Developing new markets with UI/UX born from game development thinking. The idea behind the blockbuster educational app “RoiLoNote” created by a former game programmer [CEDEC 2024]

On August 21, 2024, a session “Wisdom in game development blossoms with educational apps” was held at the game developer conference “CEDEC 2024”.

In this session, LoiLo CEO Koji Sugiyama leveraged his skills and experience in game development to introduce the company's educational app "LoiLo Note School" , and how it was developed and operated. It was done.

“RoiLo Note” connects teachers and children/students in both directions

"LoiLoNote School" (hereinafter referred to as "LoiLoNote") developed by LoiLo is an educational app that is currently installed in approximately 40% of schools in Japan. The educational world seems to be in the midst of a trend, with Daily Active Users (DAU) expected to reach 2.6 million by July 2024. According to Mr. Sugiyama, the reason LoiLo Note attracted attention was the ``GIGA School Concept'' proposed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2019.
This initiative is an initiative to provide one PC (or other) terminal and high-speed network for each child/student nationwide, and from 2019 onwards, schools in Japan will have terminals for children/students to use in class. It has been gradually introduced.

In line with this, LoiLonaut's DAU has increased rapidly from 2020 to 2021, and the number is still increasing.




LoiLoNote allows for interactive exchanges via the network, such as children/students submitting assignments, and teachers correcting and returning collected assignments. In addition, teachers can distribute videos and PDF materials, students can collaborate with each other to respond, and it can also be used creatively by editing photos, videos, audio, etc.

However, according to Mr. Sugiyama, in most cases it is used simply as a tool for teachers to collect homework from students, correct it, and return it, and this has become a major issue within the company. .

At the beginning of the session, the audience had the opportunity to submit assignments using LoiLoNote and answer surveys using the new game mode

Background to the development of LoiLo Note

When Mr. Sugiyama was a university student, he and his older brother, who was majoring in the film department, used to make videos as a hobby. This was in the early 2000s, and at the time he was working on a low-spec PC that was incomparable to current machines. Even today, video editing requires a fairly high-spec PC, so he said, ``It was slow and heavy, so I didn't want to do it.''

One day, Mr. Sugiyama realized that games operate using almost the same process as video editing . Even though the processing is supposed to be the same, why does the game move in real time and why is video editing so heavy? This is because while games are GPU-based, video editing is mostly CPU-based. So Mr. Sugiyama apparently thought, ``Maybe if we created GPU-based video editing software, we could edit videos in real time.''

When I tried making my own GPU-based video editing software, I was able to create what I was aiming for. Believing that it would be possible to edit videos in real time, meaning that anyone could create videos, Mr. Sugiyama collaborated with his brother on the theme of ``Developing non-rendering video software 'Ekou' to realize 100 million broadcasters.'' In 2006, I applied to the Unexplored Software Creation Project (at that time) and was successfully selected. Mr. Sugiyama and his colleagues were selected for the Unexplored Software Creation Project, and decided to create a new video editing software. However, even if you can edit videos in real time, if the UI is the same as the existing Premier, the hurdle will not be lowered to the point where anyone can use it. Mr. Sugiyama was worried about what kind of UI he should use, but the clue came from the RTS he was playing at the time.
In that RTS, when the camera was zoomed in on the unit, a 3D model was displayed, and when zoomed out, a 2D icon was displayed.

After seeing this, Mr. Sugiyama said that since data such as videos is a very abstract concept that the general public does not understand well, he said, He thought, ``Maybe it would be easier to understand if we showed it as something we have.''

Development of the UI that would become LoiLoNote's predecessor began, and in 2008, ``Super LoiLoScope'' was released. At the time, there weren't many cases where GPUs were used for general-purpose processing, and the UI was also inspired by games, so he said, ``It's a software that was heavily inspired by games.''


When Super LoiLoScope was being developed, he also talked about how a mentor pointed out to him, ``Software is an experience product, so experienced users won't switch to something else'' and ``compatibility with competing products must be the most important thing.'' It was done. In short, they were told that unless the UI was compatible with existing software, they wouldn't be able to use it in the first place.

Mr. Sugiyama agrees, ``Actually, that statement is correct,'' but points out, ``However, that only applies to people who can master Premier and FinalCut Pro.'' Moreover, there are surprisingly few people who can master these existing software. Therefore, we came to the conclusion that more attention should be paid to people who wanted to edit videos but were not able to use the software properly.




In fact, it is said that the general public's PC literacy is much lower than people who use PCs on a daily basis would imagine.

Mr. Sugiyama also pointed out that in the International Adult Skills Survey conducted by the OECD in 2011, 8% of Japanese people had level 3 (maximum level) "problem-solving skills using IT" (compared to 5% on average for OECD member countries). "There are actually very few people who can use a PC," he said. The content of Level 3 of the same skill is that ``you can transcribe applications received by email into an Excel spreadsheet.''

Mr. Sugiyama says that there are many people who are interested in PCs but have given up on PCs because they find the tools difficult to use, but the smartphone has successfully captured that interest. In fact, it is not uncommon for people, with the exception of the elderly, to be able to use a smartphone or tablet even though they cannot use a PC.

Mr. Sugiyama argues that the most important reason why smartphones have become so popular among the general public is ``intuitiveness.''

As an example, Mr. Sugiyama's child was already able to use a tablet to watch YouTube videos when he was 1 year and 5 months old. This proves that the smartphone touch UI is so intuitive that anyone can use it.

On the other hand, it seems that the child, who is now 4 years old, is not yet able to use a PC mouse or game console controller. Sugiyama says, ``As you use tools, they can become like extensions of your own body, but it takes practice to get to that point.As a result, they are difficult to handle.''

Even with LoiLoNote, teachers sometimes say, ``I finally learned how to operate a PC, so why do I have to learn new things again?''

However, the app was proposed as a tool that could be used in a different way from a PC perspective. Mr. Sugiyama also said that his analysis was based on the assumption that people who actually used the product would say it was ``easy to use.''

It was explained that the way of thinking up to this point has been influenced by the marketing theory of Junichiro Koyama, also known as ``Chief Koya'' of the former BANDAI NAMCO Research Institute. Mr. Sugiyama cited smartphones and LoiLo notebooks as things that fit the concept that he learned from Mr. Koyama: ``Hit products = new market development products.'' It matched well and was a hit.''

Mr. Sugiyama worked on the development of "Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Bonds" under Mr. Koyama

It was also mentioned that in game development, the pursuit of controls and UI that makes the game feel comfortable, but in general software development, this is not given much importance.

For example, it can be said that new features are being added to Office and Photoshop all the time, but they never become easier to use. Everyone seems to have many ideas about this, regardless of the tool.

Also, this situation is related to the aforementioned ``software is an experience product.'' In other words, for people who are familiar with the software, the operations that they have learned once are the easiest to use, and the operations that they have to learn anew are difficult to use.
Mr. Sugiyama also said that since LoiLo Note was a huge hit, it would be difficult to make changes to the UI in the future.

At the end of the session, Mr. Sugiyama reiterated that creating an intuitive and pleasant UI/UX is a given in game development.
On the other hand, he says that existing companies, including GAFAM, are weak at cultivating new markets because they focus on functionality and are tied to existing users. He concluded his lecture by saying, ``That's when I can make new proposals.'' That's when my experience in game development comes into play.

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