Voice Originals by Sensible Object

In our sixth episode of the Voice Originals podcast, we continue delving behind the scenes of When in Rome, the travel trivia board game that’s hosted by Alexa.

This week, we get together with our Nairobi local Aggie Nyagari and Dialogue Director Shane Solanki. We delve into Aggie’s work as a film maker, the path that led her to work on When in Rome, and what it’s been like for her on the other side of the directing dynamic.

In our fifth episode of the Voice Originals podcast, we continue delving behind the scenes of When in Rome – a travel trivia board game that’s hosted by your smart speaker.

This time, we chat with our Lima local Daniella Valz Gen and Dialogue Director Shane Solanki. Daniella’s experiences living in different cities while working as a journalist and as a poet, have contributed to a thoughtful look at what it means to create a ‘true’ representation of a city – and whether this is actually ever possible. Combined with discussions ranging from body boarding to the brilliance of Lima’s sportswomen, Daniella takes us through Lima in her eyes.

In the fourth episode of the Voice Originals podcast, we're digging deeper into the process of making When in Rome – a travel trivia board game that's hosted by your smart speaker.

This week, we chat with one of When in Rome's locals, Manisha Ferdinand, as well as one of the game's Dialogue Directors, Shane Solanki. Manisha is When in Rome's voice of London, and together we explore the city's thriving village economy, what it means to be a 'Londoner', the experience of representing London in a game... and what it's like getting chased through a London park by zombies at 2AM.

In the third episode of our Voice Originals podcast, we're looking further at When in Rome: a travel trivia board game that works with your smart speaker.

One of the (many) unique aspects of making a board game that uses an Alexa skill is the opportunity to create free elements that offer a taster of the game. This week, we're looking at the free daily skill – a travel question asked by a local each day, that anyone with an Alexa can answer!

It sounds simple, but how does it hold up as an experience all by itself? And how does a daily skill fit into people's day-to-day lives? These are just some of the questions that George Buckenham, our Game Designer for When in Rome, and Andrew Marks, our Growth Marketing Manager, explore in this episode.

In the second episode of our Voice Originals podcast, we’re looking behind the scenes at what goes into making When in Rome: a travel trivia board game that works with your smart speaker.

This week, we looked at the design of the game board itself – the stylised map of the world that players travel across in the game. We talk with Product Designer and Illustrator Steve Bachmayer and Sensible Object founder Alex Fleetwood to investigate the process of making a map that feels both beautiful and self-aware. How do you balance style and game requirements against authentic cultural representation? Find out in our second episode of the Voice Originals podcast!

In the first episode of the Voice Originals podcast, we peer behind the scenes of writing for When in Rome: a travel trivia board game that works with your smart speaker.

This week, we chat with When in Rome's dialogue directors: community-orientated artist Shane Solanki and playwright Deborah Pearson, diging into the process of sourcing and working with locals from different cities and creating all the wonderful words in the game.

We look at what makes a good local, what makes home feel like home, how to evoke authenticity (and if that's even possible) and... whether robots are the future!

The Voice Originals podcast takes a look behind the scenes at what goes into making the world's first series of voice connected games: board games that you play with your smart speaker!