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City of Balls Was the Original Title — And Somehow, Ball X Pit Got Even Weirder From There
Ball X Pit is the latest obsession to grip gamers, a chaotic roguelite that mashes together the mechanics of games like Peggle, Diablo and Vampire Survivors to make something that's impossible to characterize, but is dangerously playable. Somehow it's the work of one man, Kenny Sun, a game developer from Brooklyn, NY who loves games like Vampire Survivors, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor and Blotch Arrow. We spoke to Sun to first of all, confirm how the hell we say the Ball x Pit out loud, and then to talk about how he created this moreish Frankenstein's monster of a game.
"It’s Ball Pit. Just Ball Pit. There’s no X," explains Sun. "It’s mostly a tribute to anime like Phantom Hunter. Also, X can mean fusion, which ties into the game’s theme." He also reveals that when he first had to choose a game name for Steam, it was City of Balls.
"It started when I played a mobile brick-breaker roguelite a few years ago. I got hooked but didn’t like all the free-to-play elements. So I wanted to make a version without that — a buy-once experience. From there, it evolved through tons of iteration," Sun says, explaining the game's origin, and why he settled on building a farm as a key part of progressing through the game.
"I wanted something more visual and personal than just menus — something with identity. I liked the idea of little characters bouncing around a base. Plus, I did base-building in my last game, so it wasn’t a huge leap."
Some ideas didn't make the cut, but Sun hinted that at least a few could come back with updates to the game.
"I try not to waste work, so most ideas make it in. But one was a magma ball that left lava trails enemies would take damage from — once the game started scrolling, it didn’t make sense visually, so we cut it," he says, as for something we could see one day.
"I cut a pet system — you could bring pets into levels and they’d gain XP. It was fun but too much on top of character progression. There was even a monkey that jumped on enemies."
And Sun has already been making updates, listening to feedback from players and tweaking the mechanics to make quality of life improvements. "Hitboxes were misaligned, so I redid them. And I added luck protection for fishing — players didn’t like getting too many bad rolls in a row."
If you haven't played Ball X Pit yet (and you really should) we asked Sun for his top tip to give you a head start.
"Aim for the back of the board so the balls ricochet around — that’s key for damage," he advises. His personal favorite combo? "I like hemorrhage builds — combine it with area-of-effect stuff like lightning or ghost. Flash hits everything on screen."
His favorite villager? "The one whose balls bounce off the back. I love chaotic screens. Combine him with Cohabitants for double the balls — it’s wild."
Ball X Pit is out now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X and S, with a Nintendo 2 version on its way soon. As for future updates?
"I can say there’s more coming, but not what exactly," teases Sun. "The game’s done really well, and it feels right to give players a bit more."
Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3.
