Making Spartans vs. Zombies Multipays: Interview With a Stakelogic Developer

Thanks for the interview, Andrew, and congratulations on releasing a new game! Now, Spartans battling zombies is definitely a unique theme, especially for a slot game. How did you come up with it?

When we are considering themes for our slot games, we usually ask ourselves, “What would be fun and exciting but also unique and different enough from anything else out there?” What better way to do that than by combining zombies with the ancient Spartans?

There are a lot of in Stakelogic’s portfolio. How do you decide between making a sequel to an already-established game and starting a new project from scratch?

The boring answer is, it depends.

When we're creating a new game, we want to make sure that it's as engaging as possible. That means we'll do our research, talk to our players, and look at the data before starting on any project. 

As for sequels, they are great because they allow us to bring back characters and themes from previous games. At the same time, they can be daunting because we don't want to disappoint fans of earlier titles by changing too much about them.

So when deciding whether or not to create a sequel or start from scratch with something new, it's important for us to keep in mind what our players want from their gaming experience.

How is the theme of Spartans and zombies reflected in the game mechanics?

The theme of Spartans battling zombies is reflected in several ways. During the base game, you can collect symbols belonging to either faction and trigger free spins that are specific to Spartans and zombies.

During Zombie free spins, zombies come to life as sticky wilds with multipliers, while expanding wild reels in Spartan free spins really bring the game to life using the multipay mechanic.

What were the key considerations when creating Spartans vs. Zombies?

Basically, there were two core ideas:

A. We wanted to make a game that was fun, fast-paced, and exciting.

B. We also wanted to make a game that had a lot of different ways for players to win.

Could you elaborate on the second part?

The beauty of Spartans vs. Zombies Multipays is that players can trigger special bonuses in a variety of ways.

Every time the player spins the reels, a battle between Spartans and zombies is played out. You can see respective symbols flashing on your screen. Whenever you hit a combination of these symbols, you fill out either your Spartan meter or your zombie meter.

Completing the meter without failing more than twice in a row unlocks Spartan or Zombie free spins. You can also trigger free spins by landing three scatter symbols during the base game.

And that’s barely scratching the surface! There are lots more features in this slot epic.

Having played the game, there are certainly enough different elements to satisfy even the most demanding slot enthusiasts. In general, what strategies do you use to keep players engaged?

Players can stay engaged in multiple ways to trigger the features, with persistent collections to reward the players. The free spins rounds also have a big win potential, with lots of wild symbol activity. All of this helps players stay engaged and immersed in the world we’ve created.

Then, there’s the matter of balancing this player engagement with responsible gaming practices. How does a developer of Stakelogic’s level achieve that?

We integrated all responsible gaming practices into our products and make sure that we focus on player engagement through our mathematical approach.

By mathematical approach, do you mean random number generators (RNG)? How does that factor in when developing slot games?

We approach random number generators the same way we approach any other aspect of our games: with a lot of research and data analysis. The main challenge when designing an RNG slot is to make sure that the results are unpredictable enough to be exciting, but also consistent enough that players can have confidence in what they're betting on.

Testing plays a big part in our game design. We use extensive testing to ensure that our RNGs make games both unpredictable and consistent, and we keep testing until we're sure that everything is working perfectly.

How did you approach designing the visual elements to match the Spartans and zombies theme?

We have the same user interface for all our products, but let me tell you how we approached the design here. We started by creating a cohesive visual style that would be instantly recognisable as part of the Spartans vs. Zombies universe.

We wanted to give the player a sense that they were really in the ancient world fighting zombies, so this was the inspiration we used to bring this slot to life. We also used a unique art style and added bold colours and clean lines to give it an energetic feel.

We knew first-hand that the Spartans were going to be wearing armour, so we thought that might be a good place to start. We also knew that we wanted some kind of helmet, but we needed it to look different from the helmets of other slot games.

The zombies were next up. We wanted them to stand out from other slots, so they needed something unique—something that would make them different from any other slot game out there. We made sure they looked the part by making them gruesome and scary.

It sounds like Stakelogic is doing a lot of research behind the scenes. How important is player feedback to your development process?

Feedback is the cornerstone of our development process. We look to improve all aspects of the game through feedback at many stages of the development lifecycle, be it in the planning stages, animation and art styles.

Our aim is to continue to listen to our players and evolve our bonus mechanics to meet their preferences and deliver an exciting and rewarding gaming experience.

Based on your analysis of current and future players wants around bonuses, what are players looking for specifically around bonuses? Did you implement specific mechanics or features or rewards based on those?

Based on our analysis of player feedback and preferences, we found that players are particularly drawn to bonuses that offer free spins and the ability to retrigger those free spins.

We have implemented specific mechanics and features in our games to cater to these player wants, such as bonus rounds that can be retriggered with additional free spins, and increasing the number of free spins available in our bonuses.

Were there any unique challenges or opportunities that you've encountered while developing Spartans vs. Zombies?

The biggest challenge was making sure we could get all the details right. Spartans vs. Zombies is an incredibly detailed game, and we wanted to make sure that our design and graphics complemented our idea.

How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in video slot development?

At Stakelogic, we have a team of experts who are constantly analysing the latest developments in the industry. We also seek feedback from our players to better understand what they enjoy and which games they prefer. This allows us to be at the cutting edge of new slots so that we can share our vision with the players.

What is the collaboration process like between artists, programmers and marketers when you’re bringing a new game to life?

Our collaboration process when bringing a new game to life is quite fluid.

Once we decide on the general direction, the artists start by creating concept sketches of the characters, environments and objects that will be in the game. This helps the programmers get an idea of what they'll be working with and what they need to create in order to make it possible for players to interact with these elements.

When the artwork is finalised, it's handed off to our programmers who take it from there and design how each element will work within the game. Then, our marketers familiarise themselves with what we've created so they can come up with a marketing strategy that will best promote the game.

Sounds like a lot of effort and it certainly paid off! Last question: if you could sum up your new game in two words, what would they be?

Let’s go with “Innovative” and “Exciting”.

About Stakelogic

Stakelogic is a major casino game developer. Founded in 2014 in the Netherlands, Stakelogic is known for its extensive library of slot games with cutting-edge 3D animations.

Stakelogic's products achieve a seamless gaming experience, thanks to the company's pioneering of Super Stake, Multipays, Spin to Win, and other immersive gameplay features.