Voice Games: The History of Voice Interaction in Digital Games
Kiiski, Teemu (2020)
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Lataukset:
Kiiski, Teemu
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202004306615
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202004306615
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was commissioned by Doppio Games, a Lisbon-based game studio that makes conversational 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 obscure. 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 platform-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.
As a result of games escaping outside of traditional game platforms, voice interaction is now being implemented in a variety of games both by indie developers and more established developers. At the same time, new design approaches to voice interaction are experimented with. For platforms and developers, challenges to overcome in the future include coming up with fresh design approaches to voice interaction, integrating voice as a core game mechanic instead of as a substitute for existing control schemes, and taking into account players’ privacy.
The complexity of voice interaction mechanics in games varies and is restricted by the platform’s hardware and software capabilities. From this perspective, voice interaction in games typically falls into four categories: games where voice interaction is based on simple volume detection, games that require mimicking such as karaoke games through pitch and rhythm detection, games that feature voice commands through speech recognition, and conversational games that go beyond simple voice commands.
The study was carried out through the qualitative research method by conducting online literary research. Due to limitations of resources, it was not possible to include every game that has ever featured voice interaction or cover all the various design approaches that game developers have used.
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 obscure. 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 platform-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.
As a result of games escaping outside of traditional game platforms, voice interaction is now being implemented in a variety of games both by indie developers and more established developers. At the same time, new design approaches to voice interaction are experimented with. For platforms and developers, challenges to overcome in the future include coming up with fresh design approaches to voice interaction, integrating voice as a core game mechanic instead of as a substitute for existing control schemes, and taking into account players’ privacy.
The complexity of voice interaction mechanics in games varies and is restricted by the platform’s hardware and software capabilities. From this perspective, voice interaction in games typically falls into four categories: games where voice interaction is based on simple volume detection, games that require mimicking such as karaoke games through pitch and rhythm detection, games that feature voice commands through speech recognition, and conversational games that go beyond simple voice commands.
The study was carried out through the qualitative research method by conducting online literary research. Due to limitations of resources, it was not possible to include every game that has ever featured voice interaction or cover all the various design approaches that game developers have used.