Designing slot games with Bryan Upton of LuckSome

Bryan Upton is the founder and director of LuckSome which is a casino games developer based in Malta.

How did you get to become a slot designer and share your story of your work background in gambling that has contributed to your wealth of knowledge and experience

I came out of University having studied 3D Art and Multimedia application design at a Master’s Level. I was hunting for jobs in video games or TV when a job came up for a game artist in a gambling start up. Since then, it has been an extremely varied and fast paced rollercoaster in both land-based and online casino spaces.

Most of my education and understanding came from GTECH, after having worked at Inspired and OpenBet previously. GTECH went on to become IGT after the acquisition. I had the chance to work with the teams on land-based casino games and hardware which opened my eyes and brain to an entirely higher level of games design and slot mathematics.

IGT gave me the chance to explore many markets, product verticals and segments. The level of exposure was incredible; from street market AWP and VLT games, to premium product on Vegas casino floors. I spearheaded the integration of GTECH online game development division and had a chance to start up exploration into skill-based games for global casino markets. Importantly I ended up with over 5 years of product and content strategy methodologies and game design knowledge.

After 5 or so years IGT, NetEnt gave me a platform to come back into online and take what I’d learnt at IGT and apply it to the online space. It was then I got to experience the innovation and speed of pace here in Malta, which was exhilarating to come into.

Now being in the online space again, facing the speed of the market, complex regulations, and vastly increased competition, it’s an interesting time to be around after being 17 years in the industry.

Why did you create Lucksome games?

Small is better in many ways. Working so long in corporate, you learn so much about how to make games with discipline and procedure, but it takes too long to do it. A small studio with industry veterans and some new blood can create a lot of high-quality content quickly. Nothing beats seeing the great games we make, going out to players at a quick pace. Being able to move with the market, adapting and innovating is quite exhilarating.

What is the process of creating your games and how long does it take to make a slot game?

It always starts with an objective or a hypothesis. This could be targeting growth in a certain market; need more games for a specific player demographic, or “I think we could improve player experience on this type of game mechanic by…”

Whichever it is we take that away as a team and noodle on it. Come together, be brutally honest with each other’s ideas and beat around concepts. We go away again, noodle, come back and beat them again until people start getting excited about what the concept is becoming. Sometimes this process takes time, sometimes it’s very fast.

Once we’ve got the idea, we throw together some documents, mood boards, flows to test out the idea on paper. Does it have a narrative, should it have? Do the features tie in together with it? Is the game too complex for the players we want to play it? We tweak and refine what’s required and then throw it to our mathematician and our artists.

We’ll look at a lot of stats and outcomes to tune the model as much as we can without seeing a game. When the art comes together, we bundle maths and art into a game engine and front-end client and see what comes out of it! Then its play test, play test, play test. Is the way the math feels fun and exciting? Are the animations and choreography explaining to the player what is going on effectively and in a high-quality manner? We tweak that math and the presentation of it until the game is undeniably fun. The last of the production time is polishing; improving graphics, animations and of course timings to make it snappy – then its off to testing and the certification labs. Once fully certified we release, and we then see what our players think!

This process can take anywhere from 3 months to a year. Depends on the game.

Are there too many game developers today?

Yes. I don’t think the market will be able to support the supply in the medium term.

Over the past 10 years, there have been quite a few game developers that have gone out of business, what goes into this space and what is needed for success?

Discipline. A cool idea isn’t necessarily the right idea. Learning from your mistakes, without it you’re done. Don’t be afraid to fail, otherwise you will anyway. Don’t give up. If you want that hit game badly enough, it will happen.

What are some of your favorite games you have created in the past?

Saint Nicked slot is my favourite. Just because its hilarious, very fun to work on it. I think also Voodoo Temple, I love games with some mystical and ancient culture and a bit of darkness. The soundtrack is also awesome.

What are other slot games that you haven’t worked on and you are a fan of?

There are so many. But you can’t beat a session on Book of Ra. Love Elk’s gold games too. Big fan of The Wizard of Oz series and King of Macedonia from IGT, both land-based versions. Some many good games out there – I’ve missed a few for sure!