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Interview With A Slots 3D Animator

SlotsHave you ever played slots like “Gonzo’s Quest”, “Wolverine” or “Jack and the Beanstalk”, which feature animated characters besides the reels and rely heavily on 3D visuals for its symbols and animations? Chances are you probably have – as 3D becomes more prevalent in both Hollywood and the world of slots (seriously, when is the last time you went and saw a brand new traditionally animated movie in the cinema?), more and more companies start relying on it to replace 2D animation. Naturally, those 3D images can’t make and animate themselves, and as such special animators are being hired to do the work. Well, I actually managed to get in contact with one such animator who has years of experience in the iGaming industry, and he has agreed to give me a short interview and provide me with a couple of details about his job as a 3D animator! Unfortunately, he was forced to sign an NDA upon starting his job, and he’d prefer to be safe rather than sorry, which is why I won’t be disclosing his name. With that said, let’s get right into it!

Q: Hey, thanks for agreeing to do this! Why don’t you introduce yourself briefly and tell us a little bit about your job and experience?
A: Well, I’m 33 years old, and I’ve been working on slots pretty much since I left university. It wasn’t exactly a dream job, but it pays the bills, not to mention it allows me to experiment with many different characters and artstyles in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to if I was working in movies. My job primarily consists of creating animations and poses for various slots that my company is developing.

Q: So it’s just the animation? You’re not making the 3D models too?
A: No. I can make 3D models if I need to, but that’s not really where my strength lies, so we’ve got a person for that. I’m just doing animations and poses.

Q: What about intro animations? Do you make those too?
A: No, those are typically outsourced. I can make them if push comes to shove, but the management prefers to have the slot out as quickly as possible.

Q: Do you come up with them yourself, or does someone tell you what to do?
A: Well, it’s a mix of both, really. Every slot has a designer that decides its theme, comes up with its bonus games, does the math for payouts, that kind of thing. I try to work pretty closely with the designer in order to make sure that my work matches his vision for the theme. If he wants something more cartoony and goofy, I can’t really present him with animation that’s realistic and fluid. But he doesn’t tell me exactly what to do, so for the most part I’m left to my own devices.

Q: How long does it usually take to complete the animation for a slot?
A: It really depends on the requirements and the budget. Sometimes all I need to do is a few poses for the title screen and symbols, which takes a couple of days. When more complex animation is involved, it can take up to a month. But typically, slots are very quick to make, and I personally haven’t worked on a project that has taken more than a month or two from conception to finished state.

Q: Speaking of budgets, I’ve always been curious about how much it costs to make a slot. Are they expensive?
A: Well, I can’t say for sure, since I’m not really kept in the loop, but I don’t think so, no. I personally don’t get paid very much for my job, and there have even been times in which I have worked overtime without pay. I’d certainly be able to earn more if I worked as an animator for a movie studio or an advertisement company, but it’s an easy, fun and stable job, not to mention it allows me to experiment with various characters and styles, so I’m not complaining.

Q: Okay, last question! We all know that plenty of slots get released every year, but are there any you’ve worked on that haven’t seen the light of day? And if so, can you share a bit about the ones you regret the most?
A: Oh, yeah, there’s definitely been a couple of failures. I can’t really go into a lot of details, but I’ve worked on several licensed slots that were ultimately scrapped because the license agreements fell through on a technicality at the last second. One of those I was really passionate about, so that really sucked. As for the ones that I can talk about, probably my favorite of those was one inspired by “Finding Nemo”, which forced me to step up my game and learn how to do fish animations that looked natural and beautiful. I was really happy with the results, but since we wanted the slot to have a pretty big jackpot our CEO cut the cord on it shortly before release.

Q: Thank you very much for the answers! I think I speak for everyone when I say it’s been quite informative!
A: It was a pleasure!

