MGSM Update 2/1/2021

General / 02 February 2021

A lot of new updates have been made to Mini Game Slot Machine since my last blog post and I’m so proud of its progress. I will do a quick recap and then talk a bit about the future updates.

Gameplay

To make the game feel more like a slot machine, I incorporated a betting system. Players can now bet up to 3 tokens to multiply their winnings. Anytime a spin lands on 2 or 3 of a kind, the player receives a score multiplier for the matching games. 

I've also removed the power ups that grant players extra time. The power ups turned out to be too easy to collect, and games could last forever. Now, players must hit the score threshold (located in the top right corner) in all three games to get extra time. 

Slot Machine Appearance

The updates to the slot machine were to simplify the interface and to only present necessary elements. I added bet buttons, individual game score screens, threshold lights, and improved the large score board text.

Reel Appearance

The original 2D reels were not exciting at all nor did they spin smoothly. Making the icons 3D, certainly gave me more flexibility to make each spin exciting. The spinning count down transition is by far my favorite update so far. 


Shaders

When I finally got my game on iOS, I realized my postprocess effects did not work on mobile, so I had to find another way to create the cel-shading effect. Luckily there was a shader on the marketplace (Cel-Shader & Outline by Lunar Garde) that does just that. The shader was easy to integrate and works on mobile. Overall I feel it looks much better too.

Future Plans

The next features I would like to add to my game is more audio and visual feedback. The current game does not celebrate the players victories enough and also does not bring attention to their failures to inspire improvement. This feedback will not only add excitement to the game, it will also help the players perform better. I would also like to rework the soccer game to be less hands on gameplay. As of now the soccer game requires too much attention; hindering players ability to play all three games at one time.