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jjaquinta avatar image
jjaquinta asked

Starlanes Forum

Hey Folks, I've set up a forum for the Starlanes game here: http://starlanes.freeforums.net The all-or-nothing nature of Alexa skills means that you can't really do an Alpha or Beta. Also the rather lengthy certification process for non-trivial skills means I'm having to mix released and prototype features. So I set up the forum to give players a head's up about changes as they happen. If you are a Starlanes player, it's not a bad idea to join in. For developers, it's also a place you can ask technical questions about the implementation of the skill. Additionally the long term concept is to have several loosely liked skills all operating in the same universe. I have another game at demo level set in the same geography focusing on trading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7LnG7bmyfw Most aspects of the universe are available via REST APIs. So they can be integrated into multiple skills. If you think you might be interested in developing a companion game, drop me a line or start a thread on the discussion forum. Cheers, Jo
alexa skills kitcommunity projects
10 |5000

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Matt Kruse avatar image
Matt Kruse answered
Are you willing to share your user numbers? I'm just curious. I watched your demo of Starlanes, but it's not something I was interested in playing. Partly because it seemed complex, partly because I don't really play games, and partly because it seemed like I would be alone in your universe. It really seemed complex enough that I doubted anyone would get into it. I'd love to be proven wrong, because I think it's a great concept and I'd like to see it succeed. I don't see anything like it, so it seems like a good test of how willing users are to try things out, invest time to learn complex skills, and stay engaged.
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jjaquinta avatar image
jjaquinta answered
I was thinking where to post numbers, and then it occurred to me: I'll just blog about it! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/measuring-update-alexa-joseph-jaquinta There are the graphs there for Skill Metrics. That's most of it. I also keep a leaderboard for Starlanes with some more game-specific info here: https://tsatsatzu.elasticbeanstalk.com/starlanes/leaders As far as Starlanes, so far "you either love it or hate it" seems to be the best description. A depressingly large number of users try it, and leave. But a few try it and play it obsessively. This has exposed a few flaws in the gameplay. But at least I know what to work on. The take-home for me is that the game is playable and interesting, but has on-boarding issues. This is, more or less, what the certification team said. But rather than polish the apple, I wanted to get it out there to see if [i]anyone[/i] was interested. Given there is actually activity in the forum, the answer is a clear "yes". So I'm working on the next release of it. Top of my list is a tutorial-introduction system. Watching people use it has given me some ideas on how to better bring them into it. I think I've worked out, technically, how to intersperse guidance with hand-on use. Now that we have an tag, I will also be experimenting with making the tutorial a recording of someone actually speaking, rather than a computer synthesized voice. I have to see if that is too jarring or not. (And if my "quality microphone" + downgrading to 48kpbs is good enough!) I'm most disappointed in Tweet Poll. This is an Election Year people! (By some, broadly extended definition of election "year".) Clearly my audio interface is just too hard for people to grasp. I'm at a loss how to make it better, yet keep the diverse functionality. Any other numbers you want?
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