TAKARA TOMY A.R.T.S Inc. and syn Sophia Inc. - Waccha Primagi!

-- Tell us about the Pretty Series.

The Pretty Series will be a TV series based on an amusement game for kids jointly developed by TAKARA TOMY A.R.T.S Inc. and Shin syn Sophia Inc.

In April 2011, the TV animation "Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream" was broadcast, followed by "Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future" and "Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live".
It was broadcast for three years. After that, the world view was changed and "Pripara" and "Idol Time Pripara" were broadcast for four years. Kilatto Pri☆Chan" was broadcast for three years.
During those 10 years, the series took many different forms, but through its consistent concept of "cheering up everyone's dreams," it gained popularity mainly among elementary school students nationwide.

As a game, it has been developed before the start of the anime, starting with the release of "Pretty Rhythm" in July 2010.
At first, there was no online functionality, but communication functionality was introduced with "Idol Time Prettypara.

―― Waccha Primagi! Tell us about

The anime broadcast began on Sunday, October 3, 2021 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Pretty Series anime. This is an animation work co-produced by Tatsunoko Productions and DONGWOO with a world view that combines the "song," "dance," and "fashion" that the Pretty Series has always valued with the new "magic" that children have always dreamed of. The series will be directed by Kosuke Kobayashi, who has been involved in the production of the series for 10 years, and the series will be composed by Fumi Tsubota.
In conjunction with the anime, on October 1, 2021 (Thursday), "Waccha Primagi! has begun operation.

Waccha Primagi! The "Primagi Card" which are magic cards distributed from the "Primagi Card" case, are made of a clear material with a magical motif and printed like stained glass, expressing a beauty and transparency never before seen in the market.

When these Primagi cards are placed on the stand of the cabinet, the cards light up in conjunction with the game screen, and the codecs pop out and change with the power of magic. The rhythm game then follows, and the user can enjoy the experience of using magic through the production effects that occur when using the buttons and touching the screen and cards.

Furthermore, in conjunction with the game, the illumination on the side of the screen glows in seven different colors to express the magical world.
New Kira Card printing technology and the power of digital technology provide a magical presentation that only a store can bring to life on a card.

-- I've been reading on SNS and the new card has been very well received.

Waccha Primagi! In the "On Demand Printing" project, we took on the new challenge of printing on-demand on clear cards, which involved a great deal of trial and error. As well as the technical aspects, I believe that a major element of the value that ultimately reaches the customer is the design element.

When the prototype of the printer was ready, we gave it to the designer at SynSophia, and instead of leaving the clear part as clear, we decided to put the white color on it in this way. We had a lot of difficulties in expressing the idea of printing on a clear card and not knowing the final color until the card was printed. In the end, I think we were able to successfully design the stained-glass-like expression.

-- What are some of the new online features that you can now do?

In this work, we used functions such as storing data for each account, ranking functions, and referencing rankings from a web page. GS2 provides not only SDKs for game engines, but also SDKs for various programming languages, so we were able to smoothly implement the function of referencing rankings from the web page.

-- What were the deciding factors in your decision to use GS2?

The first point is the ability to achieve functionality within budget. Next is whether what we want to do can be realized. GS2 has an SDK for game engines and is stable and easy to use, which were deciding factors in our decision to use GS2. We also considered services from other companies, but the fact that documentation is available in Japanese and support is provided in Japanese was also good.

-- Has the adoption of GS2 had any impact on your development time?

We feel that it has had a very positive impact. The first thing that surprised me was that after registering an account, I could immediately use the server's functionality. I also found it very convenient that the SDK for game engines can be integrated into the development environment simply by installing it, and that there is sample code in the documentation that allows you to try out the code and see how it works immediately. As soon as we confirmed that it worked, we were able to start talking about how we wanted to use the functionality in the game, which allowed us to proceed smoothly with the implementation.

-- Has the adoption of GS2 had any impact on the size of your development team?

I think it was very good that we were able to proceed with the server-side development without having a dedicated developer. The effect of this was that we were able to concentrate our resources on the client development and concentrate on making the game more appealing.

-- In developing GS2, our main focus has been to streamline game development, shorten development time, and reduce communication costs between client and server developers from different cultures. I am glad to hear that you are getting exactly those results.

I think that is correct.

-- Is there anything you wanted to do but couldn't with the adoption of GS2?

In this development, we were able to achieve this by combining the functions that were available.
However, with regard to account management, the account management function provided by GS2 uses UUIDs and 32-byte passwords to manage user IDs. In this work, account information is printed as a QR code on the card, and we wanted to express it with as little information as possible, so we had to develop it separately to achieve short account information.

-- How was GS2's support team?

This time, we contracted Business Support from the prototype stage and they supported us.
The support was very attentive and very helpful. I was surprised that the chat response time was so fast. I would have been ahead of the curve in my answers and would have asked the next question. I was also very happy to see that they even covered the areas that I would have asked next. I am glad that when I didn't understand something, you were able to respond quickly so that I could proceed with my development without stopping. The fact that we were able to communicate with them in Japanese was also a big factor.

-- How did the GS2 fees compare to your prior expectations?

(while checking the current cost) Hey...isn't that...isn't that cheap, GS2, is this price OK? I actually hadn't looked at the fees until now, but I feel tremendously relieved. Frankly, they are much cheaper than I had estimated beforehand.
We are planning to increase the number of functions we use with future upgrades, and for this amount of money, we will be able to do so without worry.

TAKARA TOMY A.R.T.S Inc. Official Website

syn Sophia Inc. Official Website

Waccha Primagi! Official Site