Classic-Boomers

Classic Bomberman online: multiplayer, AI bots and couch co-op, built end-to-end in four days

Game / Multiplayer · 2026

View live project →

Duration4 days

Investment< 5,000€ excl. VAT

TechPhaser 3Node.jsExpressSocket.ioJavaScriptStripeFly.io

IntegrationsStripe CheckoutGoogle AnalyticsFly.io deploymentItch.io distributie

The story

Sometimes you just want to play Bomberman with friends. We checked Steam, browser-game sites and itch; nothing had what we wanted: online multiplayer, lobby codes, and the old "four friends on one keyboard" mode. So we built it ourselves, in four days. What started as a short side project became Classic-Boomers: a real-time multiplayer Bomberman with lobby codes, AI bots across three difficulty tiers, a skins shop with gem currency and a Premium Pass. Not because it had to be, but because a Lefief project, even a playful one, gets the same engineering discipline. This case is here because it shows that real-time sync, AI opponents, F2P monetisation and SEO for canvas games are part of our toolkit too, applicable to client work from game platforms to real-time collaboration tools.

Considerations

Real-time multiplayer on Socket.io
Authoritative server state, client-side prediction, and a lobby system with shareable codes. 2 to 4 players per match, sub-100 ms response within the same Fly.io region. The server decides, the client predicts and corrects: no cheating vector, no desync.
Same-keyboard couch co-op
A distinctive feature even Steam versions miss: multiple players on a single keyboard (WASD + arrows + IJKL + numpad). An almost-vanished UX that brings back the original Bomberman vibe: four friends around one laptop, no Steam account, no download.
AI bots across three difficulty tiers
Easy/Medium/Hard built on top of off-the-shelf open-source AIs from Bomberman competitions: a simple BFS with random safe moves (baines/bomberman-ai), an explosion-chain strategy from CodinGame Gold (Sabotaz/hypersonic), and a beam search with 6-turn lookahead from CodinGame Legend (kmyk/codingame-hypersonic). Not invented here, integrated by us: faster and stronger than starting from scratch.
F2P economy designed, not copied
Gem currency with psychological pricing (€0.99 / €4.99 / €9.99 / €19.99 / €49.99 packs, with an increasing bonus per tier), a one-time Premium Pass at €4.99 (ad-free + 500 gems + Founder skin), and a skin-rarity system (Common→Legendary). All pricing via Stripe Checkout, no subscriptions, no dark patterns.
SEO for canvas-only browser games
A classic trap: a Phaser game in HTML is just one empty canvas element. We wrote an SEO shadow DOM with indexable content (rules, controls, FAQ), Open Graph plus JSON-LD VideoGame schema, sitemap, robots.txt and structured data. Now Google sees more than just the canvas; without it, zero organic traffic for a browser game with no backlinks.
Four days end-to-end
Architecture, mechanics, lobby and multiplayer, AI bots, shop, Stripe and Fly.io deploy: all in four days. Live on classic-boomers.com by the end of the sprint. Not an MVP-with-asterisks, but a fully playable, monetisable product with an SEO foundation.