How Boombaland is made
Boombaland is made in the Netherlands by DataSight, the one-person studio of Tom de Bruijn, working with a team of AI tools. The studio designs and directs the game, plays every build and decides what goes in. The AI tools do much of the making. Every piece of their work is reviewed and approved before it reaches the game.
The pipeline
- Concept art and 2D art. Heroes, worlds, items and screens start as concepts made with OpenAI's ChatGPT image generation and Codex. The best ones are picked and approved, often after several rounds.
- 3D models and animation are built in Blender, by script, from the approved concepts.
- Code, tools and documentation are written with AI coding assistants: Anthropic's Claude, via Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex. They work as a crew of specialist agents. Their work is directed and reviewed by the studio.
- Sound effects are synthesised by the project's own script from noise and tones.
- Music: the round, boss, win, lose and finale tracks were generated for Boombaland with ACE-Step 1.5. The main menu plays "Retro Game" by The_Mountain (Pixabay).
The game runs on Unity. The first line of code went in on 30 July 2026. By the end of October, the project had passed 13,000 commits.
How a change reaches players
Every change, big or small, goes round the same loop. It starts with an idea and ends with feedback, and that feedback starts the next round.
- An ideaA player's idea, or feedback from a test build.
- DesignThe idea is designed and written up as a task card.
- BuildAI agents build it, together with automated tests.
- ReviewThe work is reviewed, then merged into the game.
- Test runA full automated run checks thousands of tests.
- Test buildA test build goes out on TestFlight and internal testing.
- Play-testTesters play it and send their feedback.
- Back to the startThe feedback brings new ideas, and the loop goes round again.
From one bomb to 25 levels
Boombaland was built in steps, and every step had to be fun before the next one started. First came the bare loop: one bomb, one opponent, one small arena. Then power-ups, score and menus. Then the full game: a living board with bridges, belts and gates, bosses, six heroes, gear and chests.
Version 1.0 has 25 levels in two parts of the same world: Green Lands, a floating forest of bridges, belts and towers, and Castle Road, where push-block puzzles lead to Thorn Guard's castle. A nine-chapter comic tells the story between the levels. Your goal: defeat Thorn Guard and free Boombaland from his thorns.
What's next
Launch is on 19 November 2026. After that, Boombaland keeps growing: more to discover, and your ideas can shape what comes next.
Help develop Boombaland
Got an idea for a hero, a level, a boss or a power-up? Tell us! If we like the idea, we'll get in touch to talk about the details.
This opens your mail app with a message to support@boombaland.com. No mail app? Copy the address and send your idea from any email. Tell us the title of your idea and what it does.
Under 16? Ask a parent to send it for you. We use what you send only to look at your idea and to reply. See the Privacy Policy.