Pulse
Game Design Roundtable: roadmaps, blueprints & pipelines
By William - 26 April 2024
One imagines that every few months executives and their dev teams sit in a darkened room to discuss product plans in hushed tones.
Pulling back the curtain, Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Chief Commercial Officer at SPRIBE, Katya Machuganova, Product Owner at Silverback Gaming, and Iryna Dragulina, Game Tribe Leader at Playson, share what’s discussed in the Roadmap Room, identifying the more significant datapoints drawn on.
Can you explain the dynamics and intricacies of developing a robust content roadmap that delivers results for partners and hits KPIs in targeted geographies?
Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Chief Commercial Officer at SPRIBE: Developing a robust content roadmap involves a meticulous blend of market analysis, player insights and technological capabilities. The process begins by gauging an understanding of player preferences and the different behaviours of our target audience across a range of geographies.
This involves analysing player data, market trends and competitor strategies to identify new opportunities and gaps in the market. We then work closely with our partners to align our roadmap with their goals and objectives, thereby ensuring mutual success.
Throughout the process, we continuously monitor key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of our content strategy and make data-driven adjustments if needed.
Iryna Dragulina, Game Tribe Leader at Playson: Crafting a content roadmap that delivers strong results requires a strategic and data-driven approach. We continually conduct data analysis of how our games are performing to identify what type of content resonates best with players.
We also conduct competitor research to analyse popular game features and themes, and identify potential areas for improvement and differentiation. Our product team takes a collaborative approach to develop ideas and implement our roadmap strategy.
Katya Machuganova, Product Owner at Silverback Gaming: Crafting a successful product strategy and rallying behind it is a collaborative effort! Our Product Strategy acts as our guiding North star, shaping our decisions and endeavours. It’s imperative to translate this strategy into tangible milestones that drive towards our business objectives.
The culmination of this strategic alignment is seen in the development of a robust content roadmap. This roadmap is grounded in a profound understanding of partner needs, target audience preferences, and key performance indicators (KPIs) across diverse regions. It demands meticulous planning to harmonise content development with our strategic aims, ensuring resonance with our audience while achieving desired outcomes.
Furthermore, certification is a critical aspect that can significantly influence roadmap precision. We remain vigilant in adhering to industry regulations, platform requirements, and quality standards, which may necessitate adjustments in timing and content releases.
Additionally, we are attuned to the broader marketing strategy, aligning with specific global events or trends as part of our roadmap navigation.
What data is most valuable in the roadmapping process? Which datapoints are given the greatest weight, and why?
Katya: Gather as many signals as possible to inform your understanding of the opportunity and determine the best course of action. The roadmapping process unfolds through several key phases: planning, input collection, organisation, building support for our roadmap strategy, maintenance, and execution.
Flexibility is paramount as we continuously refine our approach. Crucial data points, including market research insights, audience analytics, past campaign performance metrics, and competitor analysis, inform our decision-making process and enable us to identify opportunities and challenges.
Giorgi: SPRIBE’s roadmap planning is closely tied to key engagement metrics of our players. We particularly focus on assessing player behaviour from activation right through to adoption. But given the significant load from high volumes of traffic, our primary focus is still on metrics related to the stability of game operations and services under high loads.
Iryna: First of all, our strategic goals are mapped out across each quarter, setting out our aims for the year’s performance. The decisions are continuously inspected to reflect where we want to be and how far away we are from achieving this. We use data to measure the KPIs of our released games to understand what went well and what should be adjusted going forward.
How is the roadmap segmented and broken down? Is it divided into themes, mechanics, game types?
Iryna: We take a multi-faceted approach to roadmapping, looking at different angles including mechanics, themes and game families. It is important for us to have a good overview of the teams working on the roadmap and ensure they have the autonomy to fulfil our aims. We approach high-level planning on a quarterly basis to remain adaptable and react to industry changes or trends.
Giorgi: Our annual roadmap is divided into quarterly segments, which serve as the primary tools for our development teams. When it comes to dividing up our roadmap, it’s important to understand that SPRIBE can have multiple teams working on the development of a single product or service.
The roadmap itself is centred around achieving the key results that we have outlined within a particular timeframe and often consists of projects that involve several teams working on the development process together.
