Update: 2 weeks left to back QuizWitz!

We had a blast! Last Tuesday, we organized our first QuizWitz @ Backstay event. We had a full house and everyone enjoyed themselves a lot! It’s a live quiz event for which we adapted our QuizWitz technology so it can be played in teams of 4 players. Each team plays with 1 device as their controller. After the host reads out the long question out loud, the short version is shown on a main screen and the timer starts running. Good luck!

You can find the photos on our Facebook page!

We received great feedback and have already announced our next events. They will be held in Ghent: QuizWitz @ Backstay and in Antwerp: QuizWitz @ Via Via Reiscafé!

You’ll have to register your team upfront and bring at least one device. Time to start training your brain beforehand on QuizWitz.com! Don’t forget about our crowdfunding campaign if you wish to help the QuizWitz developers out at QuizWitz.com/ambassador!

Any thoughts or comments? Be sure to leave them in the whiskers box below, or on Facebook or Twitter!

 

The community grows!

Dear lab catz

There’s already 51 of us, which means we’re becoming a community! Even more reasons to reach out to friends and invite them. The more the merrier!

  • Current status: 31% with 51 backers
  • To collect: 69%

Last weekend, over 300 people played QuizWitz at GameForce, which is a fun games-oriënted convention in Antwerp! We took a lot of pictures and some great people even pledged right then and there. Incredible!

Later this week, Digitally Downloaded published an article about the Belgian games industry and QuizWitz was in there too! Be sure to read it!

Today, Friday, was another big day for Ken. He presented QuizWitz and its story to high school kids from the sixth year! It was a different experience, making him miss school just for a second there. Thank you IMinds for the opportunity!

Keep an eye on our Facebook page, as news about one of our next events will come soon!

 

12% in under 24 hours!

Dear lab cats

We’re not talking about the loading time of our game, but about our crowdfunding campaingn! So far so good, and a big thank you to everyone who visited us at our launch event yesterday evening!

Crowdfunding and rewards

The past few weeks, we have been working hard on our campaign. From writing the texts to preparing the rewards and filming our little video. Our first time before a camera was a little bit stressful, but we’re very happy with the result!

We started this campaign because now that we’re in beta, we want to continue developing our game. That means getting rid of bugs, adding new features and game round types, and translating to different languages. In our minds, everyone should be able to play our game and enjoy it equally!

You can join the development here: https://www.ulule.com/quizwitz/

For the rewards, we tried to add even more quiz fun! We’ve added account codes for the game and Steam keys, but also a pack of QuizWitz playing cards and tickets to a huge live event we’re going to organize in March 2016! This event will bring party games and the classical way of quizzing in a team together. We’ll add a host, spotlights and prices!

The event

This event was not unlike the feedback evening we organized in the summer. We got together, opened a bottle of wine and played some QuizWitz rounds. This time around, we had 18 visitors! Thanks to the dedication of these people, we’re already at 12% and rising quickly! So join us quickly to get your hands on the early birds rewards!

QuizWitz Twitter bot and an interview with our developer

Dear lab cats

We have a new tool for you, a Twitter tool!

Yes, you can now play QuizWitz in the comfort of your own Twitter profile. How does it work, you ask? Well, you follow @Ted_Witz, wait for a game to start and answer by either typing the full answer in a reply, or by replying a, b, c or d.

Your answer will be registered by the bot and after a certain amount of time we choose, or you resuest, @Ted_Witz posts the results on Twitter. At the end of a round, the bot will pick a definite winner and who knows, Ted might praise you for your hard work!

The interview


You’re the founder and lead developer at CatLab, that much we know. But how did you come up with the first idea for QuizWitz?

It kind of started with me looking for a game that I could play with my friends. We had already played Scene It until we knew all questions, and even bought the extra questions pack. But after that it was over. There wasn’t any new content to discover.

So how did you get into programming. Did you study it? Did you just start doing it one day?

