About the Client & Product Vision
Bwin was an online gambling company that operated under the name Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Founded in 1997, Bwin became one of the largest online betting platforms in the world, offering sports betting, poker, casino games, and other online gaming options.
Bwin is particularly well-known for its sports sponsorships. Between 2007 and 2013, Bwin was the main shirt sponsor for Real Madrid, one of the most famous and successful football clubs globally. This sponsorship was part of Bwin’s broader strategy to increase brand visibility through sports marketing, and partnering with a prestigious club like Real Madrid provided significant exposure.
In 2011, Bwin merged with PartyGaming, forming a new entity called Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. GVC Holdings aquired this entity in 2016 is now known as Entain.
Aces Hangout lets you play home games virtually by integrating Google Hangouts’ multi-person video chat feature. The application replicates the real-world poker experience by allowing players to see live video feeds of their opponents, enhancing the social and strategic aspects of the game.
Key Features:
- Google+ Hangouts Integration:
- Feature: Integration with Google+ Hangouts for multi-person video chat during poker games.
- Challenge: Reliance on Google+ Hangouts API, which was currently not fully developed, limiting the app’s full functionality. We had to co-orindate with the Google team to get developer preview apis.
- Consideration: The integration allows players to read opponents’ facial expressions and body language, crucial for bluffing and other poker strategies.
- Real-Time Video Feeds:
- Feature: Players can view live video feeds of other participants, mimicking a real-world poker environment.
- Challenge: Ensuring low-latency video streams to maintain real-time interaction and prevent any lag that could disrupt gameplay.
- Texas Holdem Poker
- Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular variants of poker, played both in casinos and online worldwide. Here’s a breakdown of how it works: The goal of Texas Hold’em is to win chips by either having the best hand at the showdown or by betting strategically to force other players to fold, thus securing the pot. To achieve this, we implemented the gameplay logic by enforcing the rules and handling various scenarios. Consequently, the game runs smoothly, providing an authentic poker experience.
- Random Number Generation (RNG):
- Challenge: The core of any card game is the randomness of card distribution. A secure Random Number Generator (RNG) is essential to prevent predictability and ensure fair play.
- Implementation: Use a cryptographically secure RNG to shuffle and deal cards. Regularly audit and test the RNG to detect any biases or vulnerabilities.
- Security Measure: Implement RNG algorithms like Fortuna or AES-CTR-DRBG, which are resistant to attacks and manipulation.
- Anti-Cheating Mechanisms:
- Challenge: Preventing cheating methods, such as collusion, bot usage, or tampering with the game logic.
- Implementation: Implement algorithms to detect unusual patterns in gameplay that may indicate cheating. For example, monitor betting patterns, timing of actions, and player behaviors.
- Security Measure: Regularly update detection algorithms and maintain an active monitoring system to flag suspicious activities for further investigation.
Challenges and Considerations:
- API Dependency:
- Challenge: The primary constraint was the in-development Google+ Hangouts API. The team’s progress was dependent updates from the Google+ API team.
- Consideration: This dependency could delay the product launch, highlighting the risk of relying on third-party platforms that may not be fully mature.We factored this in worked with the google team to
- Scalability Concerns:
- Challenge: We needed to scale the application to meet Google’s standards, so we planned autoscaling infrastructure based on Google’s traffic predictions. After Google tested the infrastructure with simulated traffic, we secured their “Go-Ahead” for deployment.
- Consideration: We made use of AWS infrastructure and enabled autoscaling and made use of low latency in memory databases for the same.
We completed the product development on time and aligned with the launch of google Hangouts +. This game was available as one of the default application along with the launch of google hangouts. Following is a video of the beta testing of our awesome team during development.
Press
Co-Founder , Ceegees Software Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Problem Solver, Engineer