I’m having a lot of fun creating three games for my Alexa. I estimate that I am only days away from completing the first game, and publishing it on the Alexa Skills platform (https://developer.amazon.com).
Each of the three games I am making has dynamic content. That means, even after the game is published, I can make modifications to the program at any time.
It is only when my game is published that any Alexa user in the world can access it.
Before the games are published, I am the only one that can access my games. Currently, there are hundreds of Alexa games. These games can be found on the Alexa APP, under skills.
The easiest of my games to make is based on the fact-skill template from the Alexa skills platform.
In this game, the listener opens the program with the words “Alexa, open Jewish Sages.” Alexa answers with a fact about one of the famous bible commentators, or sages. I currently have 15 bible commentators in my program.
Each fact, chosen at random, includes the acronym of the sage, birth year and location, and death year and location, major works by the sage, major philosophical contribution, and one or more interesting facts about that sage. This game should make my unusual hobby more interesting.
I am making two opposite games: Easy Opposites, primarily for my granddaughters, and Difficult Opposites, to challenge any adult player. These games are based on the quiz-skill template from the Alexia Skills platform.
In the Easy Opposites game, I am working on 100 pairs of “easy” opposites. These include
up – down, and safe – dangerous. The Difficult Opposites game has 100 pairs of difficult opposites, such as condemn – praise, and reluctant – enthusiastic.
The biggest challenge for me in making these programs is getting Alexa to recognize what I say.
When only one word in a pair cannot be understood, that is no problem because I can use the word that is not understood for Alexa to ask about.
For example in the pair
long – short, long is not understood, but the word short is understood. So, I have Alexis say, “What is the opposite of long.” Then, when I answer, “Short,” Alexa understands me. Alexa cannot understand both words in about 17 pairs of opposites. These word pairs have been omitted from my game.
As a former professor of phonetics, I was excited to learn there is a procedure in the Alexa skills program for me to insert International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols in my text, in order for Alexa to say the sounds that I want.
However, this does not seem to help Alexa understand my speech on certain words.
For example, when Alexa says, “What is the opposite of all? I respond, “none.” Then Alexa says, “Almost, the opposite of all is none.” Duh. My challenge is to discover how to get Alexa to understand my speech for all words.
As I continue to learn how to program in JavaScript, and adapt that language to the Alexa Skills platform, I hope to be able to develop more intricate Alexa programs.
How about a program where the human says, “Alexa, what action movies with higher than average ratings are coming up on AMC, IFC, Disney, FX, Sundance, USA and Bravo this week?”
What Alexa game would you like to see developed?
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertzebsen@gmail.com