designing voice-driven game experiences | dave isbitski
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Designing Voice Driven Game Experiences
David IsbitskiChief Evangelist, Alexa and Echo
Amazon
Designing Voice Driven Game Experiences
DAVE ISBITSKICHIEF EVANGELIST, ALEXA AND ECHO
m
Voice Recognition
Natural Language Understanding
The key is in the interactions.
Key Design Principles forVOICE INTERACTIONS Interactions Should Provide High Value An Interaction Should Evolve Over Time
Users Can Speak to Your Service Naturally and Spontaneously
The Service Should Understand Most Requests to Your Interface
An Interface Should Respond in an Appropriate Way
Interactions Should Provide High Value
High Utility Low Utility
DoingPerforms a Task
“Alexa, ask Scout to arm away mode.”
“Away mode armed. You have 45 seconds to leave the house.”
SearchingIdentifies specific info
“Alexa, ask Vendor if there are Pearl Jam tickets available for this weekend.”
“There are a limited amount of tickets, ranging from $49 to $279.”
TellingProvides a quick reference point
“Alexa, tell me a cat fact.”
“It is well known that dogs are superior to cats.”
BrowsingGives info on a broad subject
“Alexa, ask Amazon what’s on sale.”
“The following items are on sale right now...”
Interactions Should Provide High ValueVoice is conversational. Very different than touch driven experiences. Less is more.
Think of Voice as another UI to your game logic. Mobile, Web, Voice UI.
A large majority of the types of interactions today can grow with the user over time. Aim for interactions that perform tasks on behalf of the user and learn as time goes on. This will provide a much better experience and lead to more interactions that can do more.
An Interaction Should Evolve Over Time
W H E R E D O YO U S TA RT ?The Evolution of a Voice Experience
Traffic ExampleGive an estimated time of
arrival from home to work.
Traffic ExampleInclude accidents, construction
and closures on route.
Traffic ExampleProactively alert user to delays and
provide alternate routes.
R U NEvolve Over Time
C R A W LWhat’s Your Core Functionality?
ANALYZE USER FEEDBACK& OPTIMIZE
W A L KExpand Capabilities & Features
INNOVATE FORCUSTOMERS
An Interaction Should Evolve Over TimeVoice user interfaces work well when they are focused, and give quick responses.
Start with a primary use case that both communicates your business case, but is also a clear winner for a voice user interface.
Let’s do one thing well, and add in capabilities allowing it to get smarter over time.
Evolve shorter, more focused interactions by learning about the customer.
Example of Adaptive DesignVOICE INTERACTIONLaunch Travel BuddyHi, I’m travel buddy. I can easily tell you about your daily commute. Let’s get you set up. Where are you starting from?Mountain ViewOk, and where are you going?San FranciscoGreat, now whenever you ask, I can tell you about the commute from Mountain View to San Francisco. The current commute time is one hour and twelve minutes. There is a 15 minute delay on I280.
Launch Travel BuddyYour commute time is currently fifty four minutes.
Users Can Speak to Your Interface Naturally and Spontaneously
Users Can Speak to Your Interface Naturally and Spontaneously
The experience of using your voice interaction should allow users to not have to think about what to say and allow them to not remember how to say it.
They should be able to converse with your interface just as they would another human.
All they need is a rough idea of what your service can do (e.g. playing music, placing a call, etc.), and they just ask the service to do it.
This is the real value of voice interface, but this value can quickly erode in an interaction that forces users to interact in unnatural ways.
Users Can Speak to Your Skill Naturally and Spontaneously
You should try to remove artificial interaction syntax and make interactions as natural as possible.
Allowing your users to make simple requests without having to think about the format those requests should be in, will create a much better experience.
Example of Streamlined VoiceGameplay Interaction
StarLanes – Space MMO, fully audio driven.
Support multiple methods of game-play in StarLanes. Fighter, Merchant, and Scout.
No way to make one audio UI that supported all the different gameplay usability.
Solution? Parallel games: StarLanes, StarTrade and StarScout.
Each individual game will let you play out that style of gameplay. Doesn’t have to explain all of the others.
The audio interface can be kept clean and simple. Integration between them all can be done on the back end.
Starting a Conversation inVoice InteractionsInvocation options:An invocation is how you start your voice service.
With Alexa, you can say:“Alexa, [ask | tell | play | launch | use | start | begin] MyService [for | to | and | for][variable]”
Alexa, ask [scheduleUpdate] for [dailyUpdate].Alexa, start [scheduleUpdate].
Your Service Should Understand Most Requests
Your Service Should Understand Most Requests
In a natural voice interaction, most requests are understood and acted on.
Your service should endeavor to do the same.
Requiring numerous attempts to invoke your service will be frustrating for your customer.
An Interactions Should Respond in an Appropriate Way
Hello?
Voice Interactions with Generated CharactersVoice is a natural, first UI for everyone.
Especially true in VR experiences
Create a Listening Model – recorded voice responses based on intents of language
Pre-generated responses are ok
Push To Talk (PTT) or Keyword
Mechanical Turk – Human + AI real-time responses
An Interaction Should Respond in an Appropriate WayVoice is most natural way for us to communicate.
Provide adequate error handling for unexpected or unsupported input. A user should never be exposed directly to error handling.
Check for missing variables or values in your service.
If you find any missing information you should respond to the player with a prompt for more details.
Having a Good Conversation in anAUDIO EXPERIENCE Makes It Clear that the User Needs to
Respond Doesn’t Assume Users Know What to Do Clearly Presents the Options Keeps It Brief Avoids Overwhelming Users with Too Many
Choices Offers Help for Complex Experiences Asks Users Only Necessary Questions Uses Confirmations Selectively Obtains One Piece of Information at a Time Makes Sure Users Know They are in the
Right Place Avoids Technical and Legal Jargon
Write for the Ear, not the Eye!
Digging Deeper into Voice DesignAlexa Skills Kit Voice Design Best Practices - http://bit.ly/voicedesignAlexa Skills Kit Voice Design Handbook - http://bit.ly/voicehandbookWired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship, by Nass and BraveThe Elements of VUI Style: A Practical Guide to Voice User Interface Design, by Bouzid and MaDon’t Make Me Tap!: A Common Sense Approach to Voice Usability, by Bouzid and MaThe Voice in the Machine: Building Computers That Understand Speech, by PieracciniVoice User Interface Design, by Cohen, Giangola, and Balogh
Designing Voice Driven Game Experiences
DAVE ISBITSKICHIEF EVANGELIST, ALEXA AND ECHO
m