Interested in how the magic happens at your favourite game developer? Join us as we chat with Craig Asling, who reveals how Booming Games approaches game and feature development, with the player experience front and centre.
Join us for an insightful Q&A session with Booming Games. We get a sneak peek behind the curtain of running an iGaming software development company and what it takes to make games and experiences players love.
A: I’m Craig Asling, Director of Games at Booming Games. My focus is on bringing together the creative and technical elements that make a great video slot: the initial idea, the maths, the features, and how everything feels when you play.
A: A strong theme can get someone to try a casino game, but the experience itself gives them a reason to remember it. Players need to understand what’s happening, what the features do, and what makes that particular game enjoyable for them.
A lot comes down to how well the different elements work together. The maths shapes the distribution of wins, while the animation, sound and presentation help players follow the action. Even small details, such as how a feature is introduced or how clearly a win is explained, can make a big difference.
There isn’t one formula that suits everyone. Some players enjoy straightforward games; others prefer more elaborate features. The important thing is that a game delivers its chosen experience well and has a personality of its own.
A: Those mechanics are popular because they’re understandable and offer plenty of room for interesting variations. Familiarity gives us a useful starting point: players already understand the basics, so we can focus on giving them something different within that framework.
The key is to make a change that matters to the experience. With Hold and Win games like Shields of Gold: Valkyrie, that might mean introducing symbols that interact with the values already on the board. With cascades, it could be how multipliers develop across a sequence, or how the feature changes during free spins.
We also have to be selective. Adding more features doesn’t automatically make a better game. I’d rather have one distinctive idea that players immediately understand than several competing ideas that make the game difficult to follow. The theme can help here, giving a mechanic a natural context instead of simply decorating it.
A: They’re useful indicators, but neither tells the whole story.
Volatility describes how widely results can vary. Lower-volatility games generally distribute returns through smaller, more frequent wins, while higher-volatility games tend to have greater swings and can include longer periods without a meaningful win. Those are general characteristics, though, not a prediction of what will happen in an individual session.
Maximum win is the game’s upper limit, not an indication of what a player is likely to win. A bigger maximum doesn’t automatically mean a better game or better odds of coming out ahead.
I’d encourage players to look at the rules, features and published return-to-player (RTP) percentage alongside those figures. RTP is a theoretical long-term average, not a promise for a session. Ultimately, the choice should reflect the kind of entertainment someone enjoys, within a budget they’re comfortable losing. No volatility level removes the risk of loss.
A: The idea centres on adding a shared, social dimension to an experience that people usually enjoy individually. Developed with Live Play Mobile, LivePlay Slots combines Booming Games’ slot content with live-hosted entertainment and real-time interaction.
The difference is in the atmosphere around the game. A host brings personality, responds to the audience and creates moments that people can experience together. That gives the format some of the energy of a live show, alongside familiar slot gameplay.
I think there’s room for this to become a bigger part of the industry because it offers a different reason to enjoy the experience. Some players value having their own space, while others enjoy conversation and a sense of community. Its future will depend on how well those live elements complement the games and how naturally the whole experience comes together.
A: It starts with a clear central idea. That might be a mechanic, a character or a theme, but we need to be able to explain what makes the game interesting and who it’s for.
From there, game design and maths need to develop together. A bonus feature can sound great on paper, but its behaviour and frequency have a huge influence on how it feels. Early prototypes help establish whether the core idea works before the presentation is fully developed.
Art, animation and audio then give that experience its identity. Ideally, they also help explain it: a character’s action or a visual cue should make a feature easier to understand.
There’s a lot of refinement along the way, working with the producers, mathematicians, art teams and technical teams, to all be aligned on the vision and ensuring that the quality and experience match or exceed what was originally envisioned.
A: The strongest games usually have something players can easily recognise and describe. That could be a memorable character, a distinctive bonus or a particularly well-executed version of a familiar mechanic. They have a clear reason to be chosen.
Visibility matters too. How a game is presented and discovered can influence its initial reception, so success isn’t purely a design question. Once someone tries it, though, the experience has to meet the expectations the game creates.
Player feedback is valuable because the thing a designer considers the headline feature may not be the thing players remember most. A smaller detail can become the defining part of a game’s appeal. That’s why it’s important to listen as well as look at performance data.
There’s always an element of unpredictability. We can learn from successful games, but repeating their ingredients won’t necessarily reproduce the result. The aim is to understand what players enjoyed and bring that understanding into something with its own identity.
A: I think we’ll see more experimentation in how features interact. Familiar mechanics still have plenty of potential, particularly when combining them creates something players can understand quickly but that gives a game its own identity.
There’s also room for more personality and interaction around the gameplay. LivePlay Slots is one example of how live casino entertainment and social elements can create a different atmosphere. Those experiences will appeal to some players, while others will continue to enjoy a more traditional slot.
The challenge is making every addition worthwhile. More animation, more features or more interaction only improve a game if they contribute to the experience. I think the strongest developments will make games feel more distinctive while keeping the mechanics clear and the experience easy to follow.
A: One title I’m particularly looking forward to is Blazin’ Bingo Trio, which is due to launch this December. It takes the form of a “Triple Pot” collection mechanic and introduces a brand new Bonus feature, presenting players with a unique prize board where prizes such as cash awards up to 100x and Extra Spins are randomly selected and awarded, all then applicable to the 3 feature modifiers that can multiply awarded prizes, trigger fixed jackpots or even collect reels or rows of prizes.
What excites me most about it is the whole package from the character-driven bingo/game show theme, the player favourite triple pot collection combined with this new approach to a bonus feature. I’m especially interested in seeing players respond when it launches.
If you are enamoured with this studio as we are, all that is left for you to do is try their games for yourself. Feel free to play the demo versions of their games to become familiar with the mechanics and gameplay loops. Once you're ready to play for real money, check out our recommended Booming Games casinos.
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