ELA Games is bringing not one, not two, but three titles into the spotlight as it joins the Beyond the Reels studio to highlight some of the key choices behind its popular games.
In the hotseat is Peter Vonarshenko, Senior Business Development Manager at ELA Games, who walks SlotBeats through three games: Buffalo Force, Piñatas Festival and Witches’ Book.
With varying themes and different features spread throughout the three games, ELA Games is showcasing the versatility of its output and how it uses its creativity to engage players.
Take a watch of the full video for in-depth explanations of symbols, game play footage and bonus rounds demos.
Buffalo Force
Buffalo and western themed slots are no stranger to players having long been a staple of casino floors in brick and mortar venues and now transcending into the online space. But the slots sector certainly knows how to bring new ideas to classic themes; that is exactly what ELA Games has done with Buffalo Force.
ELA Games, Vonarshenko says, has delivered its idiosyncratic designs and animation to the theme in a bid to modernise buffalo games for a new era of players.
“Specifically, it’s the design of the games and the fact that the games are very smoothly animated, very active and alive. Making games feel ‘alive’ as I say is one of the most important parts of our brand identity.”
Part of making a game feel ‘alive’ is creating a real sense of immersion and ELA has used sound to create that effect in Buffalo Force. In the studio’s perspective, sound is 50% of the experience alongside visuals, so it makes a concerted effort to create engaging and immersive audio experiences in its games.
“Attention spans across the board have become very short, so in order to keep a player engaged, you have to engage all of the senses at the same time,” Vonarshenko says. “Unfortunately, we don’t have smell-o-vision yet as they predicted back in the 60s. But we do try to engage sounds and visuals.”
Coverage of the features and gameplay of Buffalo Force is from 02:52 – 07:40 in the video above.
Piñatas Festival
Latin America has quickly become one of iGaming’s hottest regions in the 2020s and ELA Games is taking inspiration from its cultural heritage in the second slot of this episode, highlighting Piñatas Festival.
A game featuring symbols such as piñatas pigs and donkeys, Latin guitarists and dancers, piñatas Festival seeks to get the party in full swing amongst players.
The theme seems to resonate, too; Vonarshenko outlines that it is one of ELA Games’ top performing titles.
“The piñatas came from a trend which was explored by a bunch of game providers and which were piñatas themed games, not necessarily slot games but lots of instant games with a piñatas theme as well.
“Our creative team decided to incorporate it into slots and into this game, and very successfully too.”
As you can see in the video, there is a lot going on in Piñatas Festival. Lots of features, lots of symbols. But rather than overwhelming for players, the impact has once again been immersion – as players become eager to explore the whole game.
As Vonarshenko explains: “The more options you have as a player when you come in and play, the longer you’re going to stay in the game – because you’re going to want to explore every nook and cranny the game has to offer. This has played a pretty big role in the success of this specific title.”
Coverage of the features and gameplay of Piñatas Festival is from 07:41 – 13:57 in the video above.
Witches’ Book
Rounding off the ELA Games trio is its Halloween inspired title Witches’ Book. Taking inspiration from Horror, Witches’ Book features symbols such as crows, skulls and, of course, witches.
But rather than just a Halloween special, ELA Games designed Witches’ Book to be a little more versatile.
“We decided to go more magical, mystical and whimsical with the vibe route rather than outright spooky or scary. The reason for that was that we wanted this title to be as versatile as possible, and not just be a seasonal game.”
ELA Games understands why many providers go for seasonal only slots, but aims to provide a little more versatility with its own ostensibly seasonal games. It does this to expand the timeframe that players actually play the game, but also to broaden the game’s appeal.
As Vonarshenko outlines: “Witches are something which are apparently Halloweeny, but at the same time, it depends on how you serve those witches. So you can serve them as a part of Halloween and try to make them spooky. Or you can make them more casual and more fun and more akin to young adult TV shows.”
Coverage of the features and gameplay of Witches’ Book is from 13:58 – 21:13 in the video above.
