New brand "Replug Kids" for "Koropyuta
Editor: What were some of the difficulties you faced in developing the game?
Nagashima: Because there are both digital and analog aspects to a single product, it took a lot of time to develop. It was difficult to adjust the quality and price of the RFID tags used in the blocks, and we cut the wooden blocks ourselves and made them by hand one by one. The appearance of the prototype is almost unchanged, but there are countless small adjustments. For example, when we increased the thickness of the bottom of the wooden block, the RFID tag didn't read properly, so we had to cut the block out by hand to put it back together again: .......
Editor:So you had to go through a lot of trouble in the details to fuse digital and analog.
Enthusiastic play naturally brings out children's creativity and abilities.
Editor: What are the impressions of children and their parents who have actually played with Koropyuta?
Yokota: We exhibited an early prototype of Koropyuta at an exhibition called Maker Faire Tokyo2018 in August 2018. This was a little larger than the current one, but the shape and the mechanism for playing are the same. Children and parents who came to the exhibition were able to play with it. First of all, the children really get into it. Anyway, they seemed to enjoy rolling the blocks on the slope, and they played with it endlessly. They were also very enthusiastic about cleaning up the case where the blocks are put away, which has letters written in the hollows.
Nagashima: At Maker Faire Tokyo 2018, we presented another digital toy, but Koropyuta was by far the most popular. Even when we told the children that this toy was available, they kept waiting in line for Koropyuta. There were no children who got bored during the game.
A child playing with "Koropyuta
Yokota: The rolling of Koropyuta is a particular area where we made a lot of improvements. We made prototypes by calculating the angle of inclination, the speed at which it rolls, and how smooth it is over and over again. This is because it's important for children to be able to play instinctively and intuitively. Another impression we received was that parents really appreciated the fact that the toy was made of wood. Many of these toys with digital elements are made of plastic, so they were attracted to the fact that they were made of wood, which has a pleasant feel to it. Parents who are particular about their lifestyles also wanted to keep the toy in their living rooms, as the natural color and warmth of wood fit comfortably into their living spaces.
