4-page Case Study - Posted 7/18/2008
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Fast, Powerful Visualization Tools Help Game Builder Hit Casino Jackpot
International Game Technology (IGT) builds game equipment and systems for the gaming industry. The industry has adopted standards to move from mechanical to networked games that casinos can configure electronically, rather than through mechanical retrofitting. IGT needed to create a gaming system that would enable casino managers to dynamically modify game themes and content on the casino floor. The company turned to Windows® Presentation Foundation—part of the Microsoft® .NET Framework—to create the richer visualizations needed to make the new system easy and intuitive to use. These insightful visualizations and efficient communications made possible by the Microsoft .NET Framework help IGT offer a superior user experience to expedite decision making by casino managers so that they can provide the finest service and player experience to casino visitors.
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We got the final visual elements in June, and we were able to complete the UI by October, which was a really fast process. We couldn’t have done that with any other technology.
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Andrew Novotak, Lead Software Engineer, International Game Technology |
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Situation
Based in Reno, Nevada, International Game Technology (IGT) builds gaming equipment and systems for the casino industry. IGT knew that server-based gaming, using new open protocols sponsored by the Gaming Standards Association, would be a breakthrough for its customers. The new technology would enable casinos to quickly change their gaming equipment configurations to take advantage of conventions, events, or holidays.
“Server-based gaming systems are the cutting edge of the industry,” says Javier Saenz, VP of sb™ Product Management at International Game Technology. “In the past, when a casino decided to reconfigure a game, it would send somebody to the floor with equipment; they’d take the machine apart and add a new hard drive, new glass, and new buttons. Everything had to be changed physically. With server-based gaming, all the equipment is built with LCD screens and virtual buttons. The casino can change the denomination of the game, the type of game, the theme of the game, and the entire look and feel of the machine, with just a few clicks.”
Solution
IGT decided to use the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System, Windows® Communication Foundation, and Windows Presentation Foundation unified programming model to develop the latest version of sb Floor Manager.
Today, sb Floor Manager is in field trials awaiting final approval from various regulatory agencies that supervise the gaming industry. When approved, sb Floor Manager will give casino managers the ability to maximize the user experience for casino visitors, without physically touching the machines. Frog Design helped IGT design the user interface (UI) for the new version, and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner InterKnowlogy helped develop the application using Windows Presentation Foundation to integrate the visualizations with the required functionality. Andrew Novotak, one of the Lead Software Engineers who led the UI design on the project for IGT, and the UI team used XAML to map UI elements to objects in the Microsoft .NET Framework.
User Interface Is Key Deliverable
“The user interface is how an IGT system manifests itself to people. Our customers don’t touch the hardware; the UI is the closest thing we have to a concrete deliverable. So we take it very seriously to develop that experience for our customers,” explains Saenz. The new UI is designed to make the job of managing and configuring the games as easy and as convenient as possible. Managing a floor of 1,000 or 2,000 gaming machines can be a complex task. “There are lots of variables that have to be considered—the cost per game; size and frequency of the payouts; and the look, feel, and theme of a game—and we wanted to make this process as intuitive and simple as we could,” explains Novotak.
The sb Floor Manager system gives casino managers multiple views of information about gaming machines, including a list view that can be easily filtered, a grid perspective, and most importantly, a two-dimensional map view that complements the way casino managers think about their gaming operations. The multiple ways to look at casino floor operations makes it easier for casino managers to make effective decisions about their operations.
The stronger visualizations made possible by Windows Presentation Foundation make sb Floor Manager easier to use and gives IGT a strong position in the marketplace. “We did a study and found that casino managers thought visually about their operations. They were very conscious of the locations of the equipment, and we needed to provide a rich visual solution that would help our customers be comfortable with this new way of managing their floor,” Novotak says.
Designer-Developer Collaboration
IGT worked with an outside firm, Frog Design, to create the UI it needed. It took Frog Design about four months to analyze customers’ workflows and create a UI that would make sb Floor Manager easy to use, as shown in Figure 1.
| Number of UI developers |
- 4 internal developers
- 4 partner developers
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| Estimated time to complete the UI |
8 months |
| Developer tools |
Microsoft Visual Studio Team System |
| Programming languages |
C# |
| Programming models and technologies |
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
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sb Floor Manager offers casinos the flexibility to reconfigure their game offerings to better match the mix of visitors they have at different times. IGT was able to build that flexibility into its new system using Windows Communication Foundation. Windows Communication Foundation gives sb Floor Manager the ability to efficiently communicate with a network of gaming machines in real time. “We built the entire system from the ground up on the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 in C#. All our services use Windows Communication Foundation to communicate with the game and from the games back to the services and the UI,” says Novotak.
