Visual Storytelling BLUEPRINT GAMING


CHARLIE JACKA Head of Product Blueprint Gaming


Designing slots means balancing flair with clarity – every colour palette, character style, and button placement must serve both the theme and the player’s experience. Charlie Jacka cites Blueprint’s well-established Kong franchise as a case in point.


What's your take on the relationship between symbolic elements and background art?


Te symbolic elements and background art are essential for conveying story, context, and feature/bonus progression. Characters on the reels, for instance, have to do the "talking" without dialogue. Tey convey a sense of weight and power through their animations. For example, in a game like Rise of Atlantis Legacy, a character's magic is expressed through bubble animations and screen shaking, all of which tie the theme together.


Features are often also heavily implied. In branded games, like Dumb and Dumber: Route to Riches, the iconic van from the movie appears between spins and features. Each feature can be an element from the source material. In the ted games, a


synonymous scene from the film, such as the supermarket, becomes the big money feature. More niche references, like the burger joint from Beavis and Butthead, can also be used for features.


In what ways do animated effects, such as cascading reels, win particles, and symbol transformations, help narrate progress or plot without traditional cutscenes?


Because traditional cutscenes don't work in a slot game context, symbol transformations and other animations are used to signify progression. Tese effects let the player know they have won, make a song and dance about it, and then move on to the next stage of the game. Tey are there to scratch that itch of satisfaction, and gives the player a sense of achievement. In games like Te Flintstones or any


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