature 45+ new Jokers, and a set of 17 brand new Consumables known as Blockbusters, single use items that grant a powerful one-time bonus to your hand, but which require you to charge them by completing rounds beforehand, with each being chargeable by up to three levels of potency. The mod will also come with four new Tarot cards, a new Spectral card, a set of custom face cards for each suit, two new Vouchers, two new types of Booster Packs (and associated Tags), a new Seal, and a new Deck.

This mod is currently in the conceptual phase, with most of the art assets personally complete (45 Jokers and all planned inclusions save for the Tarot cards and the face cards), though I’ll admit I may be a bit out of my depth when it comes to actually coding this. I’m currently learning to code for myself, though this may be a large undertaking for me alone, so I figure it would be smart to also reach out to the community and potentially assemble a team to see this realized.

If you are interested in helping, particularly with the coding side of things (though I won’t turn away other artists if you’d like to contribute for Jokers beyond the first 45), feel free to reach out to me via DM. I’ve made a discord server for the development team, so if you'd like to assist or contribute, just hit me up!

I'll kick things off here by showing off the first set of Fighter Jokers, featuring the original playable cast. Each of the playable roster has at least one joker to call their own!

[pallid granite]

Hyped for this! Card art looks great so far!

[haughty sleet]

Good morning! Presenting the next set of FighterJokers, with these fighters originally being introduced as DLC for Skullgirls Encore!

[haughty sleet]

[WIP] Skullatro - A Skullgirls-themed modpack for Balatro (Coders needed!)

[haughty sleet]

And finally, here's the fighters that were introduced as part of the Season 1 Pass for Skullgirls 2nd Encore! Marie was shown off in the first post in this thread, of course, but while all the other fighters will be available from the start, Marie will have certain unlock requirements necessary.

There's more jokers besides this set of course! 28 other art-complete ones, to be precise.

[haughty sleet]

You may have noticed that I didn't include Double among the first set of Jokers; that's because her Joker is a bit unique, and it's tied to the sole Legendary Joker in the set: The Skull Heart

[haughty sleet]

What did you all have for lunch? I had a Double Double and some Tuna with Bacon

[undone pelican]

Now I'm curious about how good my main modern Skullgirls trio (Marie, Eliza, and Ms Fortune) would be here in terms of the Jokers

[haughty sleet]

I guess I can give you a little sneak peek at the planned effects.

[undone pelican]

Ok, so a LOT of destroy synergy, it seems... besides Ms Fortune

[haughty sleet]

She's just here to have a good time

[undone pelican]

Nonetheless, time to bring out the Glass deck for Eliza and Marie. XD

[undone pelican]

I'm half tempted to ask for Peacock and Fukua's abilities, because they're my friends' favorite characters to play (and they even attempt to do slight voice acting attempts as them every now and then)

[haughty sleet]

More synergies lol

[haughty sleet]

Good afternoon! Another day, another batch of Jokers!

[barren flame]

we're so back on the beat with this one 🔥

[haughty sleet]

Presenting the stars of New Meridian, the fabulous performers of the Cirque des Cartes!

[autumn pollen]

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NURSE

[frank grail]

great!!

[haughty sleet]

probably not the ladies you wanna be running into on valentine's day
or maybe you would, who am i to judge

[undone pelican]

Ok, I like how Black Dahlia's joker looks like the cover of DOOM

[barren flame]

doomguy joker,,,

[haughty sleet]

just occurred to me that I should've showed off Valentine's planned ability

[autumn pollen]

Thats perfect

[haughty sleet]

Jimbo's been getting into the film business!

[haughty sleet]

where'd that cat come from

[undone pelican]

Lock it! -Punch!-

[haughty sleet]

That's Real Soviet Damage!

[haughty sleet]

Rather than a new Joker, I thought I'd show off a new Enhancement instead! Resurrected cards will add +18 Chips and +9 Mult when scored or held in hand, giving them value wherever they are, but you always run a 1 in 7 chance of having them perish when triggered (unless of course, they happen to be a Queen.)

[haughty sleet]

Marie also has some tweaked synergy with Resurrected cards

[undone pelican]

Wait, so Queens are the only Rank that's unable to be destroyed by the Resurrected enhancement's own ability?

