Bitcoin Game Development

Online gambling has always been quick to adapt to the new trends in IT and promoted creation of new technologies. Emergence of Bitcoin and its popularization in the Internet played an important role in the development of the sector. With quite a number of attractive features to offer, such as complete anonymity, irreversibility of payments, and instant cash out options, the cryptocurrency has broken into the gambling sector to change some traditional principles of play, provide an exciting gaming experience to players and increased monetization opportunities to the most advanced casino operators.

It all started with Satoshi dice and a number of similar websites. This type was far from the traditional online casino as the game was based on pure mathematical formula and did not involve any gameplay. With very simple design and practically no visual effects, the original Bitcoin games were mostly enjoyed by users with advanced knowledge of mathematics and programming or at least increased interest in how the cryptocurrency mechanisms work. Since the value of Bitcoin was minor at that time, players were not risking much and mostly playing for fun without the purpose of big winnings (despite this fact, the total amount of Bitcoin wagered from 8 known addresses in 2 years made about 3 000 000 BTC, and the net revenue of the website with its 1.9% payout made 57 000 BTC, the amount equal to tens of millions of USD).

Unlike Satoshi dice type of players, traditional casino users are more demanding in terms of entertainment and winning possibilities. They are used to cinematic 3D slots with complicated movie-like plots and need visual effects which would bring them into the authentic atmosphere of a land-based casino. Traditional set of games, intriguing gameplay and eye-catching design are the three must have components of a successful online casino. Combining these components with the possibility to pay in Bitcoin, thus covering both segments of users – Bitcoin and traditional gamblers – appeared to be the greatest challenge for the creators of game content.

Adapting traditional casino games for cryptocurrencies primarily involves creating a secure payment processing system that would allow for accepting and withdrawing payments in Bitcoin and offer an option for instant cash out – the advantage of Bitcoin which is especially appreciated by gamblers. This is a significant part of work with a strong focus on creating a comprehensive anti-fraud system. Secondly, with the value of Bitcoin rapidly changing, players shall have a possibility to quickly change the denomination of coins and bet smaller values like mBTC and uBTC. This presupposes certain changes in game design and administration.

Thirdly, and in my opinion most importantly, games that accept Bitcoin shall be made provably fair.  Provability is highly appreciated by gamblers as a possibility to make sure the casino is not cheating and treating them fairly, thus giving a feeling of full control over the process. This feature was the key success factor for Satoshi dice and contributed greatly to its amazing popularity. While the concept is easily implemented in Satoshi dice type of games, it is quite of a technological challenge to make traditional casino games – slots, roulettes, and card games – provably fair.

Finally, when creating Bitcoin games or adapting the traditional varieties to the cryptocurrency, developers shall preferably concentrate on mobile technologies. Thin hot wallets are commonly used on mobile devices and Bitcoin gamblers would rather use their phone or tablet to make a bet at a casino. Since most of the mobile application stores block gambling applications, the advanced game developers use a cross platform HTML5 technology to create mobile-friendly Bitcoin games.

While Bitcoin gambling market is rapidly growing, large market players are still skeptical regarding Bitcoin and slow to adapt their products to the new type of gaming. The skepticism is partially explained by the lack of legal regulation and an unclear position of national governments towards Bitcoin and gambling for cryptocurrencies. Currently, there are just 3 or 4 reputable game content providers who are offering quality Bitcoin-adapted games, and SoftSwiss is a pioneer among those. The company was among the first to create Bitcoin-adapted games which correspond to the requirements of a traditional casino while offering all advantages of play for Bitcoin: advanced security of payments, instant cash out, different coin denominations, and a unique provably fair feature (none of the existing providers has adapted their games to become provably fair). With an intuitive interface and an easy-to-understand mechanism with step-by-step instructions of how to check the provability, even a player with minimal knowledge of how Bitcoin gambling works can check the outcome.

Bitcoin gaming market is still immature, however, the situation is changing. Some large providers have already accepted the fact that by ignoring Bitcoin, they are missing a huge market segment, so they are opening up for the new perspectives. This means that the forward-looking casino operators will soon have a better choice of quality Bitcoin-adapted games to offer to their players.

The article is based on the materials of the online casino software developer SoftSwiss. Find useful information about solutions for online business on the website http://www.softswiss.com/.