The AI Chronicles

A spaceship crashes on a planet. You emerge in the wreckage of a civilization, populated by robots. How will you survive and thrive?

The AI Chronicles is an experiment in using OpenAI/ChatGPT to create a role-playing game. It's built in React and TypeScript on the front end with Spring Boot and Java on the back end.

We're building it live! Join us on Twitch every week at https://jitterted.stream. For more information, see https://www.jamesshore.com/s/ai-chronicles. Your hosts: James Shore and Ted M. Young.

Technical Approach

We are building The AI Chronicles using Extreme Programming practices, including pair programming, continuous integration, test-driven development, and more. For information, see The Art of Agile Development, 2nd ed. by James Shore.

• Architecture:
  • Monolith with separate React front-end and Spring Boot back-end
  • Monorepo with unified build (still in progress)
  • A-Frame Architecture
  • Testing using Nullables

The Plan

(Plan based on chapter 8, "Planning," of The Art of Agile Development.)

Vision

A compelling role-playing game in which the player negotiates with a complex robot civilization. They have to balance the goals of multiple robot factions with their own goals and need for survival.

Mission

Build a proof-of-concept that demonstrates three major gameplay systems: conversation, environmental hazards, and conflict.

Non-goals:

• We are not yet supporting robot factions or conversations with more than one robot.
• We are not yet supporting persistence or multiple players.

Minimum Valuable Increments

• ➡️ A conversation with a robot resulting in success or failure, where "success" is the robot agreeing to take us to shelter.
• (Future: Additional MVI's involving environmental hazards and conflict.)

User Stories

• ✅Placeholder communication with OpenAI
• ✅Placeholder web page
• ➡️Send prompt to OpenAI from front-end
• Display OpenAI response in front-end
• Harden communication with OpenAI (OpenAiClient error handling)
  • What if response doesn't have all the fields?
  • What if OpenAI doesn't like the API key?
  • What about rate limiting?
  • or throws some other error / unexpected status?
• Make back-end URL configurable
• (Future: tbd)

Engineering Tasks

🔷= on hold ➡️= in progress ✅= done

• React "Application" class needs to use front-end wrapper

• ✅Front-end wrapper for back-end service (Back_end_client?)

• ✅Front-end fetch() wrapper (HttpClient)

• ✅Finish making HttpClient nullable/testable

• ✅Create OutputTracker

• ✅Back-end POST /say endpoint with hardcoded response

• ✅Make OpenAiClient nullable

• Back-end endpoint talks to OpenAiClient wrapper (replaces hardcoded response)

  • ➡️Test: /say endpoint uses OpenAiClient wrapper **** DO THIS NEXT ****

• Move manual back-end test

• Change HTTP tests to test against JSON rather than DTO

• Remove component