[haughty sleet]

Correct. There are important reasons for this, but the main thing is that a Resurrected Queen is effectively "The Skullgirl"

(I may nix that part and just have the destruction chance be universal)

[undone pelican]

Interesting

[haughty sleet]

Seems appropriate to bring these two out.

[halcyon matrix]

I've tried to make good skeleton pixel art so often, so I can't help but be so fucking impressed with that one.

[haughty sleet]

I really needed to get goot at pixel skulls and skeletons in making these cards lol

Who'd've thought a game called skullgirls would feature many skeletons

[halcyon matrix]

That subtle wall texturing is such a good detail. I didn't think it'd be visible at scale, but it really helps the bg feel grainy

[haughty sleet]

All aboard the Hype Train

[haughty sleet]

couple of jokers more directly inspired by base-game jokers

[zenith delta]

has anyone reached out to offer help with programming for this mod cuz id be down to help

the art is so peak i fw it heavy

[haughty sleet]

sent you a DM!

Also I think now's a good time to post the two sets of Booster Packs that'll be in the mod, with Premier Packs exclusively containing the various new Jokers (these will be rarer than Buffoon Packs by default), and Blockbuster Packs will contain the new consumable items: Blockbusters!

[haughty sleet]

Dev server is officially set up! If you're interested in assisting or contributing just shoot me a DM and I'll send an invite

[haughty sleet]

Quick update: Real Soviet Joker now uses Real Soviet Language!

[haughty sleet]

Ms. Fortune may be a thief, but she's always willing to lend a hand

[haughty sleet]

One night only! Beowulf vs. Luchador, Live from NMO Arena!

[haughty sleet]

If you know you know

[haughty sleet]

And the final joker in the collection (for now)!
I'd like to mention that coding has officially begun for the mod, with the help of @zenith delta and @halcyon matrix. Still looking for any interested parties that'd like to contribute of course, there's still room for not just coders, but artists that would like to contribute as well. There's a small set of tarot cards that still need art, and the custom face cards as well, so anyone interested in helping with those or the code is more than welcome to reach out to me and I'll get you set up with the link to the developer discord

[zenith delta]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1248099268309422082/1342243319711010846/togif.gif

[haughty sleet]

Well said

[haughty sleet]

Vouchers!

[haughty sleet]

Deck art!

[craggy sentinel]

yoooo! the sprite work looks really good!

[haughty sleet]

Running out of art to show off at the moment, though things are still going strong. Here's the Skull Seal!

[haughty sleet]

Happy Mar13 Day! Here's a look at Marie's Blockbuster! Blockbusters are consumables that provide a significant boost to a single played hand. However, they first require a number of rounds to be won while held to be charged, charging to Level 1 after two rounds, Level 2 after four rounds, and Level 3 after six rounds. (There are, however, a few ways to charge Blockbusters faster!)
Weight of Our Will is a particularly powerful one if you can stack your deck with Resurrected cards (seen here: #1338391196514386006 message), hypothetically providing x6.2Mult at Level 1 with a full 52 card deck of Resurrected cards, up to a whopping x27 at Level 3!

(Drop a 🙌 in the reacts to lend her your power!)

[pastel coral]

this mod is going to go so incredibly hard

[haughty sleet]

'nother Blockbuster, this time Cerebella's

[haughty sleet]

Miss Fortune! schmoney

[haughty sleet]

Almost forgot about a very important "birthday", here's Fukua's Blockbuster!

[haughty sleet]

Peacock momens

[haughty sleet]

Speaking of Peacock momens:

[sullen dust]

Sorry what?

[haughty sleet]

Just average late game Peacock gameplay nothing to worry about

[sullen dust]

Oh wow

[haughty sleet]

Black Dahlia's Blockbuster is a little different from the others, it's more of a utility than a big score boost, giving access to a special set of Jokers

Anyone want a drink?

[haughty sleet]

(Also Blockbusters are getting an art revamp)

[haughty sleet]

Dahlia's Blockbuster isn't the only way to get access to Kill Shots though, you could always opt to pace yourself with Order Up!

