Everyone enjoys a good story, whether it comes from a book, movie, video game, or buddy. We can be entertained, excited, scared, or made to laugh by stories, but what matters most is that they keep us bouncing back for even more.
Any of us can tell a compelling tale. We are wired to love a good tale and to want to tell others about our own. While you might struggle if compelled to sit down with a laptop, typewriter, or pen and paper to write your own winning story, fortunately, there are plenty of great storytellers about today and some of them are part of slot development teams.
Entertain me
Every story needs the following five essential components: a plot, a place, characters, a point of view, and conflict. Nowadays, if you select the right slot, these crucial elements can be experienced while casino gambling at Paddy Power and other such leading platforms. Even if not all of the slots available now tell a story, some do and they tend to be the most absorbing and gripping.
The plot can usually be lifted from the movie or TV show that the slot is based on, although this isn’t always the case. The best tie-in slots take into account the plot during development, and the features and game progress match the original material. When developers create their own slot stories, they are simple tales, often taking you on a journey or quest to acquire something or vanquish a foe.
Go anywhere
The place has always played a key role in slot development and scrolling through the hundreds of slots available you’ll often find a few based on ancient Egypt or Greece. Often the location is selected because it provides the developers with plenty of symbols to place on the reels with Egypt particularly prevalent with sphinxes, hieroglyphics, pyramids, etc.
Characters as well are becoming increasingly significant in slot gaming. These are often lifted from the movie or TV show the slot is based on, with the character of Neo in The Matrix slot being the perfect example of a character players want to impersonate. Outside of the tie-in slots, the most widespread form of characters is explorers or adventurers. Play’n’ Go has Rich Wilde, who is undoubtedly based on Indiana Jones, and Cat Wilde, Rich’s daughter, who is more Lara Croft. NetEnt has Spanish explorers Gonzo and the recently introduced Gonzita. Pragmatic Play presents John Hunter, who also gives off a Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe.
Fight it out
The point of view is a lesser factor in slot stories as it is always third-person, yet, this might change in the future with virtual and augmented reality.
The conflict is generally character vs environment or character vs character. Conflicts between characters and environment set our protagonist against a natural force such as a tornado, or hurricane, climbing a mountain, or progressing through a hostile environment. In a character-against-character battle, someone, often a mythical character based on location, is getting in the way of our protagonist. Before the story comes to a close the adventurer must battle this antagonist.
While Hollywood doesn’t tell new stories anymore, slots are just beginning to find their storytelling feet. The main point of slot stories is building a series, as we’ve seen with John Hunter and Rich Wilde, who each have a few titles to their name now. People enjoy playing with these familiar characters in new perils and the next release in the series becomes hotly anticipated.
