mini-Slots Game

[+bf2k+]

This is my kind of game!!

[+MrFish]

On 1/5/2017 at 1:40 PM, Goochman said:

1. Any possible way to have the payout chart show up on both side of the slot screen?

 

On 1/5/2017 at 4:22 PM, MrFish said:

One thing that might be possible would be to swap in the payout chart for the stats.

In that case, the stats would go away temporarily and then you'd see the payouts down below.

That would be more feasible, and I think a reasonable improvement over the current method.

 

I'll look into scaling the graphics to fit down there and see how it might work out.

 

How good's your eyesight?  

 

 

[+MrFish]

Shoehorned some proper Antic 4 graphics into the mini game by scaling the full-sized graphics (shown in a previous post here) down a bit.

 

 

I think I'll do something like this for having the payout chart show up on the play screen -- rather than those eye-straining graphics from the previous post.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by MrFish

[+MrFish]

On 9/24/2017 at 11:04 PM, David_P said:

...so the blank spaces above and below the jackpot symbols show up more often than you'd expect...

I missed this part of your comment before...

 

That's actually one thing I don't like about what was done with some of the later machines (probably started with the Bally machines in the late 60's or early 70's), using the spaces between symbols as stops. Ultimately, this most likely ended up just giving the players worse odds. I haven't looked at any charts for these types of machines yet, but I can imagine. Many machines I've examined have tough enough odds as it is, when spaces are never stops. I'll definitely be sticking with machines that can only stop on symbols.

 

Another thing that was done -- on some of the older machines (not sure about the later ones) -- was to have 20 symbols on a reel, but only 10 stops (every other symbol was possible). I don't like these either. Why was it done? Probably to give the player the idea that he only missed a payout by one symbol -- which may have appeared above or below the center line; but little did he know that those symbols could never stop on the center line.

 

Neither of these methods would keep a machine from having decent, or even great, odds. It's all down to what chance the player has of hitting paying combinations for the possible stops available; but I personally prefer machines that are more straightforward, rather than making the already mysterious outcomes even more foggy for the player. 

 

[+MrFish]

I had a chance to examine some of the Bally and IGT machines that use spaces as stops. These machines have more jackpots and much higher payouts for them; so, this is just one method for balancing the stats. The old Mills, Jennings, Watling, etc. era of machines with 3 reels and 20 stops couldn't offer these kinds of jackpots. Another way to change the odds, of course, is to add more reels and require longer combinations. This was done on some machines by those manufacturers later on, adding 4 reels and some big payouts. The 3/20 setup gives you 8,000 possible combinations, while a 4/20 will give you 160,000 combinations.

 

I like some of the IGT and Bally machines (with actual spinning reels), though, like Top Dollar, Wheel of Fortune, and some of these others that offer mini games after getting certain combinations, or free spins and other bonuses. Eventually I'd like to do a few of these types too, or at least create some variations of my own (since I'm not so fond of the "spaces are stops" method).

 

[+MrFish]

On 12/29/2016 at 5:03 PM, MrFish said:

The sim uses authentic 20-stop reels taken from a 1940's Mills slot machine (I forget exactly which one at this point, without researching again). It also uses authentic payout multipliers keyed to these particular reels. The only thing that's estimated and adjusted to my own preference is the jackpot. I've set it to start at $150 and max at out at $2,000. It gets fed $10 each time the player loses and will pay out whenever 3 Bars are hit (in addition to the 20 times whatever the player's current bet is). Another difference from authentic machines is that you can vary your bet here; the originals were designed to take a single coin type of 5, 10, or 25 cents.

 

I found out some months back that the above is actually incorrect. I had obtained a proper payout card for the machine I was emulating, but I wasn't aware, at the time, that there were different variations for the same model of machine. So, I ended up having a mismatch, which resulted in a 106.10% RTP, which is unrealistic for any casino machines (would be fine in your home, though). Some machines I've examined are slightly over 100%, of which it isn't bad for a casino to have one or two such on the floor; casinos don't post machine stats anyway. The difference is hard to tell in the short term -- and casinos rely on long-term stats.

 

So, my original program here is a bit on the generous side -- which is fine for a simulation. Having played some casino video games -- like Vegas Stakes for the SNES -- I can say I'm quite sure it has an unrealistic RTP as well. The player tends to win quite easily on its slot machines (more so than with the one I created). I think it was just done in order to provide a means for a player to recoup money lost in the other sims; although I can't vouch how realistic the other sims are, as I haven't spent any considerable time with them. It's all fine for a video game, if that's the experience you want your player to have; it's fake money anyway.

