According to "The Balatro Timeline," a chronological history of Balatro published by the game's creator LocalThunk, the well-known roguelike streamer Northernlion is partially responsible for some of the creative inspiration behind the game.
Northernlion is an avid roguelike player, originally rising to prominence as an entertaining Binding of Isaac player. He continued to explore the roguelike genre, playing Balatro religiously when it was released last year. As it turns out, LocalThunk derived inspiration for Balatro while watching a Northernlion stream of the roguelike deck builder Luck be a Landlord.
"Earlier in December, I was watching videos of Luck Be a Landlord from Northernlion," LocalThunk wrote. "The whole score attack concept really fuelled the direction I wanted to go with this game from this point onward." Luck Be a Landlord from TrampolineTales is a combo-based deck builder that LocalThunk has called the "largest influence" on his game.
Later on, LocalThunk released a demo for Balatro which eventually reached the attention of Northernlion, who took to it immediately: "I was in chat watching, totally dumbfounded, that someone I watched on YouTube/Twitch for over a decade at that point was playing my game. I text all my friends about it, they...
