Golden Glyph Slot from Quickspin

Published: sat 21 dec 2019

First Reactor-style Game for Quickspin

Online game development company Quickspin is celebrating the successful release of Golden Glyph, which is its first reactor-style game. The new title is set in ancient Egypt, and takes place on a 7x7 grid, making it particularly good for those who like to play games in portrait mode on tablets or smartphones. The aim of the development team was to create a slot which combined elements of classic puzzle games with the kind of power-ups found in role-playing games, and the good news for any fan of those genres is that this objective was achieved quite admirably.

The Golden Glyph Format

Golden Glyph is presented against an exquisite illustrated panorama which shows not only the expected pyramids of ancient Egypt, but a birds-eye view of the dwellings which once surrounded them. The grid itself has a gold frame, and to the left of the frame you will see an exposed portion of a golden wheel, which is used to house Power-Ups, as we will explain a little later.

Symbols have a bold cartoon-style, and are presented on blocks of stone. The symbols used include hieroglyphic images representing water, an eye, an ankh and a serpent, full-colour portraits of Tutankhamun, Cleopatra and Horus, a golden wild, a Golden Glyph, which is also wild, and a variety of special Power-Up symbols that only appear on the golden wheel.

Wins are achieved by getting five or more matching symbols in a cluster. When a win occurs, the symbols involved will disappear from the grid, allowing remaining symbols to drop into the newly-created empty spaces and more symbols to drop into play from the top of the reels. This makes it possible to win again, in which case the new winning cluster will also be removed, and this mechanic will continue to repeat for as long as winning clusters occur.

Power Wild Feature

Extended sequences of winning clusters are made even easier to achieve in the main game thanks to a Power Wild symbol which will appear in one of the empty spaces left by the previous winning cluster. If that Power Wild helps you to complete another winning cluster, it will also activate a Power-Up.

Golden Glyph Power-Up Feature

When you start the game, the exposed section of the golden wheel will be stacked with five randomly selected Power-Up symbols. The fifth Power-Up will always be the one that triggers the Free Spins Bonus game, and other Power-Ups which can appear on the wheel are the Blaze of Fire, the Golden Scarab and the Eye of Horus.

These Power-Ups are activated by Power Wilds, as explained a few moments ago, but they won’t do anything until the current sequence of winning tumbles comes to an end. At that point, all activated Power-Ups will be triggered, one after the other, in the order they were activated. The Power-Up symbols that can be activated and triggered in this way are as follows:

• The Blaze of Fire Power-Up will be positioned in a random cell on the grid and every normal symbol which appears on the same row and column will be burned by it. Each normal symbol removed (the Power-Up will not remove wilds, Power Wilds or Golden Glyph symbols) will pay you 5% of your bet
• The Golden Scarab Power-Up will place anything from four to ten wild symbols on the grid in random locations. The grid will then be reassessed to check for any winning clusters that have been created by the newly added wilds
• The Eye of Horus Power-Up will randomly select one of the lower-value symbols and then remove every instance of that symbol from the grid. A tumble will follow, as when winning symbols are removed, and the grid will be reassessed to see if you have achieved any winning clusters. In addition, every symbol removed from the grid will pay you 5% of your bet
• The Free Spins Bonus Power-Up will trigger the Free Spins Feature, as described below

Golden Glyph Free Spins Feature

When this feature is triggered, you will be awarded nine free spins, and three additional free spins can be gained every time you activate the Free Spins Bonus Power-Up. A Golden Glyph symbol will be randomly positioned on the grid, and although it will change position from spin to spin, it will remain in play for the duration of the free spins. The Golden Glyph serves as a wild and will increase a multiplier every time it helps you to win, with a maximum multiplier of x99 being possible.

How the Game Took Shape

‘When we started working on Golden Glyph, we wanted to create a game that felt like a classic puzzle or tile-matching game, like “Puyo Puyo” and “Bomberman: Panic Bomber”,’ said Producer Clint Andersson. ‘We also wanted to combine the characteristics of these types of games with the power-up features of classic RPG games, like “Golden Axe” or ‘Gauntlet”, where you get to collect and use power-ups to perform magic.

‘When designing the graphics the idea was to use small, detailed icons with shields, swords, and armor equipment, but it was a bit tricky to build a menu that could fit all the different icons. Then, during one of the many design iterations, our Lead Artist came up with the idea that the meter should be round.

‘This can be quite a difficult format to use in menus, as games are always played on a rectangular screen. But everyone on the team really loved the new meter, so we tried to figure out a way to make it work. That’s when we came up with this large, heavy golden wheel that’s filled with mystical and magical symbols – and this is now one of the best parts of the game. I’m really happy with the result and I think it looks great!’

Play Golden Glyph at Videoslots Casino and other Quickspin venues.