Another Home developer has announced its intention to move to the PS4 platform. This time it's Digital Leisure, best known for its Paradise Springs Casino on Home. Adam Watson, Game Designer at Digital Leisure, was kind enough to take some time with me to give us the lowdown. Have a look.... YPSH : Thanks Adam for coming by and giving our readers the news about your new project. Let's start off with its name, and how it differs from some of the other projects already announced. Adam : Thank you for having me! We are excited that we can finally start sharing details about our new game. For the last year we've been working hard developing The Four Kings: Casino & Slots. The game will allow you to immerse yourself in a simulated social casino experience. Much like Home you will be able to customize your 3D avatar as you please, and as you play you will earn rewards by completing certain achievements. We're taking the best parts of what users loved on Home and bringing it to Four Kings. What stands out most is that we're focused on creating a social world with an emphasis on having a fantastic gameplay experience. However, users are not just limited to playing the various casino games that we have, they are also able to hang out and socialize with friends in a variety of public spaces. YPSH : Is Four Kings only to be on the PS4 or other platforms as well? Adam : We're launching this Winter on PC via Steam. (Welcome to Steam) Players will be able to join our open beta through Steam's Early Access Program. Home users have always been very vocal about how they wanted to enjoy their online experience, and we want to continue that communication. This program allows us to have a direct line of feedback early on as the game continues to change and grow. Following the launch on PC we will be releasing Four Kings on PS4 next year. YPSH : Is Four Kings subscription based or only supported by purchased tokens? Adam : The Four Kings is a free to play game. Just like Paradise Springs, players can play entirely for free, but if they wish to earn rewards at a faster pace there will be chip packages to purchase from. YPSH : So will Four Kings have all the same games as Paradise did? Any new ones? Can you list them for us? Adam : All of your favorite games from Paradise Springs will be in The Four Kings as well as a couple of new games. There will be Texas Hold’em Poker, Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Video Poker, Video Blackjack, Craps, War, Big Six Wheel, and Bingo. We removed the slow public Keno for a more fun and intimate Instant Keno, and we've added the much requested game of Baccarat. YPSH : Will it have a avatar creator with a higher level of customization than Home did? Adam : It's hard to define a higher level of customization, but we certainly have higher quality models and textures. As a user of Home myself I always disliked having to purchase multiple colors for the same item. In our newly designed system you'll be able to equip a jacket and have an array of color options in the wardrobe. This will reduce the number of item spaces in your wardrobe, but still giving you the flexibility to express yourself. Players will still be able to save outfits, hide unwanted clothing, and search through their wardrobe with ease. YPSH : Will Four Kings have a VIP section? Adam : Of course! We need a space for players who want to bet big and win big. Not only are there higher limit tables but there will be a couple of games that only VIP's have access to. In the VIP section we'll also have an exclusive store which will host items that you can't get anywhere else. There are lots of fun things planned for our highest tiered users. YPSH : When we played at Paradise, we were awarded virtual items as we reached the next level of a particular game. We could use those items anywhere in Home. Will Four Kings eventually expand into a larger virtual world where these rewards can be used? If not, what kinds of rewards will we receive and will we obtain them the same way (by leveling up)? Adam : Right now we are focusing on having a solid social casino experience. Naturally we plan on expanding to areas outside of the casino to create a larger virtual world, and those clothing items would certainly be wearable throughout. As for how you get those reward items, we've reworked how the reward system functions. Some of the feedback early on with Paradise Springs was that users wanted more choice. Maybe users didn't want a dice bra from betting on every available space in roulette. With our new system you'll earn reward points for playing in any game, and then you can use those points to pick and choose the rewards you really want. We think users will respond positively to this new reward system. YPSH : Paradise had Poker Tournaments. Are there plans for that on Four Kings or other events? Adam : Poker Tournaments will certainly be making a return in The Four Kings. We do have plans for other events and tournaments that occur on a more frequent basis. One such event has players competing to achieve the highest possible score in a Las Vegas style Slot Tournament. We will be rotating various events throughout the year to keep things fresh. YPSH : Home users are upset about losing all the things they won or purchased, even though we knew that was part of the deal. Any plans to give users a couple of the items they already won at Paradise to ease the pain a bit? Adam : We understand that Home users are very attached to everything that they have in Home. While we can't bring over their home items, we do have some exclusive rewards planned for those Home users who come to play at The Four Kings. YPSH : Can you give us idea of when Four Kings will be available on the PS4? Adam : We're focusing on getting the PC version completed first, and hope to have the PS4 version ready as soon as possible in 2015. YPSH : Lastly, have you talked to other developers who are planning their own virtual worlds on PS4 for some kind of possible inclusion or cross-play between your product and theirs? Adam : We haven't spoken directly to other devs, but certainly there are a lot of unique ideas in play. In this business you "never say never," so who knows what the future could hold for collaborations. YPSH : With the power of the PS4 I am sure Digital Leisure will have a snazzy new Casino with Four Kings! Much success to you Adam and all at Digital Leisure! Adam : Thanks again! We can't wait for users to go "All-in" with The Four Kings: Casino & Slots. If people want the latest information, and to possibly be included in future closed beta opportunities, they should sign up at The Four Kings Casino & Slots ®. It's going to be an exciting year, and we hope to talk to you again soon! Please note this interview may NOT be copied in full and posted elsewhere without the express consent of the author.
ok, now I'm confused... so HOME is going to be available on PS4??? YAY!!!!! Will our inventory/purchases transfer?
Ugh. With all these dev's trying to create their own stuff, it just all feels watered down and bland. I couldn't stand the Casino personally, so this isn't for me I guess. That being said, they are implementing great ideas that should have been on Home long ago, and one in particular I wanted to bring up with another dev in hopes they will use it. Good luck to DL on this though. I know some Home users loved to gamble.
I have nothing to say I am depressed than I can ever be. And playstation home a place really near to my heart and means alot to me.. But nothing can replace it because home is so unique to have a similar version of it. Well it's holding a lot of my beautiful memories there and I truly appreciate everyone who has worked behind it, like you are so special to me, I may be mean nothing to you because I am only just one person but my love to you is more than everybody can ever imagine, how I am grateful to you dear developer.. by the way I still buy your stuff even I don't use it just to support you.
I'm just wondering if the game programming/algorithms for this casino will be rigged as much as in Home? lol What a joke.
We heard the numerous complaints of The Casino games being perceived as "rigged." Some people would go on huge winnings streaks and make a lot of chips (just look at how many chips were earned by our leaderboard winners,) and some people would experience huge losing streaks. It was still random, but at the time we couldn't see why people were going on these losing streaks. When we were creating our mini games for The Four Kings we decided to take a much closer look to how our cards were being handled and we discovered that we were actually shuffling the cards too much, and too often. So with Four Kings not only did we improve our random algorithm, we are shuffling the cards at the appropriate time. We are also telling the players when we reshuffle the deck by implementing the yellow card, which is placed within the array of cards. And when players see this yellow card being dealt, they will know that all of the cards will be shuffled after that hand.
I always found i won good on some of the games like blackjack, but lost out of the slots, so i used to do the slots then when started to lose i would go do blackjack or big 6 and that to regain what i lost on slots. Like real casinos, its more about knowing when to play and to know when to stop, watching for signs of when a payroll might be due and that.
I always had some success with the Casino. Very much like a real one. Watching my number of wins go up, then down, then up , then down. Just have to watch what's happening and bet accordingly. I was able to level up enough to get the Penthouse Apt. so I was happy
