Murder Mystery - hths.hacks() 2020

event tree map, provided by SFB Editor

Inspiration:

Considering the outbreak of the coronavirus, many are stuck inside their own homes. We thought that creating a fun game using Alexa would help people find amusement during the quarantine. Additionally, something we personally miss a lot during this time are escape rooms, but there are already multiple escape room Alexa skills. We still wanted to have a fun mystery to solve, so we decided to create a murder mystery room to get rid of the boredom of being stuck at home.

What it does:

Murder Mystery is an interactive game that involves making your own choices while trying to find the culprit, as you are a suspect as well. The user may interact with all the other suspects and use their deductive skills to figure out who they think the murderer is. It is easy to navigate through the game with simple voice instruction and there are also different responses based on the user’s choices.

How we built it:

After creating the dialogue on Google Docs, we used Amazon’s Skill Flow Builder (SFB) Editor to code and run the game (our code is copied and pasted into a Google Doc linked below). The Skill Flow Builder is specifically made for story-based games like these, where the user's responses prompt the next actions, making it perfect for our skill.

Challenges we ran into:

As hths.hacks() 2020 is our first hackathon, all of us were beginners to computer science and programming. We faced multiple problems with Alexa Developer Console, as we were unable to test our code with the Alexa simulator. This is why we moved to the SFB Editor instead. Unfortunately, the program crashed a couple times, but luckily we were saving our progress regularly. Furthermore, since this hackathon was remote, it was a little harder to communicate with each other.

Accomplishments that we're proud of:

Many of us had never built anything for Alexa, whether it be a skill or game. We’re proud to have created a well-functioning game that still remains interesting. The storyline has many layers and we hope players find it interesting. In addition, with it being the first hackathon for all of us, we are proud that we could come up with an idea and execute it in such a short period of time. There were problems along the way, but we finished in time to create something new.

What we learned:

During this process, we learned how to create a successful code with all aspects considered. We worked together to write out a script which helped us learn what types of questions we could pose to the user and how to create a storyline that flows well. During the coding process, we learned what would correctly lead us to the desired outcomes and responses. The coding taught us a lot overall since we were all fairly new to this. We also learned the most important lesson of saving your work periodically as you go on, as one of our coder's laptop died in the middle, and two others' crashed multiple times.

What's next for Murder Mystery - hths.hacks() 2020:

After the initial launch, we can update more challenges and more mysteries with different scenarios to keep the game more interesting and constantly engaging. This could include different levels and events. Additionally, we may be able to create a Clue-like version of the game, in which the roles of the murderer switch every time. There are always updates that can be added, meaning users will not get bored easily.

Built With

amazon-alexa
sfb-editor

Submitted to

hths.hacks() 2020

Created by

I got the inspiration of creating a murder mystery game for ALEXA and worked on creating the storyline. I wrote out lots of the script and made an effort to create a new and refreshing story for players. In addition, I contributed with the pitch for the video. As it was my first hackathon, I had a lot to learn in terms of coding, but stayed engaged and tried to work through issues we dealt with when first working with Amazon Skill Flow Builder, which included issues with Buffer and figuring out what that was in order to solve the problem. Due to time constraints, I periodically checked in on other people’s work to make sure we finished in time.

Sehar Malik
I originally came up with thee hidden room ALEXA idea which served as our inspiration for the Murder Mystery skill. I originally tried to figure out the basic ALEXA developer control, but seeing as it wouldn't work, I found and started using the skill builder. I started coding and tested out many features of the skill builder, allowing me to troubleshoot and explore character customization for my other team members.

Anushka Chakrabarti
For this project, I worked on portions of the script as well as the code. I also began to learn how to use the Alexa Developer Console to create our Alexa Skill, but unfortunately I had multiple issues with the testing function. I assisted Anushka and Esha with the SFB Editor and programming logic. Furthermore, I finalized and edited most of the content to make sure it was up to standards. I also handled the submission of the project and edited the video.

Melanie Tan
I wrote a portion of the script for the story line. My main contribution was with the code. As I was new to coding, it took some work to get the hang of it, but once I did I was able to write out the entire code with the different branches and options with their corresponding responses. I worked out minor issues during the coding process, as well. I additionally contributed with part of the voice over in our pitch.

Esha Surana