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NSoft story: Passion and motivation behind Virtual Penalty Shootout

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NSoft story: Passion and motivation behind Virtual Penalty Shootout
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Virtual Penalty Shootout celebrated its first birthday. Officially, the game was released on September 30, 2020, and instantly captured the attention of both – operators and players.

The expert community has also recognized the uniqueness and the beauty of the game by shortlisting it for the Global Gaming Award 2021 in the category Product Launch of the Year. Recently NSoft received seven nominations for the SBC Awards Latinoamerica 2021. Among others, we are shortlisted in the category Virtual Sports Supplier. The application for this award has leaned heavily on the Virtual Penalty Shootout game.

To celebrate all those milestones, we decided to tell a different story about Virtual Penalty Shootout game. We will not talk about the RNG, betting markets, how-to-play but let people who created the game say a word or two about passion, excitement and dedication.

By Amela Dedić and Biljana Haljevac, Senior 3D Artists/Animators

The team

Great teams and great ideas are all about people and the working atmosphere. We at NSoft’s former 3D Games Team, now 3D Creative Team were lucky to found each and we just can’t start this story without saying thank-you to former and current team members: Jasmin Ličina – Senior 3D artist/Team lead, Dragan Grbavac – Senior 3D artist, Dejan Boras – Senior Unity dev, Zlatko Vukšić – Senior Unity dev, Adnan Mujkić – Unity Dev, Dragan Rezo – Senior 3D Artist, Stojan Cvitković – Senior 3D Artist, Toni Matej Radoš – Senior 3D Artist. In this story, “we” are Biljana Haljevac –  Senior 3D Animator and Amela Dedić – Senior 3D Animator. We are the one who will take you behind the scene of  Virtual Penalty Shootout. 

Our Team’s job is to develop Virtual betting games such as Virtual greyhound and horse races, Motorcycle Speedway, etc.

New Project – Virtual Penalty Shootout

The virtual penalty shootout was the most challenging project we’ve worked on. It allowed us to learn and try new things such as Motion capture. Our first job was to figure out the best way for our small team to make such a big virtual game. The biggest challenge was the animation process. We needed a large number of highly realistic animations, and the best solution for that problem was a Motion Capture system. Our choice was a company from Sweden named Rokoko and their WiFi motion capture suit – The Smartsuit Pro.

After we placed our order for the suit, the waiting time was used to go “back to school” and research making of other elements of the game such as character and venue design and creation, MoCap animation recording and cleanup, new software, and game rules. Our best friends were Pluralsight and LinkedIn Learning.

The Arrival- Smartsuit Pro is in the town 

The arrival of the Smartsuit Pro was the most joyful occasion. Also, the day when our colleague Toni officially became the resident MoCap test talent.

Since our open office was not suited for a proper MoCap test, our first pick was local park. Awesome place, beautiful weather, but just one problem: electricity was really hard to find. A better-suited place was found for proper test and future motion capture sessions. The Local Futsal field had everything we needed.

MoCap Time! 

Following initial tests, we felt confident enough to start official motion capture sessions. The first step was planning and creating MoCap sheets for each motion capture session.

Our motion capture crew was small but efficient: Toni Matej Radoš – Test talent & Talent Manager, Biljana Haljevac – Reference Cameras and Amela Dedić – Rokoko Studio, MoCap Sheet. And our Talents, real-life football players,  who without this would not be possible: Fedja Kulenić (goalkeeper) and Ivan Arapović (player).

Since we have only one suit, Goalkeeper and Player animations were recorded separately. Because of that, we had to be very careful during the planning process so the respective animations could match. We were a bit worried about the Goalkeeper’s recording sessions, taking into consideration the nature of football goalkeeping movements. To make everything easier we relocated Goalkeeper’s MoCap sessions to the local Judo club with a soft tatami mat surface.  We had 3 recording sessions and each was 3 hours long. That gave us 137 raw animations. We were aware that not every MoCap take will be successful or 100% accurate, we made sure that every take was also recorded with our reference cameras.

Animation Cleanup

The entire process of cleanup was done in Maya and Motionbuilder using the HumanIK system. Most of the work was root motion corrections, foot slides, and arms fixes. The final part of the cleanup was merging the animations of Player and Goalkeeper into one take and making sure that the timing fits perfectly for each take.

The ball movement was a mix of keyframed animation and Unity physics.

