From Frameworks to Fluidity: Reimagining Slots in a Post-Legacy Era
- Kevin Jones
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
In a conversation with Gaming Eminence, Ian Dimech, Director of Engineering at RubyPlay, critiques the industry's continued reliance on legacy slot frameworks that stifle innovation and breed technical fragility. He explores the engineering intricacies behind crafting responsive, dynamic slot experiences—emphasising the need to rethink foundational mechanics. Ian also delineates the convergence of backend infrastructure and behavioural design, noting how AI and real-time systems are recalibrating engagement models.
Gaming Eminence: When you look at the architecture of modern slot engines, what’s a piece of technical debt or legacy logic you wish the industry had the courage to retire—but hasn’t yet?
ID) "Most online slots rely on several legacy constructs and features that have been embedded within their underlying frameworks and engines. While it makes the development of “cookie cutter” slots easier, it stifles innovation as these elements are very difficult to customise and leads to a lot of overriding mechanisms within each individual game. This then creates a portfolio of games that are very susceptible to any minimal change in their underlying frameworks and engines, as the impact on the per-game customisations becomes unpredictable."
Gaming Eminence: There’s a growing appetite for slots that feel “alive”—dynamic volatility, responsive design, machine-learned pacing. From an engineering lens, what does it actually take to build that kind of fluidity into the core loop?
ID) "The current landscape of online slots is based on well-known traditional notions that derive from the knowledge built from decades of land-based slot experience. Building a slot that feels dynamic requires a major rethinking of some fundamentals in the core flow, some of which might not even be feasible in respect to compliance requirements. Adjusting the gaming experience based on game events, bet patterns, winning/losing streaks requires a real-time response to the context the player is playing in."
Gaming Eminence: As more jurisdictions soften toward real-money gaming mechanics that echo mobile F2P dynamics, where do you see the line between backend engineering and behavioural design beginning to blur?
ID) "The backend systems used to be strict transactional engines focused on fulfilling betting workflows but they are now evolving into full blown engagement systems, working with real time experiences. As more data points are stored and analysed, there’s a wider opportunity for personalised offers and messaging, real-time reactions to players’ playing patterns and social features within the game. Current progress in the AI sphere has already shown how a backend system can influence a product’s ability to adapt its interaction with its user, so seeing similar advancements within real money gaming dynamics is more than a simple possibility."
Gaming Eminence: As the game portfolio grows, what are most significant challenges in supporting the growth of a successful global slot provider?
ID) "The concurrent increase in games, operators, jurisdictions and players has a huge multiplier effect on the requirements of the underlying platform. These compounding dimensions increase the complexity of the system, having a direct impact on the ability to scale effectively the technical capabilities of an RGS. On top of this, security becomes a bigger concern as the engineering efforts in increasing scalability, resilience and availability of the platform need to be conducted with proper discipline, not to introduce any threatening security risks."
Gaming Eminence: Looking ahead five years, what’s a slot game you’d love to see built—not because it’s commercially safe, but because it would challenge every assumption about how these systems are supposed to behave under the hood?
ID) "Outside of slots, the younger generations are getting accustomed to customising everything, to get rewards that can be used in their games based on their grinding efforts and having the possibility to boast and share their experience. Slots are less social in nature but the ability to gain rewards during the gameplay and use them would make for a very personalised experience. Being able to switch game symbols, accessing new game features over time, being able to pick between features based on your playing pattern... Basically evolving the game experience to feel closer to the individual player playing it."