Hey there, everyone. Just making a post saying hello.

I’ve been in into Software Engineering for a pretty short time so far, but know enough about it that I worked my way through a degree and currently hold a position that lets me type letters into a compiler.

On the side, I’ve picked up making a simple Twitch chat bot just to make sure that some skills don’t atrophy while I do other things.

Recently, though, I’ve decided that a bot with pre-programmed responses to the most basic of questions (BotName, what time is it?) isn’t very fun. Since I haven’t really come across anything more sophisticated in the channels I frequent (admittedly mostly Mario Maker streams. lols) I figured it might be fun to come up with something.

And with that….

I’m not really sure what to do! That’s why I’m on this awesome site! I want a bot with a bit of a personality, which seems to be the largest issue I’m having. I was going to start with learning conditional responses and such (ex. on another post was learning how to reply to “How are you?” based on what others reply to the question with), but I’d like to figure out a way to instead of replying with the logged “I’m great, thank you”, output something like, “Ah! I’m good, t-thanks…!” - aka the shy tsundere, or “None of your business, ya dumb jerk!” - aka some foul-mouthed ruffian.

Anyway, this is just where I’m starting! Say hi, or give me advice on what to check out! I’m mostly familiar with C#, C++, and creating things from scratch instead of using a bunch of 3rd party libraries.

I hope to learn a lot here and have a good time!

Thanks for letting me introduce myself,
John

Find a big input-response corpus to harvest responses to given input.

Build parser to reduce/interprete input.

Find the appropriate response, biased to reflect mood, time of day, time of month, etc.

Deliver response.

Profit!

It is easier to use some pre existing libraries though, for C#, Program # may get you started quickly with readily available input-response files (AIML).

Though I would encourage you to build your own bot from the ground up- who knows you may discover Strong AI. If you do go this route, see my previous post for suggestions.

Hi all,

I am also a beginner on the subject, working with a project with a fellow colleague at a local university. I would like some suggestions and feedback regarding building your own chatbot. Currently we are in the process of reading all the documentation and getting to more in depth of what commands are used within chatscript. Please let us know what can serve as a helpful guideline to direct us in the right direction. Thanks!

We also hope to learn and get to know more people within the same community!
Brenda & Elise

Hi all,

I am also a beginner on the subject, working with a project with a fellow colleague at a local university. I would like some suggestions and feedback regarding building your own chatbot. Currently we are in the process of reading all the documentation and getting to more in depth of what commands are used within chatscript. Please let us know what can serve as a helpful guideline to direct us in the right direction. Thanks!

We also hope to learn and get to know more people within the same community!
Brenda & Elise

Hello Brenda and John. Welcome.

I think ChatScript is a good place to start, it is also a good destination.

I recommend building your chat files on a local machine. Once you have something you’d like to test on unwitting participants, AWS servers are a good way to put it on the web. Or maybe you have a server of your own?

For AIML, Program AB can be a good entry into Android apps.  Pandorabots make setup easy, but I find it cumbersome having to upload files and re-build online. It’s also a matter of taste I suppose.

ChatScript is versatile, and might be a very complicated looking thing. The time you spend learning about it though can help you if you choose another platform later. Same with AIML. You may be the judge. I would spend more time on the chat dialogue than the underlying engine. Even though you may have the source, unless you like to contribute to C++ or Java development, your time is better spent making the features you learn work for end users IMHO. Developers like Bruce Wilcox are working out the nuts and bolts to make the scripting language work better and more reliably.

Robby.