ENIT

Our story

Crystal Dream began as two notebook pages written thirty years ago and found again by a 12-year-old. This is how a childhood dream became a family game.

A lined notebook page handwritten in pen: the title CRISTAL Dream, coins, a money bag, hearts, seven drawn swords with their names, four pairs of boots and seven shields.
Swords, boots and shields, each with its drawing and in order of power.
The second notebook page: seven drawn armours and a sketch of the game screen, with might, resistance, speed and mana bars, life hearts, a knight with sword and shield, a coin and a platform.
The armours and the game screen, with a note: “At the start you’ll have 6 hearts…”

A notebook found again

It all starts one summer, in an old ring binder. VoidX, aged 12, finds two pages his father wrote in pen when he was 15 or 16, about thirty years ago: the plan for a video game called Cristal Dream. Yes, with an “i”: at that age he couldn’t spell “crystal” in English yet.

Those were the years when PiXy, the dad, and his twin brother BugMaN spent their afternoons playing together. At the arcade there were Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Ghosts ’n Goblins and Shinobi; at home Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Golvellius on the Master System, Wonder Boy in Monster World on the Mega Drive and loads of other games like them. PiXy’s dream game had to be just like those.

Making a video game together had always been the twins’ dream. The pages of Zzap! kept it alive too: month after month, the Rowlands brothers told the story of how they were making Creatures and Creatures 2 for the Commodore 64. A development diary, just like the one you’ll find on this site.

Everything is already in those two pages: seven swords in order of power, seven shields, seven armours, four pairs of boots, gold coins and money bags, hearts and half hearts. There’s even the game screen drawn by hand, with bars for might, resistance, speed and mana, a row of hearts and a little knight with sword and shield.

A dream to make real, together

That game was never made. VoidX decides it’s time to make his father’s teenage dream come true, and to do it as a family.

VoidX writes the story. PiXy and BugMaN work out how to build the game. The youngest brother, Ballie, signs up as beta tester: game after game he comes up with original, funny ideas, and together with VoidX he’s the one who brings the most ideas and steers many of the choices.

Pixmap Brothers are back

In 2009 PiXy and BugMaN had founded a small game studio, Pixmap Brothers, chasing the dream they’d had since they were kids: to publish a video game. They did it with Bubble Touch, released for Nokia and iOS.

With Crystal Dream, Pixmap Brothers are back in business, and the team is growing: VoidX and Ballie have joined.

Little time, lots of ideas

PiXy and BugMaN have little free time. The only way to pull it off was to lean on agentic programming: most of the code is written by an AI agent, Claude Code, while the family focuses on ideas, story, art and music. We explain how it works on the How it’s made page.

Today the swords, shields, armours and boots from those two pages are in the game, with their original names. The title, on the other hand, has learned its English: until a few weeks ago the old title screen still said “Cristal”.

Then and now

The game screen as drawn in the notebook, and as it looks today.

ThenThe sketch of the game screen: might, resistance, speed and mana bars at the top, two frames for special items and three rows of hearts; below, a knight with sword and shield on a meadow, a coin, clouds and a floating platform.
NowThe game today: Ash on a meadow in front of the wizard's house, whose purple roof is pointed like a hat, among trees and clouds; hearts at the top left, coins at the top right and two item slots at the bottom.
The game screen, thirty years apart.

  • PiXy

    The dad · art, music and everything else

    Wrote the notes as a teenager. Thirty years later he handles art and music and steers the building of the game together with Claude Code.

  • BugMaN

    The twin · co-founder

    PiXy’s twin brother, his gaming partner since childhood and co-founder of Pixmap Brothers. He backs the project and brings ideas.

  • VoidX

    Age 12 · the story

    Found the notebook and decided that game had to be made. He writes the story and, with Ballie, steers the game’s choices.

  • Ballie

    The little brother · beta tester

    Official beta tester and a factory of original, often hilarious ideas. Many of the game’s choices start with him.

Milestones

  1. Mid-1990s

    PiXy, aged 15, fills two notebook pages with his dream game: Cristal Dream.

  2. 2009

    PiXy and BugMaN found Pixmap Brothers and release Bubble Touch for Nokia and iOS.

  3. Summer 2026

    VoidX finds the notes, and the family decides to make the game together.

  4. 13 August 2026

    The first commit: a meadow, a character who runs and jumps, and the first gold coins.

  5. Today

    The first of the seven realms is taking shape, and the devlog tells what changed every week.

Want to know how a family with little free time builds a game? Tools, method and numbers are on the tech page.

How it’s made