3D Poker Software – The Graphic Designer’s Story

The Atlantis network 3D Gaming poker client software is a downloadable Windows program compatible with all versions of Windows from XP and onwards. The poker client software is written in C++ for size and performance and utilizes Microsoft's DirectX API for hardware accelerated high performance graphics designed in Maya. The poker client software includes a custom built 3D-engine and GUI-engine (graphical user interface) which guarantees a high level of customization when it comes to the look and feel. All in all, the poker client software consists of roughly half a million lines of code, so one can imagine the effort that went into it, and this is just the client side of things, folks; we are not discussing the poker server side software or the poker back office or the database or zillions of other things! 

It was always desired by us to bring some kind of innovation in our gaming software, especially poker software; a path breaking poker software platform which doesn’t slow down the speeds of your game play, and also give you that extra something that you are always looking for – I would know, I have played on several poker sites out there, and had a fair idea of what I wanted my poker software to do. I envisaged a virtual reality world with my team mates and dreamed of beginning with being able to accessorize my appearance to the smooth game play that is desired by us all. My ideal poker world had to be in 3D, crisp, clean and neat, a place I would love to sit down and be able to spend a few minutes or hours to loosen up, have fun. 3D animation deals with electronically produced computer-generated 3D imagery used in motion graphics and digital special effects. In this case, our animators create a design style or concept that tries to visually interpret and convey the required information using both new and traditional animation techniques.

We knew that our 3D animators for the poker software would have to be well-acquainted with 3D animation applications and software, film and video production techniques, production processes, digital special effects, art and design movements and methodology, typography, styles of performance and dramatization, film and broadcast genres, technical scripting, health and safety regulations for the film and broadcast industry, and an understanding of budgeting and scheduling processes. Tell me if that is EASY! The job of our 3D animators is always to design and realize original concepts, character and content creation. They are, therefore, responsible for devising and communicating creative ideas and accurate technical information. They have to provide us with detailed estimates of costs, and work within the stipulated budget and schedule, which the company was kind enough to stretch to the limit of our combined imagination. You love to work with productive people and you love to work in a productive company – the end result is always the same: GREAT ACHIEVEMENT! 

Every assignment for our poker software creative design team has different demands. So our animators have a good knowledge and experience of animation software and broadcast processes, as well as a broad knowledge of technical scripting and digital technology that is used in broadcasting as well. Our designers are able to respond with innovative concepts and practical solutions for each assignment given to them. The assignments may be of any kind, from designing a spinning roulette wheel to re-creating mythical backgrounds for our poker card rooms (you wouldn’t believe what some clients demand!).

To succeed well in designing and developing graphics in a 3D animation poker card room, one must have a thorough understanding of computer-generated processes and applications to be able to achieve creative responses to design briefs within the planned budgets and deadlines. For the poker software that my software development team were able to write code for, it was very capably and passionately complemented with our fabulous graphic designing team that enjoyed working on it every step of the way – and yes. . .the best part is still yet to come!

Baccarat Software – Online Casino Games

In any casino software, baccarat software is built around a game always included among the top 10 games to develop. One you know the game rules, baccarat software is pretty easy to develop according to the guys in my development team.
It is considered in land-based casinos to be a game of the affluent and the elite chiefly due to the high stakes, and is not only popular in Europe and US, but highly popular in Macau. It is a fairly beatable game with low house edge and you can learn to play it well once you get the hang of it.

American and European versions of baccarat and the French Chemin de Fer are belated developments of the Italian game called baccara, which means zero in Italian. The origins of baccara go back to an old Etruscan myth. According to the myth, a blonde virgin had to toss a nine sided die to decide on her destiny. If the die landed on eight or nine, she would have to fulfill her destiny and become a priest. If the die landed on six or seven, she would be forbidden to participate in any religious activity. If the die landed on any other number, the virgin had to walk into the sea. So much for the virgin! The game of baccara became popular among the French aristocracy during the end of the 15th century. It had by then evolved to the European version of baccarat, which is still played in European casinos today along with the French variation of baccarat known as Chemin de Fer, which is mainly played in casinos in France. The American version of the game was introduced to Nevada casinos in the 1950s by Francis Tommy Renzoni, who imported the game from Havana.

Baccarat is played with a single, standard deck of 52 cards. Two hands of cards are dealt, one for the Player and one for the Banker. Each hand will contain either two or three cards. These cards are dealt according to a set of rules that apply wherever Baccarat is played.

