How online slots are created: stories from Microgaming and Novomatic

The iGaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and is expected to double in revenue by 2030. What makes iGaming and online casinos so popular in the world and among players? There are many reasons for this.

One of the biggest is that manufacturers like Novomatic and Microgaming provide players with countless online casino games.

Slot machines are no exception. Slots are one of the simpler games that differ from each other in many ways, as we will see below.

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Novomatic

Founded in 1980, Novomatic is one of the oldest and largest companies developing $5 slots, gaming software and land-based casinos. Starting as a small company in Austria, today it has grown into an international gambling group with offices in over 50 countries and many subsidiaries including Admiral and Quicksilver, Greentube and Australian company Ainsworth Game Technology.

Novomatic provides software for many online casinos and their games can be described as visually appealing and feature rich. Some of the slots created by the company’s development studio feature innovative design, 3D graphics and an exciting storyline. While the slots in Novomatic’s portfolio are the most impressive games and probably the most recognizable to players, there is also a wide selection of card and table games, video poker, bingo and lottery games.

What makes his products stand out is definitely the bonuses, the unique gameplay and the fact that they are a pleasure to look at. When choosing an online casino, please note that Novomatic is available on several different platforms – Coolfire, NovoLine, Octa-Games and Impera. Line, so some casinos may be represented under these names.

Since most Novomatic games are available in Flash and HTML5, you can play them in your browser without downloading them to your computer. The instant play format allows players to enjoy Novomatic games on any modern mobile device, as well as on all operating systems.

microgaming

In the online gaming industry for over 25 years, Microgaming created the first online casino software in 1994. Then, about 15 years ago, this first-class software provider also created the first mobile casino platform.

The company is headquartered on the Isle of Man, employs hundreds of people around the world and operates in a number of regulated markets. Even though Microgaming does not focus on prizes, it has several world-class awards to back its success. The company is also very committed to innovation and diversity. Some of Microgaming’s most prestigious awards include:

• IGA Innovator of the Year 2016
• EGR innovations in slots 2019.
• IGA Software Provider for iGaming Industry 2018
• 2017 IGA Mobile Product of the Year

Behind the scenes of development: Creating an idea

Development does not start with the developers: first comes the idea. To ensure the success of the concept, research, market analysis and planning are carried out. When the process is well established, the mind map is most often used:

• A central concept is created – the theme of the slot, which will serve as a starting point.
• The features and functions are considered – at the discussion stage, the number of reels, paylines, bonus rounds in a potential game is determined.
• Technologies are being introduced – creating slots for new platforms helps to expand the audience. Recently, providers have been developing the VR direction.

A systematic approach allows you to create a slot production pipeline. But it also crashes from time to time – for new players, the difference between the new and the previous game is not so noticeable.

prototyping

When you are convinced of the viability of the idea, you send it for development. The following tools are used to create a working prototype:

• framing. The software is suitable for ordinary users who do not know anything about programming.
• Marvel. Tool for creating animation. It supports JPG, GIF, PSD formats and allows you to download images from various storages such as Google Drive.
• Invision It’s an alternative to Marvel. This program will be useful to everyone who works with Photoshop.
• proto.io. It is a tool for prototyping game interfaces. No programming skills are required. Game designers and UX experts will be happy to use it.
• Unity. A popular engine for creating slots, mobile applications and computer games.

writing code

To create a full-fledged game, you will need knowledge of programming languages. The most used tools are here.

• HTML5. About 70% of slots are based on this language.
• Angular. An open source platform for building Single Page Applications.
• js node. The server part responsible for calculations, functions, etc.
• Vert.x. An alternative to NodeJS.
• vuejs. Another platform for creating single page applications with support for many features.
• MongoBD. Database for collecting and processing information about rates in online games. The information obtained is used to further maintain the slot and create new slots.

Test

The final code consists of hundreds of lines containing errors. Bugs are unlikely to please gamers, so most of them are fixed before the official release. To finalize the slot goes through several stages of testing:

• Combinatorics. Run the machine several times with different settings. The tester sets a different number of paylines, changes the bet size, etc.
• Functional. Payment gateway testing and specification compliance.
• cross-platform. Run the machine on different devices with different settings.
• Regression. Reboot device after clearing errors. Testers should repeat the previous three steps.
• load test. Infrastructure and operational testing with hundreds of devices running simultaneously.
• Games. Final evaluation and analysis of first impressions. Sometimes a focus group is given space for beta testing.

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