question

camon88 avatar image
camon88 asked

When does an Alexa Skill become too complicated or when should a feature rich skill be split into different skills?

I am continuously developing a skill called Fortnite Buddy - The Ultimate Game Play Companion. This is my first skill and I wanted to just stuff it full of features and many many custom intents. I was/am aiming to take do everything all the other Fortnite Skills do and also do the new things I wanted to add. I am now seeing a problem of having too much to explain to the user for them to know what features are available. I guess my main question is...

Should Alexa Skills be very singly purposed to keep simplicity or is a complicated feature rich app possible if done appropriately?

alexa skills kitskillintents
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1 Answer

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Jenn@amazon answered

Creating a immersive and natural Voice Experience is not an easy thing. Voice AI is an emerging space and evolving at a rapid rate, similar to Mobile Apps back in 2008.

It's the developer community who create innovative Skills, like yours, that push the boundaries of what's possible and raise the bar for new Skills. As with visual apps, the VX (Voice Experience) design is what distinguishes a great skill from a mediocre one.

Personally, I would love to see a complicated feature rich Skill with a great VX. Start with designing a VUI (Voice User Interface), then share the flow with users and gather feedback and make iterations.

Check out the Skill flow for the Color Changer Sample Skill as an example. (It has additional info pertaining to Buttons, but the core idea is there)

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