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;
Nelissa Bolmes
LCC S4uS
Bi. Nauuen
Naich 2u14

Intiouuction

This is a ieview of the usei fiienuliness of the basic computei game entitleu
"Tioguoi" piesenteu on homestaiiunnei.com. While the game is aimeu at miuule-
school ageu chiluien, the usability may not always make it easy foi them to play the
game. The iepot contains examples fiom the game with explanations of the
pioblems I founu anu biief iecommenuations foi fixing them.

I am a college stuuent at ueoigia Institute of Technology, but I wiote this iepoit as a
usei anu a miuule school ageu chilu who woulu typically be uiawn to this website
anu game.

Biief Besciiption of how the game woiks: The playei is in contiol of a uiagon nameu
Tioguoi. The objective is to tiample the peasants while avoiuing the knights anu
aicheis aie tiying to piotect the peasants by killing Tioguoi. 0nce the playei has
tiampleu enough peasants Tioguoi begins to bieathe fiie, while he is bieathing the
fiie the playei neeus to quickly buin uown all of the peasant's huts. 0nce the huts
aie set a blaze the level is complete anu you aie able to move to the next village of
peasants.

Executive Summaiy

The game woulu be enteitaining foi miuule school ageu chiluien to play once they
aie able to figuie out how the game woiks, but the pooi usability cieateu pioblems
common to many online games. Nany facets of the game will cause confusion anu
limit the usability of the game.

This biief ieview incluues pioblems in these categoiies:
Simplicity: Tioguoi offeis no connection with othei playeis, no stiuctuie to
builu on anu no basis foi achievement.
Quality of Conceptual Nouel: The giaphic quality of Tioguoi the game is pooi to
say the least anu uoes not match the conceptual mouel that a typical playei of a
game in the 21
st
centuiy has.
Confusion: The games uiiections aie quickly piesenteu in the beginning anu aie
haiu to unueistanu; they may even be confuseu foi the cieuits being given to the
makeis of the game.


Pioblem: Simplicity

Within the last few yeais, viueo games have been uevelopeu to the point wheie one
can inteiact with the system oi othei playeis woilu-wiue, live a viitual life anu even
piactice foi ieal life events with games such as uiiving simulatois. With these viueo
games available it makes it haiu to enjoy a game that is as simple as Tioguoi, that
offeis no connection with othei playeis, no stiuctuie to builu on anu no basis foi
achievement.



Example: The scieen you aie taken to when you uie uoes not show you the scoies of
anyone else who has playeu the game. You can see youi scoie, but it is not cleaily
uefineu against any of youi pievious scoies so that youi can compaie youi
peifoimance.

!"#$%%"&'()*$& ,- Fuithei uevelop the point system so that the playei can have a
way to move foiwaiu in the game anu iank themselves against othei playeis.

!"#$%%"&'()*$& .- Link the game to othei playeis who aie playing online anu
cieate leauei boaius so that playeis can compaie themselves to otheis anu inteiact
with them.
Pioblem: Quality of Conceptual Nouel

The giaphic quality of Tioguoi the game is pooi to say the least anu uoes not match
the conceptual mouel that a typical playei of a game in the 21
st
centuiy has. With the
technological auvances in viueo games anu animation it is haiu to think this game is
even compaiable to some mouein games wheie the viitual chaiacteis almost look
ieal. In this game the people aie almost inuistinguishable anu the huts aie nothing
moie than a biown squaie with a yellow tiiangulai top. The setting is as basic as
possible with a plain gieen lanuscape anu squaie houses.



Example: This scieen shows the quality of the entiie game; the "hills" show the
pixelateu natuie of the inteiface anu you can see that the peasants aie shown as
biown blobs.

!"#$%%"&'()*$& ,- While the main chaiactei, Tioguoi, is supposeu to be poitiayeu
in a ceitain fashion, the game woulu have a highei quality if the knights, peasants,
anu huts hau bettei giaphical quality. The backgiounu anu huts coulu be poitiayeu
bettei as well.


Pioblem: Confusion

The games uiiections aie quickly piesenteu in the beginning anu aie haiu to
unueistanu; they may even be confuseu foi the cieuits being given to the makeis of
the game, which typically aie biiefly showeu to the playei. This leaves the playei
quickly tiying to figuie out what to uo when the game staits. This may enu in an
unexpecteu ueath of Tioguoi fiom a knight. The playei may also not unueistanu
that in auuition to killing the peasants you must buin theii huts to be successful.



Example: This is the only page that uisplays the instiuctions foi the game. The
teiminology is uncleai anu a ianuom usei may not know what "buinination" means.
The "click anywheie to START" in ieu is flashing so it woulu encouiage a playei to
just click without ieauing because theii attention is uiawn to this.

!"#$%%"&'()*$& ,- Bave a sepaiate page aftei the beginning scieen that takes the
usei thiough the uiiections. Possibly go thiough with pictuies anu explain how
avoiuing the knights woik, how you set the huts on fiie, etc.

!"#$%%"&'()*$& .- When Tioguoi uies, take the playei back to the instiuctions so
that they iemembei how to play the game to stay alive.

Summaiy

This iepoit points out a numbei of pioblems with the usei fiienuliness of the basic
computei game entitleu "Tioguoi" piesenteu on homestaiiunnei.com. While the
game is aimeu at miuule-school ageu chiluien, anu may be fun foi them when they
figuie out how to play, the usability may not always make it easy foi them to play
the game. Theie aie many othei pioblems, incluuing simplicity, quality of the
conceptual mouel, anu confusion. These pioblems make it uifficult foi playeis to use
the game anu enjoy it. This iaises fiustiation anu incieases the move of pations
fiom homestaiiunnei.com to othei, moie mouein, game websites.

I believe that Chiluien aie affecteu moie than otheis. They aie moie likely to have
less uevelopeu ieauing anu compiehension skills, theieby making the uncleai
uiiections moie uifficult foi them to ieau anu unueistanu. They also have been boin
into a technology age anu aie useu to bettei quality games with bettei giaphics anu
moie playei-to-playei inteiaction.

This is aumitteuly an unsoliciteu iepoit, but I felt that it was impoitant to point out
significant pioblems in this game. Next steps incluue:
uatheiing uate thiough suiveys to collect laige amounts of feeuback by miuule
school ageu chiluien.
Running usability tests to get uetaileu feeuback fiom useis of the game.
0sing infoimation fiom playeis anu otheis to finu ways to impiove the game.