Interview with Farhad Ahmadzai, Vice President of Engineering, Crazy Tooth Studio

Hello Farhad Ahmadzai! Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Can you briefly introduce Crazy Tooth Studio to our readers? Who are you and what do you do?

Crazy Tooth Studio was founded in 2011 in Reno, Nevada. It was started by Benjamin Hoffman who brought an extensive knowledge of slot design from land-based games. He has assembled a team of like-minded professionals who wanted to make the best games possible. My name is Farhad Ahmadzai. I'm Vice President, Engineering at Crazy Tooth Studio. I have been working in the gaming industry for almost 15 years. I started with land-based gaming at International Game Technology and then moved on to the Crazy Tooth team in 2012.

I feel that players really like the art style and the frequent touches of features.

Which online slot is your most popular and why do you think it has become so popular?

Lucky ClucksTM is one of our most popular games. I feel that players really like the art style and the frequent touches of features. The BigBuildUpTM mechanic is very easy to understand and gives the player a tangible insight into how their potential winnings are built up.

Your Name "Crazy Tooth" suggests that you are different from other studios. What is the difference between you and others?

We are proud to try new things. We usually try to bring innovation to the market whether it comes from a completely new idea or an interesting twist on existing concepts.

How many people are involved in creating a slot machine and how long does it take?

Most of our games typically have a team of around 5 employees, with additional colleagues contributing to address specific things, or as needed. The timelines for development vary, but usually from idea to launch we look at about 8 months.

What is the biggest challenge in creating a good game?

A good slot combines a fantastic mathematical model, incredible design and must be released at the perfect time for the market. Each of these is a challenge in itself and doing all 3 at the same time is our biggest challenge.

Are there any markets where your games are particularly popular and if so, why do you think that is the case?

We try to design our games to appeal to all markets and we have been fortunate to have found success in a wide variety of markets.

It's a really exciting time developmentally.

How have players ' preferences and expectations of games changed in recent years? Is there any difference between a successful slot today and what made a slot successful 2-4 years ago, and if so, what?

It seems that players become more picky over time. In the past, when the market was smaller, player choices were somewhat limited so just having a cool graphic or a new mathematical model might have been enough to gain players ' interest and make a game successful. Now with the many different options, players expect a slot to be innovative, beautiful and engaging - and even if a game has all those things, there is no guarantee that it will be a success. So it forces the industry to keep trying new things-it's a really exciting time developmentally.

You started by creating land-based games, what is the main difference between land-based and online slots?

The biggest challenge, I think, is just the differences in scale between the two markets. In land-based, it would be typical for our games to be around 2 GB in size. In the online market, we try to get our game to be under 10MB from the moment you start the game to the moment you can start playing. We still strive for our online games to be as stylistically appealing and production-heavy as our land-based games.

Is it a challenge to get your games to the operators and what does that process look like? What does your ideal partner look like?

Crazy Tooth, through our partnership with Games Global Limited, has had no difficulty getting our slots out to players. Games Global Limited has done a fantastic job of helping us in this endeavor - so they are already our ideal partner.

Do you have any new upcoming game releases planned for 2023 that you are excited about and can share with our audience?

Our upcoming game, Bubble BeezTM, combines a new mechanic called Tumble ReelzTM, which brings a new style of win evaluation for Crazy Tooth, with really captivating gameplay. We hope players feel the increased potential for explosive wins.