Interview With A Slots 3D Animator
Have 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!