Inside Asian Gaming

November 2014 inside asian gaming 11 People-Watching ASPECT GAMING Cover Story Not many slot-makers would theme a game around Eric Tsang, a Hong Kong actor and comedian best-known as the host of a TV variety show that ran in the city for years. The fact that Aspect Gaming did points up the distinct Macau focus that is driving game development at this still fairly young company. China-specific themes predominate among the more than 20 titles Aspect has created to date, a list that numbers two standout 50-line performers, Fortune Cats and Backyard Gold, with a pipeline behind them bulging with several more. CEO Justin Nguyen is a California-educated software engineer whose background in IT led him into the industry by way of Silicon Gaming, a Palo Alto upstart whose innovative mid-’90s slot concepts were fated to be ahead of their time. Tony Payne, his executive vice president-Product Development, led Silicon’s game studio and would parlay a degree in film and television to become a producer for video game innovator Rocket Science Games. He’s been involved also in the creation of dozens of games for the US Class II, charitable games and lottery markets. Quite a combined pedigree, and it hasn’t been easy replicating it in Shanghai, where Aspect was founded in 2008. “We’ve got some extraordinary people who have come to us from the mobile and console game industries and bring a wealth of knowledge and alternative perspectives with them,” says Mr Nguyen. “However, because casino gaming is not allowed in China, the vast majority of them have never set foot in a casino, let alone had any experience with slot machines prior to joining us. So of course this was frustrating in the beginning. I mean, how do you explain the subtleties of a reel spin?” The team has come a long way since, and with its 22- inch Ruby and 37-inch Super Ruby cabinets Aspect has a robust hardware platform that will be turning heads at this month’s Macao Gaming Show with the unveiling of OneWall: an extended bank of Super Ruby’s transformed into what is essentially a high-definition movie screen with game and top screens synchronized to move content across the bank. OneWall will launch in tandem with a new four-level progressive jackpot game called Sheng Xiao Chuan Qi, a Chinese Zodiac-themed offering that speaks a few volumes more to Aspect’s unique approach to design. Players get to choose a personal “Wild” symbol from any of the 12 animals of the Zodiac, and the interactivity extends to a feature called Win Track, a win-loss history indicator that encourages players to follow hunches to alter their bets up or down. Five-reel winning combinations are sweetened with payouts from a special “6th reel”. There’s also a mystery called “Neighbor Jackpot” that kicks in during the jackpot round to pay a random prize to another lucky machine on the link. Aspect is moving aggressively into the remote space as well with a social gaming app called Grand Orient Casino available on Facebook, Android and iOS. “We pride ourselves on spending a lot of time hanging out in casinos just people-watching,” says Mr Nguyen. “Of course, we’re interested in what players are playing, but we’re equally interested in what they’re looking at, where they’re having their picture taken, what they are eating, buying, etc. And when we see folks playing a casual game on their phone with one hand while tapping away at a slot machine with the other, you can bet that’s going to influence our game design.” Sheng Xiao Chuan Qi (center) takes Aspect’s innovative thinking into linked progressives.