Good ergonomics as important as content in the gaming machine experience
The gaming machine mantra these days is ‘content is king’ and there is an element of truth in that – entertainment has become the main focus.
But that’s not the whole story. The game is important but the medium through which the player experiences the game is a key component of the overall experience. Cabinet design, ergonomics, visual and audio quality all play their part in keeping the player comfortable and engaged.
This is something that Austrian Gaming Industries, the manufacturing subsidiary of the Novomatic Group, takes very seriously. “Design has become an indispensable part of any successful company,” said AGI’s Max Lindenberg. “In the gaming industry in particular, product quality and entertainment value are communicated to a significant extent through the visual appeal of the gaming equipment. For this reason, industrial design is very important in our product development.” AGI‘s answer to the question ‘What makes a gaming machine a success?’ has always been that the core of a successful gaming product is innovative game concepts and gripping mathematics. But machine design too is of great importance and increasingly becoming a primary focus of AGI product development.
In order to offer equipment for the international gaming markets that stands out from the rank and file of ordinary machines and is recognisable at first sight as Novomatic gaming equipment, there needs to be a fusion of certain essential ingredients. These, very generally speaking, come together under the term ‘industrial design.’
Successful high-end gaming equipment stands out through a variety of essential, inter-coordinated factors. Besides first-rate workmanship, ease of maintenance and state-of-the art technology, the equipment must boast high visual recognition value, maximum attractiveness and ideal ergonomic features. At the same time it must, however, also satisfy the most stringent requirements in terms of security and resistance to manipulation.
“Ingenious design should ideally fuse functionality, compliance with regulatory requirements and ergonomic layout with visual perfection of form in such a way that the product fulfils all of these specifications while guaranteeing maximum recognition in terms of corporate design,” said Lindenberg.
This article can be read in full in the January issue of InterGaming.
