Industry News

Drift It! What Should the Ideal Racing Game Have?

Published

5 years ago

December 3, 2019

Drift It! What Should the Ideal Racing Game Have?

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Imagine – you’re in an awesome car you’ve handpicked and tweaked yourself. You’re holding the shift stick in a calculating manner, your mind going over the many ways you can dominate this race despite other drivers having amazing cars. And when the lights turned green, you immediately find yourself zooming past competitors in a few seconds. This feeling – the rush of air as your car roars in supremacy – can be very exhilarating. In the real world, that’s the sound of a speeding ticket. In a racing game, though, that’s the sound of success. So if you’re a racing gamer, it makes sense to be enamored with the idea of finding the “ideal” racing game. How exactly do you find the game for you, though?

How is it in terms of controls and mechanics? One of the most important aspects of finding the ideal racing game is to study its controls and mechanics. Granted, most racing games today across different publishers and developers may have “streamlined” their controls towards a common set of keys or buttons. However, the difference there lies in how exactly those keys and buttons are used, and how they affect the game at large.

That’s why a ton of car games often feature realistic physics, buffs and special skills, as well as crazy quirks. The more thrilling a race is, the more appealing it is for players. When you try out a car game, check whether it has the same kind of “thrill,” and whether or not these something you’d want to experience over and over. This is also why online games like Drift Hunters adopt realistic physics, as this can be extremely appealing to gamers.

- Check how adjustable and flexible the controls are as well. Aside from the physics the game provides, see how adjusting controls affect the way the cars work and your overall experience. If the game helps you adjust to a more comfortable experience by giving flexible controls, then this can be a game for you.

How diverse are your gameplay modes and options? Another important consideration when looking for a racing game is checking just how diverse its gameplay options and modes are. Granted, mechanics will most likely be along the lines of, “you have to win this race.” However, just how flexible is this statement? The best racing games don’t just make you play the same level over and over again – unless there’s some sort of reward involved. Check gameplay modes and see how replayable those modes are. Is there a campaign mode? What about a time trial?

- Does it have a campaign mode? Try to check how its campaign mode works, and what role racing has to do with it. Other games that focus on drag racing will have you become a driver in the “underworld,” racing for domination while evading cops. Meanwhile, other games put you in the shoes of professional drivers.
- Does it have special gameplay modes, like arcade mode or time trial mode? It helps a lot for racing games to have these various gameplay modes as they make the gaming experience a lot more diverse, even if it’s basically just “racing to the finish line.” The kind of adrenaline this can give players, and the sense of accomplishment this can give them, can be worth the while.

How customizable are the cars, the track, and the game at large? Racing games often get fun when you know you can customize a lot of things in the environment. Can you switch tracks? Can you customize your cars? How do these affect the way you’re racing with opponents? Try to identify just how diverse and flexible these customization options are, and see if these hinder or add thrill to the game when you play it.

- How customizable are the cars? Can you customize both a car’s appearance and the way it performs? Being able to do this can give you a sense of ownership on the part of the car, which can be extremely fun.
- See how you can customize the tracks as well. Can you adjust how many laps you’re supposed to race? How about the hazards and the other environmental factors in the game? Can you adjust the way the track itself looks like, or how often traffic and other cars appear? These can add spice to your game.
- Aside from the option to customize in itself, see how these customizations affect the gameplay experience. How do changes in the tracks affect the way your car performs? Do adding certain adjustments to your cars affect the way you handle it, or the way it takes damage? Noting these, and how they can affect immersion, can make or break your experience.

How is its multiplayer component? When you look for a racing game, try checking if it has a multiplayer component. If it has, try to see whether its multiplayer component is something fun, or if it’s something that’s not exactly executed properly. Multiplayer racing games can get fun regardless if you’re playing with family, friends, or strangers online. However, poorly-managed servers, and even laggy multiplayer sessions can be reason enough for players to quit entirely. A fun multiplayer component gives players a sense of achievement, especially when competing with others.

- Pay close attention when racing games let you play against other players online. Check whether the connection is stable enough for you and other players to have a good time racing with each other. Aside from that, check how the leaderboards work, and how customizable are the tracks and the cars.
- If the game you’re playing has a LAN or local area network component, check just how easy or difficult it is for friends to join in on the fun. See how stable the connection is, and how the game adjusts when a lot of players join your LAN session.

The Perfect Racing Game: Do You Feel the Thrill?

A lot of people might think racing games are just limited to “having to win a couple of laps.” And while much of this is true for most games in the genre, racing games have a lot more in store for fans than just repetitive races. If you’re an avid racing gamer, your perfect racing game should let you experience the thrill of racing against opponents, and at the same time gives you the feeling of actually controlling your car. This is a crucial factor that sets racing games apart from each other. Aside from the races themselves, you should take into account just how it “feels” to “drive” the vehicle from your controller, and how the mechanics of the game match their difficulty level. It’s this crucial balance – alongside different game modes, customization options, and multiplayer offerings – that can make an otherwise “simple” racing game into something you’ll look forward to playing all the time.

Author:

John Salazar is a certified techie-at-heart, but he shares a love for all things science and technology, health and wellness, and even a bit of music on the side. As a creative writer, John makes sure to write both informative and entertaining pieces. He loves writing, and he plays the guitar when he has free time.

Industry News

Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal

Published

4 days ago

November 14, 2024

George Miller

Reading Time: 3 minutes

With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.

When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.

One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.

Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.

As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.

First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.

On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.

Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.

When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.

Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.

Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.

I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.

Industry News

Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Peter Tolan

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform

Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.

The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.

Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.

The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.

EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.

Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.

This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).

Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.

“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”

Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”

Industry News

Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.

More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.

The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.

Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.

The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.