Blackjack Side Bets at Online Casinos

Blackjack Side Bets at Casino SitesI love playing blackjack, but it is a game that can make you rich if you play it right or make you broke, if you don’t. With the development of online casinos, there are tens of blackjack games with different rules and extra side bets. The best part about it is the variety that playing online offers, but there are also some hidden downsides, which at first may fool you into thinking they are working in your favour. For those who are acquainted with the term, side bets feature some pretty appealing payouts, but are not a good option in the long run. Casino games are usually a lot of fun to play and if you follow few simple rules and tricks, they can be pretty rewarding too.

Perfect Pair is such a side bet and I have to say in all honesty that I absolutely love it and play it from time to time. This side bet wins if your first two cards are the same value – 6 to 1, same value and colour – 12 to 1, and same value, colour and suit – 25 to 1. In most RNG games, you can also play the dealer’s pair, while live dealer tables will usually only allow you to bet on your hand. I personally prefer the latter, since I can practice my card-counting skills with real money and not on play money apps. Truth to the matter is, no matter which variant you choose, the probability of you winning from this bet in the long run is really slim so I recommend avoiding it.

5 or 7-card Charlie is when you get a certain number of cards without busting and it usually pays 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 on the spot. However, with the tens of software providers that power such sites nowadays, there are many variations to this side bet. If you choose of the top sites that cater to Brits, like the ones that are compared in this example, you will see that the different rules play an important part in the overall RTP (return to player) of the game. One variation is the Perfect Charlie, which pays if you have suited connecters up to a certain number, without busting. The problem with this side bet is that many players may decide to hit, even if they hold a 15 against a 6 for the dealer. In this case, they should actually stay by any strategy card, but they hit anyway to chase the big payout for the Perfect Charlie. You can imagine how a move like this can be harmful not only to your bankroll, but also to your game. So, my advice is first read more about the more profitable games, which you can find on some real money blackjack sites explained in detail and stick to them.

Should Casinos Be Involved In Game Development?

game bankIn the world of videogames, the people running a platform are typically very involved with the development of games which appear on that platform, especially if they’re meant to be exclusively on that platform. I mean, it’s not hard to find a list of game development studios which are owned by Sony (and as such develop their games exclusively on Sony’s PlayStation), and I can guarantee you that on each one of them Sony is listed as a co-developer. And why shouldn’t they be? The exclusive games represent their platform, in a way. Good exclusive games means more people will be attracted to that platform, so Sony are inclined to hire experts and quality control people to make sure that the games which represent PlayStation will be as good as they can possibly be… But that almost never happens when it comes to online gambling.

Online casinos have tons of connections, mostly to various e-wallet services (I mean, just look at all the casinos listed on ponlinecasinos.co.uk), but I’ve noticed that they don’t really have a connection with probably the most important people in the industry – casino games providers. You’d be surprised about how little communication happens between the developers and the online casinos, especially in relation to game development! Imagine that Casino A wants to commission Developer B to create an online slot that will appear on their site and on their site only. They’ll agree on a budget and… Well, that’ll be that! Casino A will no longer care. Developer B can literally produce whatever they want within the allocated budget without getting into trouble at all. Of course, in many cases the casino can reject a game and back out of the deal if it doesn’t meet their quality standards, but they will do absolutely nothing to assure that these standards are even being met in the first place when it truly matters – during development.

One of the worst offenses I’ve noticed is that the games which are exclusive to certain casinos (for example, 888 and their “Millionaire Genie”) rarely, if ever, have anything at all in common. 888 isn’t a site about genies. It doesn’t have anything to do with Middle-Eastern mythology whatsoever. Hell, not even the blue and brown color scheme of the slot matches the green and black hues of the site! I mean, come on, couldn’t you try to make it look more like the game belonged? You primarily hear me talking about the visuals of a slot, and that’s because I’m one of those people who care about them more than other aspects, so I’m particularly agitated by this. With a bit of communication between developers and casinos maybe soon enough we’ll be able to start seeing games which better represent the casinos they’re associated with not just visually, but in various fun and creative ways. One can dream, right?

