1. UX test with Gameloft

2. Xiaoye Lin
www.ailain.net
www.linx108.com (Chrome please)
www.dribbble.com/fermaigh
Portfolio:
Name:

3. Please list your favourite UX design tool:
In order of expertise
Pen/Paper
Adobe toolkit: PS, AI, AE, ID, FL
Keynote

4. Three mobile or social games were release in the
last 2 years that I have personally enjoyed from a
UX perspective and why

5. 1. OLO game (IOS)
April 2013
The gameplay fits the game.
Visually simplicity and consistency, little interference allows player to focus on playing.
Information is well organised.
Transition is smooth and less time-consuming.
Some features impress me. For instance, a skeleton finger shows up unpredictably, which makes me
feel like I am playing with a non-human ( maybe a skeleton man), so I would like to play more in order
to figure out who else I will play with.
fast to learn and good time killer ( it is waiting for me to play and not me waiting for playing it)

6. 2. Wide Sky (IOS)
Jan 2013
Great animation makes the loading/waiting less boring.
Progress visualisation for both quick and detail tutorials.
Smooth transitions and beautifully animated for almost everything.
Thoughtful tips written cleverly right there on screen help the player, tell them what to do.
Fast to learn and a good time killer ( waiting for me to play and not me waiting for playing it)

7. 3. Letterpress (IOS)
Oct 2012
Smooth transitions make me enjoy playing.
Preview on score makes me comfortable.
Visualisation on what letters had been used by each other and what should be used to win the game.
Intuitive menu and interface

8. Pick two of the following games and tell us (and be
specific) what you like about the UX, what you don’t
like and how you would you improve it.
Clash of Clan, CSR Racing, Ice Age Village, Zombiewood

9. What is good
Good tutorial

10. What is good
Bonus window show up
in the beginning
Close window until OK
is clicked,
which makes the
information more
memorable

11. What is good
Thank this for making
the interface clear

12. What is good
notifications

13. What is not good
loading is too time consuming

14. What is not good
Not obvious

15. What is not good
Not consistency

16. What is not good
Clicked collection, but it gives player inventory.

17. What is not good
The player is tired of moving around again,
can the control bar just lower itself a little bit?

18. What is good
Loading is super boring

19. What is good
Visualisation consistently

20. Dynamic menu based on active object
What is good

21. What is good
Obvious
and red color as background, is visually
consistence with close button.

22. grey for locked or disabled item
In first image, more helpful tips provided to unlock
What is good

23. Shortcut to add
What is good

24. Notification
What is good

25. Selecting row makes life easy
What is good

26. What is good
Ask before making an
important decision

27. What is good
Good to have a navigation

28. What is not good
Why not navigations for them too

29. What is not good
Problematic
information
hierarchy.
For example,
setting may be used
less frequently than
others.

30. What is not good
It can not define an available position
automatically.
In this case, place a tiny item manually
is hard, especially when items clusters.

31. What is not good
The troop bar is not updated
in realtime. It bothers player
in some cases.
For example, during the battle, if there
is no more soldier left, the players has
to go back even there is a troop,
because the new trained
soldiers can not be added
automatically.

32. What is not good
Why not a shortcut to
collect all the resources?

33. What is not good
Why this happens
I cant read, it is a mobile
screen

34. What is not good
Why this happens
what I am gonna do?

35. What is not good
The control bar should be
smart enough to define a
proper position, can them
lower a little bit, try to be
in the middle of the screen
so that the player don’t
have to move around
again.

36. What is not good
Hardly tell there is a chat
window hidden there?

37. Take a major UX component from one of the two
games you chose above that you would like to
improve, please design a better and more usable
User Experience flow and interface. Use whatever
design tools you prefer to create mockups and
flows that get access your vision and be sure to tell
us why you made the choices that you did.

38. get resource
anything else
Current
resource
notifications
Overall

40. Information architecture
Loading
with play tips
Main screen
Level #
Account
League
Defence/
attack log
Shield
with time#
Chat &
inbox
with
notification#
Achievements
with
notification#
Anything
else
Setting Friends
Resources
Attack
Shop
Builder
Coin
Elixir
Store

41. Press Icon to open a bar

42. Press Icon again to close the bar

43. Press bar to open league screen ( goals)

44. Press bar to open attack and defence history screen

45. Press icon to open the shield bar

46. Message inbox and chat window

47. Achievement screen

48. Slide from left to right to open anything-else bar

49. Press Icon to open attack screen

50. Press Icon to open store screen

51. Press Icon to open store bar

52. Press Icon to open elixir bar

53. Plus icon, as a short cut to collect all the available elixir

54. Overall design description
I started with the analysis from just playing the game. First, I figured out what information hierarchy is:
what is urgently encourage player to do, what is good to have the players to know, what are just
suggestions, what does not matter too much. I listed them from an order of most to least important,
meanwhile, in term of the iphone 5 screen,I figured out where the best/good spots to touch are, and
then tried to have the information matches the right spot. Also, I tried to free more spaces too.
I redesigned some of the icons. The original icon for “attack” is “Map”, which makes the player
misunderstood, compare to MAP, swords make more sense.
Designing in the perspective of a player, even in a perspective of a player who has little interests
about this game, asked myself when I was designing: “ Is it fun/clear/comfort the new users or
players who get bored easily?”
Adding shortcut for collecting resources, it may be more useful for those advanced players who have
their resources all over the places. All they need to do is just click the “plus”, they dont need to move
around the screen.