Blue Guru Games executives speak to VegasSlotsOnline News

VSO News sat down with Blue Guru Games Head of Games Halvor Dahl (left) and Commercial Manager Kristian Hassall (right) to learn a little more about the company.

Founded in 2021, Blue Guru Games prides itself on its “passion for great stories and games”. The company has quickly made a name for itself in the slots space by combining exciting mechanics with quirky narratives that offer something different.

a medieval game with many exciting features

The upcoming release from the provider is Book of Thieves, a medieval game with many exciting features. Among other things, it features expanding symbols in the base game and the Free Spins Bonus as players navigate the story of a thief named Rogue who accidentally steals a witch.

The game made it last week VegasSlotsOnline News slot machines of the week As we count down to the game‘s release in April, VSO News spoke to two members of the Blue Guru Games team: Halvor Dahl, Head of Games, and Kristian Hassall, Commercial Manager.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started at Blue Guru Games.

Halvor Dahl: I’ve been in this industry for about 11 years. I initially worked on the B2C side for casinos before moving to B2B about five years ago. I was approached by the CEO and Founder of Blue Guru to join in early 2021. Basically I am responsible for the daily game production.

Christian Hassal: I started working for Bet365 and moved to their Gibraltar office to get involved in the casino before moving to Malta to become VIP Head for Ellmount. After that I worked for a few different companies including IGT and Dreamtech Gaming before joining Blue Guru Games on the marketing side.

What do you think is the key to creating your own style and standing out as a new company in the industry?

HD: From the beginning we wanted to try to do something more than just standard games. We wanted to make a lot of story-driven games – ones that aren’t just driven by the mechanics, but use the mechanics to tell a story.

We try to include more unusual historical stories

We focus quite heavily on the story, which is pretty typical, but then we try to include more unusual historical stories and alternative perspectives on it. For example, instead of making an Egyptian game, we made Curse of the Mummies, an Egyptian game set in modern times. We’re also trying to create a really great atmosphere through the mechanics, theme and music.

CH: We all have different passions, from music to art to storytelling, and we can bring those passions to our work at Blue Guru Games. That means we don’t just set the theme and that’s it, we try to create a narrative that reflects the story, then there’s the music and the art and we have to tie everything together to make sure it works.

Is there pressure to continue pursuing the most advanced slots technology, or is it better to just focus on getting the simple things right?

HD: To be honest, I felt like we went a little too safe with the mechanics of those early titles. It’s the sensible choice, but it’s hard to make the games stand out. We have some games in the pipeline for the next few months that are much more complex.

I think it’s important to have a little bit of both. A lot of studios do very well with simple mechanics, just making it a really good experience. I think we will see a lot more variety in the future that will offer something for everyone.

CH: I agree. I don’t see it as limiting. You have so many vendors trying to use the traditional mechanics in the most creative way they can. But then it’s also really exciting to see vendors coming out with mechanics that have never been seen before.

They have some really creative ideas like Leprechaun Heist and Napoloean vs Rabbits. Do you have the feeling that it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop new ideas in this saturated market?

HD: I think it’s still easy to come up with new ideas. The challenge, however, is to create this vision. For Leprechaun Heist, we didn’t want to give up the traditional design of St. Paddy’s games with leprechauns and pots of gold. Similar to the soundtrack, we wanted more of a bank robbery feel. As a team, it was fairly easy to come up with the idea of ​​the theme, but it’s harder to tie it all together like that.

there is actually a lot of scope for new ideas

CH: This ties into the storytelling aspect. It can get pretty saturated when everyone does the Egypt or Greece theme. But when you consider how many stories and legends lie behind these themes, there is indeed plenty of room for new ideas.

Can you explain a bit about the Book of Thieves slots of the week and why our readers should try it?

HD: It’s a Book of game, so it includes the features players know and love, such as: B. Expanding symbols in both the base game and the free spins. In the base game you have selected symbols which are your chosen expanding symbols for the spin. When the selected symbols land, they expand to cover their reels.

You can get ten free spins by landing three or more scatter symbols. Then up to three symbols are randomly selected at the start of each free spin. These are the special expanding symbols that will alternately expand when able to land a win.

On top of this there is also the buy bonus which gives access to the free spins bonus round. Players can buy the feature for 70x their stake.

What’s next for Blue Guru Games?

HD: Leprechaun Heist goes live this week. After that we have Book of Thieves in April. We have a busy schedule of releases this year. Our next game after Book of Thieves follows a family of otters eliminating sea urchins. We really think it could be our best game yet. We should still have a few games ahead of us in the second half of the year.

CH: i love otters If you want to know the story behind this game, otters can do an amazing job eliminating sea urchins that destroy the seaweed in the sea. It’s a perfect example that all our games have a historical or factual basis.