Trivia Murder Party 3 - Dev Diary #2

The Trivia Murder Party 3 team is hard at work making a new trivia party game full of minigames, new and old. They definitely are NOT trying to escape a murder sleepaway-camp run by a disembodied voice with daddy issues. Ahem. Where were we?

Ah yes, minigames! Trivia Murder Party has always been a beautiful yin and yang of trivia and minigames. The great fun of Trivia Murder Party is that you still might win, even if trivia isn’t your strong suit.

Designing Trivia Murder Party 3 gave our team the unique opportunity to revisit and reimagine minigames from the first two installments, deciding which ones to bring back and how to evolve them. At the same time, moving to Unreal opened the door to entirely new concepts as well, allowing us to push the boundaries of what a Trivia Murder Party minigame could be.Working in a new engine allowed the team to think outside of what was possible before.

We spoke to the team on an all new minigame coming to Trivia Murder Party 3.

Can you tease an upcoming new minigame? What’s the premise and how does it work?

One of the new games we’re working on is called Archery. Vulnerable players must place themselves on an archery target and safe players aim and shoot at them. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

Where did the idea for “Archery” come from?

Once we locked down the camp setting, this was one of the first new ideas we greenlit. It checked a lot of boxes for us: it fit the theme well, it allowed safe players to knock out vulnerable players, and it gave us an opportunity to do something new and interesting with the controller. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

What challenges did you have to overcome while designing this minigame?

The biggest challenge that arose was figuring out how the aiming and shooting mechanic should work. We initially tested a timing-based mechanic where you had to intersect two fast moving lines. Our first stab at this proved to be too difficult. Playtesters were consistently missing the mark, which was not the intent. We want something that is challenging but certainly not impossible. After dialing the speed of the lines down, it improved some but it still wasn’t yielding great results.

Then, our Lead Designer, Joe France, had a better solution. He designed the mechanic to mimic what it’s like to shoot a bow and arrow. You press and drag to aim and then release to shoot. The catch? The longer you spend aiming, the more your reticle starts to wander. Tired arms make for bad shots. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

This better control scheme unlocked a lot of design space, too. With intersecting lines, we could only define how fast each line should scan its way across your device. Now, we can tune in how much your reticle will naturally sway, how long it takes for fatigue to set in, and how much force you need to drag to meaningfully guide the reticle around. If you think you’re getting the hang of it, well…. don’t get too comfortable! - Ryan McGill, Infra Engineer

Did the minigame look very different when you first started making it up until now?

In addition to changing the mechanic, we also initially tested it taking place inside a cabin, believe it or not. This game now takes place outside. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

How are you incorporating fan favorite minigames into the new Trivia Murder Party 3 while still making them feel fresh and well integrated with the new title?

We know what some of our fans’ favorite games are from a survey we sent out last year. We use that info in helping shape some of our decisions into what games are coming back into Trivia Murder Party 3. Many of the returning games have fresh new twists applied to them in addition to fun new aesthetics in this 3D space. But just like from Trivia Murder Party to Trivia Murder Party 2, we are going to introduce a majority of new games. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

How do you make sure minigames are well balanced and fun before the audience gets to play?

We playtest our games constantly. Even when a game is playtesting well and receiving positive feedback, making tweaks to timing and controls and presentation has enabled us to explore other opportunities. We're not always pursuing the first concept we land on, even if it gets good feedback. Always seeking ways to improve and learn why some things are working, some aren’t. - Sydney Hunt, Game Product Manager

Are there any fun or silly minigame ideas that got pitched but could never make it to production? Why?

Do we have a lot of dumb ideas documented somewhere? Absolutely. Some of them are wonderfully dumb but are either out of scope or not technically feasible. But I wouldn’t say “never” as I’ve learned over the years that if enough people love an idea, we usually find ways to make it work. - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

Which of [REDACTED]’s minigames do you think you could survive irl? 👀

Dictation. Not to brag, but I beat my high school typing instructor in a typing challenge. Again, not a flex (but I won pretty easily). - Spencer Ham, Senior Creative Director

Math! I’m positive. How many numbers could there possibly be?! - Ryan McGill, Infra Engineer

Trivia Murder Party 3 is set to release in early access in 2026. Wishlist now so you don’t miss when it drops!