iGaming Daily

James Ross (00:03.055)
In a market where content is king and player preferences evolve by the minute, staying relevant is no small feat. In today's episode of iGaming Daily brought to you by OptiMove, the number one CRI marketing solution for the iGaming sector, we sit down with Bernd Bomer, the Director of Games Production and Operations at GreenTube, to go beyond the glossy trailers and bonus features and explore the real mechanics behind game development. From ideation to execution, how does the studio ensure each release not only reflects current player trends, but also anticipate what's next?

We examine the critical role of cross-team collaboration, how market-specific nuances, especially in the US and Dutch sectors, shape game design. And at the heart of the discussion is Starlink Jackpot, Odds of the Gods 2, a bold sequel aiming to raise the bar on player engagement. Byrne walks us through what makes a sequel work and why character-driven storytelling remains a cornerstone of Green Tube's experience. Byrne, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Bernd Baumert (00:59.736)
Very well, thanks for having me.

James Ross (01:01.513)
It's an absolute pleasure and I love talking about slots. It's how I started in this industry I used to work on slot beats for about two three years and everything I did was about slots so having this conversation is very refreshing for me and Going back to the early days, which is cool But before we jump in I want the audience to know a little bit about you. So Let's forget about the serious questions for now. Let's just focus on something a bit fun You're the director of games at Green Tube

Can you just kind of give us a brief introduction of how you got to that role and what your favourite video game is of all time?

Bernd Baumert (01:41.422)
That's a very good question. I'd to go to the video game part and not the gaming part because this is in the end also my history. I remember when I was 6-7 years old and I got my first Nintendo and playing the first games. And I think from video games to board games, which is something I really enjoy, this made me good at my job of thinking of how would the player think, what would the player enjoy hopefully, and bring that to our game production process. I started in Novomatic.

So the land-based mother of GreenTube in 2010, but I was always partially involved with GreenTube. So over the course of the next 12 years, I think every step I've taken, like in every game, a good level, it's a good grind, as you say in the world of Warcraft days, it gets you to the level where you then qualify for the next one. And I think this is what it did. This is what brought me here in the end and what I try to bring to the games of GreenTube.

thinking what would the player enjoy. And I can come back to my foremost favorite video game. I almost forgot that one. It's a good one. I'm a big fan of the old Nintendo of RIGAR. That's a very classic one. When we talk about mechanics introducing, the game is a little bit difficult, but it's Max Payne with the bullet time, because it brought something new to gaming itself.

James Ross (02:49.271)
important one.

James Ross (03:04.881)
Sponsor grow game.

Bernd Baumert (03:10.114)
good platform levels as soon as we talked about where you can throw some birds. Taking a simple concept of let's destroy a castle but make it really, fun. And I think this fun part is key to a lot of players.

James Ross (03:25.925)
Yeah, no, perfect. Good suggestions. And also nice World of Warcraft reference, I that one. Big play myself, big play myself. think I started a...

Bernd Baumert (03:33.202)
Same here, off tank. yeah. So I know what pain is.

James Ross (03:36.963)
Nice same. Yeah, nobody who doesn't play off tank knows what pain is until you play it. It's like you said, it's a grind.

Bernd Baumert (03:45.112)
Yes, yes.

Bernd Baumert (03:49.07)
But it helps me maybe also a bit talking about my job now is you have to keep the attention of everything going around as in making sure your teams are in a good order. So I think at some point, great experience helps you in dealing with larger teams.

James Ross (04:03.407)
Hehehehehe

actually perfect I've never heard a wall of warcraft reference to how to work in a in the gambling sector environment that is a snippet I'm using for this podcast perfect I'll just start video games to you for the next 20 minutes but we do have an agenda to get through and it's an interesting one and I think before we do get into it I think we need to go behind the curtain a little bit

when it comes to the game development at Green Tube. So can you just kind of walk us through the kind of typical process that you go through when you do create a game? And like I said, it's from its inception to its release.

Bernd Baumert (04:43.746)
Yes. So first of all, the first part of, if you call it research and development, is the research. So we do the research on what's currently good in the market. Luckily, GreenTube has its own B2C brand, so we know what the players like. We look at reports, but we also have our own creativity. We have game designers and the fun parties that we work with so many studios, many from within the GreenTube company, many within the Novomatic side, some outside. And I think this brings a good mix, a good flavor.

set to the Green Tea portfolio. So once a game idea is pitched, we have to make sure that this is really, this addresses a broad audience. Yes, niches can be created, but we try to really have something for every particular player type. Everybody can enjoy something. Some would like the more feature-rich games. Some would like it more fruit games. Let's call them even nostalgic games. But with this good mix, the idea comes in.