The winning hand is the one with a value closest to nine. The value of a hand is calculated by adding up the value of the cards. Aces have a value of 1. Face (picture) cards and 10's have no value and do not contribute to the value of the hand. All other card values are treated as they appear. If the value of a hand exceeds nine, it will be calculated by subtracting ten. Thus a hand consisting of an 8 of Clubs and a 7 of Diamonds (total value = 15) will have a Baccarat value of five (15 - 10). The Baccarat Player must decide which one of three possible bets to make before the cards are dealt. The player can decide to bet on the Banker's hand winning, the Player's hand winning or the possibility of a Tie. Once the bet has been placed two hands will be dealt. Depending on which winning hand the Player choose, the payout will be made according to this table:

THE WINNING HAND	THE GAME PAYS BACK
The Banker Wins	Twice the bet - 5% commission for the House
The Player Wins	Twice the bet
A Tie Wins	9 times the bet

If the player bets on a player and wins, the payout is double the original wager. If the Player bets on a Tie and wins, the payout is eight times the original wager. If the Player wins when backing the Banker's hand the House usually charges a 5% commission.

Placing a Bet

To start the game you need to place a bet. First you select the chip to place (1, 5, 25 or 100 dollar chip) and then you click on the PLAYER, BANKER or TIE betting spot to set your bet. Every time you click on the spot one chip will be added. You can change the selected chip to adjust your bet any time before dealing. Chips are ordered from the one with the higher value to the lower one. To remove a chip, press shift key along with left click on the spot where your bet is placed (PLAYER, BANKER or TIE) and the chip on top will be removed. You can do this for every chip you got on the betting spot.

Playing the Game

Once you have placed the bet you must click the DEAL button to start the game. Two cards are deal to the banker and other two to the player.

A third card will be draw according to the following rules:

• If either the player or banker total 8 or 9, both automatically stand, no exceptions.
• If the player's total is 6 or 7, the player stands.
• If the player stands, the banker hits on a total of 5 or less.
• If the player's total is 5 or less, the player automatically hits and the banker gives the player a third card.
• If the player receives a third card then the banker draws a third card according to the following:

1. Banker's hand totals 0, 1, 2: Banker always draws a third card.
2. Banker's hand totals 3: Banker draws if Player's third card is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9-0 (not 8).
3. Banker totals 4: Banker draws if Player thirds 2-3-4-5-6-7 Banker 5: Banker draws if Player's third 4-5-6-7
4. Banker 6: Banker draws if Player's third 6-7
5. Banker 7: Banker stands. Once the final cards are dealt, the one with the total closest to 9 wins.

Baccarat still carries an aroma of aristocracy and exclusivity. In American casinos, baccarat is played in a separated area of the casino, hidden behind velvet curtains. Baccarat players are usually dressed up and the betting limits are higher comparing to other table games. In order to attract the medium budget players too, a lower limit version of baccarat, called mini baccarat, has been invented. Mini baccarat is played on a smaller table, inside the casino gambling area with lower betting limits than baccarat.

The game endorsed and played frequently by James Bond is now available online in various versions and baccarat software is among the more popular casino software almost globally.

Chinese Casino Games

Chinese casino games are no longer limited to the Chinese mainland or Macau. They have spread out across casinos all over and especially online casinos. Our R & D center in China is specifically equipped to develop these Chinese casino games and our focus is specifically to bring these casino games and also variants of these games to the local and global market. Let me mention here in brief a few of the most popular ones:

Sic Bo

With roots of Sic Bo going to ancient China, the game itself is a game of chance. It does have an online version which is fun, but mostly played in Macau casinos and in some casinos in America and the UK too. Sic Bo simply means “Dice Pair.” Played with three dice, there is a special table for Sic Bo.
Each player places any number of bets on the table and then tosses the dice. The outcome is determined by the combinations of the three dice. Each combination has a different payoff according to a payoff schedule, which varies from one casino to the other.

Pai Gow Poker

Combine American poker and the age old Chinese tile game of Pai Gow and you have Pai Gow poker.
The original tile game Pai Gow, which means “Make Nine”, is one of the most ancient games that are still available in modern casinos. Pai Gow Poker is played with playing cards instead of tiles and it uses the traditional poker hand ranking. One of the most popular casino games worldwide, it can now be found in almost every major casino in the United States. The online version of Pai Gow Poker can also be played at most casinos on the internet.
The objective of Pai Gow Poker is to form the highest possible two poker hands, one five card hand and a two card hand, out of the seven cards dealt to each player. Each player competes against the banker that can be either the casino dealer or one of the players who can afford paying the players winnings. Simple, yet interesting.

