Inspiration
Actors need to practice their lines and there is not always someone around to rehearse with.
What it does
This skill is for rehearsing plays by allowing you to select a play from a starter list of three free plays by Shakespeare (more are available for purchase). You then select a part to play and a mode in which to rehearse - 'with prompts' or 'off book.' Alexa says the rest of the lines and pauses for you to say your line after an audio (tone) prompt. For long passages, Alexa breaks up the play based on where stage cues occur with a different tone. At those point can say 'continue.' Help is context sensitive. To start, say Alexa, open line please. After opening the skill, Alexa asks you to select the play, select the character and the mode for how you want to rehearse the play. You can also select the Act and Scene you want to start the performance at by saying Act and the number and Scene and the number (for the currently selected Act). Say Curtain Up to begin the performance and House Lights Up to end the performance. The rehearsal automatically bookmarks your position and when you re-open the skill, you are given the opportunity to continue where you left off.
How I built it
Using the Jovo Framework and a whole lot of custom JavaScript code to register the user, register the plays available to them after they make purchases, and an advanced dialog routing methodology for effective back and forth line exchanges, I succeeded in creating a skill that was complex in nature but easy for the actors to use.
Challenges I ran into
Alexa's 8 second timeout, async/await for net activities combined with Alexa .ask/.tell response timing, ISP across multiple purchasing areas, and dynamic slot mapping.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I succeeded in overcoming all of the challenges.
What I learned
Test for everything you would not expect to have to test for regarding how users will try to use your skill.
What's next for Line Please!
We currently have two additional bundles of plays available today. The goal is to keep expanding this for a whole range of plays.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.