The business of designing and releasing games for online casino platforms is an involved process. It requires a number of different stakeholders to come together, and for many platforms and developers, a consistent release schedule is absolutely crucial to remaining relevant among their customer base.
Online casino gaming has developed into a globe-spanning industry, with a huge range of platform providers, software developers and games counted within its ecosystem. For players, all that they see is typically the finished software products and polished user interfaces of modern online casino platforms, but none of that springs out of the ground fully formed.
The creation of online casino products is a process that involves creative conceptual design, mathematical modelling, software engineering, commercial planning and extensive testing.
The development of an online casino game requires the collaborative effort of a number of different stakeholders. Long before a game is released on an online casino platform like JackpotCity, it must be conceptualised, and the developers have to go through the long process of aligning with regulatory requirements, balancing the entertainment value, ensuring the technical performance is good and ensuring the game will be commercially viable. Let’s examine exactly what that process typically consists of.
The Beginning of Online Casino Game Development
The development of most online casino games for platforms like JackpotCity starts with some sort of initial concept. A software development studio will be on the lookout for any ideas that they think could feasibly translate into a fun or engaging digital experience. This can include themes, gameplay mechanics, or even a focus on a specific audience or demand in the market as the starting point.
At this initial conceptual phase, doing research in the market is usually relatively valuable. It’s no good coming up with a concept that already exists in five different ways; it’s much better if a concept has only been explored lightly, or not at all. Market research can consist of examining other product releases, acquiring feedback from players and analysing trends in the industry as a whole.
Once an idea or concept has been hit upon, people on the development team begin to design and manage the project in more detail, creating a more concrete plan around the initial concept. This usually includes first-concept art, a description of how gameplay and mechanics should function, the specific technical requirements that the game is likely to have, and the sort of timeline that production should take.
What Sort of Teams Work on Development of Online Casino Games?
Creation of an online casino game for a modern online casino platform like JackpotCity is unlikely to be done by just a single person; it usually involves a range of people across different teams all working together. Every software development studio has its internal structure arranged differently, but some common project teams can include programmers, designers, mathematicians, artists, quality assurance and sound design specialists.
Game designers focus on what the experience of playing the game will feel like and be like. This includes the development of any rules, bonus features, the overall structure, and any mechanics that the game uses.
The animators and artists are responsible for the visual identity that a game has. This means they create all the backgrounds, characters, symbols and animations that are present in a game. At the same time, the sound specialists will work on ensuring that those visual elements are paired with relevant sounds and audio effects that heighten or support the visual atmosphere that the game is providing.
Software developers are then able to bring these different elements together by building the underlying systems that connect them with the mechanics of the game. Mathematicians are responsible for ensuring that the game functions as intended in terms of the payout structures, probability, return-to-player (RTP) percentages and other mathematical elements.
Why Are Mathematics and Game Mechanics So Important?
While they might not be the showiest or first things that players notice, some of the most crucial aspects of the design of an online casino game on platforms like JackpotCity are the mathematics and game mechanics that run an online casino game.
Functional probability is absolutely crucial for determining how outcomes are generated by online casino games. Most of them use random number generators (RNGs) of some sort to determine what the outcomes of games will be. The idea is that these systems are random, but work within a mathematical framework that is unique to every game.
Another important consideration is what the RTP will be for a game. In most jurisdictions, there are regulations that stipulate that RTP has to be at a certain level for a game to be legal, and some online casino platforms will highlight exactly what their games’ RTPs are in order to attract players.
How Do Developers Turn a Concept into a Finished Game?
After concepting and designing the mechanics and mathematics that a game will use, the game has to be actually produced. This is when the programmers will take the disparate art and mechanic elements and combine them into a product that is ready for the market.
This stage of the process is also where developers will pay attention to whether or not a game is compatible with the different platforms that it will be accessed on. Most modern online casino platforms like JackpotCity have a focus on mobile users, so compatibility and usability with mobile devices is likely to be high, but that means that compatibility with different mobile OS’s will be considered.
As this stage of the process goes on, internal testing and certification are likely to take place on the different components of the product, making sure that they are all up to the standard that both the developer and operator expect.
