The Discord Social SDK is being launched today by the chat app giant that allows game developers to implement friends lists, voice and text chat to their products, without the need for users to have an actual Discord account.
However, it is reported that some extra features will be granted to those who do link their Discord accounts, including the ability to directly invite your friends to a game lobby, or carrying on chatting using the app.
Speaking with PCGamer, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Co-Founder and CTO of Discord, used an example of how this implementation may be used by pointing to MMO guild chat, being available via an in-game interface and the PC or mobile-based Discord client.
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The new Discord SDK has already been used by a number of developers, including TheoryCraft Games, 1047 Games, Mainframe Industries, Elodie Games, and Tencent Games.
We don’t see ourselves as a competitor to [Steam and Epic]. We see ourselves as an augment to the ecosystem that really raises all boats. Because at the end of the day, if people are getting into games easier, trying new games more easily, discovering more games through their friends, we lift all boats.
Currently available in the Discord Social SDK is a unified in-game/Discord friends list, sending invites and joining games from the Discord client, and a “rich presence” of sharing in-game activities on Discord. Meanwhile, features such as cross-platform messaging, linked channels, and voice chat are currently in beta for request by developers.
[Source – PCGamer]