Thumbed down review of my Medium article. Follow me on https://medium.com/@kalev.karpuk

1. Memrise review
Kalev Kärpuk
https://medium.com/@kalev.karpuk

2. Memrise uses a very
distinct and interesting
narrative for teaching a
language!

3. The player is an alien
who is travelling to
other planets.
Memrise uses a very
distinct and interesting
narrative for teaching a
language!

4. The player is an alien
who is travelling to
other planets.
Memrise uses a very
distinct and interesting
narrative for teaching a
language!
Throughout the
games progression,
the user meets
people from other
planets and learns to
communicate with
them

5. The player is an alien
who is travelling to
other planets.
Memrise uses a very
distinct and interesting
narrative for teaching a
language!
Throughout the
games progression,
the user meets
people from other
planets and learns to
communicate with
them
Signing up to a
course starts the
journey, ready to be
launched in space

6. Levels represent
what the user will
be learning

7. For example, level
6 teaches how to
ask more in depth
question about a
persons interests...
Levels represent
what the user will
be learning

8. ...while level 5
teaches words for
different foods
For example, level
6 teaches how to
ask more in depth
question about a
persons interests...
Levels represent
what the user will
be learning

9. Levels in Memrise are
strictly correlated to the
ability to speak the
language

10. Back to the main
screen

11. There are elements
placed on the main
game screen without
giving an intuitive
explanation on what
they mean.

12. There are elements
placed on the main
game screen without
giving an intuitive
explanation on what
they mean.
Ambiguity in elements
negatively affects
engagement as the user
should know how to
affect every metric on
the screen.

13. Memrise always
suggests the next
activity to the user.

14. Memrise always
suggests the next
activity to the user.
It’s a behaviour drive.
Most of the time the
user clicks on the
recommended action
which allows Memrise
to effectively control
the users path.

15. Although player still
has the choice to
play something else.

16. This is the list of
different learning
methods. Some are
free while others are
available only to
premium members

17. This is the list of
different learning
methods. Some are
free while others are
available only to
premium members
Using „Pro“ indicates
that the user who can
access those feature is
a „pro.“ Buying the
premium version also
affects your status in
the game

18. Using „Pro“ indicates
that the user who can
access those feature is
a „pro.“ Buying the
premium version also
affects your status in
the game
This is the list of
different learning
methods. Some are
free while others are
available only to
premium members
Bad examples would
have been „Paid“ or
„Extra“. The first
indicates the game is
pay-to-win and second
might create the feeling
that you don’t need
those extras to proceed.

19. Another great
narrative in the
game is „planting
new words“ instead
of learning them.

20. The more you learn
a word, the more the
plant grows. A fully
grown plant
represents that the
word is now in your
long term memory.

21. „La fruta“ has
been recently
learned...

22. ...while „la pasta“
has been mastered.

23. Completing a game
directs the user to the
end-game screen
which reviews the
users progress

24. Tracking consecutive
days is easy to
implement and
yields great results...

25. ...but in the other
hand serves less use
when only visible in
the game end
screen.
Tracking consecutive
days is easy to
implement and
yields great results...

26. Its unclear what the
benefit of completing
daily tasks is.

27. It should offer rewards in form of badges or statuses.
Loyal users want to be noticed:
Its unclear what the
benefit of completing
daily tasks is.

28. There is also a time
based game

29. Players get points
based on how fast
can they translate
words and phrases.

30. It’s important to note that
this game requires no
earphones which
eliminates an important
barrier from using
Memrise
Players get points
based on how fast
can they translate
words and phrases.

31. The game could be
more engaging by
doing a better job
showing the high
scores and past
statistics.

32. The game could be
more engaging by
doing a better job
showing the high
scores and past
statistics.
Ideally there would be a
„Learn new words“ and
„Play again“ buttons to
guide the user to be
more engaged.

34. Level up!
Covering the whole
screen is fine to
promote the
importance of the
event

35. Leveling up shows
what progress has
been made and what
is going to be the
goal in the next level.

36. Instead of showing
how many words we
will learn, it’s better to
show what we would
accomplish at level 5
(„You will learn how to
order various kinds of
food!“)
Leveling up shows
what progress has
been made and what
is going to be the
goal in the next level.

37. Throughout the
journey the user will
get missions that are
tightly connected to a
specific point in his
journey.

38. Throughout the
journey the user will
get missions that are
tightly connected to a
specific point in his
journey.
„First contact“
illustrates talking to a
person you just met

39. This is by far my
favourite element in
Memrise!

40. This is by far my
favourite element in
Memrise!
It’s a mystery.
The mission appears
as you gain level 4
but is not mentioned
before that. Mystery
is an important part
of keeping
engagement

41. This is by far my
favourite element in
Memrise!
It’s a mystery.
The mission appears
as you gain level 4
but is not mentioned
before that. Mystery
is an important part
of keeping
engagement
Perfect timing!
Reaching level 4 is the
point where
engagement starts to
drop because the initial
excitement is lost. This
mission brings the user
right back into the
game

42. The users first
„actual“
converstaion.

43. Memrise keeps the
initial narrative which
is essential for a
continuous
storytelling

44. It’s easy to fail in this
mission when you
don’t take learning
seriously.

45. Memrise really cares
whether the user is
learning or not.

46. Memrise really cares
whether the user is
learning or not.
You really don’t want
to let this guy down...

47. Scroll down for a more detailed analysis and dont
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@kalev.karpuk