Poppin' MAD

What is Poppin' MAD?

A small wooden boy has been left out, and his answer is to pop every bubble he can reach. Poppin' MAD is a 3D action game built on that sulk, set in a seaside town that turns through a full year. The Bubble Man and his giant wand supply the targets: the wand drags long tubes of soap film that pinch apart into bubbles of many sizes, drift on the wind, wobble, shimmer and burst on contact with the ground.

The boy's journal holds the year. Its pages cover the park in autumn, a Christmas fair in the snow, a May fair, the beach, and the park again twelve months on. The same journal carries his diary, his stickers, his wishes, and a flap marked DO NOT OPEN, which is the sort of detail that hints at a story worth poking at.

Around that sits a casual, cozy, cute and relaxing frame with physics at the center, a short single-player structure and a story to follow. The question the game poses is direct: work out why he is so angry, and see whether popping bubbles can cheer him up.

How to play

The loop is movement first, popping second. You run through a place, turn the view with the mouse, hop over whatever is in the way, then use swipes and kicks on the bubbles ahead. A swipe is the quick strike, a kick is the second option, and sprinting closes distance when a cluster starts drifting. Bubbles also break on the ground, so where you stand matters as much as when you swing.

Popping is how you get better at popping. You start with bare hands, and the Bubble Man points you toward better ways of reaching bubbles, which is where bubble wishes and upgrades come in between outings.

Every location asks for more than a clean run. Three stars wait in each, secrets sit hidden in every place, and stickers fill the journal. Behind all of it runs the year-long story of a cross little wooden boy and the town that has to put up with him.

Controls

Movement uses W A S D or the arrow keys, the mouse turns your view, Space jumps, and Shift sprints. Left click and F both fire the swipe, while right click and E both fire the kick, giving each hand access to one attack. Tab opens bubble wishes, B opens the journal, and Backspace pauses.

Escape also pauses, though it will knock most browsers out of fullscreen, which is why Backspace is the better habit. The full list is reprinted on the pause card, so a mid-run pause answers any binding question quickly.

Because the mouse controls the camera, gentle movements keep a drifting cluster in frame while you sprint after it, and the two-attack setup means neither hand has to travel far from a comfortable position.

Tips for your first run

Treat the first run as practice with a checklist rather than a race. Small habits early save a lot of fumbling later.

• Map both attacks early. Left click or F swipes, right click or E kicks, so either hand can act without a reach.
• Follow the Bubble Man's advice. He is the route beyond bare hands toward better ways of reaching bubbles.
• Herd bubbles toward open air. They burst when they touch the ground, so a low cluster can vanish before you swing.
• Spend bubble wishes as they arrive. Tab opens the upgrades panel between outings.
• Sweep for three stars and each place's hidden secret before moving on, and check the journal for sticker progress.
• Pause with Backspace to keep fullscreen, and keep a save copy from the title card.
• Cycle back to earlier places to mop up stars once the controls feel automatic.

Content and replayability

Each location is scored. Three stars are available in every place, secrets are hidden in each one, and stickers accumulate in the journal as you find them. That gives a first pass two layers: get through the story, and clean up what you missed along the way.

A year of places gives the game its shape. The park in autumn, the Christmas fair in the snow, the May fair, the beach, and the park again a year later each carry their own look, and the journal narrative runs alongside them, including that sealed flap.

When the story ends, a harder second run opens up, so the same places get a stiffer test with whatever bubble wishes you have unlocked. The current build covers the full story during its playtest period. It is free while that lasts, and the Steam version is planned as a paid release. Feedback sent before 30 November 2026 comes with a free Steam key when that version arrives.

Presentation and performance

Poppin' MAD runs in the browser on HTML5 and is desktop only, with keyboard and mouse expected. Chrome, Edge and Firefox are the supported browsers. The first load is around 115 MB, so give it a moment on a slower connection.

The game adjusts itself to the machine it is on, but a powerful computer can still stutter if the browser is running on a weaker graphics chip than expected. On Windows, open Settings, then System, Display and Graphics, select the browser, set it to high performance, and restart the browser.

Progress lives in browser storage. Clearing the site's data clears the save, and the save file option on the title card keeps a copy you can hold on to. Escape pausing will also drop fullscreen in most browsers, which is why Backspace is the cleaner pause key. The presentation is 3D and built for a cozy read: a coastal town, seasonal fairs, and soap film that shimmers and wobbles before it bursts.

Who should play it

Players who like a short, gentle action game with a story attached are the obvious fit. The tone is cozy and wholesome, the stakes are bubbles, and the year-long journal gives the popping a narrative reason. Anyone who enjoys collection, from stickers to secrets to three stars per place, has a clear checklist to chase.

It also suits players who want a finished story in a browser tab rather than an endless grind: the current build contains the whole story, and a harder second pass waits after you finish the first run. The physics-driven bubbles, which stretch into tubes of soap film before pinching apart, are the kind of small detail that rewards attention.

Skip it if you need touch controls or a phone-sized screen. The requirements are desktop only, with a keyboard and mouse in hand. Keep the timing in mind too: it is free only for the playtest window, with a paid Steam release planned afterward, so trying it now is the inexpensive way in.