Meeplebot is a Discord bot that helps you schedule your game night. Best paired with my board game app, MeepleMatch.
Tech used: Node.js, JavaScript, Discord.js
Node.js is a powerful and versatile JavaScript runtime that allows for event-driven programming on the backend using JavaScript syntax. JavaScript's object-orientedness allows for a solid foundation for the manipulation of data. I utilized the Discord.js module to develop a Discord bot with four primary functions:
- The bot allows users to input their availability for scheduling board game nights.
- It listens for user responses indicating their availability within the specified timeframe.
- It automatically adds the available users to a dedicated Discord thread for further coordination.
- It can tag users who responded to the most popular scheduling option.
Finding the balance between dividing code into sensible modules and segments that are too granular is something I still would like to work on. While I know how problems can be solved using code, I would love to explore further how to implement a highly maintainable structure from the get-go, rather than optimizing the structure as I go.
Discord.js's suite of Classes and Methods that allow for straightforward communication with the Discord API endpoints was daunting at first. While the provided guide is a great place to start, the learning curve from there to creating more advanced commands using the many different classes available was extremely high. But when I realized that the classes were just prototypal inheritance in action, navigating the docs became less daunting.
In the future, familiarizing myself with the included classes of any given object-oriented module before diving deep would be ideal, although I did learn a lot by trying to make sense of the documentation.
ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR BOT HAS THE REQUISITE PERMISSIONS. It'll save you potential of hours of debugging.