Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | August 2013 26 FEATURES they’ve owned the player data through the player cards and the rewards systems and things like that. Now we have a chance to have direct access to our players, not only in a testing environment but direct access to what they like about our games. Having those insights into the games themselves, looking at the games that they play, the spin rates, not only based on the behavioral data but also qualitative research, where we go out and ask them about new games that they would like to see, what themes, what math models and things like that, we’re able to bounce ideas off them before we actually go to full game development. When casinos hear about this, and the distributors, they’re like, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’” Being online obviously also means quick to market. Gone are the usually lengthy logistical and regulatory hurdles that stand between a new title and its intended audience. Which means you can respond to trends and changing tastes almost as soon as they’re known. “There’s no lag time,” as an executive in game development puts it. The fan base High 5 Casino creates in this way, “prepackaging” is how the company describes it, is then cultivated anew through e-mail and other direct communications once a game hits the casino floor, making them aware that their free-play favorites are now available for the real thing. From here the growth curve ascends sharply upward, so management believes. The plan is “to aggressively pursue potential new ventures and rapidly expand into untapped markets”in the words of COOMed Nadooshan. The next move on the delivery side is a Game Server Platform capable of streaming content in real time both to cash gambling and social casino sites. This was kicked into high gear earlier this summer with the purchase of Electrotank, a leader in the field, developers of a multiplayer networking engine for Flash, Unity 3, iPhone, Android, XNA and HTML 5. Electrotank’s customers have included Disney, MTV, Mattel and US cable television giants Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. On the all-important content side, a studio head for H5G says the idea is “to push and try different things.” Mr Benson adds, “We really think by diverging a little bit, innovating a little bit, you’re going to get the next big hit. We’ve been creating great games for the mass market for 15-plus years so we know it very well. We know what appeals to the global market. Obviously, Asia is a niche, Macau very niche. So in terms of the globalization of our games, by hiring Nick, hiring his team, we think we can crack it—we’re close to cracking it.” Nick being Remi Award-winningdirector, producer and writer Nick Chin, whose work has been previewed at Cannes and who joined High 5 a year and a half ago from Hong Kong/New York-based Tai Tai Films. He heads the team of artists and storytellers behind Zhi Nu, which is based on a tale that has endured through the centuries to become a staple of Chinese popular culture, that of the goddess who weaves clouds and her ill-fated love for a mortal. “People relate to these stories a lot through television and film, so we’ve really sort of brought that in, the cinematic feel,” Mr Chin says. “We’ve really tried to add an emotional touch to it. We want people to really feel the game and to bring back why they liked the story in the beginning.” It’s a task he pursues with the passion of an auteur. “What makes a good slot machine and what makes a good film are very similar,” as he sees it. “You want to captivate somebody. The techniques you have in film, where you have plot, you have suspense, you have the sort of highs and lows, you have that in a slot machine as well.” But then delivering on that, as he knows well, means the game has to succeed as a compelling gamble. “It’s really the math. Really good math,”he says.“For a really good experience. If you get that experience, the suspense, you want to play.” Combining that with thematic richness and the lure of the big win is what Bally and High 5 believe will set Zhi Nu apart when it arrives on Macau’s slot floors sometime in the fourth quarter. Several more titles are planned for the link, all similarly steeped in China’s abundant romantic lore. “It’s a fun time in Asia to be making slots,” Mr Chin says. “It can grow and change in all kinds of directions. We can really try to push it.” “We really think by diverging a little bit, innovating a little bit, you’re going to get the next big hit. We’ve been creating great games for the mass market for 15-plus years so we know it very well. We know what appeals to the global market.” Zhi Nu