Hot Rise Games CEO: Pushing the Boundaries With Monsters vs Gigablox

Something a little different

Australia-based slot supplier Hot Rise Games is making waves in the world of online gaming. The company is relatively new to the sector – having only just released its first game last year – but its experienced team is attempting to break the mold when it comes to exciting new slots.

monster-themed graphics and Gigablox mechanic

Hot Rise Games’ latest offering Monsters vs Gigablox certainly does just that. The game went live on Monday and, thanks to its unique monster-themed graphics and Gigablox mechanic, it has made it into VegasSlotsOnline News’ Slots of the Week.

In light of this latest release, VSO News spoke exclusively with Hot Rise Games founder and chief executive Ken Williamson to get his insight into the slot’s design and find out what the supplier has lined up next.

For our readers that aren’t too familiar with the company, can you tell us a bit about Hot Rise Games and your link to Reel Play and Yggdrasil?

Hot Rise Games is based in Sydney, Australia. Both myself and the other founder Josh Miranda have spent about 15 years in the industry. All of our employees are also experienced and talented people that we’ve worked with before so we knew that they would hit the ground running and give us that quality edge straight away.

Our connections with Reel Play go back a long time. When we were setting up this team we formed some partnerships with them for distribution and technical purposes. That’s also given us that connection to Yggdrasil. We’ve taken on their Gigablox mechanic which is something that we knew we could add something a bit different to.

What does Hot Rise Games do to stand out from the crowd in the highly competitive space?

The days are long gone when someone could come in as a games supplier and pump out a selection of the same games which aren’t particularly inspired.

We only had our first game release early last year, which was called Legion Hot 1. From the get-go, we were focused on getting that quality right and ensuring our games offered something unique that stood out from the competition. They all have an element that is different for that reason.

the games we have coming up in our roadmap will keep pushing that line

Now that we’ve established that, we are attempting to insert more personality into those games in terms of looks and feel. Monsters vs Gigablox is probably the first game in which that’s really evident, but the games we have coming up in our roadmap will keep pushing that line by being interesting and engaging as well as high quality.

Monsters vs Gigablox is a really unique concept. Could you explain a bit about the slot?

It’s a Gigablox game, which is obviously Yggdrasil’s mechanic. We took what we believed was the best part of that Gigablox mechanic, which is making the base game into a feature. It allows you to have different reels coming in all the time along with the different blocks to group big wins together.

We adapted this to make it more random and let the Gigablox roam free across the reels. That led us to the theme where we have six different characters. It really helped to have those big characters landing in different places all along the reels. That’s really the heart of it.

Interesting. Did the idea begin with the mechanic and form from there or did it begin with the theme?

Usually, we start with the mechanic first but we do try to make it holistic. We will come up with the concept, we will try to put a theme to it, and then there will be a bit of back and forth. In those early stages, we really ensure that the different elements come together correctly.

Are there any other Hot Rise Games slots that our readers can try their hand on?

Legion Hot 1 was our first release. It has an unusual layout and a collection mechanic, so it improves as you go on and collect the symbols. This opens up the reels, adding wilds and multipliers.

that last spin will kick in and their chances for a big win goes up

That builds up all the way through to the feature and then into the Hot 1. This makes the last spin of the free spins a massive win, so there are extra wilds. That way the player knows that even if they have had a quiet feature that last spin will kick in and their chances for a big win goes up.

Finally, what are Hot Rise Games’ plans for the rest of 2022?

I can’t give too much away, but we do have another installment coming later this year as a sequel to Monsters vs Gigablox. We really like the way that game has come out. It’ll have a whole new cast of larger-than-life characters and some new feature mechanics. We really want to develop that style and personality.

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