[carussell]

I've thought for some time now that the real killer app for natural language assistants—especially voice activated assistants like Alexa, perhaps slightly less suited for text-based chatbots—lies in short, episodic, choose-your-own-adventure-style games. The more I think about it, the more I'm not really sure why this isn't a thing yet, and why we haven't seen a resurgence in the popularity of interactive fiction—albeit this time for the masses, and not necessarily limited to those inclined to go load up a copy of Zork.

And content creation is more accessible than ever. I mean, have you seen an example of what the source code for an Inform7 game looks like?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Inform_7_programming_la...

To reiterate, it almost seems crazy that there isn't a massive catalog of $0.99 serials that you can play through in 45-minute chapters while cooking, driving down the road with the family or on the way to work, etc.

[sago]

There are lots of these. In fact, Amazon even has a tool for creating your own.

As for regular CYOA interactive fiction, there are lots, And lots of tools for making them. Even start-ups promoting them. But so far there is no long-tail. And outside one or two successes (like "80 days" on iOS), players don't seem to be flocking to it.

It's easy to say 'it will be huge', but it it doesn't seem to be even the most popular form of a Alexa skill. Of course it only needs one big success to make it look inevitable, but so far, colour me sceptical.

[sien]

Wow.

This is the tool for Alexa. Fantastic.

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/post/TxEQV5K754YS77/Annou...

[RepressedEmu]

I tried it out and it wasn't very usable. You can never have two options reconvene at the same node. And there's no built-in option for adding chance or variables to decisions. I decided to start building my own framework for these options.

[logfromblammo]

That seems sort of like a bad idea. I'm imagining trying to solve the coin-weighing puzzle of Spellbreaker or the endgame of Spider and Web while driving, and even with a voice assistant, it ends up like this:

  Lake (sitting inside the car)
     You are floating on the surface of a beautiful lake.
  Someone has foolishly driven an automobile into it.

  > CAR, CALL 911
  The voice assistant cheerfully burbles, "You shout
  '911', but the interrogator is unimpressed by your
  outburst."  The floor upholstery is becoming
  distressingly damp.

  > CAR, QUIT GAME
  The voice assistant cheerfully burbles, "Autosaving...
  Exiting GrueFrotz..."  Cold water has risen to your
  ankles.

  > CAR, CALL 911
  The voice assistant cheerfully burbles, "Contacting
  Emergency Services!"  Lake water creeps up to your
  calves.

[carussell]

I'm not trying to imply that any given game as it currently exists would be a suitable candidate for the format. In-game puzzles would obviously benefit greatly from consideration by the authors of the input method and player environment. Dense text descriptions and really tricky minigames ordinarily expected to be presented visually don't make a perfectly smooth transition for casual, voice-enabled play, the same way that traditional WIMP desktop apps don't make for good use on mobile touch devices.

[resu_nimda]

1. What does this have to do with Spellbreaker or Spider and Web?

2. This could very easily be handled with overrides at the OS level for specific commands.

3. If this person perished while sitting in a sinking car, trying to arrange a rescue over the phone, they deserve a Darwin award.

[logfromblammo]

1. They have some intricate puzzles that could be distracting to someone who is driving.

2. Yes, it could, but this hypothetical car manufacturer didn't think of that. They probably don't have a "drive it into a lake" test case, either.

3. I wrote another "transcript" that ended up with the person escaping, but seemed like too much text and not enough delivering the point.

[sien]

This is such a great idea.

Apparently some exist:

https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/27/14643756/text-adv...

[irrational]

Oh man. I've had 0 interest in any of the voice activated assistants so far. But this would be the killer app that would get me on board.

[andrew311]

Here is another company doing this:

https://www.earplay.com/

[darepublic]

I've often thought the same. Zork is the path to a conversational bot that people find it worthwhile to talk to.

[ClassyJacket]

This is exactly a project I've wanted to make for a few months now - I have some ideas outlined and notes written for a game like this. I just don't have time to build it, especially when it'll in all likelihood make me far less than minimum wage.