Clockwork Labs has raised $22 million in series A funding to back development of its indie sandbox MMORPG, BitCraft. Things have been relatively quiet on the development front in the past couple of months, and this funding will be used to recruit some more development talent and further develop out the “new, unannounced database technology which powers the game”.
Clockwork Labs was founded by several engineers with computer science backgrounds and experience, so they’re looking to scale the team with game developers as well as additional engineering and data pros. As announced, the team is also looking to hire to further back development of their database tech, which Clockwork Labs hopes to also eventually spin off and market as a standalone product alongside BitCraft.
BitCraft was announced last fall, and co-founder Todd Cloutier confirms in the press release about the funding announcement that it is looking like the game will go into alpha testing sometime this year. Back in April, there were a few updates on development during pre-alpha on topics like character creation options, how soloable the game will be, the impact of feedback, and when to expect an open alpha.
Character creation is still being worked out, but they’re leaning towards a simpler initial group of options and letting you unlock more as you play. As far as soloing, they emphasize that this is an MMORPG, so group and multiplayer aspects are important. Yet, by not having any hard limitations on skills planned and no risk of random PvP attack, there is room for the solo player to carve something out, depending on chosen playstyle. Finally, when it comes to feedback, the devs say they have a strong vision of the overall game but They are open-minded and have already made some overhauls based on pre-alpha testing your feedback.
For more on the new funding deal and what's ahead, you can read the full release here.
