Crust Busters

by ectucker1

co-authored: @bencrorules, @drpepperisgood, @thecrimsonflare, @yubs

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.05

Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.08

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.61

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.02

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.09

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.97

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.06

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.92

In the year 3138, humanity finally invents a sport worthy of this new millennium: Crust Busting. Dropped from orbit into a slice of a distant planet, competitors must carve their way through the outer crust. They dodge clumps of dirt and rock to reach the highest speeds their ships can handle. And, of course, it's all the more spectacular if they crash into each other on the way.

Do you have what it takes to be a champion Crust Buster?

HTML5 (Web) build: https://ectucker.gitlab.io/ld57/

Controls

Keyboard

- A/D or Left/Right Arrow Keys - Move Left/Right
- Space - Bounce off of enemies

Controller

- Left Joystick - Move Left/Right
- A or B - Bounce off of enemies

Misc

- F11 - Toggle Fullscreen
- ESC - Pause

Moving through dirt or rock slows you down.

Bouncing off enemies gives you a large burst of speed.

Assets Used

- Realistic CRT Shader https://godotshaders.com/shader/realistic-crt-shader/
- Open Sans Font https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Open+Sans
- Anta Font https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Anta
- Jockey One Font https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Jockey+One

Comments23

LDJam user 3962697 Apr 2025, 04:05

great game! i loved it! I think the race could be a little shorter tho

dhdorr7 Apr 2025, 04:29

I really like the UI, looks like some sort of retro-futuristic arcade machine

Yossarian7 Apr 2025, 17:46

The way the UI flips out of the main screen is awesome. I also love how juiced up the speed boost is, feels very satisfying to get a lot of speed. I came in 4th- those yellow guys were too quick for me! But I had a lot of fun. The graphics, sound, and CRT shader make the whole thing feel very polished. Awesome work.

Tom3y7 Apr 2025, 18:11

The UI looks awesome! Fun, fast and furious game. Nice, good job

Chris Covert7 Apr 2025, 20:42

Enjoyed it. Took me a minute to figure out bouncing off others is what helps you get speed. I got passed by 4 people just before the finish line even though I was basically going max speed :(

Civ927 Apr 2025, 21:25

Fun game, very polished. Loved the music, UI and overall feeling of the race. Good job !

nyxkn7 Apr 2025, 21:49

Such a good game!! Mad high energy action. I wasn't expecting to play a racing game with actual opponents! The interactions felt so satisfying (bless their souls). I was wishing at times I'd be able to go faster but I was always on the edge of "if I went a bit faster it'd be amazing" but never quite got there. I'm sure you could add even more high octane action in here. Extremely satisfying gameplay and idea. Would definitely play more of this. Great amount of polish and very cute flavour text and setting, and excellent music too. Thanks for the experience!

Stef_Studio_78 Apr 2025, 04:19

fun game, cool idea, great music!

GlebSviripa8 Apr 2025, 05:07

Nice game. Looks like something for an arcade machine

cdupe8 Apr 2025, 05:09

Awesome game! It seems like there's a lot of dynamic difficulty balancing going on under the hood, and it works well: the difficulty felt just right. Controls were intuitive, too.

Guillaume Cleenewerck8 Apr 2025, 09:14

Amazing game, the retro style is really cool and seems really polished.
The race was good, opponents seems to catch up.
The only downside is that when you are slow you aren't ganing that much speed over time except when bouncing on an opponent. Maybe crank up a little bit the speed gain passively ?

Anchry8 Apr 2025, 09:58

That was such a great vibe, love the aesthetic the sounds and just about everything. Very fun entry! Also got first place which I of course have to advertise.

Dywanix8 Apr 2025, 10:35

I love that artstyle!

Pusheeneiro8 Apr 2025, 13:38

Cool game and great mood

Khatri8 Apr 2025, 15:07

Very fun, quite challenging game with a great comeback system.

robobarbie9 Apr 2025, 02:03

i finished first in my heart and that's what matters :sob: really loved how easy this was to pick up and just have a great time. the little blast effects were well done too!!

SurWeaver9 Apr 2025, 12:23

I really liked a concept of getting more speed by correctly pacing yourself (i.e. attacking opponents and evading obstacles). Got first place by waiting for opponents to attack them :D It's exciting to have such a risk-reward system! I bring closer defeat and winning, wow :D

Really fun racing game!

Soul Grinder9 Apr 2025, 13:12

Really fun game, the nice work on the animated UI, it looked great! Some nice abilities on the ships too. My best ranking was 3rd place, so close lol

MatthewDrake9 Apr 2025, 15:25

Really fun game, enjoyed the balance between avoiding obstacles and getting close enough to other racers to boost off of them, not to mention following tunnels left by others and then boosting off them after they cleared the way. Great work!

Erafion10 Apr 2025, 18:33

This is the best game I have played! The idea and execution are simply amazing, I am thrilled.

The only suggestion I have is to perhaps slow down a bit so that I have more time to react. It seems that going too fast is not very beneficial. Alternatively, moving the camera back a little could help us see more?

3sSTheJammer10 Apr 2025, 20:01

One of the best games I've played! Great job! Gameplay, mood, theme covering are great! Didn't quite get how opponents suddenly gain boost and manage to get ahead of me, which is a bit frustrating. Had a lot of fun playing, nonetheless

JHax14 Apr 2025, 20:21

Ship designs are super cool, easily the most important thing with a game like this :smile:
Really fun twist on the sort of digging down type games that are coming up this jam as well, it's such a great balance of weighing up boosting from the other ships and avoiding impacts. I also like how not being first means that other racers are breaking new ground first as a sort of natural balancing mechanic.

Jonathan Ray Pollard23 Apr 2025, 01:44

Great game, straight and to the point! Would make for a killer bathroom mobile game. Became a blast once I understood the bounce off other ship mechanics.

Other games by @ectucker1

★3.58

★3.80

The Cult of the Broken Clock

★3.62

LD47