I confess: (a) I am addicted to Angry Birds and (b) I have been stalking Boston-based Owlchemy Labs for over a month. Why? Because Smuggle Truck — the game the company has been building since August — is just that awesome.

I saw a demo of Smuggle Truck in December, and am lucky enough to have been granted access by founders Alex Schwartz and Yilmaz Kiymaz to an early version to play with this week. After playing, trying to focus on work, and going back to playing… The duo at Owlchemy Labs just might have what it takes to shift my and millions of others’ Angry Birds addiction to another  game — one that takes gaming to a whole new level (pun intended: read below).

The premise of the game, although controversial, is simple: conquer levels by successfully smuggling as much “cargo” as possible over the border in your truck. Babies are born when trying to reach said border and, if you drive right, you may be granted a green card. But there’s an additional layer of engagement that sets the Smuggle Truck game apart from a technology perspective: you will actually be able to create levels yourself on Smuggle Truck.

Smuggle Truck’s level editor is essentially the same one Owlchemy Labs has been using to develop the game using a game engine software called Unity (an “integrated authoring tool” that won a Wall Street Journal Tech Innovation Award this past year). In mid-February the company plans to hold a level creation contest, with the grand prize being a character look-alike that will be added into the final version of the game (one of the people being smuggled). In anticipation of and leading up to the contest, Owlchemy will be releasing a video a week on their YouTube channel detailing various aspects of the game to get your creative juices flowing (see below).

Aside from its addictiveness, obstacles, and unique level creation aspect, the artwork on Smuggle Truck also wows (created by William Tiller, a bit of a rockstar in the game development world). And since the game will run on any iOS device with those beautiful iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch screens, the graphics will definitely shine. It is also worth noting that you will be able to play Smuggle Truck right on your computer on the web. And thanks to another Boston-based company (can you guess who?), you will actually be able to use your iPhone as the remote control instead of your keyboard.

Does Smuggle Truck have the addiction factor to overtake Angry Birds? We will all have to wait until March to see, when Owlchemy debuts the game at the famous PAX East. Nevertheless, take a sneak peak at the videos below and let us know what you think!

Here is another longer video where Alex of Owlchemy takes you through just how cool, simple and intuitive the game building aspect of Smuggle Truck is:

What do you think about Smuggle Truck? Can you see yourself getting addicted?