Interview: Art Director Kajal Verma, speaks to SBC Leaders on slot design

9 Sept 2021 2 min read

Our Art Director, Kajal Verma, spoke with SBC Leaders on slot design in the industry. Read on to find out her thoughts on how player preferences, different markets and responsible gambling all influence the slots of today and those we can expect to see in the future.

Throughout the slot sector, we’re seeing more and more titles becoming diverse visually, yet are slots still being tailored for current players and, in regards to slot design, is enough being done to attract a new audience of players?  

I feel the industry is definitely stepping out of its comfort zone and pushing the boundaries more. We are seeing more themes and art styles that are visually daring and standing apart from the typical slot styles that have dominated over the years. Successful games such as Jammin' Jars and Fat Rabbit have shown how players are looking for something different and are enjoying greater diversity. I do believe there is still more to do in successfully attracting a new audience, for instance taking inspiration from outside the slot space, and I look forward to seeing how this will influence and evolve slot design in the future.

Slots tailored for localised markets can generate tremendous success, yet could we see these titles cater for others on a global scale? 

I think as we continue to move more into a more globalised world, this will affect all areas, including games and game design. At Push Gaming, we design according to how we feel players will respond globally and not just one market. This has been very beneficial for us and shows that titles can cater for multiple markets if designed well. A perfect example of this in the recently opened up Dutch market. Traditionally, players in the Netherlands have preferred a particular type of game, influenced by the land-based ‘casino’ market. The charts of the most popular games and the studios that make them are dominated by similarly styled games, but now the market is open and players there have access to a much wider selection of games, we’re seeing the titles that have been popular globally gaining greater traction there. 

How much of an impact is player preference having on slot design and how can developers use this to innovate future titles?  

Keeping up with the market trends across games and mobile titles is crucial in understanding what is engaging players and how we can incorporate that into our future releases. We’re an entertainment provider and our ethos is ‘Players First’, so it’s vitally important for us to invest time and resources into researching this and creatively responding to player’s preferences as the market evolves. For example, hyper-casual games are very popular at the moment, and we are looking at ways to bring that into our future games, the prospect of which is very exciting. 

How do you think slots can be redesigned to adhere to responsible gambling guidelines and protect the player?  

We have always, and will continue to, work hard to ensure that designs, animations and the overall presentation of games more closely match the wins that the players achieve. This creates the more honest and transparent gameplay experience that we truly believe in at Push. We want players to enjoy themselves - but we are equally aware of the responsibility we have and always strive to communicate this to our audience as best we can.

The original interview can be found here on page 33: SBC Leaders, Issue 16