After BitCraft Online’s upcoming Early Access launch, the Clockwork Labs team announced it will release the game’s code under an open-source license.
The studio announced their decision in a recent devblog, including what led them to this decision, who benefits, what exactly they will and won’t release, and how the community and BitCraft can both benefit.
Right now the focus is on delivering the game’s Early Access launch, and only after that they will begin the open source. The code is what we can expect to see distributed. Original creative assets, like the art, music, and the IP itself are still going to be protected under Clockwork Labs’ ownership (though they say “for the time being”). They have not yet decided which license they will use.
“We believe that we can open source the game in a way that does not undermine our business,” they say. To their knowledge, “BitCraft will be the first venture backed/commercially developed MMORPG open sourced under an open source license”.
So why are they doing this? There are three key reasons, the first being making MMO development more accessible to independent creators by saying here’s the code for an independent MMORPG that’s been in development for seven years.
Community creators, modders and even curious players can take a look behind the scenes and maybe come up with something new of their own, even things that benefit BitCraft, including possible feature contributions. Thirdly, open source community contributions helped support these developers, so they want to give back.
