Roundtable: New Mechanics with Ihor Lozynskyi, Senior Game Producer
Eye-catching graphics and familiar themes have become a staple in the iGaming industry. But to truly captivate players and stand out from the crowd, developers are continually creating new and innovative gameplay mechanics.
Ihor Lozynskyi, Senior Game Producer at Push Gaming joined European Gaming for a roundtable discussion about the creation of new features, exploring the challenges and rewards of crafting a fresh experience along with the long-term benefits of diversifying a provider's portfolio with unique experiences.
Every studio is looking to create the next Megaways. How does your dev team know they're on the right track during creation? Do you seek player feedback during beta testing?
We are blessed with an incredibly talented team at Push. We’ve seen incredible success with our back catalogue of hits and a key part of what makes them so great is the mechanics that sit at their core such as those that nudge, reveal and collect along with our proprietary Cluster Link™ and Push-Up™ creations.
Our Cluster Link™ mechanic, for example, has been at the heart of several games since it made its debut in Jammin’ Jars and triumphant return in our new release, Retro Sweets. Having been enjoyed by players in Giga Jar, Jammin’ Jars 2 and Retro Tapes, it offers familiarity to players and lends itself well to these titles. These slots have become top performers with fans demanding more innovative Cluster Link™ titles.
The kind of feedback we receive gives us the confidence to make Cluster Link™ the basis of new games and we get this from conducting play-testing, feedback-iteration loops. As much as we back our dev team, we also want to reach out to the player community and get their opinions on how games play and feel.
Our most recent launch, Retro Sweets sees the return of our Push Bet™ mechanic. Introduced to great acclaim in Razor Returns, it increases the likelihood of triggering the bonus game. This time around, Push Bet offers the flexibility to score a guaranteed one or two wild candy symbols on each base spin by increasing the bet by 2x and 4x respectively.
Retro Sweets is another example of us keeping the potential high and breathing new life into the mechanics that players have loved in the previous games.
What are the challenges and opportunities of launching a new mechanic?
Developing new mechanics is always a risk but the potential is ever-present to create something which becomes the next industry staple – taking risks that can elevate games in the player’s favour is one of the things that keeps us motivated and engaged throughout R&D.
The competitive nature of the industry and the many talented teams at our peer’s studios necessitate focus and dedication. But quite apart from that, we’re fervent game creators and are lucky enough to enjoy careers in designing the games that we’re so passionate about. The process, while challenging, is an incredible amount of fun and we’re always anticipating the next runaway success.
Which new mechanics are you currently developing and what should players be expecting from them?
We can’t divulge any teasers at this point about what’s on our slate as they're still in the early development stage, but we can promise that we’ve got plenty up our sleeve.
We take the learnings from each release and use the insight to pour fresh innovation into new, unique mechanics and games that we’re pretty sure won’t have been seen in the industry before.
There are several things Push Gaming fans - and slot enthusiasts in general - can be excited about.
How do you ensure the end user is educated about the mechanic and therefore seek out the game upon launch?
Marketing our games and the features that drive them is a vital part of the launch cycle. We want to seed anticipation well in advance of launches so that, on launch day, players have a level of familiarity that makes their first play sessions as enjoyable as possible.
We engage in interviews, and deep-dive features across several formats that explore the nuances of the mechanic and how players can make the most of their gaming without having to refer to the rules.
With a new generation of players continually entering the iGaming market are these innovations developed with them in mind? Or is the primary demographic existing slot enthusiasts?
Like any provider, we try not to limit our scope when it comes to new products. As much as we espouse our ‘Players First’ motto, we’re a business and don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves and limit the success potential of any new game.
Our increased roadmap is pivotal in ensuring we have the right diversity in our content, released with the appropriate amount of frequency to keep up with demand. Slot creation is a challenging task but for Push, it’s also a labour of love and something we’re dedicated to perfecting.
