Project Review

The project's development having since concluded and having had a moment to reflect, I am left rather content with my work on this Exploration Project. While it certainly could have used a little more development time to really pop, I'm quite happy with what I managed to accomplish, especially given how few projects I've seen made by other people that take advantage of similar mechanics.

To be frank, using AI to interpret user-generated input isn't exactly a very common practice within the game industry. Sure, developers may allow players to input strings to name their characters/belongings or communicate with others, but as far as taking specific actions based on the contents of said text, there really aren't that many contemporary examples to draw inspiration from. The closest comparison I could probably draw is to the text adventures of the 80s and 90s with their "go to castle", "pick up sword" control schemes, but I would think the inclusion of visual components and more bite-sized objectives does make this prototype a fair bit different. 

While this particular application of AI may not be too widely used, there is a decent degree of potential should it see further use in future titles. Whether it's used for puzzle-adjacent simple games like this one or for some sort of high-concept story-driven experience, the possibilities for syntax-driven user input are virtually endless. Not exactly endless though, as computers generally have to have the meanings of things explicitly told to them and aren't exactly known for their ability to pick up on the slang of the day or decipher intense wordplay, but the point still stands. That being said, creating a viable dictionary as well as programming the logic needed to understand sentence syntax on a large scale is a very complex task, so it does make sense why it isn't a terribly common mechanic in games.

Ultimately, though I feel my prototype had a couple of hiccups here and there (being too confusing for beginners and not having a broad enough word selection pool was a common complaint), I'm pleased with what I was able to create in the time available. Furthermore, I'm delighted to have had so many opportunities to learn and improve upon my programming skills as part of this course. It's always great to expand upon one's skills and experience whenever possible, after all.