Casino game developer – Part two

Last time we started to look at some guidelines that any budding developers looking to create new casino games to bring to market should keep in mind. We covered the fact that simplicity is key and also that casino games that are successfully adopted by a new audience tend to be new twists on successful existing games such as poker and blackjack. Let’s take a look at some of the other factors that successful casino games in the UK have in common.

The house edge – not too high, not too low

A common mistake that budding casino game developers make is to try to play with the edge in the mistaken belief that tipping the odds either more in the favour of either the casino or the player will make their game a winner. The supposition that providing a casino with a game that they will make more money from than those they currently offer is a winning strategy is just plain wrong. Casinos make their money from players playing regularly and not from maximising the amount of money they make from them on any one game. Players will very quickly stop playing both a game, and using a casino, if the odds are too steeply weighted against them. As the old saying goes ‘you can shear a sheep many times but slaughter it only once’.

Similarly, giving too much of a chance to the players is also not a winning strategy as they will quickly figure it out and the casino will start losing money on the game. A popular game that doesn’t make any money is not something that casinos are looking for. So don’t try and reinvent the wheel. The house edge is around 5 percent for pretty much all table games and anything varying much above or below that is not going to fly.

Hybrids don’t work

Many a lazy game developer has hit upon the idea of trying to combine two popular casino games into some kind of super hybrid game which includes the most successful elements of both. It has been tried many times. Many. And it has never ever worked. You might as well pitch a burger flavoured milkshake to McDonalds. Though, to be fair, that probably has a better chance of being a success.

Accent on the winning

Any successful game will encourage players, and by logical continuation casinos looking for players, by accenting on winning and not losing. So explanation of rules and the game’s layout should always be all about winning. ‘This is how you win’ and not ‘this is how you lose’. I might sound simple, but you would be surprised how many game developers pitch their games the other way around.

So, those were some of the most fundamental guidelines as to how to avoid almost certain failure if you are looking at creating a new casino game. Good luck, you’ll need it!