Love Live! School Idol Festival

'Love Live! School Idol Festival' (often abbreviated as LLSIF or Sukufesu) is a Japanese rhythm game series developed by KLab and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo for Android and iOS platforms. It first released in Japan on April 15, 2013 (Android) and June 8, 2013 (iOS). The game is free-to-play with an in-app purchase system. It features songs and characters from the multimedia franchises Love Live! and ''Love Live! Sunshine!!'', newly introduced girls, and stories that are not included in other media.

The English localization was released worldwide on May 11, 2014 for iOS and Android devices. It also was localized in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea. At the end of September 2016, the English version added Korean support, and the two servers merged. The Traditional Chinese version, which was operated by Mobimon in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, also merged with the English version on May 18, 2017.

Gameplay
The game has two gameplay modes—"Story" and "Live"— featuring all nine members of the idol groups μ's and Aqours.[b] Players acquire a score in the rhythm "Live" mode, in which they tap circles at the proper time in order to receive a high score that can be placed on the leader board. These songs are divided into 4 difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert. Another difficulty called "Master" features songs that are only available for a limited time and include rhythm icons where players have to swipe their fingers on the screen during some songs.

In "Story" mode, the player works as μ's' and Aqours' helper and manage their training and schedule. The mode is full-voiced with all of the idols' respective voice actresses. The players interacts with the girls as they live their lives as school idols.[2]

The game has several currencies:
 * LP: Stamina necessary for doing a Live. One song can use up to 25 LP depending on song's difficulty. LP can be refilled by using one Love Gem, by using "Sugar Cubes" and "Sugar Pots" obtained via Special Rewards, by waiting for it to be refilled (1LP per 6 minutes), or by raising the account level or "Rank". Every 2 levels, the player's maximum LP increases by one point. Refilling the LP or leveling up will cause the LP to be overflowed, which means that players may sometimes end up with more LP than their account would normally be able to have.
 * Gs: The app's in-game currency, Gs can be used for leveling up or idolising an idol, or buying temporary stat increases during some events.
 * Friend points: Points that can be acquired by having other players help during a Live. Friend points can be used to scout N and R rarity cards.
 * Love Gems: The app's in-game currency which can be bought through in-app purchase. It is can be used for refilling the entire LP bar, obtaining SR, SSR, or UR cards, or continuing a failed Live.
 * Scouting Ticket: Besides Love Gems, the other way to scout a rare member through the "Honor Scouting" system is by using a scouting ticket. There are three types of tickets: green regular tickets, blue scouting coupons, and purchased scouting tickets that guarantee cards of a certain rarity.
 * Stickers: If an R, SR, SSR, or UR rarity card is used for practice or deleted, the player will gain a sticker. These stickers can be used for idolizing a card or purchasing other cards or scouting coupons from the Sticker Shop. Stickers' rarity are divided into 4 types that depend on the rarity of the used cards. Promotional and skill cards won't give stickers.

=== Cards and team formation === Players can form 9-person units. The girls in the formation are called "members." Players acquire new members by doing Lives or scouting through "Student Scouting" that uses the gacha system. Two same cards can be combined and they will be "Idolized", which unlocks new card art and a side story gives a Love Gem. Each member has their own card level and skill that can be leveled up by doing a "Practice", which involves sacrificing one or more cards to increase the level of another one. In order to increase skill level, cards that are "practiced" must have the same skill. Increasing skill and card levels improves the scores players can obtain in "Lives". New Aqours and regular members are added every time an in-game event has ended and μ's cards are added halfway through events.

Members cards are divided into 5 rarities: N (normal), R (rare), SR (super rare), SSR (special super rare), and UR (ultra rare). Each rarity (except N-rarity) has a different set of leader skills (passive) and active skills that affect the Lives scores. Cards and songs are divided into attributes that represent each card's idol type: Smile, Cool, and Pure. Using the same attribute members to do Lives of the same attribute song gives a higher score.

Other than μ's and Aqours, other characters are featured in the N rarity cards. There are 63 characters with 9 girls represent 6 different schools: These characters are not voiced, but Emma Verde (previously only named Emma), Kanata Konoe, and Shizuku Ōsaka were promoted to become part of the Perfect Dream Project and were each given voice actresses. Fujimaru designed the new characters.[11]

Besides the regular cards, the game also includes "promotional cards" and "skill up cards". Promotional cards can be obtained free as a bonus from purchasing Love Live! merchandise, clearing quests, purchasing through Sticker Shop, scouting using Gs, or simply logging in to the game. Regardless of rarity, promotional cards have relatively low stats and leader skill effects. They also don't give stickers when practiced or deleted. The cards are usually pre-idolized, which means that players cannot idolize the card for different art. μ's and Aqours' respective rival groups (A-Rise and Saint Snow), the groups' younger selves,[c] and the girls from Nijigasaki Academy are also featured as fully voiced promotional cards.

A skill up card is used to level up the skill of a card. It can't be idolized or used in a Live. These cards feature characters around the main groups such as the girls' mothers, school friends and teachers, and even animals. These cards can be obtained by logging in, special box scouting, in-game event rewards, or purchasing a limited time sale pack.

In-game events
Every 15 days, an in-game event with total of 4 SR rarity cards as reward is held.[d] Each event runs for around 10 days with a 5-days break. The SR rarity cards are obtainable by collecting event points and competing with other players through event points ranking. Reward includes Gs, Love Gems, and skill-up cards.

The game has currently 6 type of events:
 * Token Collection (アイコンコレクション Aikon Korekushon)[13]
 * Players play an event-exclusive song to get the event points. The song requires Tokens which are collected by playing songs. Sometimes, the event also featured a short story that was previously featured in the franchise's novel series School Idol Diary.


 * Score Match (スコアマッチ Sukoa Macchi)[13]
 * 4 players compete with each other to get the highest score from a randomly-chosen song.


 * Medley Festival (メドレーフェスティバル Medorē Fesutibaru)[13]
 * Players can play up to three songs in a row and can use stat increases to improve their score and/or Live prize. Some stat increases will appear randomly from in-game friends.


 * Challenge Festival (チャレンジフェスティバル Charenji Fesutibaru)
 * Players can play up to 5 songs and receive the accumulated prize at the end of the challenge. μ's members will appear and give random ability increases. If 3 members with same sub-unit, school year, and/or wear same uniform appear, a specific mission will appear. Clearing the mission will give the players an additional prize.


 * Adventure Stroll (おさんぽラリー Osanpo Rarī)
 * Players clear Live songs to unlock Aqours and μ's side stories and clear missions while "taking a stroll" around the event map. Live songs also give 'souvenirs' which players can exchange for friend points, event SR rarity cards, and in-game backgrounds.


 * Companion Match (なかよしマッチ Nakayoshi Macchi)[14]
 * Works like Score Match, but instead of competing against each other, the event requires 4 players to work together in clearing missions by reaching certain scores or combos. Players' scores are determined by how much they contributed. While in score mission they are ranked from highest to the lowest score, combo mission will always display anyone with "Full Combo" as the first place(s).