[haughty sleet]

Finished enough of the new art that I feel like I can show off the new look for Blockbusters! The appearance of the card will change to reflect its level of charge!

[haughty sleet]

Finished off the last of the new Blockbuster art, here's a look at Marie's!

[haughty sleet]

figure I'll show the new art for the rest of the previously revealed Blockbusters

[edgy crater]

so peak 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[haughty sleet]

I appreciate that! Also Double gets a spectral card instead of a true Blockbuster

[lapis girder]

interesting 👀

[haughty sleet]

June rhymes with Moon, so here's Beowulf's Blockbuster!

[static vigil]

oh this seems a hella interesting mod! Already love the art on display especially for the black dahlia shot jokers! Probably likely that it won't be happening in the slightest but are you planning to implement some Skullgirls Mobile palette alts as Jokers?

[haughty sleet]

I do actually have one, I wanted to include at least one SGM "card" as a Joker and Wild Card seemed the most appropriate

[static vigil]

Oh hell yeah, a peacock alt

Honestly I'd love to make some more as a sort of expansion if you'd be open to an idea like that, I've got some relatively alright pixel art editing skills and I could maybe put a few two cents into general design aspects of cards here and there

even just coming up with the effects would be fun

[haughty sleet]

I do have a handful of future cards conceptualized, but my main concern at the moment is getting all the currently planned content coded

[haughty sleet]

Shoot I missed Annie's birthday, welp here's her Blockbuster

[haughty sleet]

Have uhhh Filia

[fickle badge]

will there be a old dirty sock joker to reference what the new devs said about the old fans?

[haughty sleet]

Not a bad idea for down the road, but there's nothing planned for now

I would like to minimize anything going into the negative aspects and history regarding the fandom or development, but a cheeky nod like that is fine. Sort of an "if you know you know" deal.

This is meant to be a celebration of Skullgirls, and dragging too much of that in would drag the whole thing down

[fickle badge]

that's really the only thing making fun of Skullgirls that I have in mind for the mod.

[haughty sleet]

Yeah yeah I gotcha. Trust me, if I wanted to go that route there's fertile ground.

[fickle badge]

if there isn't already a Double Joker why not have it be that "Once a blind is selected she transforms into a copy of one of the other jokers you have in the run." and then detransforms once the blind is done.

[haughty sleet]

Each fighter already has a Joker with a planned effect, including Double. Her effect is specifically tied to The Skull Heart

[sonic crypt]

I’m following ts

Peak game on peak game

[sonic crypt]

Brah, is anybody coding this?

[haughty sleet]

We have some coding done, but not enough to go public really, and things have hit a bit of a hiatus. I've been experimenting with Joker Forge as well to help things along but I think I'm starting to hit the wall with it. I am still looking for anyone willing to pitch in on that department!

[sonic crypt]

How do you feel about turning Death Wish into a Legendary

[haughty sleet]

🤔 That does give me an idea. Doing legendaries (or pseudo-legendaries) based on one Diamond variant for each fighter

I'd just have to come up with decent effects

[sonic crypt]

Mine is literally just dream catcher peacock’s ability

[haughty sleet]

I was looking at Dream Catcher for Peacock's Diamond joker too lol

[static vigil]

yeah I was actually gonna plan doing this for my mod too lmfao

relating to the legendaries

although alternate-transcendent is beyond legendary

Honestly I wish I could learn lua some more because this would be so easy if I could come up with transferring all the buffs from SGM to balatro

I know I can't code it but honestly I could see this kinda having a HUD in the same vein as like, the runes from Entropy or the Zodiacs from Ortalab

just as an extra special buff

X represents stacks and Y represents duration

[haughty sleet]

very interesting...

My preliminary idea was to have the Diamonds basically just work like, an alternative Legendary (very strong Jokers with an associated Spectral, in this case based on the Relic from SGM, or maybe Theonite)

[static vigil]

Or cabinet

that or tribute

[haughty sleet]

Cabinet's only real visual representation would be Taliesin, and if I make a joker using him I'd like it to do something with Jacks (considering he's the Jack of the Cirques des Cartes)

[haughty sleet]

I forgot about the little box lol

thinkering with Diamond effect ideas. I would like them to be vaguely adjacent to their SGM counterparts

[static vigil]

Knuckle Sandvich seems kinda ass even if 5 xmult is a lot

[haughty sleet]

Heavy Handed is kind of ass in SGM so it fits lol

[static vigil]

I was gonna say!!!