The Peak of Animation

disneyOkay, let’s take a break from talking about slots all the time in order to talk about something a little bit different – animation! After all, I created this blog in order to bring more attention to animation in general, especially in slots, so it only makes sense that from time to time I talk about animation’s other forms, right? Well, just this once, I’d love to take a look at animated movies in order to share something peculiar I’ve noticed. Well, a few things really – first, animation in cinema seems to have its ups and its downs, and second, we’re absolutely enjoying one of the best ups ever right now.

Now, let me make it very clear that I’m no historian. Just because I study animation that doesn’t mean I know too much about animation history, so I’ll mostly be referring to Disney movies here in favor of others. For many, Disney is synonymous with animation, and while that’s not entirely true objectively, I think I can illustrate my point best by using Disney movies as examples. We all good? Okay, let’s start all the way back in 1937, with the release of the first major animated motion picture, which is none other than “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”. This sparked the very first peak in animation, which continued for about five years and saw the release of “Pinocchio”, “Fantasia”, “Dumbo” and “Bambi”, which I’m sure you’d agree are among the finest animated movies ever made. However, can you name just one Disney movie released between 1942 and 1950? Just one? That is because during that period Disney made musicals such as “Saludos Amigos” and “Make Mine Music”. Yeah, it was a down time for animation.

But then things picked up again, and for a while, too! All the way until 1977, we’ve seen some amazing classics like “Cinderella”, “Peter Pan”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “101 Dalmatians”… But then in 1977 “The Rescuers” came out, and Disney couldn’t come up with a good movie right up until 1991! Technically “The Little Mermaid” came out in 1989, but personally I don’t regard that as a good movie. I can keep going on and on, but my point is that for every few years of great animation we also get a few years of not so great animation. Again – the same holds true for other companies, such as Warner Bros. and Dreamworks, but using Disney is the easiest way to illustrate it.

And what about now? Well, after some really disappointing stuff during the 2000s, it appears that animation has not only peaked – it’s skyrocketed straight into a golden age! In only the last 5-6 years or so we’ve had “Inside Out”, “How to Train your Dragon”, “Frozen”, “Zootopia”, “Song of the Sea”, “Tangled”, “Despicable Me”, “The LEGO Movie” and so many more! And they’re not only good – they’re great! “Zootopia” and “Inside Out” both have a 99% approval rating on review aggregator site “Rotten Tomatoes”, which is not only spectacular for an animated movie – it’s amazing for any movie, period! Right now, we’re seeing some of the greatest animated movies ever made! And yeah, of course we should be incredibly happy about this, but the question remains – how long will this animation golden age last for before the inevitable fall?

Good Animation Should Be Encouraged

Slots animationMany of us have owned pets at one point or another. Be it dogs, cats or gerbils, most of us have had a little, four-legged friend that we could turn to when we need some silent support and in turn care for and provide for. Yes, this is still an article about gambling, stay with me. Many of us have tried to teach our pets tricks, whether it’s sitting down and shaking hands for dogs or just pooping in the right place for cats. So, what do you do when your pet performs a trick successfully? You don’t just say “Oh, that’s very good”, because, in a truly shocking revelation, pets don’t speak English. Instead, you do it by giving them a treat, often combined with praise. Every time your puppy manages to sit down you say “Good boy” and give him a piece of dog candy, and then you go again. This technique is known as positive reinforcement, and can work on everyone and everyone. Numerous studies have been conducted on positive reinforcement, and all of them conclude that it is extremely effective on people of all ages. It’s most commonly used on children – “if you’re a good girl and eat your vegetables you get to watch TV before bed”, but it can also be used in the workplace to encourage office workers to do better. Most employers only use negative reinforcement (“If you don’t meet my quota you’re fired”), but positive reinforcement works even better (“If you surpass your quota by 20% you get a bonus with your next paycheck”).

