The introduction of slot games can be traced back to the late 19th century, between 1887 and 1895, Augustus Fey was viewed as the inventor of the first slot machine called Liberty Bell. In 1891, a New York-based company, Sittman and Pitt, was the first to manufacture the slot machine, which later, people could encounter them in many bars. As the time passed, slot games saw an increasing trend in their following and their audience continued to grow, especially during the last decade because they are much easier to access with the development of the Internet and technology. Back in the 70’s slots were not such a big deal, because of the increasing popularity of arcade games. The late 70’s and 80’s were the Golden Age of arcade video games. Of course, the slots developers didn’t go unnoticed. In order to face the video game development, in 1976 the first video slot machine was produced. The following milestone of the slot was in 1996 with the release of “Reel ‘Em” video slot. During and after that time, slots became increasingly popular at the casinos. Admiral Casino takes part in the popularity of the slots because they are always new and updated. One of the results of this blast of popularity is the graphic concept of the game; because of this the gaming industry invests heavily in terms of innovation, design and features.
So many games out there are hard to analyse all of them. The design is different in each of them, and the theme is never the same, same with the mechanics and maybe algorithms, depending on the mathematician that works for the game.
For example, let’s analyse a famous slot game, called the Book of Ra.
How Book of Ra Came Forward
The Book of Ra takes us on a journey towards Ancient Egypt, following the explorer, looking for hidden treasures and so on. You can see the text font is similar to hieroglyphs; the main character is an explorer, a Sphinx and a Sarcophagus. That is what regular people see.
The game is made on a well-known 5×5 reel. The mechanics are pretty much the same as popular fruit slots. Designers make a lot of research when it comes in designing a slot game. A team brainstorms for ideas that are usually anchored to reality. The Book of Ra clearly had a background research on Ancient Egypt.
The Behind Story of the Game
Egypt was well known for its pyramids, sculptures and wall art. The colours that the ancient Egyptians used in their paintings are red, blue, green, gold, black and yellow and if you look closely to the game, it has these mentioned colours. This is one of the clues that research was made for this game. The mask of the sarcophagus is clearly inspired after Tutankhamen. The scarab symbols are everywhere in the game, just like in Ancient Egypt art and jewellery. In Ancient Egypt, the scarabwas the symbol of eternal life and rebirth. Scarab amulets would lend the sacred beetle’s power to the wearer. They give magical protection against the dangers of this world, as well as those of the next ones. In the game is just a well-known Egyptian symbol. On the game reel, you can also see a statue. The statue is actually goddess Isis, with her wings spread. To the Ancient Egyptians, the winged Isis is also a symbol of protection. The Sphinx does not appear on the game interface, but on the top of it there are two Sphinxes facing each other. In Ancient Egypt, the Sphinxes are the guardians of the temples and tombs and usually, they are found at the entrance of the buildings. In the game, the two Sphinxes also give a look of an entrance to another world.
The term “Book of Ra” is inspired after a number of Egyptian papyrussheets filled with knowledge. The Egyptians did not only write on the walls of their temples but also on papyrus papers, that were mostly filled with government and religious texts. In the movie industry, the well-known “The Mummy” films are also the conception for the storyline for the Book of Ra.
Last Words
The game goes by the theme of Ancient Egypt. An explorer is the main character. Exploring Egypt and its wonders, the discovery of its symbols and the main quest is finding the Book of Ra. During the gameplay, there is a feel of 2 dimensional (2D) and the special symbols seem to look 3 dimensional (3D). All of this artwork is done, one by one, just like the layers of Adobe Photoshop. After brainstorming ideas, the designer creates a background, an interface of the game, step by step, the symbols, statues and decorations start to have a place in the game. Programmers usually do the mechanics and the animations. The creation of a game is a team effort.
