For a lot of indie games, the Discord server is where your most interested players end up: playtesters, wishlisters, people who found your trailer and want to know more. It’s also where things go wrong fastest, with a spam wave the day your demo goes up, or a server so empty that new people leave without saying a word.
Here’s a checklist for getting your server ready before you put the invite link on your Steam page, your trailer and your press kit.
1. Decide what the server is for
Write one sentence: what should a new member do here? “Get playtest invites and report bugs.” “Hang out, share fan art and hear about updates first.” “Talk directly to the two of us making the game.” That sentence decides your channels, your rules and how much time you’ll need to spend there.
2. Start with fewer channels than you think
Empty channels make a server feel dead. Start lean and add channels when people ask for them. A good starting set for a small studio:
- #welcome and #rules, read-only
- #announcements, read-only, for updates only
- #general, for chat
- #feedback or #bug-reports, ideally a forum channel so each report gets its own thread
- #media or #fan-art, if your game is visual
- A private #mod-chat and #mod-log for you and your moderators
If you run playtests, a role-gated #playtest channel keeps testers’ feedback in one place.
3. Get roles and permissions right before anyone joins
This is the part most likely to cause real damage if it’s wrong. A few rules that prevent most disasters:
- Never give Administrator to anyone who doesn’t absolutely need it, including bots. Give each role only the permissions it needs.
- Lock @everyone down. No mentioning @everyone, no managing channels or roles, no creating invites if you want to control growth.
- Make a moderator role that can time out, kick and manage messages, but not change roles or server settings.
- Turn on two-factor authentication on your own account and require it for moderators. A stolen moderator account is one of the most common ways servers get wrecked.
- Keep your role order sensible: a role can only manage roles below it.
4. Turn on Community features
Enabling Community in your server settings unlocks tools built for public servers, including Onboarding, where new members pick roles and channels as they join, announcement channels other servers can follow, and Server Insights to see who stays and who leaves.
It also asks you to raise your safety settings, such as requiring a verified email before members can post and turning on the explicit media filter, and to have a rules channel. Those are good defaults for a public game server anyway.
Use Onboarding to ask one or two simple questions (“Are you here to playtest?” “What platform do you play on?”) and give people the right roles automatically. It makes a big server feel smaller and more relevant.
5. Set up AutoMod
Discord’s built-in AutoMod can catch a lot before a human has to:
- Block commonly flagged words and your own custom keyword list, including scam phrases like “free nitro.”
- Block messages with spam patterns or too many mentions.
- Send an alert to your #mod-log when something is blocked, so you can see what’s happening.
- Time out repeat offenders automatically.
Start strict on links and mentions for brand-new members. You can loosen things later. It’s much harder to clean up after a raid.
6. Have a raid plan
A raid is a flood of accounts joining at once to spam or harass. It often happens right after a big moment: a trailer, a demo, a streamer playing your game. Plan it before you need it:
- Know how to pause invites and raise the verification level in a few taps.
- Know how to bulk-delete messages and time out or ban accounts.
- Decide who can act if you’re asleep.
- Keep your #mod-log so you can see what happened afterward.
7. Pick a few bots, not a dozen
Bots are useful, but every bot is another account with permissions in your server. Most small studios need only a few: one for moderation and logs, one for welcome messages and self-assigned roles, maybe one for support tickets or stream alerts. Give each one only the permissions it needs, and remove bots you stop using.
8. Write a short staff guide
Even if your “mod team” is you and a friend, write down how you handle common things: spam, arguments, bug reports, someone asking for keys, someone who seems to be in distress. A one-page guide keeps moderation consistent and helps new moderators get started.
9. Seed it before you announce it
Nobody wants to be the first person in an empty room. Before you share the invite widely:
- Post a real welcome message from you, the developer.
- Put a few things in the channels: a dev log post, some screenshots, the roadmap.
- Invite your friends, playtesters and early supporters first.
10. Put the invite where players already are
Use a permanent invite link that doesn’t expire, and put it on your Steam page, in your trailer description, on your website and in your press kit. Press and creators look for an easy way to reach you and your community. A simple press kit page on your own site, with your fact sheet, screenshots, trailer, logos and Discord link, makes that easy.
The first week
- Welcome new people by name when you can.
- Post at least one update or behind-the-scenes look.
- Answer every bug report, even with “thanks, logged.”
- Check Server Insights to see where people stop after joining.
- Prune channels nobody is using.
A small, active server beats a big, silent one. You don’t need thousands of members; you need the right people to keep coming back between updates.
Want it done for you?
Our Discord server setup ($300) builds all of the above around your game: channels, roles and permissions, onboarding and verification, rules, AutoMod and a mod log, bots, server graphics from your art and a short staff guide. Already have a server that’s quiet or messy? The community audit ($125) reviews it and gives you a ranked plan, delivered within seven days. You always stay the owner of your server.