So, what does all of this have to do with casino gaming? Well, allow me to go slightly off-topic (we’ll go back to positive reinforcement in a bit, I promise) and talk a little bit about animation and graphics in a slot. When you read a review, what are the things that the reviewers most focus on? Stuff like RTP, bonus games and jackpots, which I suppose are the most important parts of a slot, but animation barely gets a mention! Visuals are only brought up if they’re extremely good – if they’re just okay, or even if they’re subpar, they don’t even get a mention! As such, many (and I do mean many) slot providers have just started producing slots with visuals that are “good enough” as a cost-saving measure. That’s not the way to go about it! Just because, objectively speaking, the visuals are not the most important part of a slot doesn’t mean they’re not an important part regardless! The bread is not the most important part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but stale bread ruins the entire thing! We need to start giving more positive reinforcement to the artists and animators working on the slots, and to the provides employing them. We need to start showing everyone that we don’t care about visuals that are “good enough”! So this is what we can do – reviewers, start talking about visuals more! It doesn’t matter if you’re a huge reviewer who gets paid to play slots or if you’re just writing your review as a comment somewhere, just start bringing up the visuals more! Commend slots with good visuals and condemn those with cheap, ugly symbols! And players, try to ignore slots that look ugly and start playing those that look pretty. Speak with your wallets! If we all work together to give the artists who actually put effort into their work some positive reinforcement, then maybe we’ll start seeing more slots that look beautiful in the future!

3 Online Slots with Massive Cash Jackpots

I honestly see no reason why someone would prefer to play a regular slot machine to one that offers a huge jackpot. If you choose a jackpot game, you can still have all the features that you love about slots, such as free spins, bonus games, respins and wilds, but on top of that, you have the opportunity to win a life-changing amount of money, if you’re that lucky one that hits the growing jackpot. The only thing you have to do is pick the right game. Below, I’ll present you my three personal favourite slots which combine the fun of the bonus games and the opportunity to win a progressive jackpot.

Millionaire Genie Slot

Screenshot of Millionaire Genie - Random Logic's Famous SlotThe 15-reel video slot Millionaire Genie has everything a player might want: free spins, bonus rounds, progressive jackpot and a high RTP of 95.02%. As it is developed by Random Logic, the proprietary software house of 888, this exciting oriental-themed slot can be found exclusively at 888 Casino and their sister websites.

At the moment of writing this article, the Millionaire Genie jackpot at 888 had reached the staggering £3,299,680.00! Learn more about this exciting slot in the detailed review you can find at www.realmoneyslots.info/millionaire-genie/.

Mega Fortune Dreams

This posh-looking game has recently become one of my favourites. I never get bored while playing it as there’s some action on almost every spin. After all, when you have wilds, scatters, free spins, bonus games, respins and 3 different jackpots, it’s pretty much impossible to have many consecutive loosing spins. The slot itself is developed by NetEnt and features 20 winning lines. The three jackpots are called Rapid, Major and Mega and can be won only during the bonus game. If you get three scatters you win 10 free spins, four scatters and you get 15 spins, while five scatters reward you with 20 free spins. If you get three or more Wild symbols, which substitute for all symbols except for bonus and scatter, you’ll also be rewarded with one respin. All in all, a very cool game that combines all the best features that a video slot could have.

Cosmic Fortune

This is yet another great NetEnt game that I recently got hooked on. This slot won me over with its numerous features and fantastic graphics. As here the symbols don’t spin on the reels but rather fall, the free spins are actually called free falls and can be won, as always, if you get three or more scatters anywhere on the reels. On top of that, after every free spin round, you’ll get to play the free spin bonus game where, on the other hand, you can collect additional coins or win yourself the chance to enter the jackpot game. Definitely a game to try!

A Recommended Resource for All Things Slots

As I said in the beginning of this post, the three games that I shortly presented here are merely my personal favourites. If you are searching for a source that reviews slots based on facts and numbers rather than on personal preferences, then I would suggest you check out realmoneyslots.info. There you’ll find very detailed reviews of some of the most popular online slots in the UK and great recommendations as to where you can play them for real money.

