Not many online gaming companies can claim business was so brisk that there was no time to establish an online presence. Gaming Design, an Australian company founded by three longtime gaming experts, can make just such a claim. The independent gaming software developer incorporated in January and launched its website last week.
Gaming Design specializes in Australian-style, multi-line multiplier games with bonus features, progressive slots and other numerical games including keno, bingo and poker for both Internet system providers and individual sites, as well as creating games for gaming machine manufactures and suppliers to land-based gaming facilities.
The company places an emphasis on fulfilling the needs of the individual customer by offering a number of contractual options. "Games can be purchased off-the-shelf or customized," explained co-founder Keiran Daley "We supply on a revenue-sharing basis where we share the risks and the opportunities, or a fixed-price agreement."
As Daley and fellow co-founder Judi Kelly explained, Gaming Design provides unique games for each client, and as such retains the intellectual property. "Most designers develop a game that looks different for each customer, but keep the mathematics the same," Daley said. "We won't supply the same game to any two customers, and grant exclusive licenses." Amazingly, the company accomplishes the feat within a 30-day turnaround.
Cranking out games at this pace can can be tricky for a company that's experiencing such fast growth. Kelly says they've already signed several online casino operators and land-based manufacturers, and more contracts are pending. Meanwhile, the company boasts a lean staff that includes only the three founders: Kelly, who handles the marketing and sales; Daley, who handles mathematical gaming design models; and Don McPherson, who promotes the company's services to the Asian market. Each brings to the table experience in the Australian land-based gaming industry.
The company designs unique gaming software for its burgeoning client list, with the help of contract employees and temporary staff. "Our feeling is that you can't be good at everything," Kelly explained. "Our expertise is in the game design, not in the look."
Among the company's contract employees is a top-notch designer who can help customers achieve a unique look and design. In addition, clients can adapt their games to Java or Splash, to suit their sites' particular needs.
There's one consistent difference between Gaming Design and its competitors, Kelly said, in that, "While some companies offer a full integration package for their games, we stop at the point where the game is integrated. We don't supply back-end software either."
The company develops their games through comprehensive mathematical models, which vary from one customer to the next. Kelly likened it to DNA, the building blocks of nature, which creates the similarities and differences among all living things. "While the games might look the same, the built-in variations keep them all completely unique--like a fingerprint," she said.
Daley explained further that the variations are accomplished by changing six crucial indices. Statistically speaking, there are an infinite number of variations available for each index.
The games' other features include:
- characterized or uncharacterized games developed within the client's functional and mathematical parameters;
- operator risk tables, including volatility and hit rates;
- return to player data;
- documentation for regulatory approval, testing and integration;
- optional programming notes, and optional graphics.
The company targets its services to clients with experience in and an understanding of the gaming industry. So far, all of its clients are government licensed and most have some experience in the industry. Due to confidentiality agreements, the company cannot name any clients. Kelly revealed, however, that their current client list includes licensed sites from Australia and the Caribbean.
Specifically, they have two requirements of their clients: The client must be a government-licensed site and it must use a reputable auditing firm (to provide assurance that both parties are receiving their fair share of profits).
Even though Gaming Design is based in New South Wales, don't expect it to limit itself to doing most of its business in Australia. The founders view the Australian market as being limited for a couple of reasons: First, the federal push for a moratorium on Internet gaming could result in no potential clients licensed in Australia. More importantly, the company believes that the Australian tax structure isn't conducive foroperating profitably.
As many have pointed out, the Internet has created a global marketplace, something Gaming Design execs can attest. They plan on doing business around the globe and are close to adding companies in the Philippines and Korea to their clientele.
To give potential clients a preview of the company and its products, Gaming Design launched its website last week at www.gamingdesign.com.au. The company has been so busy since establishing itself that it hasn't yet fully developed the new site; for now it's a bare-bones source of information. Eventually, customers will find more information and will even be able to try out a game or two. "I'd call it a no-frills website," Kelly said. "It's effectively a technically-oriented site with some sample mathematical games. We're now working on the bells and whistles to show that the games are player-friendly and interactive."