Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers (BvS) is not only a series of games, but also an indie franchise with a variety of mediums.
Quick information
Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers (or BvS for short) is a sci-fi series of games of various genres (primarily tower defense), in active development since 2023 when reboot of the project happened. Before 2023, there were many concepts since early 2010s, the earliest piece of BvS content exists since 2014.
Story was retconned and rewritten. Now, as liledix⁴, the author of the project, learns screenwriting and storytelling, there are over 50,000 words written in total, from all drafts combined. There are at least 14 characters, each with their own memorable quirks and compelling background.
The starting premise of the game series is this: “sleepwalkers” are androids, service robots that help optimizing the workflow in almost every profession. A batch of these robots were donated to the town by a mysterious engineer, about whom nothing is known. Those androids have a glitch: at night, when they’re intended to preserve power and recharge, they’re “waking up” for about 3 minutes and walk aimlessly, that’s why they’re called “sleepwalkers.” Saylor, who is the protagonist and tech student, was called for an investigation of this strange behavior. However, as she was completing this task, she got into trouble. Who knew that this trouble would lead… to the time travel and cosmic conflict.
Currently liledix⁴ is working on this game alone, however his friends provide a lot of support. It’s planned to commission artists and programmers to make this game real, not just a set of concepts.
Development approach
Game series is being developed with “lore-first” approach, meaning that until all the most crucial details in the story are firmly established (locked, set in stone), development of the game itself may not begin at all (prototyping may still happen, though).
Why did we choose this approach? Because the story itself is incredibly expansive from the very beginning–come on, you clearly see how far our ambitions go. Let’s acknowledge some risks and make sure this is the best choice we could possibly make.
Let’s begin with a simple thing: what if we focused on coding of the game itself anyway? Because the story is far from finished. We keep writing it, we keep coming up with new ideas. Moreover, it happens that we re-read earlier scripts and notes, and we think: “no, this doesn’t work” or “no, this is contradicting that”–and we either scrap it or rewrite it. At this point (as of March 2026), it happens a lot. With this situation considered, imagine coding the game. If we reach the point where game mechanics are tightly dependent from what the story tells, and then we decide: “no, this story falls flat, we must rewrite it”–then game mechanics need to be adapted to the new vision of the story which may become radically different. Would programmers be happy to see their work going nowhere in the end? Well, some stuff can be readapted nevertheless, it never will be a total waste of effort. Still, that’s not a good direction. It deprives programmers of motivation to keep going, “why do I need to code it now if it’s gonna end up in a bin later?”
Okay, alright, hesitation to code the game may be justified. But, let’s face it. Because of that, the project severely suffers from the lack of visibility: public doesn’t know what to expect from the game, since, well, this project is presenting itself as a game, but where’s the playable demo? Where’s any gameplay trailer or teaser? Where’s a clear vertical slice? Just any hook? Is there anything at all substantial enough that we can see and tell: “this is exactly what’s worth waiting for”? Yes, indeed, it’s extremely difficult to raise expectations when the best we can do is:
- present the soundtracks (luckily, liledix⁴ is a composer);
- talk openly about the story aspects without spoilers;
- run a wiki like the one you read right now;
- create websites and web apps that support the project and actually make it more visible;
- declare our philosophy such as a strong commitment to open source (FLOSS!) and a firm stance against generative AI.
And, we’re doing all of this in hope that one day this effort helps attract some artists, programmers, voice actors, and other talented people. We can’t wait for this moment to happen, and we may not do our best at times, but we don’t stop trying. The flame of passion keeps burning, the wheels keep turning–this line doesn’t even need to be edited, because it’s constant.
Lastly. Would this approach lead to development hell or something of this nature when the project keeps being in development year after a year after a year? Well, it might. But look. If we start worrying about it while some progress is actually going forward–we may just stop. It’s always easy to give up. However. That’s not just counterproductive, that’s totally unfair to the legacy this project has built and the significance it keeps gaining. May we have some respect to what this project already has? And for the sake of it, we must keep making it bigger, until we reach the moment where everything we wanted to do is done, and everything we wanted to say is said. We already reached the point of no return, there’s no way back, we can only go forward. To the stars, as Saylor would like to say.
Burnout? Re-read the scripts, give the music another listen, feel the scale, and you’ll get back to the canvas in a heartbeat.
Games in BvS franchise
Mainline games
- Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers
- Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers 2
- Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers Origins
- Bombs vs. Sleepwalkers 3D