What Makes For Good Animation In Slots?

Slot machineI often read online reviews on slots on sites, and there’s one thing I couldn’t help but notice. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m probably the only person who has noticed, all things considered, but I have noticed nonetheless! A few of the reviews I’ve read talk about the slot’s “animation”… But I have never really seen anyone actually explain what they mean. “This slot has very good animation” isn’t exactly a very self-explanatory sentence, after all! I mean, what are they talking about? It’s not something that’s easy to understand, like “This movie has good acting”, or “This song has good rhythm” – I mean, animation can mean a whole lot of things! It’s like someone saying “This game has good gameplay”… Like, what the hell are you even talking about?

As I continued to play slots, some things became clearer to me. I began to gradually understand exactly what made animation in slots good – maybe even better than the reviewers themselves! By now, I’ve got a more concrete idea of what exactly it means for a slot to have “good animation”, and it’s not just one thing. In order to make it clearer for everyone reading this, I decided to separate this into three different parts which encompass several elements of what makes good animation and then explain each in simple terms so that everyone can understand. Remember – I’m NOT going to be talking about the graphics, just the animation! With that out of the way, let’s dive right into it!

1. Smoothness of the Reels

First and foremost, “good animation” means that the reels of the slot are moving smoothly. I’m not sure how many of you have actually played or at least seen a physical video slot (I haven’t played them, though I’ve seen videos), but they always move flawlessly, without even a single skipped frame. It’s literally like they’re actual reels located behind the screen – it’s beautiful! I could literally watch them spin for hours on end! Hell, if my YouTube history is any indication, I probably have! But sadly, even in the modern day in which our phones are more powerful than the computer that sent people to the Moon in the 60s, I haven’t seen too many slots that offer the same smoothness. Sure, they show up here and there, and they’re always a treat, but honestly, they’re so rare that right now I can’t even think of one.

Most online slots feel kind of choppy, wouldn’t you say? They don’t really move smoothly – they have low framerates and often look like they were meant to run on a much older computer. It’s like they’re struggling to spin those reels! Hell, even those slots that are spinning relatively smoothly don’t come anywhere NEAR the smoothness and clarity of their physical counterparts, which is a real shame, because I’m absolutely certain that my computer can handle it. I mean, sure, I get that slots are made for the lowest common denominator – while I personally have a gaming laptop, most people who play slots have pretty old machines, and the developers want to make sure that everyone can run the slot. But to that, I say… Why not have quality toggles? Allow me to play the game as smoothly as possible, emulating a physical slot, with no cap on the frames per second, and at the same time give the option to other people to reduce the quality if they’re having issues running the slot properly. That would solve a lot of problems and make certain online slots even more desirable!

2. Spectacle

I struggled a lot with how exactly to name this, but I think “spectacle” is about a s good of a name as any, so here we go! What I’m referring to is what happens when you win. In most slots, whenever you line up multiple symbols they’ll often move about. In Mega Moolah, the animals move their eyes, ears and/or heads, in The Avengers the frames around the superheroes zoom out to reveal their bodies as they do a cool pose, in Terminator 2 they play relevant clips from the movie, etc. It’s all about making it painfully obvious that you’ve won (even if it’s just 1/5th of your bet, which means that you technically lost), and making you feel good about it. Of course, most of these animations tend to be pretty primitive. A good chunk of video slots only have blinking and/or sparkling icons to indicate that you’ve won, while even more have animations that can be created by a first year college student on After Affects… In other words, they’re not particularly impressive. Still, the few slots that do manage to put a lot of effort into their spectacle and use good animation to its full advantage always make a good impression.

But moving symbols aren’t the only things that indicate that you’ve won. Some slots, such as Gonzo’s Quest, have a character on the side of the screen who gets overly excited whenever you win. And pretty much all of them throw coins or confetti at you whenever you win some pretty big money. There are plenty of ways to make the player feel good about their winning, and most, if not all of them, involve animation, hence why it’s so important for it to be done well. Seeing a well-made shower of money run across the screen is way, WAY more satisfying than a bunch of blinking letters saying “Congratulations, you won”, isn’t it?