Visuals & Final Render

Cleanup done. Next: Dressing up. The entire time of animation cleanup our player and goalkeeper rigs were dressed in nothing but their birthday suit. That caused a lot of funny looks from our other coworkers. But fear not! Our 3D artist Dragan Rezo was on the task of dressing them up for their final render.

Visuals & Final Render

Cleanup done. Next: Dressing up. The entire time of animation cleanup our player and goalkeeper rigs were dressed in nothing but their birthday suit. That caused a lot of funny looks from our other coworkers. But fear not! Our 3D artist Dragan Rezo was on the task of dressing them up for their final render.

Every visual element of the game can be easily changed. Character appearance, jerseys, crowd, banners. All this can be altered according to the client’s requirements. We had a test client request just to see how much time would be needed for all the changes and rendering.

  • Lions on background video banners
  • Goalkeeper jersey with leopard pattern and panther head as front logo
  • Penalty taker with a red jersey and white sun on blue background (Taiwanese flag) as a front logo. Number 88 on the back and name “Tigers” above it
  • Additional but not requested, all resolve screens translated to mandarin

Final words

Almost nobody was injured during the making of the game. Our Goalkeeper had some bruises from the suit’s sensors, and we almost had a heart attack when our suit had a minor malfunction.

All jokes aside, our small team is very proud to have managed to complete such a large project, learn a bunch of new things in the process, and use Motion capture technology. It was an awesome experience from start to finish.

In the end, we would like you to take a look at our little video presentation of the Motion capture animation process.

Conferences in Europe

NEW HORIZONS FOR ZETTAONLINE AFTER SBC SUMMIT

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NEW HORIZONS FOR ZETTAONLINE AFTER SBC SUMMIT
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Milena Tsankarska, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, represented ZettaOnline at the SBC Summit, leaving the event with promising new opportunities for the company. The summit, held from September 24th to 26th, 2024, at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa, brought together some of the top global experts in the gaming industry in the Portuguese capital.

“We have the chance to exchange ideas and form promising new partnerships which faced directly our marketing strategy to expand our services to different markets by establishing and cultivating long-term partnerships with new clients,” shared Milena Tsankarska. “At Lisbon our team was actively involved in engaging with industry peers, showcasing our cutting-edge solutions, and discussing potential collaborations that could drive mutual growth and success,” she added afterwords.

More than 600 exhibitors showed their new products and services within the gaming and entertainment industry in Lisbon. There also were a variety of dynamic conference formats where 450+ speakers shared their experience, and everyone had the opportunity to connect with 25,000 industry professionals.

“We would like to thank the organizers for hosting such an outstanding event. We’d also like to extend our gratitude to our esteemed partners and clients for the opportunity to reconnect, explore new possibilities, and create memorable moments together,” said Milena after the SCB Summit. At the SBC Summit, there were several themed areas like the Casino & iGaming Zone, Sports Betting Zone, Player Protection Zone, ESI Lisbon – Esports, Gaming & Creators Zone, and two summits: Payment Expert Summit and Affiliate Leaders’ Summit.

Next stop for Zettaonline’s team is BEGE/EEGS, which are two of the premier events in the gaming and entertainment industry. The Balkan Entertainment and Gaming Expo (BEGE) will showcase the latest innovative technologies and trends from across the sector. The Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS) is an annual gaming conference, just parallel to BEGE, with more than 400 industry representatives from 25 countries. For more information about our participation and to book a meeting with us, please contact [email protected].

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MIRACL partners with Continent 8 to offer its single-step passwordless MFA solution to simplify the login experience

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MIRACL partners with Continent 8 to offer its single-step passwordless MFA solution to simplify the login experience
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MIRACL’s passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA) service adds to Continent 8’s multi-layered cybersecurity and regulatory compliance suite of solutions, providing secure, frictionless logins on any browser or device.

MIRACL, a provider of passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA), today announces a new partnership with Continent 8 Technologies, a leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions to the iGaming and online sports betting industry.

This collaboration has enabled Continent 8 to enhance their regulated cybersecurity product portfolio with MIRACL’s secure, single-step MFA solution, offering the most secure and efficient authentication experience possible.

