Get ready to plunge into the creative depths of Nolimit City’s latest slot release, Tanked, with the mastermind behind the game, Tiger. Known for his work on iconic titles like Pirots and Nitropolis, Tiger brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to the gaming table.
In this exclusive Q&A, we discuss the inspiration behind Tanked, address community feedback, and explore the nuances of designing innovative slots that captivate players worldwide.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Hi Tiger, thank you for joining us for this Q&A! For readers who might not be familiar with you, could you share a bit about your background?
Tiger (Nolimit City): Thanks for the opportunity to meet your community. As the welcome said, my name is Tiger, and I’m one of the game designers at Nolimit City. I delved into the gambling world in 2002 when poker was all the rage, and I became a part of a Swedish poker affiliate. From there, I ended up on the operator side as a casino manager for Betsafe and Betsson, amongst others. For the past 10 years, however, my profession has been creating games for various companies, including Netent, Just For The Win, ELK and Nolimit City.
I have had the pleasure of creating a good range of games with some very talented teams. Some of the highlights are Spinata Grande and Guns N’ Roses (which won a game of the year), as well as Cygnus 2 and Cygnus 3, a handful of Gold Games, Propaganda, Nitropolis, Nitropolis 2, Nitropolis 3 and Punk rocker 2. The games that have made the biggest impact in the portfolio, however, are Pirots and Pirots 2, where I came up with the then-new payout mechanic CollectR.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): That’s an insane track record! Knowing you’re the original creator of Pirots makes a lot of sense looking at Tanked now. Could you walk us through the creative process behind Tanked?
Tiger (Nolimit City): I know there is a lot of feedback from the gaming community regarding Nolimit City ripping of ELK for the mechanic. The way I see it is that it is a continuation of the work I put in at ELK. The way Nolimit creates games both in the backend and the look and feel that signifies ours is very different from ELK.
So, for me, it is a way of being creative within the same payout mechanic but with other tools at my disposal. Listening to the community, there has been a lot of criticism regarding the amount of teases with the Max Win and Chest release meter, as well as picking up single character level-ups. So, for Tanked I wanted to step away from that and instead focus on the core mechanics of movement and be more direct with multipliers to increase character values rather than having a paytable that I find hard to evaluate.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): That makes sense. Speaking of the comments, there were some critical voices when we showcased the slot on YouTube, with some calling it a lazy clone or ripoff. Of course, many of them likely didn’t realize that you’re the original creator behind Pirots. What’s your response to those critiques?
Tiger (Nolimit City): To be honest, I am not surprised by the feedback and understand it. It is something we discussed before creating Tanked as well. What makes Pirots unique in my mind is the payout mechanic, where a character picks up a symbol connected to it. So, by using the same function of paying out, it is rather inevitable that there are big similarities.
I do think we added enough flair to the game to make them feel very different in terms of where the money comes from and how the game behaves when playing the game to make it our own. It is always the market that tells us if it was the right or wrong decision, and it will be interesting to see what the verdict is.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): It’s fascinating to consider how your experiences might differ between working with ELK and NLC. Both studios are known for being experimental and innovative, but NLC has a reputation for being a bit more ‘edgy.’ Would you say that edge is reflected in Tanked as well when compared to Pirots?
Tiger (Nolimit City): I am still new to the Nolimit City mindset since I only joined in late March and have only released two games for NLC previously. With that said I have fantastic support from my colleagues, slowly ushering me in to a more demented form. Regarding the edginess for Tanked, one of my colleagues came up with the kill count, which I think pushed the game a lot toward the Nolimit mindset. For me, it has added a new level to the game that makes it fit well within the portfolio.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): Do you envision Tanked evolving into a series? If so, how do you see it developing in the future?
Tiger (Nolimit City): As with all series and sequels, it is the top performers that will be reimagined over and over. So, one always hopes it qualifies to become a series or sequel. No matter if there is a Tanked 2 or not, I’m sure that we will revisit the same payout mechanic. This time, there will be other things in the game to make it stand out from its predecessors. There are already some initial blueprints on the table for the future.
Bigwinboard (Daniel): That’s really cool, can’t wait to see what you will come up with! One final question for you, Tiger: what are some of your personal favorite slots, and what do you value most in a slot? Is it high volatility, big potential, immersive audiovisual design, or something else?
Tiger (Nolimit City): I always have to work very hard not to make the list ridiculously long when this question is asked. For me, I get hooked on mechanics in the games I put my hard-earned cash into. It might also be interesting to know that I hate all games I ever make, so none of them will be on the list. Not for them being bad, but I always find things that I’m not happy with when they are released, and I can’t fix it.
When we design games, we cannot play them for real money, and as all players know, it’s a very different feeling between playing for fun and playing for real. It’s one of the hardest things to overcome when creating games. But I will shut up and give you my top 5: Rise of Olympus (Play’n GO), Oxygen (ELK Studios), Outsourced (Nolimit City), Le Pharaoh (Hacksaw Gaming), and Jack and the Beanstalk (Netent).
