Immortal Romance 2 - Q&A with Terence Igesund, founder of Stormcraft Studios
The Second Coming of Immortal Romance™ II - A look behind the scenes at the work that has gone into remastering the original
To celebrate the very recent release of Immortal Romance II, Slot Gods caught up with Terence Igesund, founder of Stormcraft Studios, to get to grips with the painstaking process that eventually produced one of the most eagerly-awaited slots of all time. Only 3 weeks might have passed in the lives of the main characters but for us mere mortals, it's been more than 12 agonising years!
When did you know you wanted to create a sequel to Immortal Romance™ and for how long has Immortal Romance™ II been in production?
I had a strong sense that Immortal Romance™ would stand the test of time during the creation process of the soundtrack for the game. While I was making final edits to Amber’s song lyrics, I realised that what we were creating had the potential to be a really big deal in our industry. With that realisation, my imagination started going wild with ideas for how the character narratives could evolve and where the Immortal storyline could go. I deliberately ended Sarah’s back storyline on a cliffhanger, which was the clue that there was more to come.
I have been tinkering with concept ideas and narrative in the background from many years, but I would say the project was kicked off officially after the 10 year anniversary of the brand in late 2021, when I hired a very talented illustrator to begin designing what the four characters would look like in the new version. The game has been in full scale production for more than 18 months, as we needed to pivot several times on the game mechanics to ensure to the game was on trend and well balanced.
How do you ensure the game is taken to the next level while remaining true to the original that fans love?
Aaah… the 10 million-dollar question… and one of the reasons it took me so long to initiate the sequel.
Looking back, I would say that we were very mindful from the start about finding that careful balance between the familiarity and nostalgia of the original… and the excitement that comes with the exploration and understanding of new game features and mechanics. We created Immortal Romance™ II with longevity in mind and leaned into our core values of craftsmanship and entertainment, knowing that our player-centric approach would deliver an awesome user experience. We hope that players see and appreciate all the love and consideration that have gone into every aspect of this game’s creation.
How exactly has Immortal Romance™ II evolved from the original title in terms of new mechanics and features?
We strategically chose to keep to the original 243 Ways but introduce Rolling Reels™ throughout the entire game, which is closely coupled to all the new wild multiplier features and functionality that we have introduced. After all, Immortal Romance is all about the wilds.
Based on industry feedback, we decided to commit the time and effort into once again creating unique free spins feature mechanics for each of the four characters, enhanced with their own original soundtrack. As per the original game, each of the free spins differs in volatility, but this time all the features are available to play from the first trigger with no unlocking required. Amber’s feature is an extension of base game’s mechanics with multipliers that increase by 3x per rolling win. Troy has a locking wild, which expands and evolves into multipliers during consecutive rolling wins. Michael’s feature can randomly synchronise up to four reels at a time. Finally, Sarah has stacked sticky mystery symbols with a multiplier trail above the reels.
We've introduced four character-themed jackpots into the base game which will grow and improve through a novel gem collection mechanism. The jackpot wheel bonus can be triggered randomly on any gem collection event, where players can win one of the four jackpots or trigger the famous Wild Desire™ feature.
Speaking of Wild Desire™, we knew this feature needed to be next level so we elevated the experience to a thrilling 1,024 ways to win. But that’s not all. One of the consistent requests we saw online was for a multiplier to be added to Wild Desire™… so we did it! This multiplier was built into the base game as a collection device which starts at 1x and can be increased up to 3x. Another change we introduced to Wild Desire™ was the way it was triggered. Originally it was completely random, which gave players zero indication of the hit rate of the feature. Wild Desire™ is now a reel symbol driven event, requiring a mouthwatering Blood Drop symbol to land on reels two and four. We also increased the max win potential in the feature from 12,000x to 15,000x the bet! So, as you can see there was a lot of work and engineering that went into this feature.
Has the team worked differently in any way from when creating the original? Has the thought process been different?
Absolutely! More than a decade has passed with major advancements in technology having taken place in that time. We built the original game in Flash back in the day, and then needed to port it across to H5 years later. The new game is built on Stormcraft’s proprietary technology stack that afforded the team access to all of the latest and greatest components and developmental opportunities.
Immortal Romance™ II has a lot of similar features to video games with the narrative, the music, and the cinematic win animations. How do you ensure these evolve in a sequel?
These three elements were the major differentiators that helped propel Immortal Romance™ into becoming an industry classic that has stood the test of time, and therefore could be referred to as the essential DNA of the brand. These elements were like the architectural spine around which the sequel was cultivated and grew, providing the foundation to explore and evolve other aspects of game, without compromising the integrity of the brand equity.
- Name:
- Immortal Romance 2
- Developer:
- Stormcraft Studios
- RTP:
- 96.30%
- Max payout:
- 15,000x stake
- Volatility:
- High
- Jackpot:
- Up to 1,500x
- Reels:
- 5
- Win lines:
- 243
- Theme:
- Horror
- Release date:
- 28th May 2024
Keeping score...
If you fell in love with the original soundtrack from Immortal Romance, prepare to go crazy for what's in store this time around! The songs play an integral role in the saga and explain the storylines of each of the main characters – there's more to IR2 than meets the eye! But to see how it all ends, you'll need to keep pushing to reach Immortal Status that comes after 5,000 spins!
Get your hands on both Immortal Romance soundracks at major, online streaming services.