The Art of Gone With the Wind™

We couldn’t bring the classic film Gone With the Wind to the modern slot floor without the perfect graphic package. To help celebrate our first game under this iconic brand, we sat down with the game’s Lead Artist for a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of the art for the game.

How does a Lead Artist collaborate with the Game Designer to create the visual style of a game?

With the Designer in Vegas, and myself in Sydney [Australia], there were plenty of phone calls and emails where we would go over the smallest details – everything from the color of a certain object to the whole sequence of how a feature would play out. There is a big visual mishmash of both of our ideas in this game.

How long did you work on the game?

The art work ran from May through November [2011], with a few final touches added since then.

How much of the game art is original work, and how much was re-purposed from the film?

There is a fair amount of both. Most symbols, frames, backgrounds and other icons and elements are all original art, which I tried to keep in theme with the movie itself as well as with the era in which it was set. A few of these used references from the movie, such as the cologne bottle which Scarlett O’Hara uses as a breath freshener and the hat box with the green hat which is a gift from Rhett Butler, among others. The characters themselves were created using images captured from the movie and then edited and enhanced through Photoshop.

Are there any surprises in the game that players should keep an eye out for?

There are a few things that players could pick up on; in the Kissing Bonus; if you pick correctly, you’ll see one of several scenes where Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler kiss. As they kiss, the credit meter bangs up, and when they stop, the credits stop. Occasionally, they will kiss again and more credits go onto the meter.  It is a good mechanic and not only does it emphasize the romance between the two characters, but it builds up some anticipation on if they will kiss again to your benefit. In one possible scene, Rhett kisses Scarlett, and the credits bang up – but after they finish kissing, in true Scarlett O’Hara style, she hauls off and slaps Rhett. During this slap, an additional credit gets banged up to the win meter. We thought that extra addition would make a few of the more observant players smile.

The other thing you may notice is in the Locket Bonus: if you look carefully (and you know who you’re looking for) you can actually see that we’ve replaced characters from the movie with the faces of the slot game’s creators.

Were there any challenges specific to the art development for the GONE WITH THE WIND slot?

The amount of time which we were given to complete this game was tighter than on previous projects, where we had not only more time but many more artists – for Gone With the Wind I did a large amount of the art work myself.

Do you have a favorite part about working on the GONE WITH THE WIND slot game?

Being given the chance to work on something different was exciting. Many games out there have similar themes and I think that this game will definitely stand out from the crowd.  I also grew up watching this movie and have read the book, so when I heard that Gone With the Wind was one of our upcoming games I immediately began hinting that I would love to work on this project.

What is your proudest contribution to the GONE WITH THE WIND slot game?

I’m proud of the whole package – I really enjoyed working on this slot, and I hope that the players will enjoy what we’ve done with the theme when they see it on the casino floor.