[haughty sleet]

Favorite Diamond Cerebella but yeah she does not have great Diamonds in general

[static vigil]

I think if you wanted it to be not-ass it could be like, she gains XMult for each hand played but spends that mult when on the rightmost slot

[static vigil]

arguably her golds are the best variants for her lol

[haughty sleet]

So like, if she's in anything but rightmost she charges her xmult each hand but doesn't use it, and then when she's in right she uses it for one hand but resets it after?

[static vigil]

yeah

[haughty sleet]

interesting! I think I'll use that!

[static vigil]

syncs up with her charge attack gimmick and not being able to do anything except use the charge attack stack

I'm sure its probably very obvious but I imagine double's variant is gonna be heart of darkness or jawbreaker

[haughty sleet]

HoD yeah

It'll probably like, Brainstorm but with rightmost.

Or Left Blueprint

one of the two

I think giving Heavy Handed a base of x2 Mult works, considering IIRC it's got the single highest base ATK of any fighter in SGM

Actually I think I got something more interesting for HoD

So like, it essentially becomes a copy of the Joker to the left, and then you can move it around freely and keep that effect and Edition

at least until the round ends. it won't be able to gain an edition otherwise and it won't copy Negative jokers

(As a bit of visual flavor I could have it copy the element and border coloration if it copies a Diamond joker)

[static vigil]

or just the background cuz thats what the effect usually does when that happens

I don't think you can view a full card during battle, but you can see the element change the background on transmuted doubles

[haughty sleet]

Ye, but I figure I'd go a step further with it considering the card is fully visible here

[static vigil]

thats fair

also would be good as a template for anyone who wants to put other diamonds in

like I know dream catcher is the obvious one to choose but I wanna make my own freeze frame dammit

[haughty sleet]

lol

my choices for diamond reps are mostly down to personal preference but there's a few meta ones like Model Leader and Death Wish

(I despise Model Leader lol)

[static vigil]

Model Leader my beloathed ❤️

thanks permanent auto-block I'm definitely having a great time getting my combos nullified by a character that ALREADY HAS ENOUGH SUPPORT FOR HER ELEMENT

[haughty sleet]

row 2

might adjust Assassin's Greed to 10%, 25% might be too much

[haughty sleet]

Cheating a bit with Brass Bandit but the effect seems appropriate for a Wario-themed variant

[static vigil]

Could be like, it raises the blind requirement by +2% when buying an item at the shop but you regain your money that you spent in that shop and also add the spent cash amount to the Joker's mult or something

cuz of like, his whole deal of stealing treasures

and then getting attacked by a boss or dealing with a time limit

[haughty sleet]

makes sense but it also seems a bit complicated

[static vigil]

Well it could be

Booster Packs in the shop are free.
When spending money in the shop, +2% for each $1 spent to the next blind's requirement. At the end of round, regain any money you spent at the previous shop and add it as XMult / 10.

[sonic crypt]

Wario from Cryptid:

You should also have brain drain to do some funky shi

[sonic crypt]

All Booster Packs prices are instead negative priced.

[static vigil]

Ehhh I don't know abt that

[sonic crypt]

What is the name of Sans Marie variant

[haughty sleet]

Megalomania

[haughty sleet]

big hand for big band

[fickle badge]

Big Band is a big boy

[sonic crypt]

Is this a joker or a consumable?

[haughty sleet]

This is a Blockbuster, a new type of consumable that's charged by winning rounds

Under normal circumstances it's two rounds/level

[sonic crypt]

I’m guessing these consumables can work multiple times and can’t be destroyed?

[haughty sleet]

They're one-time use

[sonic crypt]

They can be bought?

