Multi-modal Alexa Skills that enhance the capabilities of Alexa with the power of the web
Alexa Skills have been around for a number of years now if you are not very familiar with the technology. Here’s a look at the Alexa Skills listed on Amazon.com –
With the Alexa Web API for games you can build visually rich, interactive voice controlled experiences. You can interact with these experiences either through touch, through voice (when invoking the skill via Alexa), or through your Fire TV remote.
Click here if you want to get more information about building Alexa Skills with the Web API for Games.
I do want to highlight just how cool this tech is. Once you start an interaction with an Alexa Skill that incorporates this API, the code for the Skill is running in two places – on device and you can still talk directly to your running Skill. You can interact with your device – like an Echo Show device, begin a game like 2048 (which is super fun!), and let’s say for some reason your device crashes. Your game state is saved because the Alexa Skill is seamlessly running simultaneously in both places. This is thanks to the Alexa Skill acting like a backend to store the game state, while your device is acting as your client-side.
To get started building your first Alexa Skill, follow this link. There are blueprint templates that will help get you familiar with the Alexa Developer console as well as the Amazon Web Services console (they are not the same thing!)
Here’s a glimpse at the Alexa Developer console –
PS – If you’re interested in checking out the first Alexa Skill I ever created for the Appalachian State University solar car team, Team Sunergy, click here! I’ve created a few more since then, and am currently working on an Alexa Skill that provides information about my favorite author. More to come on that later!
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