Jackpot! Betting on Technical Documentation at a Gaming Company

By Sam Leopold | Member

It is time to relax. You anticipate the excitement and fun of winning, and fantasize about hitting that big jackpot! You slide into the chair of your favorite theme and are ready to play. When you make that bet, pull that arm, or push that button, did you ever consider the technical documentation that a slot machine requires? Let me introduce you to technical communication at WMS Gaming, a leading innovator in the casino industry.

Slot machines are no longer just the mechanical models where the player pulls the arm and all the action is isolated to the cabinet. Today, the latest computer, networking, display, and sound technology are finely tuned to provide a player with an interactive and immersive experience. Slot machines are endowed with cutting-edge hardware and software, from large banks of collaborative gaming, surround sound, and overhead displays, to systems that are networked across hundreds of casinos.

To provide the player with the ultimate experience, all gaming equipment must pass stringent regulatory testing before installation, configuration, and maintenance. The WMS Technical Documentation Department has seven communicators that are dedicated to providing the precise instructions required to place the games in the field, ready to play.

For more than 70 years, the creative teams at WMS Gaming (formerly Williams) have developed everything from pinball to arcade video games, and now sensory immersion networked gaming machines. The talented subject matter experts that work with the technical communicators include a variety of engineers, artists, mathematicians, and even musicians. The mix of disciplines, ingenuity, and imagination focused on producing entertaining games makes for a very dynamic, fun, and stimulating environment, and results in the development of some of the world’s most compelling experiences.

Each year, hundreds of technical documents are released, including service manuals, technical bulletins, customer service notifications, exploded views, and labels. The audience for the documentation ranges from field technicians to gaming commissioners, and all require specific and comprehensive details to certify a game meets player expectations and local regulations (gaming is one of the most regulated industries in the world). The technical communicators’ experience is critical to document a game correctly, as they see the slot as a sophisticated machine, not just a fun game. At WMS, the technical communicators come from a variety of industries, including telecommunications, transportation, financial consulting, software development, publishing, and advertising. Their diverse backgrounds contribute to inventive methods of disseminating the information needed by the end users.

To maintain the communicators’ versatility and to keep product knowledge sharp over the lifecycle of a gaming product, WMS communicators are assigned projects as simple as basic hardware installations to complicated software configuration manuals. The majority of assignments are game theme documents that provide all the instructions needed for the lifecycle of a gaming product. Recent themes have included blockbuster movies, legendary comic book characters, and some of the world’s most popular board games. At the onset of a theme project, communicators will often volunteer for a theme they expect to enjoy. Work is fun when you get to play with your favorite characters!

Once the creation process for a game is kicked off, technical communicators document all the theme information the end users will need to know, including the gameplay overview, hardware installation, and software configuration. Over a period of a few months, the communicators work with studio staff, engineers, and technical trainers to harvest the vital information.

A studio is the primary team that produces a game and conceptualizes the look, feel, and sound of a theme. With a studio, communicators will document the expected gameplay and understand the overall scope of the project.

What the studio producers, artists, programmers, and mathematicians have created must be brought to life three-dimensionally by mechanical and electrical engineers. Communicators will work with the engineers to generate the assembly instructions for the individual mechanical and electrical components that must be placed together at the casino.

The documentation is enhanced by working with the technical trainers who have years of knowledge with installing games in the casinos. The trainers confirm the communicators have covered all the details that field technicians will need to install a theme quickly, keeping in mind the installation is often happening at 3:00 AM, while a casino slot manager expectantly awaits to offer the games to the players.

Although the process of developing documentation for a slot machine is rigorous and expectations are high, do communicators get to pull that arm, press those buttons, relax, and have a little fun? You bet!