Ingenio’s Creativity At The Service Of Québec’s Casinos
Monday, July 23, 2012 at 09:53AM Montréal, July 17, 2012 – The Casino de Charlevoix celebrated its 18th anniversary with a world’s first thanks to the creativity of Loto-Québec subsidiary Ingenio and extraordinary synergy among several collaborators. Ingenio designed and developed Volcan, a unique multimedia environment that provides customers with an unforgettable immersive experience.
Volcan’s concept is simple, but Ingenio had to draw on its substantial multimedia production skills to make it a reality. The challenge consisted in taking an existing slot machine game, Jackpot Explosion®, and projecting winning jackpots on giant screens. In all, 28 slot machines with 14 new themes are connected to each other and to a multimedia installation set up in 2010 by Moment Factory. As the jackpot grows, the volcano’s lava level rises, generating intensity in the entire gaming area and fuelling excitement among players. When the player wins, the volcano erupts, producing spectacular visual effects on the 27-screen wall installed in an arc.
Ingenio was able to find the means to create a larger-than-life experience. “With Volcan, the multimedia environment now interacts with gaming activity to create a more immersive and intense entertainment experience,” said Nathalie Rajotte, Ingenio’s Director General. “This new form of interactivity paves the way for new games and casinos of the future.” Volcan, from concept to delivery, through the development of visuals and sound, scripting and technological implementation, is an Ingenio creation.
Despite significant challenges inherent to the project, Ingenio came up with innovative and original solutions requiring new technologies, particularly the creation and connection of several modules aligned in such a way as to respect the game’s integrity. “To collect data without affecting the game, we worked with Ingenio and WMS to provide an easy-to-use solution that lets the Ingenio system receive real-time updates from participating games, while the games communicate separately with the slot system. The Ingenio application demonstrates the true power of G2S (Game to System) in a way that has never been done before," said Russ Ristine, President of Radical Blue Gaming (RadBlue), a company specializing in Gaming Standards Association (GSA) protocols.
The slot machines used with Volcan at the Casino de Charlevoix were developed by WMS Industries, a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of gaming machines. “Ingenio created an innovative and exciting approach to an immersive gaming experience. We are proud to be associated with this project, which has tremendous player appeal,” said Dean Ehrlich, Vice President Gaming and Networked Operations at WMS Industries.
“Volcan is enjoying unparallelled success,” said François Tremblay, General Manager of the Casino de Charlevoix. “Since its inauguration, the number of customers who want to try it has grown consistently. Within only a few weeks of its launch, it is considered a not-to-be-missed experience.” Over the coming months, Ingenio’s team will be working with two other Québec casinos (Montréal and Lac-Leamy) to introduce this immersive experience to their clientele.
Although Ingenio was the task manager for implementing Volcan, the project’s success is due to sustained cooperation with its partners: the Société des casinos and Technologies Nter (two Loto-Québec subsidiaries) as well as RadBlue and Neosoft Technologies, a Québec company specializing in visual recognition.