Mahjong

Said to have been developed by Confucius in 500 B.C. mahjong is the best known game of Chinese origin known to the gaming world. The American version of Mahjong was developed during the 1930s and it is played in America until today. In addition to American Mahjong, there are Japanese, Vietnamese, Cantonese and other variations of the game, which vary from one country-type to the other by their scoring structure, number of tiles and rules variants. Since 1998, the China State Sports Commission has set a standard set of rules that are followed mostly in legal tourneys. Online Mahjong games can be found in many online gaming sites in a large variety of layouts and versions.

Fan Tan

Once upon a time, Fan tan used to be the most popular gambling game among Chinese gamblers but the glory days of Fan Tan have now passed. You can now find Fan Tan in some casinos in Macau as well as in some online gaming sites.
Traditional Fan Tan, not the card game of the same name, used to be played with objects such as coins, small buttons or even dried beans on a table with a square marked on it. Fan Tan. The objective of Fan Tan is pretty simple and the odds are 1: 4. The play begins with the banker putting on the table a pile of objects and then covering them with a bowl. Each player has to bet on one of the numbers that mark the four sides of the square, or on one of the corners of the square. After the bowl is removed, the croupier removes four of the objects each time until the last group remains. If 1 object is left, then the player who placed a bet on 1 wins the pot, and so on.

Chinese casino games are currently a hot favourite in most land-based as well as online casinos and more games like Landlord or Gongzhu should surely be introduced in the near future.

Secrets To Making Money At Online Casinos

There is no kind of rocket science to online gambling, or a secret key to online casinos. I am asked by several friends and even some customers if there is a sure-fire way of winning, like some secret recipe for assured success. Well, then if there were, I would be at the other end of the setting – playing - instead of helping develop and lease online casino software.

The strategies are not different from land-based casinos. Like in slots, when you play online, you have to hit some buttons too, to spin the reels. So when you play progressive slots, the strategy would be to make sure to play the maximum number of credits to possibly win the progressive jackpot bigger than a regular slot machine payout. Just like in a land-based casino, you need to choose wisely which slot machine to play. Bonus slot games should be preferred by a player who likes to win additional bonus payouts and progressive slot games should be preferred by players who like to hit bigger wins from slot gaming, remembering that often this offers less promising winning odds than regular slot games. I would recommend playing on a slot machine with a higher payout structure. It simply allows the player to gather higher winnings. A smart slot player would read the slot game well and check payout schedules before deciding to go and put in his money on it.

Online casinos offer huge bonuses for joining up – of course, these are deposited into your accounts as you keep playing and earning points for the bonuses, but it is an easier structure than online poker card rooms, and most casinos have fine tuned the process and made it easier than ever. Some give instant bonus upon depositing for the first time, and so I would recommend these online casinos. Simply sign up and take the bonus offered, and go to blackjack, I would say. If played correctly, Blackjack has the best odds of any casino game in any casino’s favour by ~ .025 – 0.60% based on the rules of the house. You should try to bet the minimum each time, this way you should get as close as possible to the predicted return. If you make bigger bets then you are relying more on luck; then you should remember, that you could win more by making larger bets but you could also lose more. The smart way is to stick to the minimum, which will ensure that you have a more steady return. In case you're playing one of the huge bonuses where you have to probably wager x 15, betting a little bit over the minimum will speed things up but you'll receive more deviation (up or down) from the predicted return. With time and patience you can notch up big winnings in a few hours.

About roulette, I have in a previous post mentioned American Roulette Strategy, the Martingale, adopted by quite a few offline gamers and I have seen it work for me online as well. Though, I must confess that I am more a poker player than a casino player and the views I am expressing on online casinos are my very own and from my own experience only. In short, then, by being smart and setting a limit for themselves – a planned bankroll – online casino players stand a much better chance of coming out on top in any online casino. And yes, playing casino games that you are good at and comfortable with also helps.

The Perfect Roulette Strategy

During my modelling years I was introduced to this elite group of four or five girls whom the rest of the girls referred to as the “Macau gang”. The Macau gang was notorious for their weekend forays into Macau. They took their pay every Friday and “invested” it in Macau. Well, most of them came back on Sunday evenings with flushed pockets and wide grins on their overly painted faces. Trudi Wei was the Sic Bo girl, though I was especially close to Maria Chen who was known as the Roulette Girl and she took me with her one weekend to show me why.