3. Bonus Games/Special Features

Last, but not least, the animation of the bonus games and/or special features is also evaluated. These special features (often, but not always, activated with the collection of 3 Scatter symbols) are extremely rare, and as such the player must feel good about having activated one. A lot of slots do that flawlessly – the aforementioned The Avengers, for instance, has completely different music and visuals for each of its 4 bonus games, and slots such as Avalon II have put a whole lot of effort into their games in order to ensure that their games are varied and interesting. But the games themselves aren’t enough to catch the player’s attention – you need to let them know that they’ve stumbled onto something very special, and that they’re about to make a whole lot of money. How do you do that? Animation, my friends!

A very good example of this comes from the slot Thunderstruck II, when the Wildstorm feature happens and the Norse god Thor comes flying in, swinging his hammer and summoning lightning bolts which turn two or more columns into gigantic Wild symbols. That has happened only once to me, but it was one of the most awesome experiences I’ve ever had. While the animation wasn’t exactly Disney, it was still pretty satisfying to see it all unfold – definitely much more than if a few rows suddenly turned into Wilds after a text message or something. Another slot with awesome animation is Pink Panther, which also manages to liven up its bonus games with small cartoons featuring the famous character, alongside an absolutely brilliant intro that explains the slot’s mechanics in animation form.

Hopefully that has made the idea of “good animation” in slots a bit more clear to anyone who, like me, was a bit confused about it. With that said, go and enjoy some slots with great animation! And don’t forget to drop a message and let me know which one’s your favorite, or if you have any questions for me!

Welcome!

Welcome handshakeAnimation is one of the oldest forms of cinema. The first movies with a clear narrative (meaning not just test footage, but actual plot, albeit a very primitive one that often had to be narrated by a live performer in order to become clear) appeared in the last few years in the 19th century, around 1897. The first animated short, a propaganda piece for the Boer War, came out in 1899. Over the last 116 years, animation has gradually grown more and more sophisticated, to the point where animated shorts (such as those featuring Mickey Mouse) were commonly played before feature films, a spot that used to be occupied by live-action shorts such as “Flash Gordon”. When “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” came out in 1937, for the first time the world saw the true potential of animation as a medium (and not just a genre, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts seems to think), and the genre hasn’t slowed down ever since, continuously improving all the way to the present. While in 2015 we’re enjoying a lot less animated features and series than we did 20 or 30 years ago, the quality of animation has increased dramatically, with two of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time being animated and with more critically-acclaimed cartoons than ever before (such as “Gravity Falls”, “Steven Universe”, “Adventure Time”, “Avatar” and many others). Animation is blooming, and it’s everywhere around us – on TV, in the cinema, on billboards, on our phones… And yes, even in casinos!

My name is Katrin Lehrer, and I’m an animation student from Quarten, Switzerland. I’m in my second year now, but I’ve been interested in animation since I was very little. I also adore casino games – I’ve been playing them since I was about 13 or 14 (legally, of course – among friends and in non-gambling videogames), and really, the best gift I could give myself for my 18th birthday was finally signing up for a Swiss online casino! And it was awesome! Fun story about me – I once actually managed to win the jackpot from some slots, about $750,000. Not exactly a life changing sum, but it did set me up for university! Of course, I always like browsing casino sites, reading reviews, tips and that kind of thing. But there’s one thing I noticed – I’ve never seen anyone talk about animation in slots before. I’ve seen a handful of “Top 3 Cartoon Slots” or what have you, but for the most part animation seems mostly ignored. And I’m not just talking about the license that the slots and, in some online casinos, other games are based on – I’m also talking about the smoothness and colorfulness of the animation itself. Nobody ever really talks about a slot’s visuals in terms of animation. So I decided to change that! I hope that we, through this blog, can get an interesting discussion going!