CASE STUDY
Increasing Student Retention with a Gamified App
Tablet
Mobile
Education
Gamification
"The best thing to happen to the martial arts world since the belt system. "
Owner of Curran's Karate
The owner of Curran's Karate, a long-time karate instructor. approached us with the idea of building out an integrated system that help engage not only his karate students, but also the people that take care of them in a fun and engaging way.
CHALLENGE
The Art of Discipline
Martial arts is an art of discipline. Students need courage and motivation to attend class each week, and practicing for years to advance through the belts.
A central problem that many martial art schools face is that once students give up and leave, they never come back.
That's where the pack comes in.
By specializing in building apps that focus on engagement and fun, this project was a great fit. Soon enough, Curran’s Karate partnered with us to build a gamified platform for his martial arts schools.
SOLUTION
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
From our initial meetings with the client we quickly learned the three groups that would have to work together for keeping a child engaged in martial arts. The instructor, their parents, and the kid themselves.
MyDojo World consists of three apps that work together to create an ecosystem that keeps the children motivated both during their martial arts classes and at home.
The Three Apps of MyDojo World
The Instructor App
From our initial meetings with the client we quickly found out that a lot of their time was spent on admin tasks such as taking attendance and signing up students for classes.
In order to tackle this initial pain point, we built the instructor app to allow instructors to focus on their craft and classes.
Focusing on this primary tasks for the instructor, we approached the product to allow for the actions of scheduling and attendance to be done quickly.
With the power of their dojo at their fingertips, we continued our exploration to build out an ecosystem that not only benefits the instructors but also the parents and students involved.
The Parents App
On top of understanding how their children progressed in their karate classes, we also developed methods that promote positive behaviours and encouragement.
Rewarding good behaviours and habits in-game, students are encouraged to grow their character both in an out of their game.
The MyDojo Game
From walls, floors and tiling, capturing the cartoon aesthetic was pivotal in building out a game that could easily attract the attention of a younger audience.
On top of that, we made sure to pay special attention to a colour palette that pays homage to the visuals of a modern dojo.
Key features of the game are also highlighted with bright colours to make sure that while students may complete their tasks in real life, they are also rewarded for their actions.
To fully round out the experience, we set out to build a game for the students that capture the hearts of a younger audience with its colours, sounds and visuals.
The MyDojo game serves as the touchpoint that students can engage with and earn their way to being mentally stronger and more disciplined.
As students attend class and complete challenges assigned by their parents, they are rewarded with in-game currencies that enable them to upgrade and decorate their own dojo.
PROCESS
From Ideas to Product
To spark life into the initial concept of the MyDojo ecosystem, we first began with creative briefs and workshops to brainstorm the vision - ultimately refining the concept into characters, backgrounds, and gameplay.
To further enhance collaboration, we made sure to meet frequently with the client, reviewing and testing designs together that ultimately led to the release of a polished product.
As with any project that we do, we always bring the app into the hands of users to get their feedback. Utilizing in-person and remote user test sessions, we were able to make the user experience better - taking the project to further heights.
RESULTS
Engaged students, parents, and instructors
Looking back, what came out was a beautiful, gamified platform for martial arts schools, catering to everyone from children, parents, and instructors. Looking ahead, our team is excited to see an improvement in student retention along with wonderful habits and behaviours being taught to young minds - creating better leaders of tomorrow.
✅ Apps successfully completed and launched on iOS and Android app stores
📈 Proven 25% increase in average retention in martial art schools
🥋 Good habits and behaviours taught to 600+ young martial arts students and counting
⭐ 5/5 rating from client on scheduling, cost, and quality
