Interview with PearFiction Studios

JMC: PearFiction sounds like Perfection, doesn’t it? Is there any story behind your logo and naming? Very interesting to know!

It is! Perfectionism is definitely one of my own traits and part of the inspiration for the studio name. I believe everyone at PearFiction embodies this quality in one way or another. It is immensely rewarding to work with such a talented and passionate team of “PearFictionists”.

JMC: Could you tell some crucial points in PearFiction history? First, you started with apps, then proceeded with social casino games and real money games now.

The company was founded in 2014, with a focus on developing casual mobile games for iOS and Android devices. We originally published around a dozen small to mid-sized casual games such as Blitz Racer, Blocks Quiz, Tiny Necromancer, Alien Road Rage, and later PowerUp Slots™.

While mobile casual games were fun to develop, ROI was hard to achieve. Some of our most popular games were casino games and this encouraged us to make the switch to online casino games in mid-2016.

In the fall, we presented a paper flip-book of slot designs at G2E and were able to land our first licensing agreement with Leander to host Gustavo El Luchador and OuterSpace Invaders.

The following year, we signed The Smashing Biscuit as a licensed game with Microgaming and Goblins Go Wild as a bespoke deal with Casumo. These games and exposure led to other bespoke games contracts from late 2018 to mid-2019.

In November 2019, we signed an exclusive development agreement with Microgaming. We couldn’t have asked for a better situation. As a result of the agreement, we have been able to focus on developing the best quality games we can while taking advantage of Microgaming’s extensive distribution.

JMC: Do you work with in-house designers? PearFiction style is authentic and eye-catching.

Yes, we work with in-house artists and designers who work hard to give each game a recognizable aesthetic, but most importantly, a satisfying gameplay experience.

With so many games being released each month, it’s important to develop unique games with a high production value and quality. Operators and players both value this, so we’re meeting their needs.

JMC: You have bespoke games in your portfolio. Could you describe the cooperation with VGW and Casumo? How was it?

We are forever grateful to Casumo and VGW (editor — VGW stands for Virtual Gaming Worlds. A Leading online social casino & poker games.) for awarding us these bespoke game contracts. The experiences gained from working on those games were pivotal for the studio. From math design and understanding player behavior, to game code and building robust game engines, we learned a lot from this experience.

JMC: Gustavo El Luchador was your first online slot game? How satisfied are you with it? It looks pretty neat for the first PearFiction real money game ever.

When I look back at Gustavo El Luchador, it’s hard not to notice some flaws. Nevertheless, it still looks and feels great despite the math’s shortcomings. At the time, we had little to no experience with real money games. While we lacked experience and math expertise, we made up for it with impressive game art and an engaging gameplay experience.

We tried to give the game a personality, a story that it can tell, a mark that bears the PearFiction seal. The mantras that still drive us today!

JMC: The UI in Blazing Mammoth and Chicago Gold has improved. Was it your idea? Or where it came from?

Yes, we made a few modifications to our common game UI along the way. I don’t think we have seen the end of UI improvements in gaming. With the latest Safari and Apple curveballs (sticky address bar and other fun redesigns), we might see a few new UI iterations in the coming months. There is a growing sense of commonality and design sense between game studios’ user interfaces, which I think is a good thing for the players. It’s less confusing for the players to hop from game to game.

JMC: What is the closest release you are working on? Could you tell us more?

We are truly excited about our next game going global on October 12th. As its name suggests, Squealin’ Riches™ features a charming golden piggy as the game host.

We’ll see Piggy jumping on the reels to add random game modifiers such as an additional Free Spins symbol to the feature, Gold Piggy Coins to trigger the LockNWin™ game, upgrading the Jackpot values, and other special interventions that you will have to play to find out.

One of the main features of Squealin’ Riches is the LockNWin™ game, our mechanic that puts a twist on the classic Links and Hold & Respin features. In Squealin’ Riches, you need at least 6 Gold Piggy Coins from one spin to trigger the feature, awarding 3 respins. All Gold Piggy Coins become sticky, along with the Mini, Minor, Major, Grand, and Epic Jackpots. Filling the reels with 20 Gold Piggy Coins triggers the Epic Jackpot worth up to 10,000 times your stake!

We have designed a few unique features in our LockNWin™ mechanic that make it far more than a simple Hold & Respin game. Coin Multipliers and Jackpot Upgrades can land in the feature to make it even more exciting. Multiplier symbols, as their names indicate, multiply the value of any Gold Piggy Coin symbol present on the reels by up to 10x times their value.

The Jackpot Upgrade symbol is even more exciting. When they land, they increase the value of all five Jackpot levels, upgrading each of them to the value of the tier above and potentially making the Epic Jackpot worth double its initial value! For example, the default value of the Epic Jackpot is 5,000x your stake. A single upgrade symbol will increase the Epic Jackpot value to 6,000x your stake. Upgrades can land frequently; landing five Jackpot Upgrades during a LockNWin™ game would surge that Epic Jackpot all the way up to 10,000x your stake.

This game gives players more than one way to land jackpots. The Squealin’ Riches Bonus Wheel has the potential to award one of the available Jackpot prizes, in addition to other instant cash prizes and a chance to trigger the Free Spins game. Every Gold Piggy Coin that lands on the reels, whether it triggers LockNWin™ or not, is collected and added to the Bonus Wheel progress bar. Once the progress bar is completely filled (on average this takes about 300 spins), the Bonus Wheel feature is triggered.

The other big feature of our action-packed Squealin’ Riches slot is the Free Spins game. Upon entering the feature you’ll spin a wheel to determine how many free spins you can play and you will then have the opportunity to gamble those spins on another wheel for the chance to win an even greater number of spins. For example, if you land 10 free spins you can choose to gamble them for the chance at 15 free spins. You can continue gambling until you’ve won 30 free spins – the maximum possible amount. There’s always a chance that you might lose your free spins by gambling, but rest assured that even if you lose the gamble you still get a chance to land a mystery prize worth on average 22x your bet.

There are more Gold Piggy Coins, more chances to land the LockNWin™ game and more chances to land a Jackpot prize during the Free Spins game. The fun can also keep going since landing 3 scatter symbols will retrigger the Free Spins feature.

Squealin’ Riches is coming out October 12th exclusively on the Microgaming platform.

JMC: Is there anything you would like to add and share with our readers?

Thank you so much for this opportunity and interview Jack Mobile Casinos! It’s amazing to have the opportunity to present our studio and games to your readers!

Watch out for PearFiction! We have a lot of exciting games coming out in the coming months. We are truly looking forward to seeing players enjoying our games throughout 2021 and beyond!