Cabinet design has become a crucial factor in the delivery of gaming experiences
Looking at a slot machine from only a few years ago highlights just how quickly design moves on. So too does fashion. Both aesthetically and technologically, slot machines are evolving with each new product release. Not all of this is driven by game content, however, as comfort and functionality become priorities for designers. Slot cabinets are very much part of the whole gaming experience and are, perhaps more than ever, opening the door to increasingly sophisticated games.
Player-driven design
For Austrian slot machine and roulette manufacturer Amatic Industries, cabinet design is at the heart of the product development process and has been for the last 20 years.
“Year on year, Amatic has placed strong focus on player experience based upon the best quality available,” said Reinhold Bauer. “That is why cabinet, slot machine and roulette design plays such a key role within the company. The design is centred around the player experience.”
All Amatic’s products are available with ticket-in ticket-out capabilities and can be equipped with the latest technologies, such as banknote recyclers, player tracking and other management systems and wide-area progressives. Here, though, it is important to balance the need to design gaming equipment that accommodates the needs of players with that of operators.
“On the one side, there is comfort and ergonomics,” said Bauer. “On the other there is game content and connectivity. The game design has to attract the players yet needs to fulfil an increasing range of technical requirements. This is our focus.”
This is a goal shared by US-based games developer WMS, where the relationship between game design and cabinet production is crucial. WMS is now phasing out Bluebird I, the first of its Bluebird line of cabinets, and has seen great success with its “workhorse” Bluebird 2 upright cabinet. Now, said chief technology officer Laurie Lassiter, the company is confident that Bluebird xD, which she described as a “category-creating cabinet” will have a bright future.
“It’s a cross between an upright and a slant and therefore a new category of cabinet that blends physical and sensory elements with function,” she explained. “We have a culture of working with our partners to design, develop and deliver great games. We begin that at the conceptual stage and continue all the way through partnering with them to ensure that the game is as great and exciting as it can possibly be.”
Often game design and cabinet design are viewed separately but this is not the case at WMS, she said.
“We’ve found great benefit in a more aligned approach, where both the disciplines participate and inform each other collaboratively throughout the process. At WMS our view is that technology is the delivery vehicle for great games and all of the technological advancements are created to support what the company is delivering to the player on the floor.”
This feature can be read in full in the December 2011 issue of InterGaming.