[haughty sleet]

Yep! Bought either from packs or directly from the store with the Seven Year Cycle voucher

There's also a seal that grants them from held cards

[static vigil]

would this not make more sense if it was instead a move relic

cuz I feel like seven year cycle could be saved for something more related to the skull heart imo (but its up to you just throwing ideas out)

[sonic crypt]

No, that should be the pack

What if Skullatro had a Diamond Relic

[haughty sleet]

It's mostly just for the sake of having the basic and stronger voucher like a lot of the base game ones, it's the only voucher currently planned

[static vigil]

fair enough

I guess I was mostly just suggesting it because I felt like skull heart voucher could've been for another effect that has more connections to it being an artifact n whatnot

maybe like empowering a certain card to make it not have a downside

[haughty sleet]

I also have the Blockbuster packs already done, but I've been thinking of re-doing them (these were made when the original Blockbusters didn't exactly have much artwork to go off of, so they recycled the character portraits used in the basic fighter jokers)

Premier packs are Buffoon packs specifically for Skullatro Jokers btw

[static vigil]

LONESOME LENNNY!!!!!!

[sonic crypt]

Is there a Diamond Relic of sorts?

[haughty sleet]

The Skull Heart kinda shows up all over the place in the mod, there's a Spectral that has it on there, but its central appearance is in the Legendary Joker obtained through specific means

[static vigil]

ah thats also fair enough

[sonic crypt]

I’m guessing Marie is somehow involved with this.

[haughty sleet]

Not at the moment, there is a set of pseudo-Legendaries I have ideas for (Diamond rarity) and they may be tied to a Diamond Relic though

[sonic crypt]

Would think it’s somehow similar to the soul consumable

[haughty sleet]

Its tied to her main Joker's unlock condition (as well as her Blockbuster)

[sonic crypt]

Marie is a legendary?

[haughty sleet]

Nah, Rare, she's just locked from the start.

[sonic crypt]

Imagine cross-mod compatibility with my mod. (Mod contains Dream Catcher Peacock Joker)

[haughty sleet]

The Skull Heart is actually obtained by way of Sister Agatha.

[sonic crypt]

Who are the goddesses again

[haughty sleet]

Aeon, Venus, and The Great Mother. They all have tarot cards associated with them but the art isn't finished for them yet

[sonic crypt]

Aeon and Venus, aren’t those the two women in the “roguelite” game mode for mobile

[haughty sleet]

(Queen of Cups, Swords, and Pentacles respectfully. And yes there is a fourth for the Queen of Wands)

[haughty sleet]

https://skullgirls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Trinity that's them yeah, more lore on them here

[sonic crypt]

What’s new?

[sonic crypt]

I’m still waiting

I ain’t given up on this mod yet

[timber field]

There so much to this mod really hope I see it release

[haughty sleet]

I think I should probably just state that things are kind of on indefinite hiatus, coding hasn't really gotten anywhere and I've had too many other responsibilities to really get anywhere with it.

[timber field]

Damn really this was looking so fire

[haughty sleet]

https://vxtwitter.com/i/status/2000272065795141844
Not an update but I figure this was the spot to share the most unreal Parasoul slander I've ever seen

MaltSalt || Eliza's Wife (@SaltAndSpice_)

made this wonderful video about parasoul #skullgirls

▶ Play video

vxTwitter / fixvx · Dec 14, 2025, 6:29 PM

[sonic crypt]

MY GOAT PEACOCK

Also Black Dahlia could be there, she move real mad like Dio or King Von

[static vigil]

black dahlia only has offscreen feats I fear though

ight black dahlia you waste an entire party full of the conitellos who didn't even know shit was about to go down but you lost to TWO reincarnations of the skull girl 😭💔 🥀 ur ass is cooked you need story mode plot armor to win 😭

[sonic crypt]

Ok maybe peacock has black Air Force energy

[sonic crypt]

Hmm

[fickle badge]

If this has support for Pokermon's Shiny then the character jokers should have an alternate pallete.

I.e. Shiny Big Band would be the King Dedede palette.

[sonic crypt]

I need criticism

On my marie joker

[haughty sleet]

I would move her eyes and nose one pixel down

or move her mouth up

[haughty sleet]

I'd like to announce that I've released a scaled back, in-development version of Skullatro created using Joker Forge. If you're interested in helping to test and troubleshoot the mod, you can check out the thread over in the Joker Forge server

(Link to the server here)