James Ross (05:38.097)
You

Bernd Baumert (05:42.762)
Then we do, of course, it comes in with all the bells and whistles and the math and the first mood board, if you want to call it that. Then we evaluate if this is something that you would like to have in our portfolio or how can we tweak it. Then of course, always legally check from trademarks then until the very end to compliance, QA testing. And then we go out into the particular markets. Some markets take a little bit longer because they have longer lead times in regards to licensing.

but overall we're always going for a rather global approach with the game.

James Ross (06:16.081)
Perfect. how important, sorry, how important is it to ensure that kind of internal silos are broken down in terms of creating new games?

Bernd Baumert (06:25.678)
Ideally, you don't have them. Having silos in any production process, not just gaming at all, is necessarily a good thing because this gives you, this adds time. And time is something of the essence in this industry. Time to market is key. So luckily, we don't have that many silos. I always call the area that somebody entrusted to me to take care of and to run like a well-oiled machine.

James Ross (06:28.945)
You

James Ross (06:40.002)
Mm-hmm.

Bernd Baumert (06:54.99)
we're all working together. It's a value creation chain. just because you're at the end of it or at the beginning doesn't make you more or less important than someone in the middle. So we're really working transparently that we know, by the way, this game is coming, so your QA is prepared, that we know delivery is prepared. Those are really the parts that is a really nice thing to watch that I can say we don't have that many silos. There are always some silos in any industry, in any company.

but not to the extent where I would call this a hindrance in anything.

James Ross (07:27.597)
Mm-hmm. And when...

developers and studios create these new games obviously some games are tailored to different markets because people different markets have different preferences different player trends the UK they're obsessed with fruit slots they always have been nothing always will be to be honest and GreenTube did you've done a lot in the past few years of focusing on the US so when expanding into that market how crucial is it to kind of understand that local nuance and the player trend in each and can you just enlighten us on

Bernd Baumert (07:45.272)
Yes, yes.

James Ross (08:00.855)
any differences.

Bernd Baumert (08:02.638)
It's very key to focus always on the player in that particular market and what they like just because something worked in one Ocean doesn't mean it has to work in the other one This is especially very key being a European based company coming from a European background we know which games work in Europe and This is a good thing for me that I have my experience in land based So we knew that okay, if we just take the European games put them into the US the chances are not

James Ross (08:11.333)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Bernd Baumert (08:32.266)
super high that it will work. So we had to adjust, we had to pivot. And look what is needed there. It's on average maybe a US player would like to have something big happen every 30 to 40 spins. Then you have to factor in online the average session duration of a player. So that we have things like buy bonus. So that this is, you can see what the game is like. Graphic styles. You mentioned fruit games before. Yes, they do also work.

in the US, but you have to give something on top, like maybe a jackpot, a hold and spin mechanic, three pots in the future that we will add. I think this is what then really makes the, so you have to flavor, season the portfolio a bit, then to fit into this particular market, and it's not comparable to Europe at all.

James Ross (09:07.259)
Mm-hmm.

James Ross (09:24.495)
yeah i was inside is not comparable and i'm coming from this from kind of like said you can european mindset some of it oblivious to the to the u.s. in that in that sense for just one for question to the obviously and again i don't know the answer so i'm seeking the u.s. is broken into many state different states and

Bernd Baumert (09:45.9)
Yes.

James Ross (09:47.537)
it's such a big big lansky of the content of the us so in each day are you seeing differences in player preferences or is it more kind of a broader demographic than that

Bernd Baumert (09:58.638)
For me, the data that we see is a little bit more broader because our partners are live in every state. So if we work with our partners, all of them, they're live in each state, it's more difficult to get all states at the same time at the starting line, as I said. Some of them have for their own reasons and some of them are really good, longer timelines in regards to licensing certification. This is something we have to factor in.

James Ross (10:03.345)
Mm-hmm.

Bernd Baumert (10:28.416)
So I would say if a game works in one state it usually will work in the others as well because it will be pushed on the same platform with the partner and then it gets put out everywhere. We of course are looking more into bespoke games for partners to have their particular logo on the screen on the character maybe. So this is something we do but then they will play this out hopefully in all the states. So I would say it's a broader

demographic, not really this state by state difference. And if it's a good game, it usually works in every state.

James Ross (11:05.763)
okay but i think that's interesting to know that all because you we always say one side of the fall i thought because you have so many different states how big the u.s. actually might be some differences so to know it's more of a broader scope

Bernd Baumert (11:17.55)
In the mobile browser you will have every now and then in one state you will have one game that's a little bit a peak, let's say. But overall it's good that we have such a strong portfolio also that we can go with a package and say, by the way, this will work across all those states. This will also make it easy for our partners to launch our games because they can trust that it will work in every of the states.

James Ross (11:39.793)
Perfect. We're going to jump into one more market and just one more question before we hit a ad break. And that market is going be the Dutch market. I see by looks it, this is going be an interesting one. You've just entered the market. It's a complex market. What challenges has it presented to you?