There we were - my first trip to Macau - and everything about the casinos, I fell in love with instantly. THIS wasn’t sin, it was fun. The way I looked at it: odds, maths and dollops of luck thrown in. Six years later and I still love the sight of a roulette wheel – the colour, the sleekness and above all the anticipation and excitement when it spins; that heart-rending moment when it stops! Well Maria was a girl who had her beans in the right place and she had a strategy to win, her consistency for winning was quite impeccable and it made me wonder if the wheels were in some way rigged just for her benefit!

She always played small change initially and then kept on doubling her bets. Later in the privacy of our hotel room, she coached me on her simple strategy for winning at roulette. I listened, all of nineteen with awe in my eyes, though till date have never ventured to try it out myself, except on our company’s online casino software platform, and that too with play money! And it works, more often than not!

Maria always bet on the hypothesis that losing patches last less longer than you think, hence if you persist to bet on the same one of two chance options, you would win soon enough. Imagine you putting your moolah on a black or red or evens or that set of 2 to 6 numbers. How? Double your bet each time you don’t win! Well, it was my first ever tour to Macau, and first ever inside a casino; you could imagine my agitation when Maria kept losing, yet doubling her bets. She had to be crazy. And then she hit that BIG ONE, and got most of it all back with a small profit on the side, which we spent at the club inside the casino promptly.

Here Maria goes and bets ten Macau dollars on black and it comes up red. She has lost $10, yet she bets $20 now again on black and it comes up red again. She’s lost $30 now. She sticks to black though, but now bets $40 again on black, comes up red again. I would have quit and moved on to Sic Bo or craps or just about anything else to salvage my pride, but not Maria. This time she bets on....you guessed it black and bets $80. “Don’t be afraid, Lina, it will not be long till I win,”she tells me with a knowing look and I wonder why.
And the ball stops at 22. 22 is BLACK! Maria calmly pockets $160. She had a smug smile on her face and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Look at the math: Maria invested all of 10+20+40+80=150 and profited $10. When the figures go to tens of thousands, you can imagine the margins then.

In our hotel room Maria told me that that play was just for fun. For the real bucks she always played at higher limit tables, of course starting her bets low. After the first bet, if she lost it, she added another bet to her original bet. If she lost the second bet, she would add double to the previous bet and add yet another one. And so on. And on.

Later, when I joined Cybertech, I spoke to Robert Border, our President, and a veteran of Vegas about this, and although his speciality is poker he was kind enough to refer me to one of his friends who was considered a roulette wiz. He advised me that, yes, Maria’s roulette strategy was pretty logical and it does work – he had seen people win huge with this strategy. Yet there is a sad part to it; people lose big with it too, mostly because of poor planning and because a low limit table can cause issues since it increases the chance of reaching the limit before you win. Ken also told me that there were other strategies that he followed himself and he apprised me of a few of them. I went and immediately implemented some of them on our online roulette software, and they worked!

So, here’s thanking Ken, who likes to remain low profile, until he writes a book about his money making roulette adventures.
And here’s thanking Maria Chen for my first Macau trip and making me fall in love with a wheel.

FACEBOOK – A Game Developer’s Dream!

Hardly a couple of years ago, in my boss’s hotel suite in the Rio in Las Vegas, I was sitting with a group of people from Facebook who wanted our company to provide them with a host of small to large MMORPG game applications. This team had their sights set at the future, and how! With the advent of social gaming networks, gaming development has taken a leap of faith in the last 4 years or so. Look at the multitude of games that have had people go crazy for more over just the last 2 years, and you can say wow- because 3 billion minutes are spent by people on facebook every day as per stats available!

Launched in February 2004 by Harvard drop out Mark Zuckerberg (who was 19 years old at the time),it was meant to be an internal social networking operation for Harvard initially called Facemash. Zuckerberg ran it for quite a while as a hobby project during his time at University. By the end of the first month after Zuckerberg started it, more than half of the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the service. Today, Facebook has over 350 million registered users and ranked as the third highest in the top 100 searches behind Youtube and the big G (Google). With Paypal founder Peter Thiel initially investing a few hundred thousand bucks to Asia’s Li Hu Shing investing tens of millions of dollars and Microsoft getting into the fray as well, Facebook was sure to arrive on the scene with a bang unprecedented in social networking.

