If you have about 30 minutes and are curious to learn more about BitCraft and societal games from Clockwork Labs co-founder Tyler Cloutier, then there’s a video interview with your name all over it, as Cloutier discusses his start in tech, his aspirations for the MMORPG, and the things needed to craft social gaming systems.
The opening portion of the interview sees Cloutier talking about his early life in tech, including the very start of Clockwork Labs (known as Skylab at the time), which was first focused on making software for grad students but also had begun working on a game in the background that evolved into what BitCraft is now.
Cloutier then talks about designing BitCraft both in specific and in the abstract; he discusses the focus on pastoral activities that “people really love” but aren’t the primary feature of more combat-heavy MMOs, discusses how to design systems that encourage cooperative gameplay, and talks about the tools and skills needed to make a multiplayer title, especially a society-focused one.
At one point in the interview, Cloutier remarks how to tackle idea of endgame; BitCraft aims to do this by granting long-term progression, offering the creativity to build the “sand castle” players envision, and providing the ability for players to establish empires that let players engage in a sort of economic PvP. Much of these features sound as if they’re in the napkin sketch stage, but it’s a look at where Cloutier’s mind is at to a problem that might be more challenging for a society-building sandbox MMORPG to solve.
