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 - Intro1:27 - What is SpacetimeDB?7:24 - How SpacetimeDB is different11:06 - Best use cases and limitations15:55 - How it works: modules, reducers, transactions19:34 - Publishing and hot-swapping server code20:21 - Client model: reducers for writes; live queries and permissions25:52 - Scaling and memory28:40 - Per-match databases and the actor model31:21 - Performance: reducer duration, locks vs MVCC, and offloading work37:48 - Starter projects and analytics; community dashboards41:12 - Authentication: OpenID Connect, Spacetime Auth, and Steam46:07 - Platform philosophy: generalized vs specialized51:25 - UGC and user-generated logic55:05 - Origins, team structure, and optimization milestones57:27 - Full history/time travel and postmortems59:14 - Scaling by game type; video calling experiment and event tables01:02:42 - Make it easy & LLM-friendly01:07:48 - Comparing Firebase/Supabase/Vercel; why we built it01:12:09 - Scheduled reducers, tickless servers, and timers as tables01:13:57 - Matchmaking with SpacetimeDB (Underdogs VR, Postgres wire) and libraries01:17:58 - Asynchronous multiplayer and efficiency01:21:53 - Business model: self-hosting, Main Cloud free tier, licensing01:26:48 - Avoiding vendor lock-in (SpatialOS lesson)01:27:28 - BitCraft origins and vision01:32:11 - Learning from veteran reviews; OSRS vs WoW philosophy01:36:12 - Building costs, biggest design challenges, and live updates01:39:43 - Core identity: simulating civilization, community, and expectations01:42:35 - OutroMy 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#OverviewMy 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/G3mRDrKFor the game developers among you:➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