Byte's commands and how they connect

THE BOT AND HOW EVERYTHING CONNECTS

Byte is the community bot. It watches the showcase forums, tracks feedback, posts digests, and gives you a handful of slash commands to interact with everything. Type /help in any channel for the quick reference. This page is the deeper version.

The systems

Before the commands make sense you need the map. Six systems run across the Discord server and the site, and most touch more than one part of the stack.

How Discord becomes site content

The site does not scrape or silently harvest anything. Every path from Discord to public content has an explicit gate.

Showcase games publish automatically, but only when you post in a registered showcase forum. The bot exports your thread title, screenshot, description, and project URL. Discord user IDs and forum IDs are stripped — the public contract deliberately excludes them. Your card appears on the site within six hours.

Tools are added and verified by hand. When a community member finds or recommends an AI tool, a contributor checks the official pricing page, notes the commercial-rights status, and adds it to the directory with a source link. No tool appears on the site unverified — entries without a checked date are labelled “Not yet verified.”

Wiki articles are written from questions that keep coming up in Discord. If the same question gets asked three times, it probably deserves a reference page. Articles list their sources, carry a “Checked” date for pages with fast-moving facts, and credit contributors by name (with their permission). Anyone can report an error or an outdated fact from the article page, and good corrections earn a contributor credit.

Community notes are the most consent-heavy path. When a Discord discussion produces something worth preserving — a technique that worked, a tool comparison someone tested, a workflow that solved a real problem — a mod can run /communitynote nominate to start the curation checklist. The checklist requires:

• Every material contributor approves the exact final text
• Each person chooses how they’re credited (named, anonymous, or no credit)
• Discord IDs never appear in the published version

Nothing drafts, summarises, or publishes without that approval chain completing. The command itself only displays the checklist — it does not collect or store anything.

Jams work like the showcase pipeline. The bot exports jam metadata (title, dates, status, phase) and links entries to their jam by ID. Winners get award badges on their showcase cards.

Commands one by one

/mystats

Shows your personal feedback stats: total points, how many you earned this week, and your current rank. The reply is only visible to you.

When to use it: After leaving reviews, to see whether your comments were long enough to earn points. Comments shorter than ten characters are ignored by the system.

Connects to: Feedback loop, leaderboard.

/leaderboard

Shows your feedback standing — current week and all-time. The reply is only visible to you. No public ranking exists.

When to use it: When you want to see your own progress, or find active reviewers to ask for feedback on your game.

Connects to: Feedback loop. The public Monday post thanks contributors by name but shows no scores or positions — it is recognition, not a competition.

/needsreviews

Lists showcase threads that have the fewest feedback comments. These are the games that need attention.

When to use it: When you have time to give feedback but don’t know where to start. This is the fastest way to find games that haven’t had eyes on them yet.

Connects to: Showcase pipeline, feedback loop. Giving feedback on these threads earns points the same way any showcase comment does.

/projecturl

Sets a public play or test link on your showcase thread. This URL appears on your game’s site card as a “Play” or “Test” button.

When to use it: Run it inside your own showcase thread. If your game has a playable build on itch.io, a web demo, or any public link where people can try it, this is how you surface it. You can update it any time by running the command again.

Connects to: Showcase pipeline. The next export picks up the URL and adds it to your card on the site.

/posttemplate

Gives you a copyable post template for common thread types: build-help requests, playtest calls, and development updates. The reply is only visible to you.

When to use it: Before creating a new forum post, so your post has the right structure from the start. A well-formatted post gets more useful responses.

Connects to: Showcase pipeline (indirectly). Following the template means your thread title, screenshot, and description are already in the right format for the site to pick up.

/gameidea

Byte generates a random game idea. Quality varies. Entertainment guaranteed.

When to use it: When you’re stuck, bored, or want a laugh. Some ideas are surprisingly good. Most are not. That’s the point.

Connects to: Nothing. Pure fun.

/help

Shows the command reference card. Lists every community command with a short description. The reply is only visible to you.

When to use it: When you forget what a command does. Faster than searching for this page.

How it all flows together

Here is the typical lifecycle of a game in the community:

1. You post a game in the showcase forum. Follow the format in Posting your game to the showcase — game name as the title, screenshot in the first message, short description.

2. The showcase pipeline picks it up. Within six hours your game appears on the site with a card showing your title, screenshot, and description.

3. You add a play link with /projecturl. Now your card has a button that sends people straight to your build.

4. Other members leave feedback. Every substantive comment (ten characters or more) on your thread earns the reviewer a feedback point. They can check their progress with /mystats.

5. Reviewers find games to review with /needsreviews, which surfaces the threads with the least attention.

6. The weekly thank-you names contributors. Every Monday, Byte posts a public roll naming people who gave feedback that week — no scores, no ranking, just recognition.

7. The daily digest wraps the day. Each evening, Byte summarises the day’s conversations and activity into a single post so nobody has to scroll through everything they missed.

The loop reinforces itself: posting a well-formatted game gets you on the site, which gets you reviews, which earns reviewers points, which shows up on the leaderboard, which encourages more reviews.

Meanwhile, the knowledge side runs in parallel: tool recommendations get verified and added to the tools directory, recurring questions become wiki articles, and standout discussions become community notes — all with explicit consent and attribution. The daily digest ties both loops together by summarising the day’s activity so nothing falls through the cracks.

Tips

• Feedback quality matters more than quantity. Read How to give feedback that helps before reviewing your first game.
• Update your project URL whenever your build link changes. Stale links frustrate people who want to test your game.
• Check /needsreviews regularly. The games at the top of that list are the ones whose builders are waiting.
• Found a useful tool? Share it in Discord. If it holds up, it gets added to the tools directory with proper verification.
• Spotted an error in a wiki article? Report it from the article page. Good corrections earn you a contributor credit.