Bree Cardona
Eclipse Gaming Systems has long been a major supplier to the Class II gaming market. Unlike other legacy Class II manufacturers, Eclipse has not added Class III games to its product library. What the company has done is to establish a new game development team, headed by Class III veteran Mike Trask, who joined as chief product officer last year after distinguished runs at Bally and Ainsworth. As the first games from the new team are launched in casinos, Eclipse Marketing Director Bree Cardona spoke with GGB Editor-in-Chief Frank Legato about the company’s new direction.
GGB: Tell us about how Eclipse has revamped its game development process, and how the process is different now.
Bree Cardona: We’ve added to our existing talent pool at Eclipse. We brought on some of the more behind-the-scenes players from the industry, including Peter Wasielewski as creative director, along with new engineering and game design talent, including veteran game designers like Josh Ferrer. We’ve been really lucky to capture some of that talent and bring it to Eclipse. We have a fresh feeling on the development side in the studio. It feels inspired and reinvigorated; it’s really brought some new perspective.
Have the team’s technological tools improved with the new Callisto cabinet and game engine?
Our math tools have gone through a complete update. The slot games that Eclipse used to make were very simple. For modern games that have overlapping pot features or multi-level progressives, we just didn’t have the tooling, so we took a lot of care to rush out updates. Now we can do things like expanding reels, re-spins and pot collection. We modernized our games to be more player-focused.
You’re rolling out the first suite of games from the new development team. What does that mean for the company?
The last six months we’ve been working towards this unified goal within the company. It’s something that Eclipse has done really well in a condensed time frame. Our entire team is aligned across different state lines, different area codes, time zones. We’re all aligned to this unique goal of a new dawn bringing Eclipse into a refreshed version of what we’ve always been at our core—an entertainment-focused manufacturer making games for our players. We’ve really done a good job at recognizing what players want, what operators are excited to put on their floor, and what players are gravitating towards.
What are the strongest new elements of your games?
We’re creating fun, whimsical characters that engage with the customer. We’re developing pot-style games, which are prevalent everywhere. We’ve upgraded our platforms to allow for this more entertaining style, more interactive with the player. That’s really indicative of where Eclipse is going as a company.
Your newest game series Banana Bash, launched in March, has these elements and more. How has it been received?
Our tribal partners are really excited about this game series, as well as the beauty of the new Callisto cabinet. We actually had quite a few pre-orders at G2E, which is really exciting, because that doesn’t always happen. This is the first game that was completed 100 percent under the new leadership. It displays the full strength of Eclipse. This is that game that’s leading us into our new era.
