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Edgar Pau is the Head of Studio for Red Desert Games. He says that mechanics are crucial to the success of slot games, but they must also work in harmony.
Is game mechanics most important for studios?
Studio must be able to deliver the entire package. While mechanics is a key component, they also need to nail theme, maths, art, sound, and UX. They must then combine all of these factors in a manner that will immerse players in the game. The game will not be a success if only one aspect is implemented. You need to know what the mechanic is, what it does to differentiate the game, and what makes it interesting for the players. The math model must be able to accommodate the mechanic. If the math model causes the mechanic to appear too often (or infrequently), it could dilute its influence and value and cause players’ reactions.
Does mechanics give studios the most room to innovate and differentiate themselves from their competitors?
Online slot machines are a highly competitive market, with new studios joining the fray every month. In the absence of well-known land-based games that players are familiar with, the mechanics provide the best way to stand out and connect with online players. To get an edge on their competitors, some studios use hybrid themes or licenses. But for me, the mechanics help create the studio’s own identity. In recent years, the mechanics have changed the landscape of both land-based slot machines and online slots. Lightning Link by Aristocrat is one example. Megaways by Big Time Gaming is another. Many studios spend a lot of time and money developing their own proprietary mechanics, before filing trademarks for their IP.
Does this pose a challenge for studios?
Definitely. It’s not a science and a mechanic that you thought was great and would be popular with players may fall short. It can be difficult to think of a new concept and decide how far you want to take it. Do you introduce something completely new or do incremental improvements to something that has been tried and tested? Some of the mechanics that I’ve seen are way too ambitious, and they make huge leaps in technology. The studio deserves credit for its boldness and courage, but players prefer familiarity. They are unwilling to invest time and money in learning a complex mechanic, or to stick with a familiar one that, at first, seems familiar, but moves away from what they enjoy. It’s important for studios to do thorough market research to understand what players want and to keep asking if they will enjoy the mechanics they develop.
How does Red Desert Games approach mechanics? How do you make sure your games are what the players want?
Red Desert Games is a team of slot players. This helps us to understand what players want from the next generation slot games. We have always had open discussions and share pictures and videos of games and mechanics that we liked. We also try not to go too far. Our approach is to incrementally innovate on existing things, such as symbols, reel strips, reel structures, gameplay, or other variables, rather than reinventing them. Our definition of a’mechanic’ is quite broad.
To deliver what players want, it is important to identify the segment of player base that you’re trying to reach. It’s impossible to please everyone, as certain things that different groups of players want are mutually incompatible. We then run the initial math model on our proprietary simulator, where we can change parameters and simulate tens or millions of spins. This gives us an insight into how a session might look from a players point of view.
We are also extremely critical of our own games. We ask ourselves what we would do if it were us playing the game. We have even shelved or reworked games that were 90% of the way through production. These were all learning experiences, and we have implemented processes and stopped checks to prevent this from happening again.
Is there more room for a studio to experiment with online than they would have if they were developing for the land-based market? How does your development for both platforms impact the mechanics you use?
100%. Online games are more flexible than land-based ones, especially outside North America. In Australia, for example, there are no metamorphic games allowed on the land-based market. Many of our online titles would also never be permitted in retail casinos. The US is less restrictive but still has requirements that limit studios. In Michigan, the maximum advertised winning must only occur once in every 50 million spins. These land-based regulations are usually carried over to iGaming regulations. You won’t see these restrictions in Europe, Asia, or Latin America. We have teams that make games both for online and land-based. Online doesn’t suffer from this because it is a more flexible market. Our team has an advantage in markets like the U.S. because some of our designers are familiar with regulations and restrictions, and know how to work around these. We can easily adapt the online games so that they comply with the regulations, as the restrictions are the same in both land-based and online.
What are the differences between markets in terms of player preference? What are the biggest differences?
The market varies a lot. It’s not just about the mechanics that are popular, but the types of games, themes, and math preferences. When I examine the U.S. marketplace, it is clear that many of the popular land based mechanics, like hold and spin/cash reels, are also performing well on the internet. Megaways is also popular in the U.S. If you look at markets in Latin America you will see that crash games are popular, or Dragon Tiger by PG Soft, which is a well-made, simple game. I’ve seen markets where some players don’t play the base games and go straight to the purchase feature. Europe is a melting pot of game mechanics, with a wide variety. Megaways, for example, has achieved international success. Megaways has been a huge success, so it’s not surprising that other studios want to create their own trademarked, unique mechanics.
