Unique and Eye-Catching Video Slot Designs

The world of online casino game development is filled with creativity and passion, resulting in a never-ending release schedule of slots optimised for online and mobile gambling. While early slot machines either featured hyper-realistic symbols or overly simplified flat icons, modern game design techniques and the adoption of cutting-edge technology that allows for in-game animations have allowed creative teams to push the boundaries of what a slot game could be.

Here are four more recent art styles applied to casino games and the online slots you can play to see them in action.

Rubber Hose Animation:

While the term “rubber hose animation” might sound downright dystopian, nothing could be farther from the truth. It is the name of the animation style used in the early days to bring beloved characters such as Steamboat Willie, Betty Boop, and Felix the Cat to life. Subsequently, it became the de facto art style reference for anything creative looking to evoke a 1920s or 1930s nostalgia response from a viewer.

The art style is characterised by overly exaggerated movements, flowy/rubbery limbs, and simplified characters. The colour palette is either black and white or very washed out colours if they have to be incorporated for a touch more visual appeal.

One of our favourite online slots, the Charlie Chance in Hell Pay slot from Play’n GO, showcases this design style. The innocence of the 1930s aesthetic stands in stark contrast to the setting and some of the symbols you encounter while spinning the reels.

The slot machine is a high volatility release played on a classic 3x3 reel setup with 5 paylines and a chance to win up to 6,666x your bet. The developer set the RTP at 96.23% giving the house a slight edge of 3.77%, putting the odds of winning big in your favour.

Comic Book:

One of the world's most easily recognised art styles is that of the comic book or graphic novel if you’re an ardent collector. This popular style is also referred to as Sequential Art. While the overall production is a work of art, each panel is its own custom creation built upon by the next artwork in the sequence to tell an overarching story.

While the lineart used to fill in the panels that spread across the pages of your favourite comic book can vary wildly, you will also find clearly defined characters or settings, speech bubbles or other word containers, and word-image relationships. More poetic designers use the interplay between scenes (related to setting, colour use, or character posture) to evoke emotion or advance the story more subtly.

Get all the “BIFF”, “BAM”, and “POW” action your heart desires on the reels of R. Franco Digital’s gritty spy-thriller-inspired comic book slot, Red Mantis: Paris Mission. Jump from panel to panel, unfolding the action-adventure storyline and collecting loot as you progress.

Red Mantis Paris is a highly volatile slot game with a 6-reel, 5-row layout and up to 46,65 ways to win on every spin. The game has a low RTP of 94.00% but offers bets as low as $0.10 per game and a range of bonus features to give you good odds of claiming the top payout of more than 7,400x your bet.

Adventure Time:

The story of the proliferation of the “Adventure Time” art style is entertaining. In 2010, American screenwriter and animator Pendleton Ward created a fantastical series about a boy and his dog called Adventure Time. To immerse the viewer in the unhinged series of adventures, the pair would embark upon; he created a wholly new design style that drew inspiration from other cartoons, art movements, and design styles.

With its surreal elements, wavy characters, outrageous use of colour, and near abstraction in the overall look and feel, the style has simply become known online as the “Adventure Time” art style.

One of the best examples of an Adventure Time-styled video slot is Muddy Waters by Peter and Sons. Not only is the visual storytelling delivered flawlessly but the choice of a dystopian survival setting is the perfect contrast for the upbeat and comedic art choice.

Muddy Waters is a high volatility 5-reel, 5-row slot machine optimised for mobile and pc players. Spin to win across 40 paylines to discover if the RTP of 96.49% gives you enough of an advantage over the house (with an edge of only 3.51%) to win the 20,000x max payout.

Pixel Art:

In the early days of game design, there were many limitations when it came to colour gradients and smooth lines. This led to early visual designers leaning into a form of digital pointillism, which became known worldwide as pixel art. The art form relies on the artist's skill to use blocks of varying colours to create the lines, shapes, and depth required to bring their vision to life.

Some of the most popular video games of all time, such as Mario Bros and Tetri,s were designed using pixel art. Thanks to modern technology, designers now use it as a choice, not a matter of necessity and have pushed what can be achieved with block art to incredible heights, as can be seen in the screenshot of a game titled Octopath Traveller below.

Make a break for one of the hottest slots in the Relax Gaming catalogue, Hellcatraz and enjoy pixel art gaming at its finest. The fun and flamboyant art style is a ridiculous choice for a casino game about escaping a maximum security prison - in fact, it's so wild it's downright brilliant.

Escape to riches with the Hellcatraz slot and its incredible jackpot payout of 51,480x your bet. The high volatility slot is played on a 6x6 game grid with 46,656 ways to win. The slot machine offers players an RTP of 96.46%, leaving the house a slim edge of 3.54%.