Discover the face of one of the industry’s freshest “up-and-coming” creators, 4ThePlayer, recently releasing their latest title, 12 Trojan Mysteries.
Founded in July 2018, the company has built a reputation for its “forward-thinking” approach to game design with the player’s experience at the heart of what they do.
Co-founder and commercial & marketing director of 4ThePlayer, Henry McLean, spoke to us about the provider’s latest slot release, 12 Trojan Mysteries, explaining the process behind its creation, McLean revealed that the slot is “very much a player developed game”.
At a time where many game developers are constantly releasing new titles, McLean spoke to SlotBeats about the values behind the slot development process at 4ThePlayer, whose company ethos revolves around enhancing its portfolio content, tailoring it to its player’s needs.
SlotBeats: 4ThePlayer prides itself on its primary focus being the players – Can you explain what this game brings to the players and the process behind its creation?
Henry McLean: With this game, we wanted to create an edge of seat excitement and anticipation. Rather than the ’endless grind’ to wait for a bonus, we wanted action and entertainment on the base game as well as the free spins bonus. This is done via the Top Mystery Feature that uses Trojan Horse mystery symbols – when they land the player has no idea what they contain until they cycle through and eventually stop to reveal the symbol. We then evolve this concept in the Free Spins Bonus making it even more entertaining.
With this game, we had the idea of a Mystery mechanic and wanted to find a theme that fitted and resonated well with players but was not oversaturated. The Trojan theme fitted perfectly as most people know the story of Troy, and what better mystery than a Trojan horse?”
SB: 4ThePlayer tends to prioritise the quality of a game over the quantity of games in its portfolio – What makes this game stand out from others out there?
HM: Thank you for saying so, we do think about quality rather than quantity – seeing ourselves as more of a ‘boutique game house’ than a factory. Each game has a player-centric innovation that drives the entertainment and takes the player on a journey with every spin.
We also spend a lot of time talking to casinos, players, press, affiliates and streamers to make them aware of each game and why it was created. A bit like an artist giving a tour of their gallery and explaining each piece of art and the story behind it. If we were a factory this process and personal touch can easily be lost.
Going back to the game, the thing that makes 12 Trojan Mysteries so different is the top mystery feature. The player is constantly wondering when those Trojan horses will land and what will be inside them. This excitement then intensifies in the free spins bonus.
SB: Explain how the game’s features are different from other slots and why players might benefit and/or be more intrigued by them.
HM: The biggest difference in this game is the free spins bonus, as we have introduced the free spins mystery symbol meter. Quite often in a free spins bonus the player’s excitement peaks when the bonus starts, it then slowly diminishes as they hit an ‘unlucky Bonus’ and few spins are remaining. We wanted to change that!
The mystery meter changes the player psychology and with every spin the free spins become more powerful creating a crescendo of excitement. The meter selects the symbol the Trojan horse will transform into, the lowest paying symbol is then removed from the meter. As a result, each spin becomes more powerful with higher epic win potential as only higher paying symbols remain for the Trojan horse to be transformed into. This is where the player really wants Helen to come out to play!
One other difference, if you have not played a 4ThePlayer game before, is the Big Reel Portrait Mode. We have reinvented portrait mode to make the most of the screen and create an immersive experience for the player. We have been tracking this feature with Google Analytics since we launched it in our first game 9k Yeti, as we give the players a choice between traditional small reels of our big reel portrait mode and statistically, players do prefer it.
SB: Being a business that prioritises the player, does this ever have a negative impact on the success of the business?
HM: As our name does suggest we do think a lot about the player, this is in our DNA and everything we do, from innovation to mathematical balance, goes back to the same thing – how does it impact the player and their experience on the game?
This does also mean we have above industry average RTP’s and give the player a lot more data than ever before to help them understand the experience they might have or have had on our games.
We are a business but we want the players to have fun with our games and create new ‘WOW experiences’.
We do not feel this has had a negative impact on our success so far. Our games are now live at over 200 casinos in far-reaching regulated markets with a US license application on its way.
We do appreciate we are different and some casinos might take the view we are ‘providing too much value’. However, in such a saturated market, it’s important to be different and importantly we also think it’s important to do the right thing.