When we had that meeting with the Facebook execs in Vegas, it was a fledgling compared to Myspace and my CEO predicted that it would surpass Myspace within a year or so. It DID! Today it towers over Myspace, Orkut and all other social networking sites – and offers a multitude of addictive games from Farmville to Mafia Wars to Poker. It is rumored in our industry circles that at this point there are over a million developers building applications for Facebook around the world, a fact that my CEO predicted way back then, too.

With millions of business pages and groups created on Facebook, today it has also become a vertical tool to market and sell yourself and your business in so many useful ways. I personally know of hundreds of people whose entire marketing of themselves and their activities is done largely through facebook. With over half a million applications platforms active today, and over 65 million users actively accessing their facebook via their mobiles as well, it is no surprise that individuals and corporates are joining the facebook viral bandwagon. Targeted advertising purchases have tripled in the last year for Facebook, boosting the company revenues. Over 18,000 websites have implemented “Facebook Connect” (the Facebook icons at the bottom of nearly every article on the web) since December 2008. . From silly and desperate status messages posted on user profiles - with the sole purpose of attracting attention - to genuine business propositions, the online marketer is on a real roll.

So as we move on through the new year with a simple fact that the World Of Warcraft is NOT the most popular game in the world anymore – it is this simple, little funny (obnoxious to some users) free game called Farmville on Facebook, played by over 40 million people. Any social networking game idea like the games on Facebook can generate revenue from day ONE, even with 25% completion – the model called as “Fremium” where end users would have the option of paying for virtual goods and enhancements to add to their experience and identity.

When we calculate the average revenues generated per paying user, the Fremium model seems to generate an average of around $20. Well, some users spend hundreds of buck a month, and that adds to the kitty. In spite of a subscription model initially introduced for social networking games, networks like Facebook flourish with these “microtransactions” giving a straight up advantage to these MTs since there is no upper cap to an end user spending his money here. And for the game developers? Well, they get millions of end users to test their ideas and their concepts and know if it is worthwhile to keep, add more to the game – as per popularity demands, adding the rest of the 75% – or trash it. More or less like a popular TV soap that sways and moves as per the popularity polls demand. Win-win!
Sweet, isn’t it?

Social networks as good and as big as Facebook is, are a game developer’s dream and I am certain that the quality will keep getting better and better each day – it is happy days for the end user up ahead.

A Game Developer’s Hobby – Tai Chi

One of my hobbies is Tai Chi. I began at a pretty young age, and nurtured the hobby throughout my teens and my modelling years. I have used it for self-defence on a few occasions – for me and for my friends – all those years of self-discipline and focus have helped me in my various endeavours throughout life.

Tai Chi is the Chinese form of martial arts that unites the concepts of physical self-defence and the power of your mind. It is an art form, for me and for many, has several physical and mental benefits and maintains balance and focus. At the outset with a steady pace, the slow and controlled movements are created to convey the powerful physical and mental skills of the proponent and also to stimulate the flow of energy within the body. The slow, trancelike pace involved in Tai Chi also helps to develop balance, coordination of breath and movement, concentration and relaxation - this teaches you how to move easily without tension in order that your mind and body can function smoothly. With a three pronged approach to the art including proper postures, self defence exercises and great co-ordination of your breathing, it becomes a lethal weapon for self-defence too.

Tai Chi requires flexibility and control - two important things - and I had to put in long hours to practise it in order to master its finer nuances. It is important that every single movement and posture gives one an insight into the inner strength that one possesses. No wonder the kids at school never messed around with me :) The postures lead on to energetic self defence exercises – the principle behind this is that Tai Chi is supposed to purge the tension from within the body caused by stress and then stimulate energy to flow throughout your body, which is expected to cleanse your entire system. When I am into it, and actually involving my body and my mind to perform in all directions, each movement is precise, each movement is fluid and I achieve that inner peace that only focused exercise can bring.

Like in yoga, coordination of breath as you are exercising is a major part of mastering Tai Chi. Generally, you inhale with movements that lift or roll back, and in turn exhale with motion that presses or sinks. The harmonization between your breath and your motion is something that happens slowly and in unpredicted ways. In the end, your body will find its own breathing rhythm.

My step-father Chen is among the top five Tai Chi masters in China, and whenever I visit my parents, he teaches me more moves and secrets that I practise to make myself better in this art that I love. I practise Tai Chi sparring three days in a week, half an hour to an hour every time, and each time is more exhilarating than before. So now you know how Neo learned his moves in “The Matrix” his were mostly all Tai Chi sparring moves and he beat the hell out of the machines with it too!