WPF - In Action
Republished from http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002420
International Game Technology (IGT) builds game equipment and systems for the gaming industry.
The industry has adopted standards to move from mechanical to networked games that casinos can configure
electronically, rather than through mechanical retrofitting. IGT needed to create a gaming system that
would enable casino managers to dynamically modify game themes and content on the casino floor. The company
turned to Windows® Presentation Foundation—part of the Microsoft® .NET Framework—to create the richer
visualizations needed to make the new system easy and intuitive to use. These insightful visualizations
and efficient communications made possible by the Microsoft .NET Framework help IGT offer a superior user
experience to expedite decision making by casino managers so that they can provide the finest service and
player experience to casino visitors.
Situation
We got the final visual elements
in June, and we were able to complete the UI by October, which was a really fast process. We couldn't
have done that with any other technology.
Andrew Novotak, Lead Software Engineer, International Game Technology
Based in Reno, Nevada, International Game Technology (IGT) builds gaming equipment and systems for the
casino industry. IGT knew that server-based gaming, using new open protocols sponsored by the Gaming
Standards Association, would be a breakthrough for its customers. The new technology would enable casinos
to quickly change their gaming equipment configurations to take advantage of conventions, events, or holidays.
"Server-based gaming systems are the cutting edge of the industry," says Javier Saenz, VP of sb
Product Management at International Game Technology. "In the past, when a casino decided to reconfigure
a game, it would send somebody to the floor with equipment; they’d take the machine apart and add a new hard
drive, new glass, and new buttons. Everything had to be changed physically. With server-based gaming, all the
equipment is built with LCD screens and virtual buttons. The casino can change the denomination of the game,
the type of game, the theme of the game, and the entire look and feel of the machine, with just a few clicks."
Solution
IGT decided to use the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System, Windows® Communication Foundation, and
Windows Presentation Foundation unified programming model to develop the latest version of sb Floor Manager.
Today, sb Floor Manager is in field trials awaiting final approval from various regulatory agencies that supervise
the gaming industry. When approved, sb Floor Manager will give casino managers the ability to maximize the user
experience for casino visitors, without physically touching the machines. Frog Design helped IGT design the user
interface (UI) for the new version, and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner InterKnowlogy helped develop the application
using Windows Presentation Foundation to integrate the visualizations with the required functionality. Andrew Novotak,
one of the Lead Software Engineers who led the UI design on the project for IGT, and the UI team used XAML to map UI
elements to objects in the Microsoft .NET Framework.
User Interface Is Key Deliverable
"The user interface is how an IGT system manifests itself to people. Our customers don't touch the hardware;
the UI is the closest thing we have to a concrete deliverable. So we take it very seriously to develop that experience
for our customers," explains Saenz. The new UI is designed to make the job of managing and configuring the games
as easy and as convenient as possible. Managing a floor of 1,000 or 2,000 gaming machines can be a complex task. "There
are lots of variables that have to be considered—the cost per game; size and frequency of the payouts; and the look, feel,
and theme of a game—and we wanted to make this process as intuitive and simple as we could," explains Novotak
The sb Floor Manager system gives casino managers multiple views of information about gaming machines, including a list
view that can be easily filtered, a grid perspective, and most importantly, a two-dimensional map view that complements
the way casino managers think about their gaming operations. The multiple ways to look at casino floor operations makes
it easier for casino managers to make effective decisions about their operations.
The stronger visualizations made possible by Windows Presentation Foundation make sb Floor Manager easier to use and
gives IGT a strong position in the marketplace. "We did a study and found that casino managers thought visually
about their operations. They were very conscious of the locations of the equipment, and we needed to provide a rich
visual solution that would help our customers be comfortable with this new way of managing their floor," Novotak
says.
