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When a video game becomes a huge success right out of the gate, sometimes things can get weird—like weird glitches in communication with the audience or problems in the code causing a large number of players to abandon the experience. Fortunately, for Joker, the popular poker-style roguelike game currently available on Steam and modern consoles, everything is going smoothly. Players are drawing cards, buying Joker cards, and achieving incredibly high scores. But that doesn't mean the game's indie developer LocalThunk is resting on its laurels.

On Wednesday, LocalThunk announced that the "first major gameplay update" for Joker will be released sometime in 2025. While we still don't know what the update will be, we did learn a little bit about LocalThunk's process for making it. Players shouldn't expect it to feel like a sequel. Likewise, there won't be a big button on the main menu with the option to choose between "New Joker" and "Old Joker." It's still the same game, with the same front end. However, LocalThunk says it will feel much bigger than the game that ships in February 2024.

"It won't be fundamentally different," LocalThunk said. "You'll still play the Joker. I don't want this game to become two games and then one day suddenly switch."

He continued: "I still have a very strong vision. So I'm just trying to expand that vision to what I think are the logical boundaries, rather than moving into different types of games that I like. I'm definitely thinking more about filling the design space that currently exists and then expanding that design space in interesting directions that I think people will enjoy."

Will there be more Joker cards in the game? Yes, there will be. Maybe we'll even see them before next year. The game's official account also teased "two surprises" coming later this summer. But LocalThunk wants players to understand that all of these additional features and tweaks added to Joker will be completely free - guaranteed.

"People will start playing again. They'll bring new players. That might sell more copies," LocalThunk said. "Who knows? But I think the first point is the most important to me, and I think it fits the whole spirit of this game: I would never want to put microtransactions or anything like that in a game."

Players clearly like this spirit, bringing the game's revenue to about $20 million. As for the future of Joker, LocalThunk said he is ready to continue developing the game in the next few years. But having fun at work will be the key to his continued involvement in the project.

"I've been making games for 10 years, always after college or after work," LocalThunk said. "It was a hobby. Then suddenly one day, it became my job, and there were no more restrictions. There was a period where I was working 12 or 14 hours a day, and my health started to deteriorate. It was definitely not sustainable."

The experience of coming close to burnout, but not quite crossing that line, gave LocalThunk a different perspective.

“If I don’t enjoy it anymore, I won’t continue to do it. I think that’s a reasonable expectation [for creators],” LocalThunk said. “If I hate it, I won’t continue to work on it, otherwise it won’t end well.”

What about the upcoming mobile version of Joker? LocalThunk confirmed that it is still in development. He said that players can expect notifications from official social media and direct feedback through the official Discord.