Inspiration
Most popular multiplayer and role playing games requires at least one of the players to moderate the game. This motivated us to build an interactive system that would allow all players to get involved with game ,using Amazon Echo and Alexa as the platform. They act as the moderator/host for our Twister proof-of-concept game.
What it does
Alexa generates the basic instructions required for the popular multiplayer game Twister. This skill set can be opened using the prompt Ask Twister Game, and should be followed by the total number of players playing. Sample prompt: "Alexa, Ask Twister Game 5". The code then generates a random instruction; "Player 1 place your left hand on blue color", where the player number, direction, body part, and color are randomized by the software. As a bonus we have also added special sound effects to simulate a real spinning board.
How I built it
The game's SDK was built on AWS's Lambda and using Node.JS.
Challenges I ran into
Since this was the team's first time working with Alexa, we did run to multiple difficulties in understanding the platform and its functionality. Most of the time at the hackathon was spent in understanding the language, and debugging. Only benefit working with Alexa was its compatibility with Node.JS.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Learning the basics of building Alexa Skill sets using AWS.
What I learned
Coding for Alexa using AWS services and Node.JS
What's next for Alexa twister game
The interactivity with the real world is something we could not implement in this project. This was intended to be used as a party host, that would be able to start a games and control the lights and the music around the house. The implementation of this idea would be the next step for the game. As mentioned the same principles can be applied to multiple games and platforms that requires another player to sit out and miss the game. Using IBM's Bluemix platform and Alexa's UI this game can be displayed on various platforms like mobile phones, websites etc.
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