I think I wrote one of my first games in QBasic on a computer someone got rid of. I think I must have been about ten years old then. After high school I studied applied computer engineering in Ghent. I worked for a couple of years at different companies, and now I’m here.

Do you follow any blogs or sites to keep up with the changes in your industry?

Mostly The Next Web and Dutch site and forum Tweakers. As for games, I try to stay up to date with the Humble Bundles and I’m part of various Facebook groups about indie game development.

Are there any people in the field that inspire you?

Most people that inspire me are total assholes, so I try to only follow them to a certain degree. And answering this of course stops me from mentioning any names. *grins*

You created the bot which allows users to play QuizWitz on Twitter. Can you tell us how you developed this?

The QuizWitz bots was written as a plugin for the QuizWitz game client. We’ve been working hard on making our software moddable, and this Twitter client is the perfect example of this. The Twitter bot will also be available as a standard module, including source code, so people will be able to set up their own QuizWitz bot or to expand upon its functionalities.

Do you have any extra tips or tricks for the people reading this post?

Keep going, I guess? Getting games to the market is no easy deal, but you should at least try, right?

@Ted_Witz Twitter bot screenshots

In this last question, two players that answered a previous question in the round, didn’t answer this particular question. The bot still considers them contestants and awards them 0 points. Neat, isn’t it? So, what do you think of our bot? Would you play against your Twitter friends? let us know in the whiskers box below, or immediately request a round on Twitter via @Ted_Witz!

Interview with our designer about the new QuizWitz website

Dear lab cats

This week’s development post will be about our new website and our designer Katia. We thought it was about time we introduced the people in our team a little bit more. At the same time, you might learn something from the way she works. This post will be a little interview with questions about her work at CatLab and her interests.

The Website

Our new website will approach different people in their unique way.  We created different content for different audiences. A quiz creator will search in a different way than a party quizzer. Someone who loves to play online and talk to people in the community on the other hand, will look for even different terms. We added screenshots at the end of the post if you’re interested, you can also visit them here:

The Interview

First things first though. Here’s our little interview with the designer of the QuizWitz community and website. Do note though that the party game itself was designed by a freelancer before we even knew Katia!

So, what do you actually do for CatLab?

At Catlab I have a varied job. Last year I created the designs for the Catlab-website, QuizWitz-website and QuizWitz community network. I also developed those first two websites. Besides that I’m a helping hand in the front-end development of the game and the social platform.
Furthermore I like to do some social media management so I started the FanFacts-tweets.

What do you study now?

At the moment I study Devine at Howest University College in Kortrijk. Devine is a contraction of design and development so the degree is divided in those 2 parts.
I’m going to my second year where I will learn more about Javascript frameworks, 3D Motion Graphics, API’s, …so I’m very excited to start the new academic year.

How do you keep up with the industry? Are there any blogs or sites you follow regularly?

I follow a few inspiring people on Twitter which helps you to stay up to date. I also like to check inspirational projects on Behance and Codrops. Next to that, I follow some inspiring Facebookpages like CSS Design Awards , creativeBloQ , you the designer and many more.

Could you walk us through the steps you follow when you create a website?

First I like to brainstorm about the content of the website and how to visualize it. In this stage I like to browse through Behance, Pinterest, awwwards.com and cssdesignaward.com
When I’ve got some nice ideas I start sketching and wireframing. After that, when I’m happy with some sketches I start the digital design in Illustrator. At that moment I also brainstorm about some nice effects and I keep good UX in mind.
When the digital design is finished and I got some feedback from third parties, I start with the front-end development.
In the last stage I add some animations and try to test the website as well as possible on a lot of different devices.

Do you look up to any inspiring people in the field?

There are some people I keep an eye on, but it changes because I’m still learning and exploring my way of working. It also depends on the fields they are active in.

Photography

Branding

Webdesign

Illustration/Character design

Can you think of any tips and tricks that might help other people too?

Take your time to get a good result. Relax from time to time and start over when you’re not 100% convinced.
It’s harder to change your design and code afterwards than to start from a strong, well-considered idea.

Screenshots of the new website!