The publisher behind Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers has talked about the pressures and boons of launching a blackjack-themed card-based roguelike so close to the poker-themed card-based roguelike smash hit of the year, Balatro.
Yogscast Games publishing director Simon Byron recalled the time when the publisher had just signed Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, something the team thought could be "pretty special," shortly before finding out about another roguelike that was popping off at the same time.
"I looked it up and said, ah f***, and that was when I see it's being published by Playstack," Byron said to GamesRadar+ about Balatro's viral success.
"What would you rather? Would you rather that game is a huge hit? Or would you rather it fails? Which would give you more confidence?" Byron remembered thinking at the time. "I think we benefited from riding in the wake of Balatro and PlayStack's work even though our game was on Steam beforehand."
Hitting Steam a couple months after Balatro might have been a plus but it came with its own challenges, too, according to Byron. "Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers is, yes, it's a casino-based roguelike, but it's a very different game [than Balatro] in terms of dial and structure. And I do think, maybe at some point people expected it to be more Balatro, which it's not. But we've been really, really happy with how it's done."
It probably helped that Degenerate Gamblers' devs Purple Moss Collectors and Balatro creator LocalThunk were already cheering each other on. LocalThunk encouraged everyone to buy and review Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers at launch, while the game was also sold in a bundle featuring Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord. "And it was great," Byron said. "I've worked at a publisher where it's been really insular. It's been them versus the world, right? And it's been really competitive, and that's not the way to be."
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