MIRACL’s MFA service streamlines the authentication process with a single personal identification number (PIN) code or device-based biometric. This allows players to access an online service via browser or app in under two seconds – 20 times faster than traditional multi-step MFA methods. Crucially, this means MIRACL enjoys the highest Login Success Rate, 99.9% on average, which leads to increased traffic and conversions, boosting revenue and enhancing user experience.

The solution also saves cost by preventing account takeovers and minimising account resets, allowing gaming operators and suppliers to reduce IT helpdesk and infrastructure support costs.

The MIRACL MFA solution delivers banking-grade security through a zero-knowledge framework, ensuring that no security-related information is stored or shared. By eliminating credential exchanges, the service is fully resistant to all remote and brute-force attacks, including credential stuffing, man-in-the-middle, password spraying, phishing, replay and SMS fatigue, thereby offering zero vulnerabilities. The MFA solution complies with the most stringent security and privacy regulations, including MFA legislation requirements for the regulated iGaming and online sports betting industry.

Rob Griffin, CEO at MIRACL said “The shift to mandated MFA by regulators is set to be a massive change in the industry with requirements changing quickly across the globe. MIRACL meets 100% of these requirements for 100% of users while also massively improving their experience.

Over the last 25 years, Continent 8 has become a trusted authority within iGaming in respect of cybersecurity, regulatory adherence and the art of provisioning gaming services that delight their customers. MIRACL’s innovative solutions exceed customers’ expectations in all three of these realms so for us, Continent 8 is the perfect partner. We look forward to bringing our passwordless, single-step MFA to their global client base.

While operators can understand conceptually the potential for passwordless authentication to increase revenues and save costs, they need a trusted and expert partner to help navigate the path. Working closely in tandem, MIRACL and Continent 8 can meet that sizable customer need to ensure customers realise the massive ROI that MIRACL’s passwordless MFA enables.”

MIRACL’s passwordless MFA solution will be part of Continent 8 and C8 Secure’s (a Continent 8 company specialised in cybersecurity) comprehensive suite of multi-layered cybersecurity solutions. The current portfolio includes VAPT, Compliance Audit, DDoS, EDR & MDR, Mobile Protect, SafeBait, SIEM & SOC, V-Scan, Backup and WAAP services, among others.

David Brace, Principal, Innovation & Technology at Continent 8, said: “Speed, uptime, compliance and security are the pillars of our business, whether it be infrastructure, connectivity or the protection of digital assets. By partnering with MIRACL, we add an MFA service that protects players from fraud and cyber attacks, meets regulatory compliance and offers operators a swift, password-less MFA experience.

“This strategic alliance is a significant step forward in our ongoing mission to be the trusted cybersecurity and infrastructure partner for the regulated iGaming and online sports betting industry.”

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7777 gaming signs strategic agreement with R. Franco Digital, expanding reach in Spain and Latin America

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7777 gaming signs a strategic agreement with R. Franco Digital, a prominent player in the gaming sector and part of the Orenes Group. This partnership sees 7777 gaming’s extensive portfolio of casino content distributed across Spain and key markets in Latin America, where R. Franco Digital has a significant presence.

Through this agreement, players in these regions will gain access to 7777 gaming’s popular and diverse titles, including Devil’s Deal Soul for Sale, Cash 100, Crazy 100 Bucks, Thracian Treasures, Crazy 20 Bucks, Barbarian, Candy Anyways, Club Mr. Luck, Jinn, Sea of Treasures, and many more. Known for their innovative features and captivating gameplay, these games are set to bring a fresh wave of excitement to players across Spain and Latin America.

Zhana Aleksandrova, Business Development Manager for Spain & Latin America at 7777 gaming, commented: “The signed agreement with R. Franco Digital gives us another level of motivation and dedication to two very important markets for us – Spain and Latin America. R. Franco Digital has a strong presence, a wide network of partners, and an audience that loves exciting and innovative casino games. We are confident in our mutual success and are looking forward to receiving feedback from the players’ community.”

Guillermo Ruipérez, Head of Sales at R. Franco Digital, added: “We always strive to adapt our offerings to the requirements of our clients and their players. Our partnership with 7777 gaming aligns with our mission to offer the latest and most innovative gaming concepts available on the market right now. We are constantly upgrading and expanding our portfolio of providers to ensure that our clients are satisfied with what we can offer.”

This collaboration represents a significant step forward for both companies, as they work together to bring high-quality, engaging casino games to new and existing players in these vibrant markets.

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