Cartoon Network’s comedy series, Mighty Magiswords, has been renewed for a second season and it’s ready to engage its viewers both on screen and on mobile. The show is about a pair of siblings named Prohyas and Vambre who are “Warriors for Hire” and embark on quests using humorous weapons called magiswords. For example, the Lazer Pointer Magisword (as its name indicates) works as a giant laser pointer, which attracts a horde of cats to attack a target.

Created by Kyle A. Carrozza (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water), Mighty Magiswords premiered last September and quickly became a number one hit among the 6-11-year-old key boy demographic. Its success may be credited in part to the MagiMobile companion app, which lets viewers collect magiswords of their own using automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to recognize content as they watch an episode. MagiMobile users can also play mini games, explore the land of Lyvsheria, win trophies, and meet characters from the show.

Now the show has stepped up its viewer engagement with Surely You Quest, a free-to-play role-playing game that launched for mobile devices last week. With it, players can use and upgrade their magisword collections to compete in challenges, collect new magiswords while watching the show, and even earn exclusive magiswords.

Chris Waldron, vice president for games and digital products at Cartoon Network talked to [a]listdaily about the launch of the new game, the first of several, and what it takes to engage with today’s young audience.

Chris Waldron, vice president for games and digital products at Cartoon Network
Chris Waldron, vice president for games and digital products at Cartoon Network

What inspired the development of a mobile game on top of having a companion app for the show?

From the beginning, we intended for MagiMobile to be a very entertaining utility app focused on collecting magiswords. The core features of this app were to be collecting via ACR and browsing your collection. We added other features to make it even more fun, but those were the two primary features.

However, we also knew that kids and fans would want more robust gaming experiences that allowed them to play with their magiswords. And, as with most of our shows, we plan to build several games in this universe—games that wouldn’t fit inside of the MagiMobile app. Surely You Quest is the first such game where fans can take the magiswords they’ve collected in their MagiMobile and play a much deeper game than can fit inside of MagiMobile.

What is the Surely You Quest game experience like?

Surely You Quest is an idle RPG where players use magiswords to help the series’ main characters, Vambre and Prohyas, defeat enemies and win Princess Zange’s adventuring tournament. Players can collect and upgrade magiswords in MagiMobile, then use a selection of those magiswords for gameplay in Surely You Quest. The gameplay uses a tap mechanic, and there is some strategy involved when selecting the right magisword for each battle.

Can you explain how the show, the MagiMobile app, and Surely You Quest are all connected?

Both the MagiMobile app and Surey You Quest use automatic content recognition. When watching an episode of Mighty Magiswords, viewers can open either app, tap the “collect” button, and the apps will “listen” to and identify the episode the viewers are watching. The users will then receive a magisword that appears in that episode and it will be added to their collection.

Additionally, in both MagiMobile and Surely You Quest, users will be able to collect other magiswords and upgrade them by completing quests, watching short cartoons, and other gameplay. Once the users have collected a magisword in either app, that magisword is automatically added to their collection.

If that’s not enough, users with the largest and most upgraded collection of magiswords will get bigger bonuses as they play Surely You Quest.

Each experience links together to form a fully engaged ecosystem.

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Will Surely You Quest features crossovers with events from the show?

Yes. There will be times in the game where players will benefit from having magiswords that are available to collect only during specific on-air events. Cartoon Network also hosts special programming like 12 Days of Magiswords, a block that aired last December. During that initiative, every show on-air, no matter the series, allowed viewers to collect a new magisword.

What is the key to keeping a 6-11-year-old demographic engaged with an animated show?

We have found that this generation of kids (Plurals; Generation Z) demand choice and control, so content creators need to develop immersive, interactive experiences that empower kids to access great entertainment wherever and whenever. Mighty Magiswords consists of more than 400 pieces of premier content housed on linear television, online, YouTube and in mobile apps, allowing kids to become fans at every touch point.