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One of our customers looked at the UI we designed for this application and said, ‘It’s what I want my entire desktop to be.’ For a UI designer, that was a pretty strong testimonial. |
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Andrew Novotak, Lead Software Engineer, International Game Technology |
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IGT uses Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server, an integrated collaboration server, for all source control and project management. “We use an agile process, and Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server strongly supported our development methodology,” Novotak says.
Based on the success of the sb Floor Manager project, IGT is now using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 on a new project. The team is working to integrate sb Floor Manager with two of its other product offerings, a customer relationship management tool and a transactional system. This would enable casinos to offer discounts on other property amenities to targeted visitors, directly on the screen of the game they are playing.
Benefits
The future is bright for the IGT approach to networked gaming systems, and technologies from Microsoft help the company play the winning card. The rich visualizations and efficient communications made possible by the Microsoft .NET Framework help IGT offer a superior user experience to casino managers working with the company’s new product and, ultimately, to casino visitors as well.
Rich Visualizations Help Casinos Manage Better
The visualizations in sb Floor Manager follow the user task flow and help casino managers navigate the choices they make to configure a casino floor for the best possible experience for visitors.
“If you build your UI correctly, you can help improve productivity. An elegantly designed user interaction model is intuitive and a pleasure to work with. You’re more inclined to use it, you’re more productive, and you gain more benefit from it,” says Saenz. “sb Floor Manager makes it easy for casinos to deliver the right game to the right visitor at the right time.”
The UI design that IGT and its partners created has already impressed customers. “One of our customers looked at the UI we designed for this application and said, ‘It’s what I want my entire desktop to be.’ For a UI designer, that was a pretty strong testimonial,” says Novotak.
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| Figure 1. sb Floor Manager can quickly reconfigure game equipment. |
Improved Experiences for Visitors
Windows Communication Foundation made it easy for IGT to create the connections that link sb Floor Manager with game machines on the casino floor. In addition, it gives casinos the ability to alter the look and feel of a game, and even the type of game, without a costly, time-consuming mechanical retrofit.
Casino managers can use sb Floor Manager to change the theme of games on the floor according to seasonal events, changing the color scheme to red-white-and-blue for the Fourth of July weekend, for example, or even tailoring a theme to a specific event, such as a large convention. “Our product gives casinos the ability to offer their visitors the best possible user experience for their visit. That’s hard to do if you have to change every game machine with a screwdriver,” says Saenz.
Stronger Developer, Designer Collaboration
The powerful visualization tools available to developers using Windows Presentation Foundation helped IGT developers work effectively with designers, which gave sb Floor Manager the best possible experience for casino managers along with a much faster time-to-market.
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An elegantly designed user interaction model is intuitive and a pleasure to work with. You’re more inclined to use it, you’re more productive, and you gain more benefit from it. |
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Javier Saenz, VP of sb Product Management, International Game Technology |
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Frog Design produced all the visuals for the new application in Adobe Illustrator, and it was Novotak’s job to convert all the visual elements into XAML assets that could be used within the application. “We got the final visual elements in June, and we were able to complete the UI by October, which was a really fast process. We couldn’t have done that with any other technology,” says Novotak.
Now, those XAML files are in the company’s resource library. “We can use those resources when we create other applications within the company’s suite of products,” says Novotak. “That will be a big help going forward.”
The company has an agreement with MGM Mirage to provide gaming equipment and networked systems for the MGM CityCenter project, a U.S.$8 billion casino and condominium resort now under construction in Las Vegas, Nevada. The project is scheduled to open in late 2009. “We have an aggressive schedule with a lot of iterations to meet our deadlines for CityCenter. We couldn’t do that without Visual Studio Team System and Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server,” comments Novotak.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
.NET Framework 3.0 is Microsoft’s managed-code programming model for developing software on the Windows platform. It builds on the .NET Framework 2.0, combining the power of the existing .NET Framework 2.0 application programming interfaces with new technologies for building applications that provide visually stunning user experiences, seamless interoperable communications, and the ability to model a range of business processes. The .NET Framework 3.0 includes Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows CardSpace technologies. It provides a consistent and familiar development experience, bringing new technology to the millions of developers programming in managed code today.
For more information about the .NET Framework 3.0, please go to:
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
For more information about International Game Technology products and services, call (775) 448-7777 or visit the Web site at:
www.igt.com
For more information about Frog Design products and services, call (415) 489-2913 or visit the Web site at:
For more information about InterKnowlogy products and services, call (760) 930-0075 or visit the Web site at:
IGT and sb are trademarks or registered trademarks of IGT in the US and/or other countries.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
