Danny Godin

Procedurally generated true or false question. I designed and prototyped the system, then wrote the database and questions. The main challenge of these questions was akin to a Turing Test: making them sound like actual true or false claims, instead of computer-generated ones. Obviously, this depended highly on the fields used in the question and the popularity of the subjects discussed. We then created a dynamic challenge rating, which piggybacked onto the rubberbanding of question difficulty throughout the game, to use the unnatural association of data to our advantage. The result is that the more familiar or unique the data is, the easier the system rated the question, whereas the more obscure or common place the data is, the harder the procedural question is rated. Picture from IGN.com

Image questions On top of minigames, we also added picture questions that would appear in the middle of a round. The goal of those questions was to break the monotony of the normal question list but also to provide a different type of data for the players to deal with. Those questions also enabled us to create image-based minigames in which you could reveal small parts of the images with your wiimote pointers (as if it was a flashlight). Contrarily to most questions, which were bought externally, I wrote the image questions myself. Picture from Wiiloveit.com

Last Mii Standing Gameplay. In this game mode, every time a player answered wrong they were taken out of the game, until only one remained. This was meant to be the faster game mode for players who had a limited amount of time to play the game. Of course, TVSKII featured many different categories and not all players are knowledgeable about all fields of interest. It then became tempting to blame the game's algorithm for success and failures, which reduced the tension of answering the questions right, and therefore the fun of the game. To keep players in the game and provide them with more agency on their success, we added a skip question mechanic: if a player did not know the answer to a question, they could click on the crown on their respective podium to skip the question without penalty. Picture from IGN.com

The end scene of all Classic mode matches. Although players could use their own Mii, we wanted to provide them with the possibility to express their interests through the shape of their Mii's podium. With the planned online play, this could be used to warn other players of their level of expertise and best categories. We started by creating podiums that were related to the categories and that had a sense of progression (starting with a less attractive podium and gaining better podiums as we played). After playtesting it, we decided that players preferred using the cutest podiums and liked changing the podiums every game. We then opted for a simpler approach, providing more choices and using the podium unlocks as rewards for playing. Now, players unlock a new podium at the end of each match. Picture from Wiiloveit.com