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Narrative in Game Design BLUE GURU GAMES
Blue Guru Games: the storytellers
Halvor Dahl, Head of Games of Blue Guru Games, discusses the scope for narrative storytelling in slots and the science of combining gameplay elements in the design process.
A few quick-fire questions to start. What’s the best thing about the iGaming industry?
It's high-paced, ever-changing, and we have a healthy appetite for innovation combined with risk when it comes to new products.
The worst?
Ever-changing regulations. With more markets regulating it’s a lot to keep on top of. Favourite Blue Guru Games title? So far, I would say Otterly Amazing.
Most significant innovation in iGaming over recent years?
Depending on how we define recent, I’d say the biggest in recent memory would be Megaways. Outside of that, we are seeing Crash Games appeal to a younger demographic and the ever- expanding nature of scatter mechanics.
What part of the game design process do you enjoy the most?
Te concept stage, especially when it comes to the mechanical aspects.
Blue Guru has some wacky storylines to some of its games. What is the most obscure place you've found creative inspiration?
I would say there's two that are quite out there. Napoleon vs Rabbits is based on a real story from 1807 where Napoleon and his generals were chased away by a colony of rabbits that they were trying to hunt.
A few months prior we released Spring Heeled Jack, an urban legend from back in Victorian
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Halvor Dahl Head of Games Blue Guru Games
England and named ‘the Terror of London’. Both of these are based on true events that players may not be very familiar with.
How do you create interesting narratives in story-based games through the medium of online slots? Ultimately, players are limited to pressing spin.
Tat's the real challenge. Success comes with finding a mechanic that ties into the story, but we do have limitations, namely production size and the size limits of uploads. With Napoleon vs Rabbits for example, we have that marriage between mechanics and the story with the rabbits chasing Napoleon in the game.
Tere aren’t many limits with what we can do
Again, I think Napoleon vs Rabbits is a good example of this in action. It was our best game so far in presenting what's happening in the game through cutscenes. When the Free Games finish you have Napoleon being chased away by the rabbits to reiterate what’s taking place.
In-game cutscenes aside, admittedly it is difficult. We do also tell the story through press releases and through opportunities such as this to speak with the media where you can market the game and inform more about our thinking. We also hope that our games intrigue enough for players to take the time to Google what's going on and explore a bit on their own, especially with games rooted in reality.
You can also use graphics and art styles to tell a story. Many years ago, NetEnt’s Jack Hammer slot told a story using its 60s/70s cartoon-style with cutscenes showing one of the characters being chased across the screen. With Napoleon vs Rabbits being a pixelated game with a Nintendo-style, it was quite easy to tell the story visually if that makes sense.
Success comes with finding a mechanic that ties into the story. With Napoleon vs Rabbits for example, we have that marriage between mechanics and the story with the rabbits chasing
Napoleon in the
game.There aren’t many limits with what we can do to tell interesting narratives but there's more of a limit on being able to find the correct theme to go with the correct mechanic.
to tell interesting narratives but there's more of a limit on being able to find the correct theme to go with the correct mechanic.
Videogames and movies have trailers and exhaustive descriptions. What means are available to convey slot narratives to players?
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