Reviving a 15-year-old 2D block game with modern AI workflows.https://blog.buildom.online/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/001_how_it_all_started_again/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/001_how_it_all_started_again/The message I sent to my old coding partner that set the revival of Buildom in motion. Here is why I am bringing a 15-year-old game dream back to life with modern AI.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/002_choosing_the_framework/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/002_choosing_the_framework/That Buildom would be a canvas game was set from day one. But I wanted a rock-solid web app around it with client storage, internationalization, and a modern SPA feel. Here is why I picked Next.js.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/003_the_ai_setup/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/003_the_ai_setup/How I set up Cline with OpenRouter and Kimi K3 to get the very first lightweight canvas prototype running with my original pixel character.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/004_building_my_own_pixel_editor/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/004_building_my_own_pixel_editor/15 years ago I used Photoshop to draw game assets. Today, with AI assistance, I built my own dedicated pixel editor with only the features I actually need.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/005_building_a_test_mode/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/005_building_a_test_mode/AI coding tools work best with fast, reproducible feedback loops. Here is why I built a decoupled test mode into Buildom right at the start.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/006_first_enemy_zombie_hands/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/006_first_enemy_zombie_hands/Buildom has its first real enemy. Zombie hands that spawn in caves, follow the player, and attack. The first taste of actual game mechanics and collision detection.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/007_the_pine_tree/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/007_the_pine_tree/Buildom finally has vegetation. The pine tree is built from dedicated plant parts instead of terrain blocks, and a new plant mode in free mode lets me place whole trees or single parts to see how everything works together.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/008_camera_modes/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/008_camera_modes/A camera glued to the player or one that lets him roam? I could not decide, so I built both and a toggle to switch between them while playing. Here is how each mode feels and why the switch made the difference.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/009_a_main_menu_that_follows_the_sun/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/009_a_main_menu_that_follows_the_sun/The main menu went through three redesigns in two days: simple frames, a golden banner, and a background that renders the real game world. Then I made the whole thing react to the time of day. Here is how it works.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/010_electron_standalone_and_first_release/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/010_electron_standalone_and_first_release/I wrapped the game in an Electron standalone build and put it up on GitHub Releases for anyone to download. It is far from finished, but honest feedback beats a polished secret.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/011_fog_and_torches/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/011_fog_and_torches/The world of Buildom had no atmosphere, literally. A new fog system, torches, and a proper light model now give caves darkness, torches a warm glow, and the whole world a mood.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/012_irons_in_the_fire/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/012_irons_in_the_fire/Buildom got a forge and an anvil, so now there are literally irons in the fire. Ore, timber and a crafting dialog turn into pickaxes, longswords and steel armor, which finally makes the dark world below the surface worth a trip.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/013_the_new_hud/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/013_the_new_hud/The HUD got its biggest upgrade so far: draggable panels that remember which screen edge they live on, and a character panel whose doll stands in a real, fully canvas-rendered cave scene with torches and fog.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/014_platforms/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/014_platforms/I was done filling every gap with dirt, so Buildom got platforms: planks you jump through from below, stand on from above, and drop back through when you are done. Bridges, ladders and one-way routes, all from two wood.Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/015_build_mode/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/015_build_mode/Buildom got a builder mode: an empty canvas, every block including mineable ore, placeable creatures, and a straight path from blueprint to playable adventure world.Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/016_a_small_contract_for_my_asset_folders/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/016_a_small_contract_for_my_asset_folders/I reworked how Buildom's assets are organized: a handful of fixed category folders, everything inside them free to move, and a generated manifest that killed every hardcoded asset mapping in the code.Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/017_one_slot_to_rule_them_all/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/017_one_slot_to_rule_them_all/Inventory, bags and equipment slots shared 90% of their logic across three components, and that duplication caused item loss, double-click drags and silently deleted armor. This round I unified them into one ItemSlot and rewrote drag-and-drop around it.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/018_my_ai_log_remembers_for_me/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/018_my_ai_log_remembers_for_me/Thirty-six sessions into Buildom, my most useful file is not code, it is a folder of AI session logs. This is how I record what was built, why it was built, and which approaches failed, so the next session never re-walks a dead end.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:30:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/019_a_refactoring_folder_that_reviews_my_codebase/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/019_a_refactoring_folder_that_reviews_my_codebase/After two big refactoring waves I stopped trusting my memory about code health. Now a docs folder holds what was done, what is gated behind profiling, and a table of regression indicators with hard numbers. Every few weeks I re-measure, update the numbers, and get a verdict.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:15:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/020_doogie_the_first_pet/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/020_doogie_the_first_pet/Buildom has its first companion. A little dog that shows up when you stand still for a bit, wanders around, falls asleep next to you, and despawns when you run too far. Being alone in a world is just dull.Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/021_my_cline_cloud_agents_beta_adventure/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/021_my_cline_cloud_agents_beta_adventure/I got invited to the Cline cloud agents beta and handed the whole game project over to it. One GLM run later the combat rework, armor, HP bars and a pile of strictness fixes were merged, and I barely touched a thing.Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/022_the_sun_goes_down_now/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/022_the_sun_goes_down_now/Buildom now has a real day/night cycle: the sky crossfades through morning, noon, evening and night, the world sinks into darkness, and my torches punch warm light through it. Watch the video.Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/023_buildom_is_mobile_ready/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/023_buildom_is_mobile_ready/The game now works on a phone. Portrait, landscape, touch controls that feel right, panels that fit, and a camera that locks on the player instead of asking you to scroll to find yourself. It took the whole gameplay loop into the passenger seat.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/024_rain_and_thunder/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/024_rain_and_thunder/Buildom now has weather: rain rolls in, the puddles glimmer, and thunderstorms light up the sky and shake the screen. Watch the video.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/025_the_world_stopped_being_silent/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/025_the_world_stopped_being_silent/Buildom has sound effects now: footsteps, splashes, chopping and a death jingle, all driven by a tiny one-shot engine and a set of chiptune sounds that were generated by a script, not recorded.Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTJanhttps://blog.buildom.online/blog/026_vines_you_can_climb/https://blog.buildom.online/blog/026_vines_you_can_climb/Buildom's grass now grows vines that hang down over time, and the player can climb them: hang on, scramble up, slide down and hop off onto ledges you could never reach before.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTJan