There’s no denying that AboutSlots has friends near and dear to us in all corners of the industry, and one of the most well-known of them is none other than Sebastian “Sebbe” Lindström, former streamer at CasinoDaddy and now Product Owner at ELK Studios. Of course, we’ve kept in contact and followed his progress with his first-ever release, Phoenix Graveyard 2, and the subsequent release of Arcanum, both games we spent a lot of time with and even got to interview him about.
So, nearly half a year later, we hear some exciting news from a little birdie, and no, it’s not a new Pirots game, but the upcoming release of Sebbes latest game, Spark of Creation. This is the latest slot coming with the fan favorite CollectR mechanic, with a few new twists and bonuses, which we went all over in our Spark of Creation slot review.
ELK Studios is known for consistently delivering memorable gaming experiences, having done so since its foundation in 2012. The studio has been on quite a streak for the last few years with some amazing releases, such as the long-awaited Pirots 4 and Nitropolis 5. So, understandably, we decided to reach out to Sebbe to pick his brain about Spark of Creation’s development and what it has to offer.
AS: Hi Sebbe! Thank you for taking the time to join us in this Q&A. We had a great time deep-diving into your latest upcoming game, Spark of Creation, and we want to start off by asking, where did you get the inspiration for creating a game like this?
S: Thanks for having me! Well, it’s no secret that the Pirots saga has become one of the giants of the industry. One of the main reasons for that is, of course, the CollectR mechanic. I absolutely love the chaos that is created when 4 creatures run around collecting stuff, and I am also a fan of games like Oxygen and Sugar Rush, where multiplier backplates build hot zones. So, I combined the two.
Then, we have the Evolve mechanic. Like most 90’s kids I was crazy about games like Pokemón, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon. And having our creatures evolve and become stronger felt both mechanically and thematically perfect.
AS: Our first thought when we opened up the game was how calm and magical it all felt, from the somewhat cute, albeit strange, creatures to the mysterious soundtrack. Was this a core idea behind the development, or did it form as you went along?
S: I think the original pitch was something along the lines of “cute creatures in a magical forest”. That may sound a bit generic, and perhaps the game’s theme is not extremely innovative, but that’s a conscious choice. There is so much going on mechanically, so a simple, likeable theme felt crucial.
AS: We noticed right out of the gate that the gameplay is built around the CollectR mechanic, but it works a bit differently from what we, and other players, expected, especially coming off the Pirots series. How did this go down during development, and did it come down to you wanting to try something different?
S: With a smash hit like Pirots, some would try to capitalize on that and release 400 CollectR games a week. We’ve gone a different route, and want to make sure we actually push the mechanic forward if we use it. In previous CollectR games, potential has been built mainly by upgrading payout symbols or collecting coins. So when creating this concept, I felt like that was what had to be changed. Thus, multipliers felt natural. However, a global multiplier is not very suitable for CollectR games. It prevents a lot of movement since everything gets valuable at once. Multiplier backplates, however, fit like a glove, as it creates hot zones and makes the movement itself more vital than ever.
The other big change that Spark of Creation introduces is the Evolve mechanic. In our other CollectR games, the creatures have only been differentiated from one another by their symbol payouts. Here, each creature is equipped with a unique ability, which becomes stronger as the creatures evolve.
AS: The game follows the four basic elements of our world, but introduces a fifth element, that being the Spark. Did this element just appear as a lore reason behind the features, or was it part of the development?
S: The Spark is something that got introduced early on in the project. We needed something that filled up the energy required for the creatures to evolve. This lightning-like energy felt natural, and thus the spark was born!
AS: Did you have any memorable or challenging moments when it came to the production of Spark of Creation?
S: Plenty of both, really. Creating CollectR games is much more challenging than any other type of game. You have creatures that need to be animated in a way that makes their movement and interaction with symbols look smooth, and a ton of timings that need to be tweaked. The latter was the biggest challenge. For a long time, the game was too slow and clunky. So we sped things up a lot, which suddenly made things hard to understand as they were happening so fast. In the end, I think we found a really nice middle ground between the game being quick but also not too quick for players to parse, but I’m looking forward to receiving feedback from players on that.
AS: When players finally get their hands on Spark of Creation, what is the one thing, or feeling, you hope they take away from the experience?
S: I hope that players will enjoy the intricacy of the game. There’s a lot of things going on and plenty of fun feature combinations, but it should still be quite simple to follow. I also hope that the overall vibes of the game will be appreciated. Cozy is what we were going for!
We’d like to thank Sebbe for participating in the interview and for sharing his thoughts. We wish him the best of luck with the launch!
