Bachelor Project
Website & Python
Elephanture is a text adventure where the player takes on the role of a history student at the university. The student must solve dubious puzzles for their professor in order to complete their bachelor’s degree. The entire gameplay operates through text inputs and outputs, making it feel like chatting. What makes it special is that the output of the game is a blend of predefined story and the interpretation of the GPT-2 Transformer. This is a language AI developed by OpenAI.
Gameplay
The player uses natural language to play andinteract with game elements through a command-based system. The interfacedesign contributes to a chatbot-like experience. To create a unique playing experience, the game connects key features, which can bedivided into AI and gameplay features. There are features, which are adapted by other types of games. The GPT-2, as the main AI feature, uses a self-trained model as a main NPC. Theplayer is accompanied by the feature throughout most of the game. The motivation behind this feature was to generate interesting conversations with NPCs outside of the generaltopical boundaries of the story. Secondly, a simple input classification system is built-in, that works with a list of predefined possible inputs. The python module “fuzzy wuzzy” helps us filter grammatical errors and examine if the player’s input is close enough to our predefined commands. We included all the possible synonyms we could think of, which allows the player to experience the game without the need to memorize or yield to specific commands. Gameplay is based on different game modes, which have a specific function themselves.
● Game: Main interaction in the level environment
● Phone: For receiving messages in the players mailbox and the interaction with themain NPC
● Riddle: player can solve riddles and minigames
● GPS: Used for navigation to different locations on the imaginary map
Further gameplay features are adopted from games with a graphical environment. For example, the inventory stores items the player picks up during the game. A map of different locations can be explored in any particular order, assuming the specific location is already unlocked by the player. Finally, the audio feature uses text-to-speech to create ane xperience akin to an audiobook, before printing them to the chatbot interface. Breaking the common conventions of chatbots not having audio features, it is the most controversial feature of our game. Therefore audio is turned off by default, but is still an option available if need be. In order to guide the player while playing the game, there are suggestions when clicking in the input field. By giving the player suggestions, we wanted to make our game beginner friendly. Because some players might not be familiar with commands used in text adventures.
