Industry expert and head of content development for the Brightstar iLottery Game Studios, Adele Lawton, sheds light on the nuanced processes, creative inspiration, and collaborative efforts behind the studio’s highest-performing eInstant games, such as Elephant King and Lucky Coins. She discusses how balancing data-driven decisions with creative freedom results in entertaining, successful eInstant games.

What are the initial stages involved in creating hit games such as Elephant King and Lucky Coins?

It starts with extensive market research to provide lotteries with the most satisfying experiences for players. We analyze trends, competitor games, and player preferences to define our target audience and determine the most suitable gameplay mechanics, such as fast play, cluster games, or traditional number-match games. Once mechanics are decided, we align them with complementary themes and art styles and develop prototypes, including animatics and detailed outlines of game flow and features. Collaboration then becomes key. Our teams include content experts, producers, game designers, artists, animators, and audio engineers, who come together to refine concepts.

How do you balance creative innovation with data analysis?

Data acts as our compass. We establish clear goals that shape the boundaries of creative exploration. We consider factors such as game type, audience, gameplay duration, and thematic tone.

What inspires the unique themes and storylines behind your games, and how do you ensure they resonate with players?

Inspiration can come from anywhere; player insights and lottery-customer feedback play a significant role. We draw ideas from diverse cultures, mythologies, current trends, pop culture, music, and firsthand experiences.

One example comes from market research that introduced us to the player persona, “Jackie.” Jackie provided fascinating insights into player motivations. This persona comes with us to every game development meeting, bringing market research to life and ensuring player-centric design remains at the heart of our process. Themes are more impactful when tied to gameplay. In Elephant King, the core element of the prize disk integrates seamlessly with elephant-themed gameplay. In Lucky Coins, the pig collecting coins serves as both a mechanical and thematic centerpiece. These strong theme-mechanic integrations keep players engaged while ensuring the game resonates.

To what do you attribute the success of Lucky Coins and other top-performing games?

Success boils down to hard work, collaboration, and turning data into actionable insights. For Lucky Coins, we redefined many game aspects in development—from the user interface to win choreography, mechanics, and even production workflows. Our relentless focus on the player experience ensures that every game we create is not only fun but also deeply engaging.

We prioritize player feedback, which shapes ongoing iterations. Seasonal-themed skins like holiday and Valentine’s versions of Lucky Coins were rolled out based on player preferences and a desire for more ways to play this game, leading to the development of Lucky Coins 2. This approach to feedback and innovation is a blueprint for creating hit games.

How does collaboration between disciplines contribute to studio success?

Our teams, organized into “game squads,” bring together specialized roles like producers, game designers, artists, animators, and engineers. Each squad focuses on a single project, with producers ensuring seamless communication and alignment. Weekly brainstorming sessions, review meetings, and green-light sessions encourage cross-disciplinary idea sharing. This enables creative and technical strengths to complement each other, allowing talent from varied backgrounds to collaborate toward a unified vision. An emphasis on peer support and consistent experience across team members ensures quality remains uncompromised.

Are new technologies influencing your creative workflows?

Absolutely. The game development process, which relied on tools like Adobe Creative Suite for years, is seeing a major shift with AI technologies. We have released our first game with AI-generated art—titled Viking Gold—a move that has redefined traditional processes. AI opens exciting possibilities, both in terms of accelerating workflows and offering unique creative directions. This adoption of innovative tools keeps us at the forefront, aligning technological advances with the creative ingenuity our studio is known for.

Are there any upcoming projects or features you are particularly excited about?

From the release of Lucky Coins 2 to jackpot-driven concepts, variety is a major focus. We are exploring annuity-prize games featuring top prizes such as cars and experimenting with seasonal fast-play games for U.S. players. Our studio is positioned for growth.