Slot machine games are more popular and widely played than they’ve ever been, with hundreds of different titles now available. While the basics of these games are largely unchanged, how have innovations in their design helped drive the industry forward?
The Introduction of New Themes
When we look online for fun online slot machine games at a site like Betfair, we see a huge range of games. Some are based on classic themes like fruit symbols or ancient Egypt, but a large number of slots means that designers can now explore new themes and add in different images from those we’re used to. This means that we can see slots based on hobbies, TV shows, other ancient cultures, and a lot more.
This has given game developers the scope to explore new images and ways of presenting their slots. For example, Stampeding Strike by Iron Dog Studio and Buffalo Blitz by Playtech are among the games inspired by wild animals. In these cases, expect to see images of different animals that fit the theme used as paying symbols, so a buffalo slot will often have other iconic North American animals like horses and golden eagles while the background shows their natural habitat such as rolling, open fields,
Good design work can also be seen in the fantasy-style games that are currently popular. The people behind these games tend to get very creative and mix together ideas to create something visually unique. The Wolfkin game by Red Tiger is a good example, as it features a lady who is a half-wolf creature as the central image. However, they’ve added to that idea by using Celtic imagery among their other symbols and setting the whole thing in an area filled with gold coins.
Source: Pixabay
More Scope for New Features
The use of varied images is one of the ways that slot developers now make their games more appealing, but the switch to online games has also allowed them to introduce a range of features that help to vary the gameplay. This can be seen in the variety of bonus rounds now available, with the traditional free spins round sometimes made more comprehensive or completely new types of bonus brought into the games.
If we go back to that Wolfkin game for a moment, the stylish design leads to some interesting bonuses along the way. That central figure that sits on the reels opens her wings to remove some symbols on a random basis, which also leads to only the valuable scatter symbols landing and being converted into wild symbols, all of which tie in with the slot’s overall theme of fantasy and Celtic magic.
This gives us an idea of how game designers can now bring together the imagery and features to create a cohesive game that tells a story as we play. While some slots remain a simple exercise in getting groups of matching symbols, others have developed into something else, as we see stories unfold in front of our eyes thanks to the clever combinations of images and features that are now used.
