Interview with Bullshark Games: How they develop slots with a purpose

With hundreds of new slot machines competing for players’ attention every month, it’s no longer enough to create a technically accomplished game. Bullshark Games takes a more fundamental approach: Every game they launch should have a clear purpose. 

Kongebonus editor David Nilsen has had a chat with Andre Villandberg, founder and CEO of Bullshark Games. The topic was the thinking behind the studio’s development of modern slot machines, and what distinguishes an interesting concept from games we have seen before in practice. The conversation was about more than individual games. Villandberg explains why progression has become such an important part of Bullshark’s game design, how the studio balances high volatility and player engagement, and why small studios can have an advantage when experimenting with new game mechanisms. 

Bullshark uses player and market data without basing the game design on assumptions about individual countries. He also explains what games like Age of Seth, Lemur Levels, Gobstopper Grind and Junkyard Kings 2 have in common, despite big differences in both theme and gameplay features. Behind it all is a clear ambition: Bullshark doesn’t necessarily want the games to look the same. They want players to recognize a Bullshark game by the way it plays. 

Exclusive interview with Andre Villandberg, Bullshark Games

King Bonus:  More slots than ever are competing for players’ attention. When you start developing a new game at Bullshark, what does it take to make it worthy of a place in such a competitive market?

Andre Villandberg: For us, it has to have a purpose. It may sound simple, but with so many games being released, one of the biggest dangers is settling for “good enough.” 

We usually start with an idea or a game feature that we think we can build something interesting around. Then the question is what experience we want to give the player, and what gives them a reason to keep playing. It could be a progression system, an unusual mechanic, a character, or simply a slightly different rhythm to the game. 

The game’s math may be good and the graphics may look amazing, but if during testing we feel like we’ve played it a hundred times before, we have a problem. We want there to be something memorable about every game we release. 

Volatility and progression

King Bonus: Progression is something that runs through many of Bullshark’s games. The player experiences a continuous development, rather than just going from one spin to the next. Why has this become such an important part of the way you develop games?

Andre Villandberg: I ​​believe that progression gives the player a reason to care about what happens next. 

Slots are basically built around single spins. However, a growing multiplier, collection features, new levels or a game that gradually becomes more powerful can create a connection between spins. 

And that gives the game momentum. Even if players haven’t reached the big moment yet, they can see where the potential lies and what they’re after. 

We find that we keep coming back to this feeling in many of our games. The mechanics can be completely different, but we like to create the feeling that something is constantly building up. 

The feeling that something is building up

King Bonus: High volatility can create some of the most exciting moments in a slot, but the challenge is to keep players interested while they wait for the big moments. How do you find the right balance, both in terms of game design and mathematics?

Andre Villandberg: High volatility doesn’t mean the game needs to feel dead until something big happens. 

For us, a lot of balance is about the flow of the game. You need little highlights, near-wins, progression, and enough variation in outcomes to build excitement, while still maintaining the game’s mathematical profile. 

We spend a lot of time testing our games internally, often tens of thousands of spins. A spreadsheet can tell us if the math works, but it can’t say much about how 500 or 1000 spins will feel to the player. 

If the big wins are exciting, but the path to them feels like a punishment, we haven’t found the right balance. 

Development rather than copying

King’s Bonus: Bullshark has said that you’d rather experiment with new mechanics than repackage successful concepts. At the same time, studios are under pressure to keep up with launch schedules and deliver games that are commercially successful. How difficult is it to continue taking such creative risks?

Andre Villandberg: It is undoubtedly more difficult than repeating something you already know works. 

When a game has become a success, it’s always tempting to change the theme, make a few adjustments, and try the same thing again. From a commercial standpoint, it’s easy to see why studios do it. 

We try to use successful games as lessons, not as a template. What did players like? Was it the progression, the pace, the volatility, or a particular feature? Then we can take what we’ve learned and apply it to something new. 

We also know that not all ideas we experiment with will work. Sometimes we remove or change features quite late in the process because we discover that they aren’t as entertaining in practice as they sounded in the boardroom. 

One of the advantages of being a smaller studio is that we have more room to experiment. We can make decisions quickly, and each experiment teaches us something that we can take with us to the next game. 

Game design across markets

King Bonus: How much is your game design influenced by your target market? Do you develop games for specific markets, and how do you adapt them to different player preferences?

Andre Villandberg: We look at market and player data, but we rarely start by saying, “Let’s make a game specifically for country X.” 

Player preferences can vary greatly from market to market, but there is also a lot that works across borders. Clear mechanisms, good flow, excitement and the feeling that something big can happen are not limited to one specific market. 

Market knowledge is useful in understanding how different mechanics, volatility profiles, and themes resonate with different groups of players. It can influence the choices we make, but we would rather develop a good game than force the design in a certain direction based on what we think a particular market will like. 

The localization should then ensure that the game feels natural and works well in the markets where it is offered, without changing the actual gaming experience. 

Broad portfolio

King’s Bonus: Bullshark’s portfolio offers a wide range of themes and game concepts, from Age of Seth and Lemur Levels to Gobstopper Grind and Junkyard Kings 2. What do these games have in common from a design perspective, and what do you want players to primarily associate with a Bullshark game?

Andre Villandberg: Visually, we actually want the games to be different. I don’t want all Bullshark games to use the same characters, the same layout, or the same graphic style just so players will recognize the brand. 

What should tie them together is the feeling they give. 

Age of Seth is a great example of how we like to work with progression and increasing potential. Lemur Levels uses a level system to create progression in a completely different way, while Gobstopper Grind takes the same thinking into a game with a symbol drop mechanism. Junkyard Kings 2 builds on a game and style that has already been particularly popular with players who enjoy high volatility. 

The common denominator is progress, progression, volatility and that the player always has something concrete to chase. 

Ultimately, I would like to see us get to a point where we could remove the Bullshark logo and players would still feel like it was one of our games. Not because they all look the same, but because of the way they play. 

https://www.kongebonus.com/nyheter/intervju-bullshark-games-andre-villandberg/