Install the Trainer Tips skill for free<\/a>!<\/p>\nI developed Trainer Tips in early 2016, and it was one of the first 1000 skills approved on the platform. Leveraging my own passion for the Pokemon franchise, I developed Trainer Tips to assist me – and other gamers – with the complex type matchups that occur during the game. While Pokemon types are essentially a modified Rock, Paper, Scissors game, it’s difficult to track 18 different types with strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n
My key design goal was simplicity. I wanted to optimize for one-shot invocation, and to keep the number of intents to a minimum so I could focus on quality. Too many skills at the time were trying too much, or treating simple requests as lengthy conversations.<\/p>\n
This was a solo effort: I built the interaction model and developed the code in Node.js from scratch. The skill continues to see engagement 2 years later, and the skill has an average review in the Alexa skills store of 4.4. <\/p>\n
Supported intents<\/h2>\n
The Trainer Tips skill supports three kinds of requests:<\/p>\n
Type Strengths<\/h3>\n
Check the types that a particular \u201chero\u201d type is strong against. Ask questions like:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlexa, ask Trainer Tips about Steel strengths\u201d
\n\u201cAlexa, ask Trainer Tips what\u2019s weak against Fire\u201d
\nAlexa will also mention any known immunities the hero type may have.<\/p>\n
Type Weaknesses<\/h3>\n
Check which types will cause extra damage to your hero type. Ask questions like \u201cWhat are the weaknesses of Psychic types?\u201d or \u201cWhat\u2019s best against Water types?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer Tips<\/h3>\n
Ask for a random battle tip. You can submit ideas for new tips by Tweeting at me \u2013 use the hashtag #TrainerTipsAlexa<\/p>\n
\u201cAlexa, ask Trainer tips to teach me something new.\u201d
\n\u201cAlexa, ask Trainer Tips to give me a tip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interaction Model<\/h2>\n
As with many Alexa skills, the Trainer Tips skill supports sessions and one-shot invocation. If you just have one question for Alexa, use one of the sentences below. If you think you\u2019ll have lots of questions in a row, start by saying \u201cAlexa, open Trainer Tips.\u201d From then on, you can leave out the \u201cask Trainer Tips to\u201d part of any of your requests. Then you can do something like this:<\/p>\n
YOU: \u201cAlexa, open Trainer Tips.\u201d
\nALEXA: \u201cWelcome Trainer! I can help you choose the right team for battle. Ask me about a type\u2019s strengths or weaknesses, or ask for a trainer tip. \u201c
\nYOU: \u201cAlexa, What\u2019s strong against Rock?\u201d
\nALEXA: \u201cRock types are weak against water, grass, ground, fighting, and steel type attacks.\u201d
\nYOU: \u201cAlexa, what\u2019s weak against Steel?\u201d
\nALEXA: \u201cSteel types are strong against ice, rock, and fairy type attacks. Steel types are also immune to Poison attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I joined the Alexa team, the Skills store was still in its infancy. One of my first responsibilities on the team was to perform skill submission reviews, which gave me a unique perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the early Skills platform. Still, I wanted to learn more deeply, and the best way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[83,15,50,58,85,24,13],"tags":[35,34,48],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-services","category-consumer-products","category-conversational-ui","category-leadership","category-prototyping-development","category-product-design","category-voice-interfaces","tag-alexa","tag-amazon","tag-voice-design"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/portfolio.cherylplatz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/TrainerTips-Skill-e1516005279745.png?fit=366%2C448&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92M1g-3e","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":202,"url":"https:\/\/portfolio.cherylplatz.com\/?p=202","url_meta":{"origin":200,"position":0},"title":"Alexa Skill: My Countdown","author":"cplatz","date":"January 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My second published Alexa skill was born from a request from a dear friend. 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DND applied not just to Notifications but to Communications (calls\/messaging), which meant a separate team of stakeholders and faster deadlines than the longer-term Notifications project. 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