Meet the Solo Dev who created Ball x Pit

Ball Somehow this is the work of one man, Kenny Sun, a game developer from Brooklyn, New York, who loves games like Vampire Survivor, Deep Rock Galaxy Survivor, and Spotted Arrow. We first caught up with Sun to find out how exactly we say “Ball x Pit” out loud, and then discuss how he created this even more Frankenstein's monster-like game.

“This is Ball Pit. Just Ball Pit. No X,” Sun explained. “It's mainly a homage to anime like Phantom Hunters. Additionally,

“It all started when I played a mobile Arkanoid Roguelite game a few years ago. I was hooked, but didn't like all the free elements. So I wanted to make a version without those elements – a one-time purchase experience. Since then, it's evolved through a lot of iterations,” Sun explains of the game's origins, and why he decided to build a farm as a key part of the game's progression.

“I wanted something more intuitive and personal than menus – something with an identity. I liked the idea of ​​little characters bouncing around the base. Plus, I had done base building in the last game, so it wasn't a huge leap.”

Some ideas didn't make the cut, but Sun hinted that at least some could come back with updates to the game.

“I tried not to waste work, so most of the ideas were adopted. But one of them was a magma ball that left a trail of lava that enemies would take damage from – it just didn't make sense visually once the game started rolling, so we cut it out,” he said of what we might one day see.

“I removed a pet system – you could bring pets into levels and they would gain experience points. It was fun, but went beyond character development. There was even a monkey that would jump on enemies.”

Sun is already making updates, listening to player feedback and tweaking mechanics to improve quality of life. “The hitboxes were misaligned, so I redesigned them. I also added luck protection to fishing – players don't like getting too many bad results in a row.”

If you haven't played Ball X Pit yet (and you really should), we asked Sun for his top tips to get you ahead of the game.

“Aim for the back of the board so the ball bounces – this is key to causing damage,” he advises. His personal favorite combination? “I love the bleed build – combine it with area effect stuff like lightning or ghosts. The flash hits everything on the screen.”

His favorite villager? “The guy where the ball bounces off the back. I love the chaos screen. Combine him with the cohabitant and the ball doubles – it's crazy.”

Ball X Pit is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X and S, with a Nintendo 2 version coming soon. As for future updates?

“I can tell there's more going on, but I don't know what,” Sun teased. “The game is very well done and it feels right to give players more.”

Rachel Weber is IGN's Senior Editorial Director of Games and an older millennial. She started her career as a professional nerd in 2006 at the official PlayStation magazine in the UK and has since worked at GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French bulldogs. The unwanted wrinkles on her face are caused by being time blind and staying up late to complete every side quest in role-playing games like Fallout and The Witcher 3.