Katya: The roadmap is typically segmented and broken down based on various factors such as themes, audience segments, content types, and strategic priorities. It may involve a combination of themes, mechanics, and game types to ensure a diverse and engaging content lineup that caters to different audience preferences and business objectives.
How does the roadmap typically end up differing from its original conception? For example, did the overall skeleton for 2023’s roadmap differ too much from the initial development plan? Ultimately, is road mapping something that is done in erasable ink?
Katya: The roadmap frequently undergoes evolution from its initial conception, influenced by factors like market dynamics, emerging trends, partner feedback, and internal considerations. Although the overarching structure may stay consistent, specific details and priorities often pivot to accommodate shifting circumstances.
Roadmapping is inherently dynamic, requiring adjustments to optimise effectiveness and agility in response to evolving conditions. As part of this adaptability, we have reorganised the sequence of some releases to better align with changing circumstances.
Iryna: We focus on remaining agile in the face of emerging trends and industry changes. We have an idea of what we want the year to look like but refine this closer to game release dates and new insights gathered from the data we have analysed. We don’t perceive our roadmap as set in stone and always leave room to reach our players’ changing needs.
Giorgi: Both the annual and quarterly roadmaps can be subject to dynamic changes. In quarterly cycles, adjustments often revolve around shifting priorities and rescheduling timelines. But during the annual planning process, more significant, long-term projects may emerge.
From a development viewpoint, what’s the most difficult technical obstacle you contend with to ensure games are released when you’ve scheduled them to go live?
Giorgi: The biggest technical challenge that we have faced recently has been effectively monitoring the load during soft launches compared to the loads that we would expect during the go-live period.
Katya: From a development viewpoint, one of the most difficult technical obstacles we contend with at Silverback Gaming is to ensure games are released when scheduled is managing dependencies and unforeseen technical issues during development. This includes debugging, optimisation, compatibility testing across different platforms, addressing any last-minute glitches that may arise, and, of course – game certification.
Coordination among development teams and effective project management are crucial to overcoming these obstacles and meeting release deadlines. Additionally, it’s important to note that certification labs can often be very busy, particularly during peak periods, which can result in prolonged certification processes, especially when certifying for the first time.
This past experience of potential delays is a factor we consider when planning our roadmap, allowing for additional buffer time to accommodate any unforeseen delays in the certification process.
Iryna: We are lucky to have such a proactive team that works hard to ensure we have a top quality product by continuously ensuring our technology is robust and up-to-date. Although there can be some technical obstacles from time to time, our processes have evolved to ensure this is a rare occurrence.
What can you reveal about the development roadmap for the rest of 2024?
Iryna: Our growing portfolio will prioritise variety throughout the rest of the year, with an emphasis on releasing games from different families. Obviously, our Hold and Win series remains a key addition to our extensive portfolio and as you have seen with our recent release, Clover Charm, Hit the Bonus mechanic has elevated gameplay and undoubtedly bolstered the overall player experience.
So, this is a part of the overall game creation we can keep in mind – evolving the Hold and Win portfolio and integrating new twists within the new game families.
Katya: Due to confidentiality reasons, specific details about the development roadmap for the rest of 2024 cannot be revealed at this time due to some exclusivity deals in progress.
However, it can be noted that the roadmap is likely to be dynamic and subject to adjustments based on market trends, partner feedback, and internal priorities.
Efforts will be focused on delivering high-quality content that aligns with strategic objectives and meets the evolving needs of our partners and audience. Our progressive jackpot engine, the slot game series, the crash game project, and more games featuring our in-house trademarked game mechanics are part of what we have been preparing for our partners and fans.
Additionally, we maintain a bundle of ready game concepts, game features, and maths models to stay as flexible as possible. This allows us to quickly fill in any gap on the roadmap and adapt to changing priorities or market opportunities.
Giorgi: While I cannot disclose specific details, I can assure you that our development roadmap for the rest of 2024 is packed with exciting content updates and new features designed to delight our players.
SPRIBE is continuously innovating and expanding our game offerings to provide a dynamic and immersive gaming experience. Over the next 12 months, we will continue to add more exciting features and gamification to continue revolutionising the way players gamble online.
Stay tuned for announcements as we strive to exceed expectations and push the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of iGaming.
