The Art of The Modern Casino Game
What we know today as the modern online casino game has its roots in the mainstream penetration of the internet in the 1990s. Online casino websites were among the first transactional services to go live during the early days of the web and today they are almost too numerous to count.
A crowded international marketplace includes websites that offer access to a range of games, others that specialize in particular games, and many that are pushing the boundaries of technology with immersive experiences delivered through the use of live video.
Many of the top casino games also feature high-end graphics and detailed artwork. These elements help bring the games to life and create an exciting new world for players to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes or even while traveling.
In this article, we will focus on the art of the modern casino game, including the use of new and existing brands, color plates, and other graphical elements that have increasingly come to typify the industry.
Humble beginnings
With slow connection speeds and weak processing power, the world’s first online casino games were limited. Their function was to replicate a traditional game using simple graphical elements. Slick animation and complex interactivity seemed light-years away.
Today, as browser speed has increased, and the power of devices and the browsers themselves have been boosted, game developers have been afforded more freedom in the way the games are designed.
The lucrativeness of the industry has also allowed leading brands to invest bigger amounts in the design of games and even shell out for the right to use leading TV and film franchises in their games. This is a tactic that has previously been utilized for slot machines and physical casino games, but the online landscape has seen the idea explored in more depth.
Franchises and licenses
The franchises and licenses used often vary from country to country, with this online casino in UK markets utilizing legendary British horse racing jockey AP McCoy as the face of one of its slots games. This game heavily utilizes photography and imagery associated with the jockey to deliver the game. It adds an extra dimension of colour and excitement to the game, especially as McCoy is so revered in UK sport.
Other licenses are often adapted to create casino games, such as game show Deal or No Deal, where the famous red boxes and other elements from the game show’s set are pulled across into the online casino world.
Original brands
As companies allocate more resources to game design, more time is being spent on developing new brands for the games. And there’s a wide range of themes and art styles explored, from Ancient Egyptian and Norse culture to futuristic high-tech themes.
Egyptian themes, in particular, are popular, being carried over into the world of online casino gaming from wider artistic and pop culture, where we have seen them become a popular choice for tattoos.
But, like in any sector of entertainment, casino brands work hard to cater to a range of tastes, and the choice available is impressive. Many leading games feature elaborate and colorful artwork, often with a matching soundtrack, alongside slick animations and bonus, offers that are in keeping with the theme.
So, while casino gaming often conjures up images of green felt table-tops, men in tuxedos and the smell of cigar smoke, the reality today is much more diverse. And in fact, the modern casino game often provides the perfect canvas for artistic and cultural expression.
