To promote Chess.com’s introduction of multi-lingual A.I. chess bots, the site partnered with Duolingo on a special integration allowing users to play against Duolingo’s cast of characters in 12 different languages.
As the lead writer on the project, Kyle crafted over 250 pages of dialogue for the five featured characters, Duo, Lily, Zari, Oscar, and Junior.
The goal of the project was to have each character stay true to their established persona from the Duolingo app, while layering in competitive trash-talking to help bring humor to the game.
Characters had the ability to respond to unique situations during each game, like specific pieces being in danger, potential moves available on the board, or commenting on a user’s strategic decisions.
Additionally, Duo the Owl was given a split personality and variable difficulty level. If users played specific moves that relate to various languages or countries, the Duo chessbot would get angry and switch to a more intense play style/dialogue.
Win or lose, each game ends with character specific calls to action urging Chess.com users to try out Duolingo.
Gameplay samples:
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Duolingo Joins Chess.com To Capture Your Pawns In 12 Languages