Bernd Baumert (11:52.066)
It is.

Yes.

Bernd Baumert (11:59.552)
And the reason why I smiled when I said a Dutch market is that it was indeed a challenging market and I do like a good challenge. So that makes me smile a bit. Maybe it comes back to the first question that I like, what I played in World of Warcraft. But what was really the keys in this Dutch market is it was challenging because it was a rather compressed timeline to get in, to get everybody compliant. But what really helped us is our history.

that we had a company in the Netherlands that knows the content, that we had the Dutch classics. We had the experience from land-based that we could draw on and say, what did work in this particular channel? How can we do the same thing in online? And especially with our own company and the Dutch classics, I think it prepared us really, really well. So yes, it was challenging. It was compressed. We all know how certification compliance

Jack's work as they should, but this adds to time to market. And then it's more about expectations management internally of saying, this is the situation, this is what we have to deal with, but trust us, we will get us there.

James Ross (13:12.699)
perfect but we're gonna go afk for a quick 30 seconds roll and head break rolls and then when we get back we're gonna talk more about starlight chat part odds of the gods 2 which is your recent sequel so for the audience yeah perfect for the audience we'll be back after a quick ad break and stay tuned

Bernd Baumert (13:26.126)
looking forward to.

James Ross (13:35.427)
Welcome back, I'm still here with Burned Borma, the director of games production at Green Tube and like we referenced before the ad break, we're going to be talking about Starlight Chatbot, O2 The Gods 2, which is Green Tube's sequel to their previous title, O2 The Gods. And Burned, can you just inform us why you made the decision to do a sequel and how does this game pay homage to the original? Which is it-

It's hard to do sometimes. In the video game sector, feel like they do a lot better than say the film industry. But how do you pay homage to the first installment and then also improve on it?

Bernd Baumert (14:09.934)
Mm-hmm.

Bernd Baumert (14:14.274)
You brought up two very good industries to see how it can work and maybe not work to do a sequel because if the recipe worked once, we have a tendency to believe that we can replicate that and do it better and will address the same audience. The game worked so well that we said, okay, we're gonna try it. And I think this is the first move is to be this brave to say, you know what, we're gonna build on this success, which is in end what you want because you want to create a family of games.

of something that a player can recognize and say, had a very good experience with this game, I will try that one as well. Then the next step is finding out what worked well in the first game. Why did they like it? Was it the graphic style? Was it some of the mechanics? Usually a combination thereof. And what can you bring into the new one? So changing the graphic style would not have been probably a good fit. So we said, okay, let's keep the graphic style.

James Ross (15:00.881)
Mm-hmm.

Bernd Baumert (15:10.146)
But what can we do in regards to features? Can we add there something that, yes, they remember this from the first one, but they might also enjoy it in this case, because we have seen this particular mechanic work in a different game. So that this is then something that says to play, you know what, I like maybe the classic after the first one. If somebody else would like to play a little bit more with features, they would then play the second one. And I think this is how you can try to steer a portfolio and create the audience for your games.

James Ross (15:40.559)
yeah no perfect i'm gonna watch you i'll show you favorite video games of the star watch favorite sequel in video games

Bernd Baumert (15:50.062)
Double Dragon 2, that was maybe a little bit too quick, but I spent a lot of time playing with that game. I did play Assassin's Creed 2 as well, but there so many games currently out there. It's really about creating the family. So if you liked God of War, the first one, and then you expand to the second, to the third one, you want to see, you want to feel like what you did in the first one, but then make it something

James Ross (15:51.493)
Dodge

Bernd Baumert (16:19.796)
extra, do it with a story, do it with a new mechanic maybe. If it's too repetitive then the success of the game will not be as expected. Because, and we all know how people maybe sometimes talk about games like Assassin's Creed, it's always crawling up, jumping down, doing the things, but what can you do with story, what can you do with a new theme? This is what we do with our Diamond Link family. We know that the Diamond Link family is really sought after, so we have

with the Mighty Elephant, but then we add new games. And therefore, everybody can find something in the family that speaks to them. I think this is the art form that is game design and game development to do exactly that, to have the audience then for your families.

James Ross (16:59.857)
You

James Ross (17:05.659)
i'll give you one more noticeable game with the title is both ones too

Bernd Baumert (17:11.788)
Yes, absolutely played that one. Always played with the Siren. It's always good to loot and then get out of the fight. Use the face. Yeah, that's a very good pick. That's a very good pick. I should have named that also as one of the most favorite games. But this is also where a game blends humor with storytelling, with the ability to play with friends. good memories just came up. Thanks for that. Thanks for that.

James Ross (17:28.817)
Yeah, it's brilliant.

