matt donders

Funny to revisit this post with a full suite of bots & a custom domain. 🤝

Really enjoying the new emotions engine powering @njd.hockeygamebot.com (& the others). So much better than the generic goal posts that lack any kind of excitement.

Hope you like them too!

I think my favorite part of the new conversation engine is the excitement for OT winners now instead of just the generic Overtime Goal text I used to use.

When it works (fixing bugs as I see them), conversation engine really brings a ton of personality to the game bots instead of the generic tweets. 👌🏻

A bug in the conversation engine I built didn't pass the "bot team" as a variable so it generated the tweet for the home team as a fall back.

Fixed for tomorrow!

I'll figure out DMs in a bit, but I'll drop the link here later tonight then! 🤝

Finally got approval to distribute the iOS version via TestFlight!

👇 Drop me a DM if you want to beta test it!

Post game recap videos on Instagram!

👇 www.instagram.com/hockeygamebot

This helps me spend less time on Twitter & I love knowing who is scoring goals.

Waiting on Apple & Google to make these available for testing.

🤞 hopefully soon!

Started as a Twitter bot. Now it's an app. Funny how side projects evolve.

Coming soon! 👇

We've come quite a long way since I launched @njd.hockeygamebot.com 7 years ago & I have a TON more things planned to launch soon! 😏

Testing in progress 👀📱

No more relying on social notifications -
customizable game notifications, right in the app.

Will provide launch updates as we get closer!

The Hockey Game Bot website now has custom date URLs which will show each reel uploaded for that day & a direct link to it (along with the NHL recap headline) - check it out!

Post-game recaps posted to IG reels now. Working on making them even better over the next week.

Go check them out! 👇

Oh okay - someone pointed out to me the other day someone that had been terminated / waived still showing up on the NHL roster that I use and was in the milestone list.

🤝

On my list of things to fix - the NHL roster file still has them, but I need to see if they make some flag available to let me know they are in a separate non-playing category.

Thanks for the heads up!

I am really enjoying how the final stats posts look for each game bot.

I am going to incorporate stat leaders into the final post like the end of period ones, but other than that these are three perfect ways to visualize the game (especially with the period by period breakdown).

#hockeygamebot

✅ SOG breakdown by period in team game stats charts.
✅ NST states broken down by period & full game state (so far).

These turned out so well. 🔥

---

As always huge thanks to @naturalstattrick.com for making all these advanced stats so readily available for us. 🤝

My 20s x 6 retries has worked for my bots tonight (except went the game went final - but I'll just increase me retries there).

Thanks again for making all the data available. I love seeing the breakdown by period in chart form.

Okay sounds good - I'll increase the time between retries and lower the number of retired and give up after 120s or so and just skip that period.

Thanks!

@sammich-blt.bsky.social do you know *approximately* how long after a PeriodEnd event happens in the play-by-play data that you mark your game as Period End as well?

Obviously want to play nice since I am running 32 bots now so don't want to hammer the site (I figure a 10s delay is plenty).

👇 Should be available in games starting tomorrow!

The original Devils game bot account is the reason there are now 32 of these!

Genuinely thankful for everyone who followed early, interacted, and helped this grow into something bigger than I expected.

Have a Merry Christmas fellow #NJDevils fans!

I mean who else but Jack. 🎉

We’ve added a lot to the Hockey Game Bots this season - but we’re not done & we want to keep going! 🚀

What would you want to see added next?

Tell us in the replies 👇

🏒 ALL 32 HOCKEY GAME BOTS ARE LIVE ON BLUESKY! 🏒

Live goals. Milestones. Charts. GIFs.
Every team. Every game. All season.

Find your team here 👇
bsky.app/profile/hock...

#hockeygamebot

Good catch - need to figure out why he is still showing up on the roster we get from the NHL.

Thanks for the heads up! 🤝

& people wonder why it's so hard to get into the Christmas spirit out here.

👀 Bluesky link previews are live across all bots powered by the @hockeygamebot.com engine!

Recaps, condensed games, and highlight links now render as rich preview cards in-feed.

Same bots - sharper posts. 🏒