Q&A Ask Me Anything about Slots (AMA) 2020 with Trancemonkey

Can i check in a alternative way the RTP for a provided game other then the help file?

Ive F12'd my way through it (console) but i coud'nt find anything in particular. You have a game version and a server sided version, which proberly holds the magic does'nt it?

It's about Nextgen / Star Clusters.
I doubt that - unless the RTP setting for the game is sent to the client as part of the game load
 
I'm a game (not slots) programmer and I'm very interested in how various game mechanics in slot games are created.
One thing I'm particularly curious about is Play & Go's grid-based games. I have always liked Moon Princess and Rise of Olympus of that provider.

Look, we all know that such grid games are 100% scripted, from the moment the spin button is pressed, the cluster(s) forming and being destroyed, the tumbling(s), the random wilds placement etc - it's all pre-defined in some script file of sort that is just "played out" on the screen in front of the player.

The interesting part for me is how these game rounds actually were produced during the game's development?
I know that no one here can't for sure tell me how Play & Go did it but maybe you can tell me how it could potentially be done?
There's a lot to think about, such as the RTP should be correct (after like 1 million created game rounds or something), no endless tumbling etc.

How would you create such game rounds that is not based on reel strips?
 
I'm a game (not slots) programmer and I'm very interested in how various game mechanics in slot games are created.
One thing I'm particularly curious about is Play & Go's grid-based games. I have always liked Moon Princess and Rise of Olympus of that provider.

Look, we all know that such grid games are 100% scripted, from the moment the spin button is pressed, the cluster(s) forming and being destroyed, the tumbling(s), the random wilds placement etc - it's all pre-defined in some script file of sort that is just "played out" on the screen in front of the player.

The interesting part for me is how these game rounds actually were produced during the game's development?
I know that no one here can't for sure tell me how Play & Go did it but maybe you can tell me how it could potentially be done?
There's a lot to think about, such as the RTP should be correct (after like 1 million created game rounds or something), no endless tumbling etc.

How would you create such game rounds that is not based on reel strips?
Hey @Naith85,
You usually start with the rules you want to have in the game. E.g. When X happens then Y happens. You apply a paytable and build out a simulator for it (in the case of a grid slot you usually need to do this). Run the sim and see where the game ends up on a mathematical level as well as a player experience level. When you’ve been doing this for a while - you just kinda know when a particular rule will be expensive (ie. use a lot of RTP) so you try not to build something with lots of those rules as your RTP will not be viable. From there is a process of pulling out stuff that isn’t working. Putting new stuff in and then when you have a good feeling you tweak here and there - all the while simming and checking the game looks good.
There are of course other things - making sure the game is compliant with the various regulations for example.

hope that helps a little!

burg
 
I'm a game (not slots) programmer and I'm very interested in how various game mechanics in slot games are created.
One thing I'm particularly curious about is Play & Go's grid-based games. I have always liked Moon Princess and Rise of Olympus of that provider.

Look, we all know that such grid games are 100% scripted, from the moment the spin button is pressed, the cluster(s) forming and being destroyed, the tumbling(s), the random wilds placement etc - it's all pre-defined in some script file of sort that is just "played out" on the screen in front of the player.

The interesting part for me is how these game rounds actually were produced during the game's development?
I know that no one here can't for sure tell me how Play & Go did it but maybe you can tell me how it could potentially be done?
There's a lot to think about, such as the RTP should be correct (after like 1 million created game rounds or something), no endless tumbling etc.

How would you create such game rounds that is not based on reel strips?
As @burgstrom quite rightly says, it is mostly through experience and also, even when you've been doing it a while, a lot of trial and error:

i.e wouldn't it be good if X happened after Y occurred, and then maybe Z could happen...

..and then you implement it and realise that Z was a stupid idea, but if you changed Z to Z1 it might actually work

The more we can prototype, the faster we can throw away bad ideas and nurture good ones...

Rinse and repeat...
 
Is the stated RTP on the game client *always* the actual RTP of the maths model that the server is using for each spin or is it the minimum ? From experience over the last five years, I always seem to do well on initial sign ups and when using bonus funds. I can't find detailed information on what the stated RTP must mean but I'm sure we can be played along by a provider/casino and then doing the shut-out when we raise stakes...... happens to me all the time :)
 
Is the stated RTP on the game client *always* the actual RTP of the maths model that the server is using for each spin or is it the minimum ? From experience over the last five years, I always seem to do well on initial sign ups and when using bonus funds. I can't find detailed information on what the stated RTP must mean but I'm sure we can be played along by a provider/casino and then doing the shut-out when we raise stakes...... happens to me all the time :)
Asked and answered hundreds of times: yes RTP is as advertised unless playing a pirated game or a shonky casino. No it doesn't change.
Your luck changes over time because if it stayed the same all the time it wouldn't be random.
You crash out quicker at higher stake because you are raising your variance.
 
Asked and answered hundreds of times: yes RTP is as advertised unless playing a pirated game or a shonky casino. No it doesn't change.
Your luck changes over time because if it stayed the same all the time it wouldn't be random.
You crash out quicker at higher stake because you are raising your variance.

Or there are changes in the way the game plays at different stakes - all within the same overall RTP ?

Thanks for the re-iteration. I'm a suspicious sod at the best of times and only being able to see half of an equation makes for subjective analysis. :)
 
Or there are changes in the way the game plays at different stakes - all within the same overall RTP ?

