How to Scale Up Game Development

Statistics state that in 2019 the number of active mobile players was about 2.5 billion people around the world and the global game market revenue by the end of the year was $ 152.1 billion. These figures will grow rapidly due to many factors, among which are the development of technologies that can be used in game development, increased Internet capabilities, and greater availability of mobile devices.

Sources: Bloomberg, Pelham Smithers / Created by GamingScan.com

As the number of players rises, their appetite increases too. To streamline game production, game publishers are looking for talent and create islands of paradise for their well-crafted development teams. However, there is another way to boost game development and scale up your team – engage the talent you need for as long as you need from a reliable tech partner. Sigma Software has been serving global gaming providers and operators for more than 10 years. Our service offerings started with a small team extension and currently we are embracing a whole range of services – front-end and back-end development, mobile, customization and support, regulation requirements, game art, etc., as well as innovation components – AI, AR/VR, and so on.

Here is an approximate list of gamedev experts you might need to develop a game:

• Game Mechanics Designer;
• Static, Animated, and 3D Game Artist;
• Native and Cross-Platform Mobile Developer;
• Internal Processes Optimization specialist;
• BI and Big Data for Players Analysis specialist;
• Legacy Systems Migration expert;
• Regulations & Responsible Gaming Compliance specialist, and more.

Being among the TOP 100 outsourcing companies by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), we have ample technical expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and development practices in order to provide our customers with a quality product that meets all their needs and requirements. Products we create for our customers include E-learning games, AR games, casino games, chatbots integrated into game interfaces via SDKs, gamification solutions for customer engagement, geo-lotteries, and gaming platforms.

In addition to this, our expertise covers developing game logic, creating the technical and test documentation, carrying out “million spin” tests, providing functional and usability testing, and integrating the games as required into the platform configurations and back-office systems.

Below are some reasons why you should choose us as your partner for transforming your ideas into top-level games.

Our Own Game Platforms to Reduce Costs and Time of Game Development

Creating our own entertainment all-in-one platforms allows us to develop top-level Casino and Bingo Web, Mobile, and Desktop applications and games much faster and with less effort. The platforms serve as a basis for the most popular game types, including slot machines and raffles. The platforms facilitate the selection of the required device, technology, or combination depending on the type and complexity of the task.

We developed, delivered, and currently support the Bingo platform to the European lottery and the biggest North American state lotteries. Having high performance, rich functionality, and user-friendly configuration tools, the platform covers every bingo variant. Its interactive Bingo Live and moderated chat features significantly reduce dwell time.

The platforms bring you as a game owner a number of other benefits, such as short time-to-market – because of ready-made key components that simplify and accelerate the development process. They are scalable, secure, and provide high-load infrastructure, along with the ability to migrate projects to the cloud.

Another benefit you receive is full support from one vendor. Of course, we are able to cover all service activities related to platform maintenance so you can be sure that all issues will be solved in a flash.

R&D centers – AR/VR, Big Data, AI/ML, and Cybersecurity

In our R&D centers, we constantly monitor new trends, tools, technologies, and approaches to elaborate on innovative solutions by mixing all these ingredients. Related to the gaming and gambling industry, our R&D centers focus on AR/VR, Big Data, AI/ML, and Cybersecurity. We are proud to have our own AR/VR Lab where our experts are free to experiment and obtain knowledge to power up their current and future projects.

The accumulated knowledge of techniques and trends allows us to quickly find and offer effective solutions to any customer issues and as a result, to come up with innovative products and services. By cooperating with us, customers receive such advantages as budget savings, fast development and time-to-market phases, and modern technology in the backend of easy-to-use apps.

One of the recent examples we are proud of is the Unity-based shooter AR game in a Sci-Fi setting, Black Snow. This game puts players against aliens trying to invade Earth. The whole development process took us more than two years. During that time we had a bunch of complex engineering tasks to solve. Among them were creating an augmented reality for an open world as well as achieving a full immersion effect with graphics alignment, surround sound, and haptic feedback. To ensure a seamless experience, we used calibrations hidden from the user and immediate access to the gameplay. Unlike other AR games, the playing area of the Black Snow game stretches for 2 kilometers in every direction around the player, wherever the player might be.

