Mastermind
Japanese

Recent Updates

  1. Version 0.9.88May 30, 2026

    A Richer Mind Map and More to Study

    This beta update expands the Mind Map with new concept groups and a brighter, easier-to-read look, grows the N5 study material with many new examples and audio, cleans up support, legal, and browser-requirements pages, and smooths a number of study details.

    What Changed

    • The Mind Map covers more of N5: the World & Objects group is now active, a new Food & Drink group joins it, and dozens of concepts were recategorized and spaced out so crowded areas read more clearly.
    • The Mind Map looks brighter and reads more clearly, with a vivid learning-colour ramp, mastered concepts that sparkle, clearer selected nodes, and a gentle idle drift while you are away.
    • Map navigation is smoother: after you zoom in, rotating now stays centered on the spot you zoomed into instead of swinging back to the far center.
    • There is more to study: many new N5 example sentences with natural audio, plus refilled examples for topics that were thin. Vocab cards can also show an optional stretch example, kept around N4, for an extra challenge.
    • Support and feedback are now signed-in features. The support form is available from the account menu, the public footer stays focused on static information, and support confirmations appear beside the form action instead of jumping to the top of the page.
    • Public help pages are cleaner: the legal card points to the main Legal page, and Supported Devices is now Browser Requirements with a new /browser-requirements URL.
    • Studying feels tidier: interrupted sessions can finish through the session recap, summaries show clearer concept details, and bookmarks plus free-tier limits are easier to understand.
    • Personal decks received smaller improvements: sort cards by kind, star favorites, choose a theme, and use cleaner practice controls, filters, card sizing, and create-and-add flows.
  2. Version 0.9.87May 27, 2026

    Clearer Pages, Safer Sign-In, and a Steadier Brain

    This beta update makes Mastermind easier to understand before you sign up, tightens sign-in and account protections behind the scenes, smooths a few study details, and adds clearer legal, privacy, and support information.

    What Changed

    • The home page now explains the Brain and Mind Map in simpler terms: the Mind Map shows the N5 concepts, and the Brain uses your practice history to choose what to study next.
    • The public pages now set clearer beta expectations: the N5 Mind Map is live, study material is growing, and Mastermind will keep improving.
    • Study should feel steadier, with more reliable audio, cleaner loading transitions, and vocab review that can practice in either direction when useful.
    • Your account is better protected behind the scenes, with stricter sign-in/session behavior and extra safeguards around sensitive account actions.
    • Legal and support information is easier to find, including the current commercial disclosure, support email, business address, and message-forwarding phone line.
    • Recent Updates, Browser Requirements, Feedback, footer links, and other public copy received consistency and capitalization polish.
  3. Version 0.9.86May 24, 2026

    Smarter Adaptation, Clearer Onboarding, and More Polished Study

    This beta update improves how Mastermind reacts to your answers, makes placement onboarding easier to pause and resume, and polishes sign-in, reading support, Study navigation, and the public landing page.

    What Changed

    • Mastermind is more careful about what your answers mean: uncertain strengths get checked sooner, weak areas get better repair, and one odd response time matters less.
    • Placement onboarding is smoother: you can pause and return to the same question, the next question is prepared sooner, and placement appears on the Study page without taking over the screen.
    • Google sign-in is less confusing when the Google service fails to initialize, with clearer retry behavior instead of a stuck or ambiguous sign-in state.
    • Japanese reading support improved with larger study text, cleaner ruby variants, better reading alternatives, and more natural answer labels for location で examples.
    • The public home page now explains Mastermind more clearly as an adaptive Japanese-learning system and shows a real Mind Map preview that matches the current theme.
    • Home, header, logo, favicon, Recent Updates, and Study page secondary links received visual polish without changing the core study flow.
  4. Version 0.9.85May 19, 2026

    Smoother Practice, Clearer Weak-Spot Review, and Calmer Screens

    This beta update focuses on everyday study quality: personal decks feel cleaner, tap-to-build and kanji practice are more stable, review choices are smarter after mistakes, and the app has a calmer card style across light and dark mode.

    What Changed

    • Personal deck practice is easier to read and manage, with cleaner card lists, clearer beta limits, better editing, and improved handling for longer card text.
    • Tap-to-build sentence practice and furigana alignment are more reliable, so staged answers and Japanese reading support should feel less jumpy.
    • Kanji practice received polish around writing, stroke playback, example audio, and recovery when a study session is interrupted.
    • After weak answers, Mastermind does a better job deciding when to slow down, when to review, and when not to over-repeat the same shaky item.
    • Study sessions, saved items, feedback, settings, and home cards now share a quieter flat-card style across light and dark mode.
    • Sign-in, profile display, and session recovery received small reliability fixes that should make the beta feel less fragile.
  5. Version 0.9.8May 14, 2026

    More Focused Study, Cleaner Cards, and Kanji Writing Practice

    This beta update tightens the core study experience with Drill Down sessions, better personal deck management, more reliable sentence selection, kanji handwriting practice with saved progress, and broad UI polish across mobile and desktop.

