Voice Games: the History of Voice Interaction in Digital Games
Teemu Kiiski Voice Games: The History of Voice Interaction in Digital Games Bachelor of Business Administration Game Development Studies Spring 2020 Abstract Author(s): Kiiski Teemu Title of the Publication: Voice Games: The History of Voice Interaction in Digital Games Degree Title: Bachelor of Business Administration, Game Development Studies Keywords: voice games, digital games, video games, speech recognition, voice commands, voice interac- tion This thesis was commissioned by Doppio Games, a Lisbon-based game studio that makes con- versational voice games for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Doppio has released games such as The Vortex (2018) and The 3% Challenge (2019). In recent years, voice interaction with computers has become part of everyday life. However, despite the fact that voice interaction mechanics have been used in games for several decades, the category of voice interaction games, or voice games in short, has remained relatively ob- scure. The purpose of the study was to research the history of voice interaction in digital games. The objective of this thesis is to describe a chronological history for voice games through a plat- form-focused approach while highlighting different design approaches to voice interaction. Research findings point out that voice interaction has been experimented with in commercially published games and game systems starting from the 1980s. Games featuring voice interaction have appeared in waves, typically as a reaction to features made possible by new hardware. During the past decade, the field has become more fragmented. Voice games are now available on platforms such as mobile devices and virtual assistants. Similarly, traditional platforms such as consoles are keeping up by integrating more voice interaction features.
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