One more project we worked on was an application for VR sports betting. The idea is that users can watch several sports matches in real-time on different screens. This allows them to follow events, change any live data displayed on screens, compare bets from different providers and bet rates to gamble.

Another example is the Unity-based AR Sports simulator that allows players to test their skills in football or basketball. The game provides real-time physics and ball interactive trajectory drawing.

When developing and migrating applications we use only the most advanced technologies, such as Unity, JavaScript, Haxe, Oculus, ARCore, OpenGL, SteamVR. We can develop and test applications for a variety of devices such as Microsoft Hololens, Oculus Gear, HTC Vive, Sony Smarteyeglass, and others.

Game Design and Art

In any application or game, visual components play a very important role for both its publisher and users. Our team puts a lot of attention and effort into improving the graphic elements of the games so we can deliver eye-catching graphics, fascinating narratives and a user-friendly UX to our customers.

As of now, our design and art team consists of 16 dedicated professionals. During the years, we accumulated a lot of expertise that allows us to deliver designs for all types of complexities from scratch. We provide a full package of services related to art and design – game ideas and designs, art and animation, sound designs, and sound reviews. We analyze features and mechanics that our customers would like to include in the game, define main flows, and proactively develop the game structure according to gathered requirements.

Some years ago, we have delivered an E-learning cross-platform Unity-based game for kids to learn and improve their English. Our team was engaged in the process of development from the very beginning, starting from the concept up to the post-release activities. The game is now available in European and Scandinavian countries and was nominated as the best learning application at the Bett Awards.

To see more artwork, please follow the link here.

Back-office Solutions and Post-release Activities

For game operators, we develop, integrate, and support various back-office solutions. Sigma Software’s technicians are involved in developing and supporting dozens of projects that provide their owners with simplified and enlightening gaming operations controls. We achieve this by various means such as data integration from multiple gaming systems into one system, BI features implementation (data analysis and management), features running marketing and promotion tools.

Along with providing a full development cycle, we can also take care of post-release activities for your game. We know how to create games; therefore we know how to manage and promote them. It would not be a good idea to release a game and simply rely on its uniqueness and coolness. There are more than 1K games being released on the App Store every month so you should know your game well in order to keep it up and running smoothly.

Such KPIs as the number of daily and monthly active users, their geographical locations, conversion rates, duration of the game session, and the amount and frequency of payments are crucial for the development and improvement of the product. We can offer you such services as managing game data and player bonuses, calculation of commissions, evaluating the efficiency, and much more.

Want to develop high-quality games attracting users?

Leverage talent of our game development engineers and artists

Our title, Black Snow, was launched in 12 countries including Scandinavia, Israel, and other European countries. The day one and day three retention rates after the first month were over 33% and 17% respectively. We also managed to halve the CPI rate index during the first month and so the average game session was more than 10 minutes.

To promote games we also use promo campaigns. For Black Snow, we prepared a set of CGI and gameplay videos that were highly rated by users. Experimental campaigns on Facebook and Instagram helped us engage the audience. When setting up promo campaigns, we consider audience preferences, the countries they live in, and their ages in order to bring maximum value to our customers’ products.

It is a regular practice for Sigma Software to take up the support and maintenance of the products and solutions we have delivered for our customers. Our strengths are focusing on our client’s goals, our proactive position at all stages, and our management and approach. The gaming industry grows bigger and bigger in a blink of an eye and business owners may face a lot of concerns as they dive deeper into nuances. Learn more about how tech solutions may help overcome the concerns that the gaming industry faces in our article Gaming Suppliers Concerns and How Tech Can Help.

In addition to fun, any game should be safe for both the player and the owner of the game. This is especially true for gambling. Many companies allocate huge resources on the development and support of gaming culture, promoting responsible and safe gaming, and preventing fraud. We have effective and proven Data Science tools for identifying weaknesses and needs that help our customers secure solutions.

We are proud of all our projects and suggest you become our long-time partner in delivering products that change the world. To learn more about our gaming expertise and offerings, feel free to contact us.

• #AI/ML
• #App Development
• #AR/VR
• #BI and Big Data
• #Gambling/Gaming
• #Information Security
• #UI/UX Design