    What Changed

    • Drill Down sessions let you focus on one practice type when you want a narrower study session, while Adaptive Session remains available for recommended adaptive practice.
    • Personal decks are easier to manage with cleaner card lists, clearer add/edit flows, tighter validation, and better mobile behavior.
    • Kanji Foundations now supports writing practice for supported N5 kanji, checks drawings locally in the browser, and saves lifetime success counts.
    • Study cards, buttons, pitch displays, summaries, bookmarks, and navigation received layout polish for phones, tablets, and desktop screens.
    • Sentence and vocabulary quality improved with better translations, smarter example selection, more audio/pitch coverage, and new Mind Map relationship data.
    • Early writing and pronunciation experiments started behind the scenes for future practice options.
  6. Version 0.9.7May 1, 2026

    More Ways to Practice, Clearer Review After Study

    This beta update adds placement onboarding plus more variety in study sessions, including fill-in-the-blank practice, listening-first cards, tap-to-build sentences, better session summaries, and clearer weak-spot feedback after you study.

    What Changed

    • New learners can run a short adaptive placement check so Mastermind starts from a more realistic concept map instead of assuming everyone begins from zero.
    • Study sessions gained more variety, including contextual fill-in-the-blank practice, listening-first cards, and tap-to-build sentence practice.
    • Missed or shaky items are easier to revisit across sessions, helping weak concepts come back at a useful time instead of disappearing.
    • Session summaries now better show what went well, what was difficult, and which weak spots deserve attention next.
    • Audio, optional pitch hints, vocabulary examples, kanji screens, bookmarks, and the header received polish for smoother everyday study.
  7. Version 0.9.6Apr 17, 2026

    Mastermind Goes Live — Bookmarks, a Lighter Look, and Small Fixes

    Mastermind is now online for real learners for the first time. You can also save items to a Bookmarks list, the default look is lighter, and clicking a node on the Mind Map is easier.

    What Changed

    • Mastermind opened for real beta use: you can sign in, study, and send feedback.
    • Bookmarks let you save sentences, words, and kanji, then practice them on your own time.
    • The Legal page now explains the beta, terms of use, and privacy before you sign up.
    • The default theme is now light. If you picked dark before, your choice is kept.
    • On the Mind Map, clicking the node itself now selects it, not only the text label.
  8. Version 0.9.0Apr 1, 2026

    Mind Map Upgrade and Better Examples

    The Mind Map is easier to read. Example sentences load faster and feel more consistent. Study sessions recover better after problems.

    What Changed

    • The Mind Map is cleaner and easier to read, with clearer concept spots and relationship lines.
    • Example sentences are faster and come from one larger source with wider N5 coverage.
    • Study sessions recover better if your login expires or the app is interrupted.
    • Magic-link sign-in became safer and more reliable.
    • Home, navigation, and Recent Updates received beta-launch polish.
  9. Version 0.8.0Mar 12, 2026

    New Study Modes and Mobile Polish

    Two new study modes — Verb Focus and Kanji Foundations — and a smoother experience on mobile.

    What Changed

    • Verb Focus mode lets you study verbs on their own.
    • Kanji Foundations mode lets you study kanji on their own.
    • The mobile header and menus are simpler and faster to use.
    • Cloze-style question timing and small study interactions received polish.
  10. Version 0.7.0Feb 28, 2026

    Smarter Pacing During Study

    When your accuracy drops, study sessions slow down automatically so new concepts do not pile up.

    What Changed

    • If you get many answers wrong, Mastermind pauses new concepts for a while so you can catch up.
    • Hard sessions should feel less like concepts are piling up faster than you can handle them.
  11. Version 0.6.0Feb 27, 2026

    Easier Feedback

    Sending feedback is faster and clearer. You can now attach a screenshot.

    What Changed

    • You can attach one screenshot when you send feedback.
    • The feedback form now gives clearer rules, limits, and validation messages.
  12. Version 0.5.0Dec 21, 2025

    Adaptive Study Loop — the Brain Begins

    A big step for Mastermind. The app now uses a learning model — we call it the Brain — to choose what you should study next.

    What Changed

    • The Brain now chooses study questions based on what you already know and what you need next.
    • Mastermind remembers how you did and adjusts over time.
    • The first N5 knowledge graph and curated Japanese study loop are in place.
    • Major internal groundwork prepared the app for adaptive learning.
  13. Version 0.4.0Oct 5, 2025

    First Japanese Lessons

    The first Japanese lesson content arrives. Early practice modes let you try out the basic idea of the app.

    What Changed

    • You can try an early N5 practice mode with real Japanese questions.
    • The first N5 dataset and basic question styles are in place.
    • Internal tooling was added so the Japanese content can keep growing over time.
  14. Version 0.3.0Sep 15, 2025

    Site Made Safer and More Stable

    Behind-the-scenes work to make the site safer and more stable. No new learner features in this version.

    What Changed

    • The site became safer and more stable behind the scenes.
    • Monitoring and site tooling became more reliable.
  15. Version 0.2.0May 15, 2025

    Email Sign-In and the First Pages

    You can now sign in by email — no password needed. The first landing page and basic site layout are in place.

    What Changed

    • You can sign in by clicking a link sent to your email.
    • The first landing page and basic site layout are in place.
    • The early sign-in foundation was added behind the scenes.
  16. Version 0.1.0Apr 20, 2025

    Project Start

    The first working version of the project. This was an early foundation, not Mastermind yet, and the site was not open to learners at this point.

    What Changed

    • The groundwork for what would later become Mastermind was created.
    • The first API, database, logging, and hosting setup were put in place.