Questions & Answers

Q: What is it?
A: Desbot is a bot for Twitch streamers that can handle chat interactions, rewards and more.

Q: What is the current status?
A: It is currently released as an alpha version, this means major breaking changes will still occur, but I try to make those transitions as painless as possible.

Q: Where can I get it?
A: Get the latest release over at Github.

Q: Where can I talk about it?
A: There is a an official Discord server and subreddit for that. Both of these places are very quiet still as the project is not mature enough to market it to users yet.

Q: Where can I see what is worked on?
A: There is a public Trello workspace, it will be utilized more when this current gargantuan task is complete.

History

Desbot started out as a project called "Streaming Widget", as it was a single browser source in OBS that could play back audio and show media on screen.

Over time, the project scope expanded, and it is no longer suitable to be called a widget, so it has now been reborn as a bot. The project is still running as a single browser source but that is also planned to change.

Present Form

The main features handled by this bot are as follows:

• Can read Twitch chat, uses this for commands, text to speech through Google, logging and overlays.
• Can handle Twitch rewards, this means create and update rewards, listen to redemptions and trigger things to happen.
• Can manage Twitch roles, title and category, like setting the game category based on currently running game.
• Can post things to Discord, like chat log, redemptions and screenshots.
• Can connect to OBS Studio, mainly toggle sources and filters and take screenshots.
• Can connect to Steam to get currently played game, game meta data and achievements.
• Can connect to VR accessories like OpenVR2WS, OpenVROverlayPipe and SuperScreenShotterVR.
• Can connect to a Philips Hue bridge to control bulbs and sockets.
• Can send key combinations or mouse clicks to arbitrary applications on your system through AutoIt.

Current Work

Since more than a year back work has been put in to convert the previously hard-coded configs to database-stored entries as well as a browser based editor for all settings.

This work is nearing completion, with almost full feature retention, but there will need to be some additional systems built out after the initial release, like the dashboard.

Future Plans

There will be a transition from running as a webpage requiring a local webserver with PHP and MySQL to running only in Node.JS, this as a majority of the existing code is the backend that handles all I/O, so it does not need the browser client.

There will still be one or more components that are loaded as browser sources, but those will be loaded from the Node instance and will only be for presentation; to provide overlay elements, video and audio playback.

This will include moving away from PHP as the page templating system, before this happens the current code base will be worked into a stable working state though, as it is a quite disruptive update.

Brand Explained

Name: Desbot is a mix of despot and robot, it is a satirical reference to an authoritarian ruler with absolute power and control, and a mindless machine with no conscience. And this thing is running and/or ruining your stream.

Logo: The crown represents the despot part of desbot, and the head and face is the robot part of desbot.

Official

• Discord - Where to talk about this bot and get help or inspiration.
• GitHub - Where to find the bot itself.
• Trello - Where to find what is currently being worked on.
• Youtube - Where to find tutorial videos.
• Reddit
• Bluesky
• Twitter

Prominent Users

• User #0: BOLL7708 - VR/flat/coding variety streamer and the maker of this bot.
• User #1: DrOculusVR - Variety streamer of the VR kind.
• User #2: c0ldvengeance - VR variety streamer who usually creates punishing rewards.
• User #3: Jeppevinkel - Variety streamer featuring both VR and pancakes.