James Ross (17:33.04)
Mm-hmm.

James Ross (17:38.225)
No, you're welcome. You're welcome. I'm just getting you excited for Borderlands 4 later this year.

Bernd Baumert (17:44.504)
Yes, I need to get some vacation when that comes out.

James Ross (17:46.801)
You

Perfect. Okay, now away from Borderlands and on back onto Odds of the Gods 2. Can you just walk us through the title? What should players expect from the game? The features, how they're triggered and key symbols to look out for.

Bernd Baumert (18:02.958)
First of all, it's the theme itself. So, all of the gods, Greek, Roman mythology of gods. Then we have the, as it's in the name, the Starlight jackpot. So this is a game family where we have more and this is the addition to that. Where you can have, you have to collect the stars, that's why Starlight, and then to the, of the corresponding jackpot and then you will get it. And you can get this more than once in the free game. We have the cash collection. Cash collection can happen in the base game as well as in the future.

meaning there's a particular symbol, the lighting bolt, that will collect all the cache values on the real set. This can happen on reel 1 and reel 5. And if that happens, this is also where we see the bolt there behind me, because that's our roadmap when the game goes out. And this is something for the player that, okay, maybe I did not yet get into the main three games, but I saw the lighting bolt coming in and I saw the cache collection. So this is then one of them.

And then we have the free games, of course, and in the free games you can work your way up with an additional multiplier. There is a free games, but there's like a bonus wheel that will can get you more multipliers and more free games. So this is more on the feature-rich side for a game, but this is something I strongly believe that players will enjoy because it is very appealing graphics, still fresh and also something always going on.

James Ross (19:26.321)
And from your experience a lot of well the core of any slot title or any game to be honest is player engagement everything has to be player first, player focused. It's the bread and butter of making a game. What do believe makes such a big hit when it comes to the games and player engagement?

Bernd Baumert (19:48.738)
You have to give a player something to recognize first to catch them. What's the first hook? What gets you first? interests you? Because the game design, the mechanics come at a later point, so it has to be aesthetics first. Which, from a development perspective, comes at the last stage, maybe. We didn't do the fine tuning of graphics and the same thing there, but this is the first thing the player sees, like, aha, that looks interesting. I like that character.

I like what the character might imply that there is more winnings. So this is one thing for the player engagement. Then of course, since we talked about video games as well, it's a little bit about character design to make them, which can also be a thin line to work on. Depending on the market, we talked about the UK market where we have to make sure that the pictures are not too child-friendly.

James Ross (20:45.179)
Mm-hmm.

Bernd Baumert (20:45.198)
So this is also something where we really take care of during the development of saying, we get it. Yes, this is fun, but we have to appeal to a broader audience and ensure that one market just simply falls off the cliff because we chose the wrong color or a design that was too child-friendly.

James Ross (21:08.207)
mom was good response and one of things i was saying the compact of the sequel as well when the stock to within the slot sector players creatures of comfort they they know what they like they very rarely deviated to another sector of the game sorry so when you are creating a sequel and you folks in the engagement

focusing on what they already know what they already understand about the game like you said that you have that hook of what they first see but it's also kind of replicating what they know what they what they love and what they're comfortable with to trigger that success which is interesting

Bernd Baumert (21:44.078)
I can add to that that the players usually know the game sometimes better than the game designers and developers. Trust me on this one. They will be definitely so focused on the game and experience ahead that they want to relive this and this is what we then try to facilitate.

James Ross (22:00.443)
Perfect. And we are very close out of time. So one final question, and I'm hoping you can give us a little sneak peek, because you've already mentioned a roadmap. Can you kind of give us an inkling to what's coming next in Green Tube's upcoming portfolio?

Bernd Baumert (22:17.656)
Yes, I can tell you that we will always try to enlarge and enrich our game families. So we'll have a picky price, coins or plenty with an extreme bet mechanic, which is basically two games in one. So you can get rid of all the lower paying symbols and just pay the high paying symbol plus the feature trigger. So this is then what the prefers at the very stage. And on top of this, always

adding mechanics to our portfolio. So three part games, we got a couple of lined up with different mixture of mechanics to, as we said, flavor it for the player to their different likes. And I'm really, really looking forward also theme wise from Western themes to more of a genie based game again with magic lamps and so on and forth. So we're looking forward to the next months.

James Ross (23:10.001)
perfect sounds like an interesting road map on one that will definitely keep an eye out here at SPC but I could talk to you for hours just on gaming we'll get back we'll just do a whole gaming podcast and we'll take it from there thank you for joining us today and to our listeners thank you for tuning in if you want to find out more about odds of the gods 2 we'll leave links in the description below but apart from that I've been James Ross this has been iGamingDaily thank you for listening

Bernd Baumert (23:20.194)
Yes, we should.