Street Fighter 2

A popular trend among video slot makers is partnering with companies that have established IPs from outside the casino world to attract players that might not otherwise try a gambling product. In the case of this project, every star in the galaxy aligned perfectly to make this happen. I played the original Street Fighter 2 arcade machine in a bowling alley back when I was 8 years old and have been a fan of the franchise ever since. My early passion for video games inspired me to learn how to design and animate pixel art characters similar to the ones I saw on the screen. Many years later I would find myself working for the very same Golden Nugget featured in the background of Balrog's stage in Street Fighter 2. When I learned that this game was on our roadmap, I jumped at the opportunity to build promotional assets for its launch.

The challenge with licensed games is that there are number of extra rules and guideliness you have to follow along with getting aproval by the game provider and license holder on everything you make. Typically, as long as you use the pre-made assets you have nothing to worry about. The asset pack didn't include any assets of Balrog or his stage because it contained the reference to Golden Nugget, a direct competitor to most of the other operators who would be featuring this game on their website. I knew immiediately this could be a huge differentator for us. We made the proposal to NetEnt that would allow Golden Nugget to use Balrog's stage.

They agreed, and I was able to bring my plan to life. I had taken everything I learned as a kid about how to animate 2D sprites, combined with what I learned from building other animated promotion banners, to create a design that both lifted up our brand and promoted this game in a unique and intersting way. I had so much fun working on this project because it felt like I was the perfect person to do it, and I was able to pull off something nobody else could do.