Netflix has already experimented in recent times with the interactive fiction format, in which the user’s decisions determine the course of the frame. He did it first with his special chapter of ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’, and later with the series ‘Cat Burglar’ and ‘You vs. Wild: Out Cold’. However, the latest news from him on the matter is something different.
And they just announced the premiere in a few weeks of ‘Trivia Quest’, the adaptation of the mobile game ‘Trivia Crack’. The name probably doesn’t ring a bell to you, but what about if I tell you that said game came to Spain with the name of ‘Asked’from the hand of the Argentine company Etermax (the creators of ‘Apalabrados’ and ‘Adivinados’)?
Netflix has changed its usual premiere format
The difference in format has also encouraged Netflix to consider a premiere schedule different from other of his productions: from April 1 (they have had to clarify that no, it’s not an April Fools’ joke), the streaming platform will premiere one episode each day for a month, until completing the 30-episode season.
Andy Weil, vice president of Netflix, defines it as a “new experience” for which the company has put a team of 40 developers, animators, screenwriters and engineers to work.
Throughout the game/series, users “They will embark on a mission to rescue the animated citizens of Trivia Land”playing Willy against Evil Rocky, the villain who keeps his friends kidnapped (and who appears in the trailer accompanied by the Demogorgon from ‘Stranger Things’).
The users they will be able to continue playing even if they answer incorrectly, and they will have the opportunity to redo the questions and try again. You can play a new episode every day or play them one after the other when several have already been released, as you prefer.
Each of them episodes will consist of 24 trivia questions with two levels of difficulty and several thematic categories: As with Trivia Crack, the player/viewer will be faced with questions about science, geography, history, art, entertainment, and sports.
‘Trivia Quest’ will be available on most Netflix compatible devices, including smart TVs, PC and Mac browsers, Android and iOS devices, game consoles, etc. Some devices are not currently compatible: in the list we find Apple TV, Tesla touch screens, some Chromecast models, browsers that use Silverlight and the Netflix app on Windows.
Andy Weil, vice president of interactivity and comedy at Netflix, stated that it was his own experience playing trivia in bars that encouraged him to launch this production, which he defines as “a new experience, particularly for streaming TV“.
“It shares DNA with board games and game shows,” Weil says, but notes that Regarding this last format, Netflix offers something new: “you are no longer a passive spectator yelling at the television, you are participating in the program”.