Designer-Developer Collaboration
IGT worked with an outside firm, Frog Design, to create the UI it needed. It took Frog Design about four months to
analyze customers’ workflows and create a UI that would make sb Floor Manager easy to use, as shown in Figure 1.
sb Floor Manager offers casinos the flexibility to reconfigure their game offerings to better match the mix
of visitors they have at different times. IGT was able to build that flexibility into its new system using Windows
Communication Foundation. Windows Communication Foundation gives sb Floor Manager the ability to efficiently
communicate with a network of gaming machines in real time. "We built the entire system from the ground
up on the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 in C#. All our services use Windows Communication Foundation to communicate
with the game and from the games back to the services and the UI," says Novotak
One of our customers
looked at the UI we designed for this application and said, 'It's what I want my entire desktop to be.' For a UI designer,
that was a pretty strong testimonial.
Andrew Novotak, Lead Software Engineer, International Game Technology
Situation
IGT uses Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server, an integrated collaboration server,
for all source control and project management. "We use an agile process, and Visual Studio Team System Team
Foundation Server strongly supported our development methodology," Novotak says.
Based on the success of the sb Floor Manager project, IGT is now using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 on a
new project. The team is working to integrate sb Floor Manager with two of its other product offerings, a
customer relationship management tool and a transactional system. This would enable casinos to offer discounts
on other property amenities to targeted visitors, directly on the screen of the game they are playing.
Benefits
The future is bright for the IGT approach to networked gaming systems, and technologies from Microsoft help the company
play the winning card. The rich visualizations and efficient communications made possible by the Microsoft .NET Framework
help IGT offer a superior user experience to casino managers working with the company’s new product and, ultimately, to
casino visitors as well.
Rich Visualizations Help Casinos Manage Better
The visualizations in sb Floor Manager follow the user task flow and help casino managers navigate the choices they make
to configure a casino floor for the best possible experience for visitors.
"If you build your UI correctly, you can help improve productivity. An elegantly designed user interaction model is
intuitive and a pleasure to work with. You're more inclined to use it, you're more productive, and you gain more
benefit from it," says Saenz. "sb Floor Manager makes it easy for casinos to deliver the right game to the right
visitor at the right time."
The UI design that IGT and its partners created has already impressed customers. "One of our customers looked at the
UI we designed for this application and said, 'It's what I want my entire desktop to be.' For a UI designer,
that was a pretty strong testimonial," says Novotak.
Improved Experiences for Visitors
Windows Communication Foundation made it easy for IGT to create the connections that link sb Floor Manager with game
machines on the casino floor. In addition, it gives casinos the ability to alter the look and feel of a game, and even
the type of game, without a costly, time-consuming mechanical retrofit.
Casino managers can use sb Floor Manager to change the theme of games on the floor according to seasonal events, changing
the color scheme to red-white-and-blue for the Fourth of July weekend, for example, or even tailoring a theme to a specific
event, such as a large convention. "Our product gives casinos the ability to offer their visitors the best possible
user experience for their visit. That's hard to do if you have to change every game machine with a screwdriver,"
says Saenz.
Stronger Developer, Designer Collaboration
The powerful visualization tools available to developers using Windows Presentation Foundation helped IGT developers work
effectively with designers, which gave sb Floor Manager the best possible experience for casino managers along with a much
faster time-to-market.
An elegantly
designed user interaction model is intuitive and a pleasure to work with. You’re more inclined to use it, you're more
productive, and you gain more benefit from it.
Javier Saenz, VP of sb Product Management, International Game Technology
Frog Design produced all the visuals for the new application in Adobe Illustrator, and it was Novotak's job to convert
all the visual elements into XAML assets that could be used within the application. "We got the final visual elements
in June, and we were able to complete the UI by October, which was a really fast process. We couldn’t have done that with
any other technology," says Novotak.
Now, those XAML files are in the company's resource library. "We can use those resources when we create other
applications within the company's suite of products," says Novotak. "That will be a big help going
forward."
The company has an agreement with MGM Mirage to provide gaming equipment and networked systems for the MGM CityCenter
project, a U.S.$8 billion casino and condominium resort now under construction in Las Vegas, Nevada. The project is scheduled
to open in late 2009. "We have an aggressive schedule with a lot of iterations to meet our deadlines for CityCenter. We couldn't
do that without Visual Studio Team System and Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server," comments Novotak.
