From Idea to Family Trivia App: First Steps & Iterations
A behind-the-scenes look at how a simple family game night idea turned into a real app now in early testing.
The Family Trivia app started with a single spark from the Chris Koerner YouTube channel. He tossed out a simple idea: use AI to generate trivia questions for a quick family game night. That little suggestion stuck with me.
I opened ChatGPT and tried it that night with my daughter. We picked a topic, asked for questions, and kept score. It was instantly fun, and it felt like we had discovered a new way to play together.
A few sessions in, the rough edges showed up. I had to repeat the same instructions, the flow kept breaking, and it felt more like chatting with a bot than playing a game. That's when the idea shifted from “this is fun” to “this should be an app.”
The First Steps: A Simple MVP
I decided to build a first version of the Family Trivia app as a lightweight MVP (minimum viable product). The goal was to capture the best parts of our ChatGPT sessions and turn them into a smoother, repeatable experience.
What the MVP focused on
- Letting us pick topics and difficulty in a simple flow.
- Generating fresh trivia questions without re-prompting.
- Tracking scores so game night felt more like a real game.
- Keeping everything fast and kid-friendly.
I tested that very first version with my daughter again. It already felt smoother than chatting with a bot. That small win was enough to keep going.
Iteration by Iteration: Making It Better
Like most app stories, Family Trivia improved through iteration. Each play session revealed little things that could be better—faster setup, clearer instructions, and smoother transitions between questions.
One of the biggest improvements came from prompt engineering. I tuned the prompts and tested different models so the questions felt sharper, more age-appropriate, and consistent. We added checks to ensure every topic and question stays kid-friendly and safe before it reaches families.
Version 1 → Version 2
After the first version, I refined the flow and made the game feel more like a dedicated trivia app rather than a repackaged chatbot session. Each iteration focused on simplifying the experience for families.
From “fun idea” to “real product”
Once the experience felt polished enough for my own family game nights, I knew it was time to expand beyond just us. That meant real app store accounts and real testers.
From Idea to Real App Testing
To share the app with more families, I registered developer accounts for both the Apple App Store and Google Play. The app is now available for early testing on both platforms. It's not public yet, but testers can already download and play.
This stage is all about collecting high-level feedback: what feels intuitive, what confuses people, and which features matter most. Early testing helps make the next iteration even stronger before the public release.
Want to Test the App for Free?
If you're interested, join the testing group, install the app, and play while it's completely free. Your feedback will help shape the public launch.
Thanks for being part of the early community!
What's Next?
The next step is to gather the first wave of reviews and incorporate what matters most to families. That feedback will guide the final polish before the public release.
If you'd like to be part of the story from the very beginning, join the testing group and let us know how Family Trivia fits into your game nights.