At 01:16 PM 2/17/99 -1000, Jed Hartman wrote:
>As usual, it's not quite where we'd want it to be yet. The speech
>synthesizer is the standard computery-sounding one on the Mac, and one that
>sounds just like it on the PC; non-computer people won't be happy with this
>level of speech. There's no parsing of input (though Phil's connection to
>the company may mean that's in the works -- Phil, can you comment on
>this?); the head just speaks whatever you tell it to, or whatever is in the
>pre-recorded file it's playing back, or whatever its NL synthesizer tells
>it to. And the interface design isn't great. Also, the 3D is limited --
>the only 3D models in the scene are the heads, and though you can rotate or
>drag a head in the 3D space, you can't move the camera. And I don't know
>if character facial expressions are scriptable.
>
There actually is a parser there are for those of you who
want to try writing for it all you do is type in the
statements you want him to "know" and then ask questions
of it such as
You live in Honolulu
You are 500 years old
You like hot dogs and beer.
You are from France
the tall dark stranger is carrying a bloody knife
where do you live
how old are you
what do you like
where are you from
what is the stranger doing
is the stranger carrying a knife
what is the stranger doing
and so on.
It is difficult to write for, but with the write guidance and
a certain amount of experience it is possible to write entire
games or education products where the users chat with the
characters to gain information and advance the play. Probably
the best place to start for a game would be with a murder
myster where the user interviews witnesses, police, and suspects
to wend his way through a maze of facts and opinions to find
a murderer. Another idea would be an ever growing game like
Dungeons and Dragons where stories and profiles are constantly
added to the game to keep the users returing.
The writer needs to keep an eye on grammar and controlling the
contexts (scenes, story lines, and profiles) within which the
character is operating in order to provide the user with an
experience where 90% plus of his questions are appropriately
answered.
Phil Bralich
Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Ergo Linguistic Technologies
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 175
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808)539-3920
Fax: (808)539-3924
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.ergo-ling.com
