Shame about the graphics

[kycaver]

Game looks fun, and I'll probably buy it, but I wish they had made even a little bit of effort on the graphics. The pixel, jaggies look kind of makes the game annoying to look at for a long period of time. I am not saying you need Alan Wake 2 level of graphics in a game of this type, but most, say, games like deck builders, even the ones put out by small, independent studios can manage nice looking cards. (I just looked up a little $2.99 game called "Puzzle Poker"on Steam to give an example. It would have been nice to have graphics of this level in Balatro. Shouldn't have been that hard.)

[Punchy]

this is kinda what you end up with when you buy games made by a single person. For better or worse, this is just what the individual's drawings look like. make of it what you will but I think it's a bit unfair to be like "even small games can manage better art" because truly solo-developed games are subject to the limitations of the one person and that's not really something you can just force to be better.

for my money I think it's perfectly fine? it's obviously not incredibly high fidelity or anything but the card art expresses the humour well and the overall aesthetic of playing a slightly dream-like weird video poker machine comes together cohesively. it would never have occurred to me to complain about it, at least.

[Elley]

I completely agree, it needs more anime girls with huge tits.

[Joeynator3000]

But, but anime is bad! Everyone hates anime, or something. lol

[blejd]

Originally posted by kycaver:

Game looks fun, and I'll probably buy it, but I wish they had made even a little bit of effort on the graphics. The pixel, jaggies look kind of makes the game annoying to look at for a long period of time. I am not saying you need Alan Wake 2 level of graphics in a game of this type, but most, say, games like deck builders, even the ones put out by small, independent studios can manage nice looking cards. (I just looked up a little $2.99 game called "Puzzle Poker"on Steam to give an example. It would have been nice to have graphics of this level in Balatro. Shouldn't have been that hard.)

I also thought the game has a very rough rendering and I found it difficult to read on the Steam Deck, so I fixed it - https://github.com/bladeSk/readabletro

[Painstar]

Yeah, not pixelated graphics would be perfect, there should be option for changing it. Would be so smooth, cause those pixelated texts sometimes it can strain the eyes too much, especially when someone plays the game on like half of the monitor. Especially that some parts of the trailer and main picture in the game's page are not pixelated.

[Painstar]

Originally posted by DopaTrain:

The graphics are a big part of what makes it popular. If this had the graphics from Hoyle table games nobody would be playing it. The game is great but the audio sensory stimulation from the graphic and sound design make it even more subconsciously appealing.

We're talking about pixelization, not design. If there was a option for turning pixelization off it would be amazing and some people would like it. Freedom of choice is always the best option.

[Painstar]

Originally posted by Shadowlet:

It's crazy how no one mentioned that you can disable the CRT filter in-game.

It still remains pixelated.

[Painstar]

Originally posted by Joeynator3000:

...People complaining about "bad graphics" in a freakin' poker game...lol

Pixelization strains the eyes too much, especially that it eats you alive and you spend many hours looking at it.

[Painstar]

Originally posted by blejd:

Originally posted by kycaver:

Game looks fun, and I'll probably buy it, but I wish they had made even a little bit of effort on the graphics. The pixel, jaggies look kind of makes the game annoying to look at for a long period of time. I am not saying you need Alan Wake 2 level of graphics in a game of this type, but most, say, games like deck builders, even the ones put out by small, independent studios can manage nice looking cards. (I just looked up a little $2.99 game called "Puzzle Poker"on Steam to give an example. It would have been nice to have graphics of this level in Balatro. Shouldn't have been that hard.)

I also thought the game has a very rough rendering and I found it difficult to read on the Steam Deck, so I fixed it - https://github.com/bladeSk/readabletro

Holly sh*t! That's what I'm talking about! Game author should implement it! Thanky you for making my addiction more pleasurable :D edit: Is it possible to get rid of background and start screen title pixelization as well? :P

[Llama_Over_Lord_3]

My brother in christ the visual direction and level of polish of this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AAA quality and better.

[51ST NEVER EVER]

Someone never grew up with an Atari 2600 or a purple CGA monitor.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I like the retro feel.

I agree though that if they wanted they could add a feature in the options to change graphic styles.

[blejd]

Originally posted by Spaced_Cow:

Someone never grew up with an Atari 2600 or a purple CGA monitor.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I like the retro feel.

I agree though that if they wanted they could add a feature in the options to change graphic styles.

If you grew up with an Atari or a CGA monitor, you'd surely know each pixel was evenly sized. Balatro rotates and scales graphics arbitrarily, with non-integer values and uses a font, which has bitmaps traced with vectors. That's why it's so poorly readable on smaller resolutions. If you're playing on a 4K monitor, it's more or less fine, but it's a mess on smaller screens like the Steam Deck.

[Godhand]

Stop defending the game. People may trash the graphics if they think it looks ugly, then they think it looks ugly. It doesn't matter how it's phrased. When someone says the graphics are bad, they usually don't mean it objectively.

I personally like the artstyle, some cards definitely look higher quality imo.
I gotta say the legendary jokers look weak. Honestly there are jokers which are even animated like the hologram but the legendaries look so bland in comparison.
If anything, the legendaries should be the cards looking more detailed and animated. They don't look bad but they don't give me the legendary vibe at all. (Heck, even the Soul Spectral Card is animated)

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Godhand:

Stop defending the game. People may trash the graphics if they think it looks ugly, then they think it looks ugly. It doesn't matter how it's phrased. When someone says the graphics are bad, they usually don't mean it objectively.

"The graphics are bad" is very much an objective statement. If they wanted to say they subjectively dislike the graphics, the correct phrase would be something like "I don't like the graphics". So they either need to learn to not make objective statements when they don't mean something objectively, or else they deserve to get laughed at for saying dumb things.

The thing about the legendary jokers is that the joker/jester/clown depicted on them is legendary. As in, an actual legend, either an actual historical figure famous enough to still be known or a fictional one from a story that still get told. With the space on the cards, depicting them in some epic scene is going to be hard, so it makes more sense to depict them the same way any other joker/jester/clown is depicted: a bust. They do get a special 3D effect and are the only cards without a border though, which is in line with collectible cards having special edition cards without the usual card design, instead having the artwork take up the full card and drawing textboxes over it.

[51ST NEVER EVER]

Originally posted by blejd:

Originally posted by Spaced_Cow:

Someone never grew up with an Atari 2600 or a purple CGA monitor.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I like the retro feel.

I agree though that if they wanted they could add a feature in the options to change graphic styles.

If you grew up with an Atari or a CGA monitor, you'd surely know each pixel was evenly sized. Balatro rotates and scales graphics arbitrarily, with non-integer values and uses a font, which has bitmaps traced with vectors. That's why it's so poorly readable on smaller resolutions. If you're playing on a 4K monitor, it's more or less fine, but it's a mess on smaller screens like the Steam Deck.

Maybe a mess on steamdeck, but more than fine on a 1080p. It has the retro feel and look which allot of gamers are into. Especially older gamers as it brings back some nostalgia about the good old days when games were actually fun to play and not just a sh!t show of pretty particles.