Thanks for the re-iteration. I'm a suspicious sod at the best of times and only being able to see half of an equation makes for subjective analysis. :)
It's just confirmation bias.
I think there may be a handful of slots that adjust variance based on stake (but not RTP) - but there's not many of them and that's fair enough a far as I'm concerned.
 
Speaking of regular casinos, is there any mechanism either in the slot or in the casino itself to make RTP control of players? Would this be allowed under current regulations?
 
It's just confirmation bias.
I think there may be a handful of slots that adjust variance based on stake (but not RTP) - but there's not many of them and that's fair enough a far as I'm concerned.
It's certainly clever stuff. You must have to be a player in order to make a profitable/attractive slot. I wonder whether 'Holy Diver' was a rookie project :D

Thanks - I knew what I was trying to say and 'variance' was the better word.
 
Got one for you. Okay when playing slots each spin is meant to come from an rng yes meaning it can't be preterdmined.
On red tigers reptizillions when you hit the bonus and you get the scrolling hoard through the bonus. Fair enough as that's just the way it interpretated. Okay after the bonus has finished it's supposed to still be an rng result but with this game if your hoard is still on the screen with each press the hoard still moves one over meaning that surely the next 5 or 6 spins must be predetermined. I have had the bonus on this game a good few times and each one is the same.
 
Can I ask another question?

When a game is ready to go, how is it actually 'sent' to the casinos? If it is actually sent anywhere. Is it like a link that is written into some code somewhere or does the casino have to download a bunch of files and then install them on their website?

I know games are run on servers owned by the developers (I think that's what I read anyway), so how does it all tie together?

If you can't already tell, I don't really know anything about IT!
 
Got one for you. Okay when playing slots each spin is meant to come from an rng yes meaning it can't be preterdmined.
On red tigers reptizillions when you hit the bonus and you get the scrolling hoard through the bonus. Fair enough as that's just the way it interpretated. Okay after the bonus has finished it's supposed to still be an rng result but with this game if your hoard is still on the screen with each press the hoard still moves one over meaning that surely the next 5 or 6 spins must be predetermined. I have had the bonus on this game a good few times and each one is the same.
Thought you already knew.

All red tiger slots are predetermined.

Play piggy riches megaways. Lucky santa. Does not matter.

Hit the bonus and just refresh page before you even pick for amount of spins and bonus round will be gone and whatever winnings are added to balance.

Or play at say Coral and have sports book open while playing slot In different window. Your balance will update even before the 3 scatters have landed. Then you can sit making whatever picks you wish and watch the free spins play out to whatever balance got added.
 
Thought you already knew.

All red tiger slots are predetermined.

Play piggy riches megaways. Lucky santa. Does not matter.

Hit the bonus and just refresh page before you even pick for amount of spins and bonus round will be gone and whatever winnings are added to balance.

Or play at say Coral and have sports book open while playing slot In different window. Your balance will update even before the 3 scatters have landed. Then you can sit making whatever picks you wish and watch the free spins play out to whatever balance got added.
That's not what I mean, it's the spins after the bonus has finished. Your horde will still continue after.
 
Piggy riches megaways is cheeky from my experience. i kinda like it due to a long lasting relationship with the original piggy riches, so it's the only red tiger game I occasionally play. But it seems (otherwise, it's down to a big coincidence during my experience) that when you get the minimal or near minimum amount of spins for the free spins round, it tends to throw in more extra spins to liven it up a bit. Probably so you dont rage after you've rolled through 2000 spins for a 30 second lasting, 5/7 dead spins feature round. Like me, I'm sure there's alot of people who aren't regular bonanaza players and so havn't built any immunity against that kind of abuse. ;)
 
Speaking of regular casinos, is there any mechanism either in the slot or in the casino itself to make RTP control of players? Would this be allowed under current regulations?
I don't actually know what is meant by this question...
 
I don't actually know what is meant by this question...
Maybe he meant to say - allow the RTP to be controlled by players? If so - some games do offer bet up mechanics that increase the RTP. But there are not many. So the player can choose/control. Otherwise Games with a skill spread also have an RTP variance outcome based on player decisions. I released some games at IGT on landbased that had this. They were quite fun. :)
 
Okay decided to get a running screen shot of these spins. You can see that each spin is its own spin and not a rolling spin like jack and the beanstalk. So the game must know that by the time the horde reaches the win line side is has to give a win. So how can this be random?
 

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@Scott1baird I know what you mean with this game and I thought it was an error the first time I played it because the horde of symbols continues after the round ends.

But, any wins guaranteed can still be affected by the random landing of other symbols cant they?
Yes.
 
So it is still random, even though while the hordes play out some minimum wins might be guaranteed.

Unless I am missing something this is no different to calculating instant win prizes into RNG.
Of course it's still random.. the spin that put the horde there in the first place was random, and any extra symbols are randomly determined - so the game is still random within the game rules - the rules being the horde builds up and moves left. Yes, there is persistence in those spins, but that's allowed as it's part of the game rules and described as such.
 
Of course it's still random.. the spin that put the horde there in the first place was random, and any extra symbols are randomly determined - so the game is still random within the game rules - the rules being the horde builds up and moves left. Yes, there is persistence in those spins, but that's allowed as it's part of the game rules and described as such.
I think a good point to make is that it is possible to create a server response that calculates all of the results and steps/states in the bonus and sends it into the client for it to play out. If X does this and Y then does that and you end of with Z. So although it feels pre-determined, it is random, using all of the probabilities from the Math and RNG but all of the results could have been calculated up front and sent through. I don't know if this game does it like that but it is possible!
 
It's a good game and to be honest I have bigger wins after the bonus feature finished when I continues its run after.
 

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