[Personal Development] I am releasing a free educational game called "Mushi-zan" (Bug Math) that helps bug-loving children enjoy learning arithmetic.

Hello, I am Mamoru Memeto.

Today is the first of May. Exactly one month has passed since I resigned from my company.

On this day one month ago, I released "Masterpiece Collection Hall", and since then, I have been secretly challenging myself to post every day. I managed to achieve it, and I am quietly overwhelmed with emotion.

I will mark this as a milestone for now and return to my original pace.
Starting secretly and ending secretly. It was a modest challenge, if I do say so myself (laughs).

At this turning point, following the "Collection Hall Series" and "FIRE COMPASS", I am releasing a new web service.

"Mushi-zan | An educational game where bug-loving kids learn to love math".

※It is available for free.

Collect bugs, raise them, and solve math problems to complete your encyclopedia.

I would be very happy if those of you with elementary school children nearby could play it.

The inspiration: Summer bug catching and math worksheets

This is a story from when my son was doing correspondence math education.

We were doing a little bit of advanced learning, and it was the period when my son, who was in his final year of kindergarten at the time, was working on addition.

It was always my wife's role to oversee his homework, and that was the case on one summer day as well.

It was sunny outside, and my son was restless, saying, "I want to catch bugs."
Then my wife handed him a worksheet, saying, "Let's just do one."

He wasn't particularly resistant, nor was he crying.
He just sat at the desk and held his pencil, somewhat aimlessly.

Isn't that a common scene in every household? (laughs)

Observing my son like that, I felt like his emotions weren't engaged.
That expression had been bothering me for a long time.

My son loves bugs.
Beetles, stag beetles, pill bugs.

He also loves games, and his eyes sparkle every time he pulls a gacha on my wife's smartphone.

His face when facing a math worksheet versus his face when facing bugs or a gacha.
Why are they so different?

“Couldn't I combine bugs, math, and gacha?”

That was my flash of inspiration. What if I made the gacha the goal and math the means to get there? I'll start by luring him with bugs (laughs).

That was the spark that led me to start building this service.

Instead of "making them study," I wanted to "let them play."

The blank look on my son's face that day. That was the starting point for why I decided to create this service.

The thing I was most careful about in designing Mushi-zan was
not making it feel like studying.

You earn points when you answer math problems correctly.
Collect 30 points to pull an egg gacha once.
Raise the eggs you get from the gacha, and the bugs will be added to your encyclopedia.

Math is woven into that process.

The game is the goal, and math is the means to achieve it.
I designed it with that order in mind.

Rather than just adding features to make learning fun, it is a state where learning is embedded within the game mechanics. I believe that difference is directly linked to whether or not they can keep playing.

100 types of bugs and appropriate difficulty levels

There are 100 types of bugs in total, categorized into four rarities: N, R, SR, and SSR.

They range from familiar bugs like ants and grasshoppers to legendary creatures like the Hercules beetle and the Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly.

The encyclopedia also includes ecological information, and you can check real-world details via links to Wikipedia.

The math difficulty levels range from first grade to upper elementary school.
The level goes up if you answer 5 questions correctly in a row, and goes down if you get 3 questions wrong in a row.

"It's a bit difficult, but I can solve it if I try."

I believe that perfect level of tension is directly linked to the motivation to keep going.

Completely free. No ads. No in-app purchases.

I removed everything that usually makes me go Hmm... when my child plays games (laughs).

There are no in-app purchases or paid elements. There are absolutely no ads or external tracking tools. I do not collect any personal information. Nicknames are saved only on your device.

Because it is a game for children, I did not want to compromise on safety and peace of mind.

Why I am offering it for free

I'll be honest. Just like the web services I've released in the past, I didn't intend to release this for free at first (laughs).

I had planned to sell it after starting my business, and I built it with that in mind.

I could have made part of it free for children and charged for the rest as additional content, or sold it as a paid app on the app store from the start. There were plenty of ways to do it if I thought about it.

However, as I continued to write on note, my way of thinking changed.

Creating a moment where the actions or perspectives of those who read my work change just a little bit.

When I defined that as the added value I could provide through my note, I realized that delivering this service for free right now was not contradictory at all.

For the moments that make me glad I made it

When I made "Masterpiece Collection Hall", my wife muttered, "Oh, I might like this." That one sentence turned all the hardships of development into a reward.

This time, too, my son played the demo and solved math problems with his eyes sparkling. He was like a different person from that day. That alone is enough for now (laughs).

I want this to reach moms and dads who are struggling in the same way. While a release on the app store is undecided due to cost considerations, you can play it right away from your browser.

The memory of thinking that studying is fun will surely last forever. If Mushi-zan can become one of those memories, there is nothing that would make me happier.

👇️ I have written more details about the development here. Please continue reading if you'd like.

Mushi-zan | An educational game that helps bug-loving kids love math

🔗 (Recommended) Read the instructions and play.

🔗 Play immediately without reading the instructions.

How to use

You can play directly from the browser on your smartphone, tablet, or PC. Installation is not required.
No installation required.

If you add it to your home screen, you can launch it easily just like an app.

[Operating Environment] iPhone / iPad: Safari (recommended) Android: Chrome (recommended) PC: Chrome / Safari / Edge (latest version)
* Internet Explorer is not supported.
* On PWA-compatible browsers, you can add it to your home screen and use it as an app.

If you feel that this was "good," it would encourage me if you could press the "Like" button at the end.

With that, I hope you have a great Golden Week.

I also plan to head to my wife's parents' home starting tonight and stay until the 6th.
It's a long, four-hour drive (lol).

Since I have the chance, I would like to spend some time away from my daily routine of typing away on Note every day.