Closed Beta Testing for GR's Discord Bot & UI Adjustments

This week, we’ve got a couple new features to mention including improvements to Gensokyo Radio’s own Discord bot as well as the re-implementation of some account features on our website.

First, our Discord bot has been going through a test phase over the last couple weeks to iron out some quirks with audio connection persistence. At this point, playback appears to be much more stable (fingers crossed that remains true), so if you’re interested in inviting this bot to your server, ping @LunarSpotlight and we’ll invite you as a tester.

Second, the Discord bot now has three new commands: info, rate, and register. Info is identical to LunarBot’s existing !playing command and will eventually replace it. Rate allows Discord users to rate songs currently playing on the station. And in order for rating to function, users must Register to associate their Discord account with their Gensokyo Radio account. These commands add to the existing Play and Stop commands which control station playback in an audio channel on Discord.

One thing we’ve managed to do through this process is to allow users and listeners to rate songs through Discord via the Rate command. This functionality also extends to listeners beyond Discord, meaning it is possible for a listener to be using the website, their own program, etc. and still be able to rate a song through Discord. This works so long as a user is listening from the same place they last logged in from (but does not require active login).

In order to associate a Discord account with a GR account, we’ve re-implemented a feature which was available towards the end of GR7: a basic user account page. The account page contains a unique API key which is used in the registration process through the bot, as well as functionality for changing a user password without going through the account recovery process. To register, grab the API key from your account page on GR’s website, type /register in Discord, paste the API key in the “key” field, and press enter. The /register command gives feedback in the form of an ephemeral message, meaning only you are able to see your command and any response, and no one else can tell you used the command.

Finally, we also made a couple minor UI adjustments to the website during the week. Colors were modified to improve the presence of certain page elements and to improve readability. Additionally, the audio controls for podcast episodes and shows have been adjusted so that seeking through tracks now works as intended, and the player has been widened so that seeking is easier.

That’s all for this week, let me know if you have any feedback related to GR’s music bot or anything else, and thanks for listening!

[Knowledge #39]