Alexios, The Spartan Assistant is an Alexa skill that essentially allows users to have a conversation with the main protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Users can ask Alexios anything they might ask a normal Alexa unt and receive a gruff or funny Spartan-themed response. He also provides help in the game, with users able to ask for additional knowledge of up to 400 points of interest. Each question has multiple responses so every interaction with Alexios feels fresh, unique, and personal.

The technology we used for the project was an Amazon Echo that is colloquially known as Alexa. Assassin’s Creed is a globally recognized video game series entering its 11th title iteration. For this iteration, the game takes place in Ancient Mesopotamia and was focused on Spartan heroes, who have been celebrated in history for their courage and valor. While the execution was birthed out of the US, the cultural resonance of the strategic insight, product utility and film humor were all global in focus.

00:00 - START

00:01 - USER: Alexa, open the Spartan.

00:03 - ALEXIOS: I am Alexios, the great Spartan warrior. Bow before me, civilian!

00:09 - USER: Who are you?

00:10 - ALEXIOS: I'm an ancient Spartan warrior spirit trapped inside a plastic cylinder.

00:17 - USER: What’s the weather?

00:18 - ALEXIOS: The weather is gentle and mild, like a Corinthian in battle.

00:24 - USER: What do I have to do today?

00:26 - ALEXIOS: You are scheduled for a fight to the death. Would you like a 15-minute reminder?

00:32 - USER: How is the market today?

00:34 - ALEXIOS: The stock in Chalkidiki are strong and fertile today. Buy.

00:39 - USER: Lock the doors.

00:41 - ALEXIOS: I don't see a wooden beam to put across your door.

00:44 - USER: Tell me a joke.

00:46 - ALEXIOS: What's the difference between an Athenian and cold butter? Cold butterputs up a little resistance to your blade.

00:58 - USER: How is traffic?

01:00 - ALEXIOS: Terrible. I suggest a violent purge.

01:03 - USER: Sing me a lullaby.

01:04 - ALEXIOS: Hush little soldier, don’t say a word, the enemy approaches, their deaths will occur. And if their deaths summon more of their hoards, sleep well sweet child, when you wake we’ll have war.

01:20 - USER: Set phasers to kill.

01:21- ALEXIOS: You must think I represent a different franchise.

01:24 - USER: Sing happy birthday.

01:25 ALEXIOS: (reluctantly)

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear.... person.

Happy birthday to you

There. Tell anyone about this, and i'll cut your head off while you sleep.

01:45 - USER: Tell me about King Agamemnon.

01:47 - ALEXIOS: King Agamemnon survived the Trojan war. However, when he returned, he was immediately murdered by his wife's lover in his own home.

02:01 - USER: Tell me about Kapsia Cave.

02:04 - ALEXIOS: This cave is dedicated to Kapsia, an odd little goat man that protects the local shepards and flocks. They say at night, you can hear his peaceful cry.

02:18 - USER: Tell me about Athens.

02:20 - ALEXIOS: Athens was the birthplace of democracy, and according to us Spartans, everything else terrible in this world.

02:29 - USER: When does Assassin's Creed odyssey come out?

02:31 - ALEXIOS: The oracles whisper of the fifth day on the tenth month. But pre-orders are open now.

02:39 - USER: Lights off.

02:40 - ALEXIOS: Okay, but Hades' beasts lurk in the dark.

02:45 - USER: Alexios off.

02:47 - ALEXIOS: So long, for now.

02:48 - END

To make Alexios successful we knew we had to essentially create a realistic approximation of a smart assistant by hand. This meant brainstorming and identifying not only every single question a user would be likely to ask our skill, but also the different variations and slang variations those questions. All in all we trained the skill to recognize over 10,000 inputs and managed to map each and every one back to a unique and accurate response that we had matched to that question.