Czech couple's indie game catches the eye of Balatro's creators

A Czech couple, Daniela and Jakub Pernes, with no professional experience in game development, created the video game Feed the Scorchpot — and unexpectedly caught the attention of the publishers behind the cult hit Balatro, which has earned its creators more than a billion crowns and three The Game Awards, gaming's equivalent of the Oscars.

The Pernes couple's game launches today on Steam for 15 euros, but buyers will be able to get it bundled with Balatro at a discount — a discount that applies even to those who already own the phenomenon. For a small independent studio from Czechia, this is an enormous stroke of luck and free advertising. “It's not a guarantee of success, but I still see it as an incredibly positive review,” says Jakub Pernes.

The collaboration began by chance: the couple were in talks with other publishers about entering the Asian market — thanks to which the game will be released in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. It was through these contacts that Playstack, the company that brought Balatro to the global market, learned about Feed the Scorchpot. “It was such a chain of coincidences that it's hard to believe,” Pernes recalls. Once they got a signal of interest, the couple quickly sent over a demo — and the result wasn't long in coming.

Jakub Pernes trained as a historian and media specialist, worked at the museum in Blansko, and later became a freelance graphic designer and editor. His wife Daniela works at the same museum as an art teacher. Together they had already created a board game, “The Secret of Býkova Skála,” but decided not to pursue that direction seriously because of the financial risks. The idea for a video game came later: “Before that, I'd never even seen programming from a distance, but I dove in headfirst — and couldn't stop,” Jakub says.

The couple spent about a year and a half working on Feed the Scorchpot, in which players must feed a ravenous dragon, with Jakub developing the game during his parental leave. He took on design and programming, while Daniela handled the art direction with hand-drawn graphics. So far the game is showing promising results: its Steam wishlist has already topped 12,000 additions, and the demo is getting high ratings and notably long play times.