Permaban

Enforce the rules. Survive the forum.

A Papers Please-style forum moderation sim set in the Wild West of the 2007 internet.

Permaban key art: a 2007-era forum moderation sim by Unreal Byte

Inside the forum

It’s 2007. You’re a volunteer moderator with dial-up, a rulebook, and a mountain of unmoderated posts. Cite the right rule before the thread spirals.

Status
In development
Genre
Casual, indie, simulation
Platforms
Steam, itch.io browser build, Windows
Modes
Campaign (5 waves), Endless
The moderation panel, mid-shift.
Citing the rule before the ban.
Popup ads, mid-thread.

Rules

Citation system

Every ban needs the right rule. Partial credit for close calls. Three wrong citations = probation.

Escalating rulebook

Rules stack, contradict, and change each wave. Wave 4 introduces a ‘warn first’ policy and a ‘ban raiders on sight’ rule. Both are active.

User trust

Donors, Veterans, Known Trolls. Banning a Donor without the right citation is expensive. Letting a Known Troll slide is worse.

Pressure

Evolving threads

Ignore a thread and it heats up from passive-aggressive sarcasm to full meltdown. Intervene early or deal with chain events.

Burnout meter

Click too fast and your accuracy tanks. Above 80% burnout, there’s a 15% chance every action is a random misclick.

Hidden forum health

A shadow variable tracks your moderation quality. Overban and the forum goes quiet. Undermoderate and raids spike.

Tools

Trainable spam AI

Starts at 50% accuracy. A ‘90% confidence’ flag from a 50% accurate AI means nothing. Train it by catching real spam.

Ban evaders and sockpuppets

Investigate suspicious accounts. Check IP subnets. Find the shill products. Get bonus points for doing it right.

Full desktop simulation

Draggable IE6 windows, Winump with an FFT visualizer, NSM Messenger popups, popup ads, CRT scanline filter, and a BSOD game over screen.

530+Handwritten forum posts across 8 types
18Rules that stack and contradict each other
8Moderation tools
24Achievements
4Forum skins: phpBB, vBulletin, InvisionFree, ProBoards
110+NSM messages across 18+ contacts

Five waves. Eighteen rules. Eight moderation tools. One burnout meter. Zero pay.

Battle Lands 2021

Real-time strategy for mobile. Low-poly medieval battles with campaign, survival and custom game modes.

Battle Lands: low-poly medieval units clashing on a mobile real-time strategy map

The studio’s first end-to-end release and a real proving ground. No longer maintained, kept here as portfolio.

Platforms
Android, iOS
Modes
Campaign, Survival, Custom
Role
Solo. Design and code
UnityMobileRTSLow-poly
Battle Lands: army deployment screen
Battle Lands: campaign map
Battle Lands: unit selection
Battle Lands: battle in progress

The current project is Permaban, a forum moderation sim heading to Steam and itch.io.

Integrations for Unity

Three plugins on the Unity Asset Store, built alongside the studio’s early Unity work. All licensed for commercial use.

Trello For Unity: feedback form creating a Trello card

Trello For Unity

Drop-in feedback system that creates Trello cards straight from your game in under 5 minutes. Custom boards, fully customizable feedback form, screenshots and logs attached automatically.

Details
Easy Jira: issue administration inside the Unity editor

Easy Jira

Full Jira integration for Unity. Create issues from an in-game feedback form, attach screenshots and logs, and manage the backlog without leaving the editor.

Details
Discordity: Unity game shown as Discord Rich Presence on a profile

Discordity

Discord Rich Presence for Unity, done right. Wraps the official discord-rpc plugin into a clean C# API so your game shows up on players’ profiles with custom states, parties and join or spectate.

Details

A studio of one

Unreal Byte was founded in 2017 to explore game development on the web, starting with HTML and frameworks like Phaser.

The focus quickly shifted to Unity, and in parallel to building plugins that solve real production problems. The three integrations above were created alongside those early experiments.

In 2021 the studio shipped its first full game: Battle Lands, a real-time strategy for iOS and Android. It was the first end-to-end release and a real proving ground.

Now the studio is putting the finishing touches on Permaban, a game that lives on itch.io in its browser-native form, like in the early days, and is also heading to Steam. Wishlists are open.

Open for small Unity contracts. Tooling and integration work that fits between projects. Send a short brief to info@unrealbyte.com.

  1. 2017

    Unreal Byte founded, exploring web games with HTML and Phaser.

  2. 2017

    Shift to Unity. Trello For Unity released on the Asset Store.

  3. 2018

    Easy Jira and Discordity follow.

  4. 2021

    Battle Lands ships on iOS and Android. First full game.

  5. Now

    Permaban, heading to Steam and itch.io.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach me is email. I answer within a few days, unless a game is shipping, in which case it’s weeks. Sorry.

info@unrealbyte.com

Common questions

Do you take contract work?

Occasionally, for small Unity tooling or integration work. Email me with a short brief. If it fits between projects, I’ll say yes.

Can I use Unreal Byte assets in commercial games?

Yes. Every tool on the Asset Store is licensed for commercial use under Unity’s standard EULA. No separate seat fees.

Where do I report a bug in one of your assets?

Email info@unrealbyte.com with the asset name and a reproduction. If you’re using Trello For Unity or Easy Jira, you can file the bug from inside the Unity editor.

Feedback integration

Trello For Unity

Drop-in feedback system that creates Trello cards straight from your game in under 5 minutes. Custom boards, fully customizable feedback form, screenshots and logs attached automatically.

Trello For Unity: in-game feedback form Trello For Unity: generated card on a Trello board Trello For Unity: setup panel in the Unity editor
Unity 2018+Trello API
View on the Asset Store

Jira integration

Easy Jira

Full Jira integration for Unity. Create issues from an in-game feedback form, attach screenshots and logs, and manage the backlog without leaving the editor.

Easy Jira: in-game issue reporting form Easy Jira: backlog management inside the Unity editor
Unity 2018+Jira Cloud and Server
View on the Asset Store

Discord Rich Presence

Discordity

Discord Rich Presence for Unity, done right. Wraps the official discord-rpc plugin into a clean C# API so your game shows up on players’ profiles with custom states, parties and join or spectate.

Discordity: rich presence shown on a Discord profile Discordity: configuration component in the Unity inspector
Unitydiscord-rpc
View on the Asset Store