Q&A: Game Mathematician, Arron Plumridge speaks to Futebol e Apostas Online
Push Gaming's Game Mathematician Arron Plumridge spoke to Futebol e Apostas Online about his process working on the highly anticipated sequel.
Wild Swarm 2 follows in the footsteps of its hugely popular predecessor Wild Swarm. What features and mechanics has Push added to make this sequel stand out from the original?
One of the key aims of Wild Swarm 2 was to build upon the features of its much-loved predecessor, offering players an even more exciting and dynamic game than before.
Introducing Reel Multipliers into our bonus rounds was one of those significant upgrades that has helped set this game apart from the original. We also introduced the Queen Bee who will add five increments to any given level, meaning there’s a high chance of triggering a highly lucrative Super Bonus! This was added to make the player feel as if there’s more sense of progression, increasing excitement and engagement.
Just how important is getting the math model right in a release such as this? Should a sequel follow a similar model, or offer something completely different?
Wild Swarm was such a huge success and we wanted to try and stay true to the original game by utilising a similar math model, as that was part of the reason it performed so well.
I think there are many ways to go about the development of a sequel, but for me, following a similar model felt like the best way to build on that success. By sticking with something we knew worked allowed us to really think about what we could change and add in terms of features and mechanics to make Wild Swarm 2 stand out!
Can you tell us what your main priorities were when the development team were at the drawing board with Wild Swarm 2 and have you achieved them?
One of the key elements to making a game like this work is pacing. The player is going to be chasing Super Bonuses which have the potential for huge wins, this requires patience.
It was always a top priority of ours to navigate how quickly players progress through levels, as well as make sure that each level has enough going on to provide continued entertainment on the way to triggering the Super Bonus.
Additionally, the combination of the Sticky Wild and the Reel Multiplier mechanics makes for extremely volatile bonus rounds. Another key aim of this project was to balance this volatility so that wins didn’t feel too infrequent and too heavy. We didn’t want too many cases of players reaching the super bonus and barely winning anything. Reaching that final stage should always feel like a reward.
If you had to sell Wild Swam 2 us in just a short sentence, what would you say?
Wild Swam 2 is a love letter to its prequel, but with exciting new mechanics!