 

Anyway, everything I'm working on, going forward, is aiming for realism (as I originally intended), but the fun (since realism isn't always fun, in its pure form, for a video game) will be in the depth and variations available. For instance, in Vegas Stakes on the SNES, you have different-looking slot machines in each casino, and different denomination machines available for each casino; but they all use the same internal reel strips and payout cards. So, the slot portion of the game gets boring pretty quickly.

 

I currently have a pool of about 20 machines that I'm working with, of which I'll probably cull the best 10 or less. Then I'll add about a handful of the IGT / Bally type machines that I mentioned above. I'm not sure how I'm gonna release all of these. The eventual goal is still to have a complete casino package; but I'm thinking to at least release a single machine, or a multi-machine version as a stand-alone.

 

[Note: RTP is just percent "returned to player" of total money bet. If, during a play session, you are at even money, your RTP is 100%. So, casinos rely on an RTP below 100% -- among other factors -- to make their money.]

 

[ivop]

Interesting (th)read!

1 hour ago, MrFish said:

I currently have a pool of about 20 machines that I'm working with, of which I'll probably cull the best 10 or less.

I'm wondering how you get to know all the exact inner workings of all the machines. Do you have service manuals? Or patents? I googled a little and couldn't find much.

 

Do you know this book?

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20327047-mills-slot-machines

 

 

Edit:

 

1 hour ago, MrFish said:

The eventual goal is still to have a complete casino package

Do you mean a collection of slot machines, or a full casino with black jack, poker, roulette, etc...?

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by ivop

[+MrFish]

1 hour ago, ivop said:

Interesting (th)read!

I'm wondering how you get to know all the exact inner workings of all the machines. Do you have service manuals? Or patents?

 

I'm not really relying on mechanical properties so much, other than by observation (youtube vids) and discussions I find on forums; although I'd eventually like to get into more specifics for those aspects. I do understand how the general mechanisms involved work together to provide payout for wins, spin the reels, and various other functions (although payouts can be handled more easily by a program). The main factors I'm focusing on are the reel strips, their matching payout/award cards, and the statistics that the two produce. I've done enough experimentation and testing with various random number use methods to see all the statistics produced on the player side of things. 

 

 

1 hour ago, ivop said:

Do you know this book?

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20327047-mills-slot-machines

 

I have a fair number of various service and parts manuals in PDF form, although I haven't spent much time with them. I have seen that Mills book you linked. The Mills books I have are for a few specific machines. 

 

  

1 hour ago, ivop said:

I googled a little and couldn't find much.

 

Yeah, quick google searches won't get you very far with slot machine theory. It's basically something the industry has no interest in making available; but you can get inside, with some effort.

  

 

1 hour ago, ivop said:

Do you mean a collection of slot machines, or a full casino with black jack, poker, roulette, etc...?

 

I actually plan for it to be both: a collection of slots machines within a full casino that has black jack, craps, roulette, and a few other games. The black jack game was started years ago, and it's just on hold at the moment. I actually used to work in casinos before, so I have a lot of experience to draw on from there too.

 

[+MrFish]

Here's a preview.

 

Everything is fully working. You can add and remove lines, adjust pull strength, view paycard and other infos using the joystick. I was thinking of releasing this as is; sort of a final release for this version of it. I also have some other themes that I've done and used in place of this one; and I have many more theme and machine graphics done.

 

Some of these graphics are still preliminary.

 

   

 

    

 

[+MrFish]

Nothing new, but here's a teaser video.

 

 

 

 

[Irgendwer]

On 9/17/2022 at 12:32 AM, MrFish said:

Nothing new, but here's a teaser video.

 

Just an idea: If you don't use the item/item background colors for frame decorations (PMGs instead?), you could apply some DLIs and dim the colors at the top and bottom to create a "barrel-like" effect...

[+MrFish]

6 hours ago, Irgendwer said:

Just an idea: If you don't use the item/item background colors for frame decorations (PMGs instead?), you could apply some DLIs and dim the colors at the top and bottom to create a "barrel-like" effect...

Yes, I first got this idea from @flashjazzcat a long while back, and it looks pretty nice (I did some experimentation with it). Unfortunately, I'm not fond of having a single color for the frame. It might be possible to use PMG's, as you suggest (I've thought of this before myself too); but I rather like how the PMG's are being used currently, and they are being used in their entirety. Ultimately, I don't think it's worth the amount of effort that would be necessary to achieve (if it would even be possible, given everything else that's a necessity to gameplay).