Founded in 2008, Games Lab are a small team of software developers whose speciality is i-Gaming. Hailing from down under, they’re part of Australia’s Blue Wombat group who were established in 2002. In the last decade or so, Blue Wombat has expanded significantly, and Games Lab have grown with them. Today, the Games Lab team numbers around 50 staff in all including programmers, animators and artists.
Games Lab’s first foray into casino gaming came in 2013 when they tried their hand at social gaming. The result, Slots Central, was a Facebook video slots series which was swiftly followed by Android and iOS releases. Slots Central is a social gaming hub equipped with numerous live video slots; today the software features around two dozen slots. Operating out of their Chatswood studio, Games Lab’s endeavours have fuelled rapid expansion; at present the firm are seeking animators and illustrators to join their team.
At any given time, Games Lab’s devs and other creatives can be found working away on a number of innovative casino-based games, with slots their speciality. The firm are positioned to handle everything in-house, enabling them to take on complex projects and deliver them, with this Aussie online casino games company’s staff taking care of the game design, mathematics, 3D animations and interface design. From custom audio to software integration and from soundtrack composition to social media marketing, Games Lab are equipped to handle it all.
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Due to their collective skill set and the resources they have at their disposal, including advanced industry software, Games Lab are primely positioned to deliver custom games. Working from the slenderest of briefs, they’re capable of bringing the client’s vision to life, developing bespoke games that can hold their own against anything else out there whilst bearing the client’s imprint to help fortify their brand. To date, Games Lab have successfully created custom games for a number of Australian land-based clients as well as for various online casinos.
Games Lab understands the psychology behind i-Gaming and recognise that customer retention is crucial. While slick graphics and animations are an integral part of the gaming experience, it takes more than cool effects to keep players coming back for more. Whenever Games Lab take on a project, they’ll first start with the concept and the mathematics behind it, such as the slot machine volatility, which they believe to be the foundation that’s critical to its success.
Typically, a client will approach them requiring a video slot designed from scratch – slots are Games Lab’s speciality after all, and they’re renowned for their custom builds. They’re also capable of designing other casino games however, and have done so on request for various clients. While some clients will arrive with little more than a vague concept in mind, others will have a detailed brief which they expect Games Lab to follow to the letter. Whatever the case, Games Lab will liaise closely with the client through every stage of the process to ensure that the final product meets and even exceeds their expectations.
While Games Lab talk about the strength of their mathematics, their skill set that tends to turn heads is art. Visually, Games Lab’s releases are striking, with the sort of visuals that wouldn’t look out of place in a major MMORPG. Illustrations, interface design, storyboards and concept art are all areas where Games Lab shine, revealing the talents of the artists on their books. Indeed, it’s no fluke that the bulk of Games Lab’s team are artists of some description.
Check out the fantasy artwork showcased on their website as an example of what Games Lab are capable of. Epic doesn’t even begin to describe it. Hideous yet ornate goblin armies, huge reptilian dragons, elves, enchantresses and wolf-man hybrids go toe-to-toe in scenes that wouldn’t look out of place in a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter movie. Not only is the company’s fantasy art stunningly rendered, but it’s highly original too; these grotesque beasts and warriors are anything but derivative.
Games Lab are about much more than conjuring fantasy realms however; for a more relatable example of what they’re capable of, check out their interface design. This includes some amazing examples of slots interfaces including reels, playing controls and all the other elements that players are accustomed to seeing on screen. Games Lab’s artists put other slots developers to shame, conjuring vivid, immersive worlds that are incorporated into games that are begging to be played – and that’s just from a single screenshot. Examples of their craft include boxing slot The Champ, My Dragon, Penny Parlor and the lurid and lush Rainforest Riches.
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Storyboarding is another area where Games Lab excel. The storyboards their art department devise bring the team’s vision to life and allow clients to gain a glimpse of how the finished project will look. Games Lab are comfortable with working to a degree of detail that the client is happy with; this may be as simple as a black and white sketch or it may be a 3D storyboard rendered in full colour. For clients who have an idea in mind but aren’t sure how it will transform into reality, Games Lab are happy to devise concept art that will provide inspiration and allow the characters to evolve before work starts on the game itself.
Environments – essentially the settings that the game’s characters are plunged into – are also a critical part of the gaming experience, and one that Games Lab’s designers lavish great care on. From dystopian fantasy landscapes to slots with futuristic style, the company’s art team are capable of creating lifelike and immersive worlds that provide an ideal setting in which the action can flourish. From cartoon styles to ultra-realistic designs, the diversity of the environments Games Lab can devise is astonishing.
In the years since they were founded, Games Lab have released over 300 slots, working for clients, such as online casinos that pay out the fastest, across Australia and the rest of the world. The themes, characters and styles on display in these games is extremely diverse.
Slots that have proven particularly successful include Pirate Isle, Orc v Elf, the Not Now Norman slot game, Hen House and Football Frenzy. Visually, few other developers – in Australia or further afield – can compete with the eye-catching art that is Games Lab’s stock in trade.
The other gaming domain where Games Lab excel is social slots. These work in exactly the same way as their casino slots but are free to play. Many of the social slots that Games Lab have released in the last four years have been incorporated into Slots Central, their Facebook social gaming hub.
Today, Games Lab boast of having over 300,000 social slots players across an array of platforms: Facebook, Android and iOS. Titles to have been released by the Aussie company in this manner include Run Rabbit, Swamp Monster, River Wild and Mummy’s Tomb. Some of these slots are also available as paid versions for online and land-based casinos.
Australia is known for producing its share of innovative software houses, but few of these operate in the i-Gaming sector. Games Lab’s success, while owed in part to the skill of the company’s programmers, hinges largely on their art department. The detail lavished on every element of every single slot the company develops is impressive.
Under Games Lab’s tutelage, the humble video slot has been elevated from a basic game to an art form that’s worth playing for its visuals and immersive story as much as for the jackpots to be won.
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