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Grand Theft Auto Vehicles
Note the version in the link is the old one. The updated version (coming soon) will have all the options mentioned in this post.
Inspiration
Every Tuesday grand theft auto releases new discounts on vehicles. You'll see the name of the vehicle on discount but me and my friends hardly remember what it looks like or the current price. Your options are either to load up the game, which takes around 5 minutes, that is a life time or search on the internet (which takes digging). A better solution would be to search the entire catalogue of different grand theft auto vehicles via Alexa. Having the vehicles information more accessible and visual will help inform a lot of users more quicker. The new release of Alexa Presentation Language (APL) will dramatically help with organising and deploying the information for multiple platforms simultaneously (echo, echo dot, echo spot, echo show, tv).
How I built it
I needed to learn the technology APL first before I started storyboarding each screen. Which was difficult. Being in public beta means it's still had a few bugs. Once learning how to overcome those, I was able to start laying the foundation down to have the same information available for each vehicle.
Challenges I ran into
I found the documentation, difficult to grasp. So I watched the webinars which helped. Though still needed to search on github for questions and problems encountered.
Learning how to bring in the data dynamically. Understanding the structure of the APL template formats. The design is aligned to visual but the architecture needs to be voice first (users without screens). Debugging why code changes wouldn't work.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Learning APL. First attempt at building for multiple platforms, when I don't own a screen alexa device (yet). Helping myself and my friends get access to information we need.
What I learned
There is not fast route. What you miss by speeding through the learning process bites you back. Simplest things like adding the APL code and not remembering to save and then deploy before testing. Although that could have been a lack of coffee / sleep.
What's next for GTA Vehicles
So many things… you've got enhancements for color, size, touch wrappers, speak item and highlight mode in combination. So when it's saying the price it will highlight it on screen too. The announcement of video integration too on APL makes it a great addition. All vehicles will benefit from having video. However, will need to compressed, for fast delivery. Nobody likes slow loading times. So maybe have the images as mandatory and if your connection is good, display the videos.
The vehicle stats are an interesting attribute. You can integrate a selection process where you answer a particular set of questions which identifies what vehicle is best for you.
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