Amazon starts letting Alexa developers sell extra lives in voice games

Amazon announced today that developers with Alexa skill sets can now sell to Echo device owners features such as extra lives or special powers in role-playing games, or clues in the middle of the game. a trivia game.

Initial voice applications to offer in-skill consumables include Would You Rather for the family, the medieval role-playing game Yes Sire and Hypno Therapist, a meditation app.

Consumables were first made available for developers, but they are now available to all US developers who create games and other skills.

According to an article by Amazon, the "Who wants to be a millionaire" voice application from Sony Pictures Television will soon launch a skill with skills purchases.

Of Alex's more than 50,000 skills available today, games have always been a case of privileged use.

The skills consumables are the second way for Echo device owners to pay for games, after the introduction of subscriptions, launched about a year ago from Double Jeopardy. Since then, other paid vocal games such as Jurassic Park: Revealed have also been launched.

The news comes less than a week after Amazon launched nearly a dozen new devices, such as Echo Dot and Echo Show's second-generation, as well as Echo Auto, a microwave oven. waves and a clock.

The new Echo Show debuted alongside Alexa Presentation Language (APL), a new version of Amazon's resources that allows developers to create experiences that incorporate visual elements such as text, images, or video a screen or dynamic environments. can be used to create games. Beyond Amazon devices, Sony's smart TVs and Lenovo tablets will also be able to deliver APL experiences.

Amazon has taken a number of steps to attract developers who create games for Alexa, including a program that pays for them based on the level of engagement of their apps with Echo speaker owners.

Last fall, Amazon introduced the API and SDK Gadgets so that developers could create games with Echo Buttons or create gaming experiences with their own hardware. In addition to a number of skills available to explain role-playing rules, last year the Ghost accessory was introduced as a voice assistant for Destiny 2 players.

Game startups Play Impossible and Sensible Object, which created the first board game you play with Alexa, also took part in the inaugural Alexa Accelerator class.