GameDev Breakdown Podcast: The Balatro Story

My odd little connection to the indie card game that set the world ablaze…

It’s been one year since one of my most unusual career events took place.

In this episode I tell the story of how my humble solo indie developer experience left me with an unusual distinction on my resume that led an up-and-coming games publisher called Playstack to approach me about another soloist’s card game. It was the beginning of a real emotional rollercoaster ride that did not at all work out in my favor.

While this type of thing realistically happens all the time in the industry (you’ll have to check out the episode to get the details), it’s worth talking about when people aren’t afforded appropriate professional courtesy–or even basic human decency. While there’s a nuanced debate to be had about how many workload and burnout issues can be avoided in game development, poor interpersonal treatment is free and easy to avoid in its entirety.

Even for purely business and self-interest reasons, it made no sense for the publisher in question to conduct themselves this way (in short: ghosting immediately after approaching me about a job) because, as a game developer, I am part of a group that makes up the bread and butter of their entire business model, let alone that I also happen to have a decent-size content platform and also that they depend on being able to say they’ve made a commitment to “stand alongside developers as a trusted ally.”

Onward and upward, though. I’m still active in development on projects, and it’s just a matter of time before I catch lightning in a bottle of my own.

Guess who’s not going to publish it.

If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown please help with a rating in the podcast app of your choice, reach out on social @GameDevPod, and consider sharing with a friend. Thank you!