Text and voice chat service Discord has updated its interface, adding a darker theme and a completely redesigned overlay with expanded game support and improved performance.
Discord's game overlay, which allows you to open a chat on top of the game, has been completely redesigned. Previously, it was tied directly to the game window, which negatively affected performance. In the new version, the overlay works faster and instantly responds to user actions.
Now, when opening the overlay, users will see individual widgets instead of a reduced version of Discord. The updated action bar provides quick access to voice and video controls, and allows you to instantly start a game broadcast or join a voice call.
All interface elements can be freely moved around, placing them in convenient locations so they don’t interfere with important gameplay events. In addition, users will be able to watch their friends’ broadcasts directly through a new overlay.
The Discord client for PC also received an updated, lighter interface with enhanced customization options, including features previously only available on smartphones. Users now have access to four themes: Light, Ash, Dark, and Onyx (the darkest). In addition, a new mode, “Spacious,” has been added to the interface density options, which were previously limited to “Compact” and “Standard.”
Other new features include the ability to resize the channel list and centrally manage voice and video settings during calls. In addition, the microphone and camera icons have been made more prominent so that users can always see whether they are turned on.