European Gaming Q&A with Thomas Wendt, Co-founder and Director of Apparat Gaming

What types of games does Turbo Games` portfolio include? Why this kind, not another one?

Turbogames are the so-called “PROVABLY FAIR” games. This kind of game is based on technology that allows the player to make sure that the results are genuine and honest. In other words, this is simple mathematics in the “wrapper” of an entertaining game.

That’s what I like – playing such games gives a player a chance to touch pure luck. “Environmentally friendly luck” – I would say so. At Turbo Games, we have created several games based on very popular and familiar mechanics – like Mines, Crash, Limbo and so on. At the same time our portfolio has games for every taste – and this is the uniqueness of our selection of games.

With so many games out there, what differentiates Turbo Games from the rest of iGaming content providers?

As a designer, I would say that we are different, because we have a special visual character.

We are bold, bright, we are like a fresh breeze. We are assertive and even a bit aggressive. But this is our point. We are not afraid to be misunderstood – because our players are thinking people who want to be on the wave and are open to new things. And, I’ll tell you a secret – luck loves such people.

What are the key guidelines that you follow when designing a new game? Do real life events influence your choice of elements or general idea of the game? 

In the process of designing, we try to adhere to certain algorithms and not go beyond the given UI / UX design, as we have earned a good audience on our first games, and we try not to change UX much from game to game. It should be “comfortable ” in each of our games, so that our players can quickly figure out familiar features.

At the same time, we try to use more and more new ideas and embody them graphically.

Here we work as a team. We generate ideas, discuss, look for references, and come up with a “plot”. This is great. We have a great team – and everyone from project managers to programmers and testers are super creative people. Therefore, we get such cool games.

Sometimes ideas are just in the air, sometimes we get inspired by something… it’s always a creative process.

How do you manage to create exciting games for the players? Where do you get inspiration from?

I have a whole collection of completely different pictures on Pinterest – which are not united by a common idea at all, at first glance. But, this is my “chest” with ideas for Turbo Games.

I like to start with history. For example, when we came up with our game “Hamsta” – at first it was a hamster who runs around a wooden wardrobe with supplies and steals jam … at the end, this idea grew into a radioactive cyber-hamster that digs holes in a post-apocalypse and collects various items .

Could you tell us a bit more about current trends? What makes a game successful nowadays?

I think it’s definitely important to keep up with new design trends, or marketing, or… just keep up with the news, after all.

Games are a very emotional thing, so in order to do something that will cause a response from the user, it must correspond to his/her thoughts today. This is not easy to follow. But we do our best.

At the same time, many factors must be taken into account – to make the design not only beautiful for today, but so that it does not become outdated quickly. At the same time, it is necessary to respond to the demands of the public. 

Furthermore, trends scan the global geopolitical landscape and remind people what is going on in the world through different channels. As Ukrainians, we filled the duty to create military games as Bayraktar & Javelin and to use them as the instruments for transmitting the current Ukrainian reality of cruel unprecedented war to our global audience. So, with the help of the product Turbo Games makes its contribution to support our Homeland in 2 ways:

1.  by forming the conscious understanding of the true picture of russian invasion into Ukraine;
2. by attracting the attention of the global community that all the world should be involved to stop this madness. 

On such a wave we created the game Bayraktar inspired by one of the drones that the Ukrainian military forces use on the battlefields. After it our rating just soared!

Therefore, to be successful it is needed to be in & to set trends that have a big sense close to your users` feelings and wishes right now.

What Turbo game do you consider the most successful from a designer’s point of view? Why?

I really love Mines. We decided to make them in neomorphism style – that’s why the game looks very modern, “tactile” and as clear as possible. A player wants to play it because the effect of “soft buttons” and pleasant clicks is created. In fact, our Mines are practically an anti-stress game.

I also love Neko. There is a very cute cat and a very “delicious” environment.

How much time does it take to draw 1 instant game? Do you do it alone?

For over a year I had been drawing the game alone. Now we have 2 designers in our team. As we have an age gap this helps us to cover trends and preferences of different generations. Furthermore, the basis for the development of any game is collective expertise of all the team.

What concerns development – well, all games are born in different ways, from a month to three. Depends on the working load.  

Finally, what can we expect in the future from TurboGames?

We have extensive plans. But you can be sure – they will be very nicely implemented and it will be a pleasure to play them!

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