This is a vast subject! When online casinos came aboard, there were just a few casino software providers. Today there are hundreds at least! Slots Play Casinos has reviewed a few casino software providers. Here we would like to talk about the elements that make a provider top grade or less.
How Big Are the Creative Teams?
All online casinos should want a new slot every month. All of the casinos we have reviewed get a new slot every month! Gamers expect a new slot every month as the newness attracts them to play!
While game providers concentrate their efforts on providing a new slot every month, they also have to be aware of developments in software that they can apply to other games such as table games, video poker, and casual games.
One team alone cannot develop a new slot that grabs gamers interest every month. So, a good online casino game provider has to have several teams working on a single new slot or a group of new slots at the same time.
What Do the Teams Do as a Group?
First, the teams have to decide on the general theme for the next few months’ new slots. There would be thousands of unhappy gamers if the provider brought out slots in consecutive months with the same theme.
There are literally hundreds of themes game providers can use for slots so this mistake should never happen. Still, without the formal coordination between creative teams that kind of mistake would inevitably happen!
Graphics and Animation Rule Online Slots
The teams also have to agree on the general outline of the characters and symbols they will use in the next few months’ slots. Even two slots with quite different themes could have characters that look similar. Coordination among teams avoids this own goal.
The wild symbol in slots has taken on a life of its own. Where once the wild symbol was mostly like a wild card in card games, today, with the advent of great animation, the wild symbols can do many things. Such as:
- Stacked wilds.
- Sticky wilds.
- Expanding wilds.
- Moving wilds.
- Multiplier wilds.
- Exploding wilds.
Once again, coordination among teams prevents the mistake of having the wild symbol do the same thing two months running.
Every game provider will decide how big a team should be for developing a new slot. A team will usually have at least 10 members and some might have more than 20 people.
What Do the Teams Do Individually
After teams have coordinated the general outline of a few month’s slots, each team goes to its area of the office and begins the really hard work of developing a new slot!
By the way, if a game provider has a few teams working at the same time, they have to have a big office! The rooms where the creative teams work cannot be cramped. Designers need room for a few people to gather around a single sketch board to work out the details of just one character.
Vibrant Colors or Dark, Moody Backgrounds
A quasi-military slot will probably have a dark color scheme but a more joyful slot will go all out for bright, cheery colors. A team has to be careful in how they select either the dark color scheme or the cheery colors.
A slot that is too dark will turn off most gamers and a chart that is gooey in its colors might do the same.
Demographics of Online Slots Gamers
These days the life expectancy at age 70 is about 90! That’s a lot of years playing online casino games! So, slots also have to reflect demographics. Gamers fall into many demographic categories and a good game provider has to have its finger on the times to know which demographic to develop games for.
Game Providers Are in a Quandary with Land-based Casinos
An aspect of the entire game development market is that online casinos and land-based casinos have different needs from game developers. A land-based casino has one blackjack table (or possibly two) so they don’t need to have their providers keeping track of software and technological improvements for digital blackjack games.
A land-based casino cannot have as many blackjack tables as an online casino can have variations of blackjack. Once again, a land-based casino has no need for a game developer to look to creating new or better ways to vary the rules and game play in games of 21.
Double Exposure Blackjack is a good example of this problem for land-based casinos and game providers. Someone had the idea to have a blackjack variation with both of the dealer’s cards exposed! A land-based casino will not likely have enough room for a table for this variation of blackjack. But an online casino can accept this variation into its library of games.
So, the game developer has to figure out the rules for this variation in which the house retains an edge and the gamers feel that they have good enough chances to win so they play the game. Keep in mind that the house edge in online blackjack where the gamer plays every hand according to the best strategy is very small, only about 0.5%.
So, if the house edge is too big in Double Exposure Blackjack, gamers simply won’t play it! In short, a game provider has to devote a team to create this new game. The land-based casino that wants to partner with that game provider has no need for a team dedicated to Double Exposure Blackjack!
Land-based Casino Demands on Casino Game Providers
In blackjack, which is played at tables at land-based casinos, the casinos make no demands on game providers. That many land-based casinos pay only 6-5 for a blackjack has nothing to do with the provider. It does, however, have a lot to do with players so we here at Slots Play Casinos say once again, DO NOT PLAY 6-5 BLACKJACK!
Video Poker is a Different Story
Many land-based casinos now pay only 8-5 or 7-5 for a full house or a flush in video poker. All of the top online casinos and all of the casinos we recommend pay 9-6. This means that the game provider has to develop two sets of software for video poker, one that pays less to deliver to land-based casinos and one to pay more, that is, 9-6 for online casinos.
Slots Play Casinos Has its Finger on the Gaming World’s Pulse
Just as game providers have a lot to keep track of and devote entire teams to doing so in many areas, Slots Play Casinos has teams that scour the online casino niche for news and new developments. These we report back to you, our readers.
For up-to-date information on all aspects of online casino gaming…
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