Voice Technology is something I am really interested in and in the spirit of learning I came up with the idea of creating a simple game where users can have the chance to play against a non-human entity. This time I came up with the idea of designing a paper rock scissors game for Alexa.
Client
Year
2020
Deliverables
- Script
- User Flow
- Interaction Model
- Alexa Skill
The challenge
How to create a simple rock paper scissors game where users get the chance to play against Alexa?
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/background.jpg)
The Design Process
- Scripting the dialog and overall man to machine experience
- Character illustration
- Design a voice prototype
- Build the game flow using Skill Flow Builder
- Build the intents and sample utterances
- Deploy the skill
Design and Implementation Toolkit
The tools, technology and artifacts chosen for the task at hand.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/icons8-adobe_xd.png)
Adobe XD
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/icons8-adobe_illustrator.png)
Illustrator
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/icons8-inscription.png)
Scripting
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/icons8-merge_git.png)
Skill Flow Builder
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/icons8-amazon_alexa_logo.png)
Alexa Developer Console
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/icons8-design.png)
Character Design
Scripting the experience
Using a script allow us to understand the conversation flow and the way humans naturally talk to anyone. It also uncovers synonyms and different phrases a user might say to invoke the same action. The script is the starting point to design for a natural conversation, and that’s exactly what we are aiming for.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/script-rock-paper-scissors.jpg)
Quick Prototype with Visuals
Once the dialog and conversational flow had been mapped out I designed the conversational interaction as a voice prototype.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/prototype-2.jpg)
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/prototype-3.jpg)
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/prototype-1.jpg)
Implementation
The prototype is later translated to Skill Flow Builder in the format of a script or storyline. On Skill Flow Builder the storyline can be directly published and deployed as an Alexa Skill. No code needed whatsoever.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/rock-paper-scissors-skill-flow.png)
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/rock-paper-scissors-skill-story-flow.png)
Interaction Model
I defined a custom interaction model. The interaction model is the first step to define the voice interface through which users would interact with the game. To define the voice interface, I mapped users’ spoken input to intents.
Intents
Intents represent actions in the game logic that fulfills a user’s spoken request during the game.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/rock-paper-scissors-interaction-model.png)
Utterances
Utterances are a set of likely spoken phrases mapped to the intents. This includes as many phrases mapped on the script and conversational flow as possible.
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/rock-paper-scisssors-intent.jpg)
Deploying Skill for several languages at once
Since I wanted the skill to work for both spanish and english speaking audiences I modified the translation file to include both languages. I only needed to modify the storyline on the translation file and then publish it directly as an Amazon Skill .
![](https://andresao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/rock-paper-scissors-translation.png)
Thanks!
I hope you enjoyed and learn something out of this case. If you liked the content feel free to share. If interested in learning more or if you have a question about the topic you can contact me.