Unveiling the Art of eInstant Game Design

Insights Online
Jul 15
4 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Brightstar’s VP of iLottery Games talks process, inspiration, and collaboration.

By Brightstar

Published July 15, 2025

Industry expert and head of content development for the Brightstar iLottery Game Studios, Adele Lawton, sheds light on the nuanced processes, creative inspirations, and collaborative efforts behind some of the studio’s highest-performing eInstant games, such as Elephant King™ and Lucky Coins. She discusses how balancing data-driven decisions with creative freedom results in captivating and successful eInstant games.

Q: What are the initial stages involved in creating hit games such as Elephant King and Lucky Coins?

It all starts with extensive market research to provide lotteries with the most satisfying play experiences for their players. We analyze trends, competitor games, and player preferences to define our target audience and determine the most suitable gameplay mechanics, such as fast play, cluster games, or traditional number-match games. Once mechanics are decided, we align them with complementary themes and art styles and develop prototypes, including animatics and detailed outlines of the game flow and features.

From there, collaboration becomes key. Our teams include content experts, producers, game designers, artists, animators, and audio engineers, who come together to refine the concept. Our success stems from everyone contributing their unique insights and talents to the process. Throughout, we maintain a relentless focus on the player experience, ensuring every decision enhances engagement and enjoyment.

Q: How do you balance creative innovation with data analysis?

Data acts as our compass. Before any project begins, we establish clear goals that shape the boundaries of creative exploration. We consider factors such as game type, target market, duration of gameplay, and thematic tone. These parameters channel creativity towards inventive solutions that meet both player expectations and market demands.

However, even within those boundaries, there’s room for play. For example, when designing Lucky Coins, we reinforced its engaging mechanics with iterative refinements based on insights from market trends. Setting clear objectives doesn’t limit creativity; rather, it helps us to focus it effectively.

Q: What inspires the unique themes and storylines behind your games, and how do you ensure they resonate with players?

Inspiration can come from almost anywhere. Player insights and lottery-customer feedback play a major role. We draw ideas from different cultures, mythologies, current trends, pop culture, music, and sometimes even personal experiences.

One particularly impactful example comes from market research that introduced us to the player persona “Jackie.” Jackie provided fascinating insights into player motivations. We now take this persona into consideration at every game development meeting we host, bringing market research to life and ensuring that player-centric design remains at the heart of our process.

Themes are more impactful when organically tied to gameplay. For instance, in Elephant King, the core element of the prize disk integrates seamlessly with the elephant-themed gameplay. Similarly, in Lucky Coins, the pig character collecting coins serves as both a mechanical and thematic centerpiece. These strong theme-mechanic integrations keep players engaged while ensuring the game resonates broadly.

Q: To what do you attribute the success of Lucky Coins and other top-performing games?

Success boils down to hard work, collaboration, and turning data into actionable insights. For Lucky Coins, we redefined many aspects of the game in development—from the user interface to the win choreography, mechanics, and even production workflows. We analyzed top-performing games to refine every element of the player experience while maintaining a relentless focus on player experience. This focus ensures that every game we create is not only fun but also deeply engaging.

We also prioritize player feedback, which shapes ongoing iterations. For instance, seasonal-themed skins like Christmas or Valentine’s versions of Lucky Coins were rolled out based on player preferences and a desire for more ways to play this popular game, leading to the development of Lucky Coins 2. This iterative approach to feedback and innovation is a blueprint for creating hit games.

Q: How does collaboration between disciplines contribute to studio success?

Collaboration defines our process. Our teams, organized into “game squads,” bring together specialized roles like producers, game designers, artists, animators, and engineers. Each squad focuses on a single project, with producers ensuring seamless communication and alignment.

Rigorous frameworks, including weekly brainstorming sessions, review meetings, and green-light sessions, encourage cross-disciplinary idea-sharing. This framework enables creative and technical strengths to complement each other, allowing talent from varied backgrounds to collaborate towards a unified vision. Additionally, an emphasis on peer support and consistent experience across team members ensures quality remains uncompromised.

Q: Are new technologies influencing your creative workflows?

Absolutely. The game development process, which relied heavily on tools like Adobe Creative Suite for years, is seeing a major shift with AI technologies. For example, we’ve released our first game with AI-generated art—titled Viking Gold—a move that has redefined traditional processes. AI opens exciting possibilities, both in terms of accelerating workflows and offering unique creative directions.

This adoption of innovative tools keeps us at the cutting edge, aligning technological advances with the creative ingenuity our studio is known for.

Q: With so much success already, how do you continue to push for excellence?

Consistency is key. We release 35 to 40 games annually, aiming for blockbuster-level quality in all of them. This involves continuously refining visuals, mechanics, and player accessibility. For instance, advances in mobile portrait optimization and win choreography with Lucky Coins set a new standard for user experience. We believe there’s always room for improvement, and the team’s collective drive ensures we’re not just meeting market expectations but also setting new benchmarks year after year. Our success also hinges on a collaborative relationship with our Player Marketing Services and account teams. Their input ensures that every game is not only well-designed but also strategically positioned to resonate with lottery customers and players alike.

Q: Are there any upcoming projects or features you’re particularly excited about?

The roadmap is packed with exciting ideas. From the release of Lucky Coins 2 and jackpot-driven concepts, variety is a major focus. We’re exploring annuity-prize games featuring top prizes like cars and experimenting with seasonal fast-play games for the U.S. market.

With “tap eInstant games” an emerging area of creativity and intuitive play styles, our studio is positioned for further growth.