Build an Online Game In a Simple Database

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Tyler F. Cloutier, co-founder and head of Clockwork Labs, who are building their MMO, Bitcraft Online, entirely in a database. They are making this database available for other developers under the name SpacetimeDB. It's a real time relational database that promises to massively simplify infrastructure required for both applications and games alike, almost like an operating system for the cloud. I'm very on board with their vision. Can it actually hold up? Let's have a look. Links to my Guest ➤ SpacetimeDB: https://spacetimedb.com/ ➤ Bitcraft Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3454650/BitCraft_Online/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - What is SpacetimeDB? 7:24 - How SpacetimeDB is different 11:06 - Best use cases and limitations 15:55 - How it works: modules, reducers, transactions 19:34 - Publishing and hot-swapping server code 20:21 - Client model: reducers for writes; live queries and permissions 25:52 - Scaling and memory 28:40 - Per-match databases and the actor model 31:21 - Performance: reducer duration, locks vs MVCC, and offloading work 37:48 - Starter projects and analytics; community dashboards 41:12 - Authentication: OpenID Connect, Spacetime Auth, and Steam 46:07 - Platform philosophy: generalized vs specialized 51:25 - UGC and user-generated logic 55:05 - Origins, team structure, and optimization milestones 57:27 - Full history/time travel and postmortems 59:14 - Scaling by game type; video calling experiment and event tables 01:02:42 - Make it easy & LLM-friendly 01:07:48 - Comparing Firebase/Supabase/Vercel; why we built it 01:12:09 - Scheduled reducers, tickless servers, and timers as tables 01:13:57 - Matchmaking with SpacetimeDB (Underdogs VR, Postgres wire) and libraries 01:17:58 - Asynchronous multiplayer and efficiency 01:21:53 - Business model: self-hosting, Main Cloud free tier, licensing 01:26:48 - Avoiding vendor lock-in (SpatialOS lesson) 01:27:28 - BitCraft origins and vision 01:32:11 - Learning from veteran reviews; OSRS vs WoW philosophy 01:36:12 - Building costs, biggest design challenges, and live updates 01:39:43 - Core identity: simulating civilization, community, and expectations 01:42:35 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

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