Tech Insights: how we integrated Discord’s Chat & Voice in Pax Dei
Hello Paxians,
In Pax Dei, communication is more than just a feature—it’s a fundamental part of the social experience. Whether you’re leading your clan into battle, organizing a village, or simply chatting while gathering resources, the way you connect with others shapes the world around you.
That’s why we partnered with Discord to bring a seamless, fully integrated chat and voice system directly into Pax Dei.
We're also truly honored that Mainframe is among the pioneers of this project, along with a few other publishers, making Pax Dei one of the first games to implement Discord’s new Social SDK (Software Development Kit), bringing Discord’s social and voice features directly into the game in a way that feels natural and immersive.
Several Mainframe developers collaborated with the Discord team on the Social SDK as an early partner. They developed a specific plug-in for Pax Dei, aiming to also help other developers use Discord as an in-game social platform in the future..
Our Discord integration has been live in Pax Dei for several months now. While we continue refining the experience, we’re excited to finally share some of the behind-the-scenes work that made it all possible!
Why We Chose Discord
Our initial in-game chat system was a prototype—functional, but not quite at the level we envisioned. We wanted something better, something that truly elevated how players connect. Discord is the ideal fit because it’s the place with the world's largest and most engaged community of players, and we wanted our community to feel “at home” when using our chat system.
In addition, it’s allowed us to:
Seamlessly integrate text and voice chat, ensuring players can communicate effortlessly.
Create a friends list system, so you can stay connected even outside of Pax Dei, and can still be in touch with your non-Paxian friends while playing Pax Dei.
Create robust lobby management, using Discord’s server-to-server APIs to power Clan, Party, and Zone chat.
Building Chat as a Core Part of the Game
In Pax Dei, chat isn’t just a background tool—it’s part of the game itself. Whether you’re trading goods, forming alliances, or roleplaying your character’s journey, communication is central to your experience. That’s why we designed our system to allow you to:
Chat with your Pax Dei friends and non-Paxians friends alike: this way you don’t miss a conversation, even in the middle of a dungeon.
Use proximity-based whispering, allowing players to communicate naturally with those nearby.
Seamlessly use text and voice, ensuring every interaction feels fluid and immersive.
The Challenge of Avatar Identity
One of the biggest challenges we faced was managing in-game identity across multiple avatars. Since Pax Dei allows players to switch between different avatars under one Discord account, we needed a way to keep identities clear while maintaining the flexibility players expect.
Here’s how we solved it:
✔ Each message includes metadata with the avatar’s name and ID, so it’s always clear who is speaking. ✔ Avatar names appear in DMs, ensuring clarity even outside of the game. ✔ Lobby metadata tracks avatar identity, so players always see the right name, not just a Discord username.
This system ensures that whether you’re chatting in-game or through Discord, your Pax Dei identity remains consistent.
Friends, Presence & Security
A great social system isn’t just about communication—it’s also about privacy, security, and control. Initially, we wanted to use Discord’s Rich Presence to display where players are in-game. However, we found that many players disable Rich Presence, and it didn’t distinguish between in-game friends and general Discord friends. Discord added in-game friends recently, and we’re looking forward to adding this feature to Pax Dei users.
We’re also mindful of privacy concerns. Our goal is to keep players connected without compromising security, and we’ll continue refining how much of a player’s Discord identity is visible within Pax Dei.
What’s Next?
The Discord integration is already live and evolving within Pax Dei. We’re continuing to improve the experience, tweak features, and make communication in Pax Dei feel as immersive and intuitive as the world itself.
We’re incredibly proud to be part of the first wave of games implementing Discord’s new Social SDK.
Pax vobiscum, The Mainframe Team