Roguenduro
The first game my dad ever put in my hands was Enduro on the Atari. Early 90s. I couldn't have been more than a few years old, but I remember the way the screen glowed and the way he'd lean in when the snow started falling and the cars got faster. That was the beginning of everything.
He was my catalyzer - the person who made me believe that games weren't just something you played, but something you could feel. He brought me into karting, we had a short but remarkable run together in racing and those miles are ones I carry with me everywhere. Then, years later, I learned you could also make videogames for a living.
My dad passed away in 2024. I miss him every single day and I've always wanted to find a way to immortalize him. Not a shrine. Not a monument. Just something that felt like him - like us - like that carpet floor in the early 90s with the Atari humming in front of us.
This is my take on the roguelite, a genre I love deeply, filtered through the very first game my dad ever handed me. Every run is a lap and every lap a memory to me. Some days you make it far. Some days the storm takes you early. That's alright. You shut your face and get back in the car.
Built with Phaser 3 + TypeScript with assistance of Claude Code, bundled with Vite, and rendered entirely in the browser via HTML5 Canvas.
I hope you enjoy the ride. And if you had someone who put a controller in your hands for the first time - I hope this one's for them too.
─── CONTROLS ───
Move ← → or A D
Accelerate ↑ or W
Brake ↓ or S
Pause / Upgrade screen automatic on level up
Continue past Roadbuster prompt C
End run early Q
─── HOW TO PLAY ───
Pass cars to gain XP. Avoid crashes - HP runs out, run ends.
Day 1: pass 200 cars. Day 2+: pass 300 cars per day.
Survive 5 days → Roadbuster trophy.
Drive 1,000,000 km → Victory.
Every level-up: pick 1 of 3 upgrades (4 cards every 3rd level - bonus paint).
Upgrades stack with diminishing returns. 30+ gameplay upgrades, 10 chassis paints.
─── DAY/NIGHT CYCLE ───
Each in-game day cycles through: dawn → day → dusk → night → fog.
Snow weather kicks in from day 4 onward.
Comments
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I feel you. I lost my dad in 2013. He taught me how to play Super Hang-On on my Sega Genesis, he did the shifting when playing Turbo OutRun in the arcade (until he noticed you can choose auto-shifting), ... so to honor him, I've put him in my games as a mechanic/opponent.
About your game: I played it for a minute. You seem to level up very quickly which breaks the flow. And to be honest: I don't care about points and upgrades. I just want to race and finish before I consider going for the highest score.
You seem to have fallen into the usual perspective trap: scale objects linearly with the distance which looks weird. In reality, objects get exponentially bigger when they get closer. In my first prototype I used sin/cos to mimick this effect.
There are a lot of cars and they really get in your way. Sometimes they are just unavoidable because they completely block the whole road. I believe the most fun comes from navigating the corners. Avoiding obstacles/traffic is secondary. Also, are they moving towards you, instead of racing with you?
The light cone at night looks really silly. x-D But I like the idea of only being able to see the rear lights, although I would've just made the whole car black instead of invisible, except in the light cone.
Hey, thanks for sharing your story and also for playing the game.
I addressed most of your comments and released an update, I hope it’s better.
Regarding the upgrades vs. racing, I know it’s contradictory and the main reason why I don’t think this would be a real product - and my motivation to prototype quickly using Claude. Like I mentioned it just combine two things I like and I was curious to see the result. But you’re absolutely right.
Please don’t hesitate to share games and prototypes with me if you need playtesting.
Cheers!