Cluster Dust

Original Description

The house is under attack by Dust Demons and it is up to you with your laser-equipped Dust Cluster Buster 5000 to destroy the invasion.

Sail around the room shooting ever-spawning Dust Demons but watch out because the longer you last, the faster they come! Periodic shipments of heavy laser shots will help you blast groups at a time and furniture can be knocked around by your shots to make blockades and divert the approaching cluster! Every time you are hit, you lose charge so top off at one of the three charging pads in the room.

The objective is to play until you die. Try again to beat your high-score!

2026 Announcement

In February of 2018, I gave myself the challenge of making a game in one month.  The purpose was to control scope and work through the process from beginning to end with that short of deadline looming.

I taught myself Unreal Engine and Blueprint, modeled every object, wrote the Blueprint from scratch, set up the Steamworks SDK and implemented achievements.  I even did foley for some sound effects.  I set a price of $0.99 so I could also understand the process of taking pay through Steam.

It was essentially a game jam style challenge that I succeeded in and it has sit here ever since.  Its scope was small so it is very simple.  Shoot enemies, they increase in number until you are overwhelmed.  See how far you can get.  The controls are optimized for twin-stick shooting with a controller though keyboard play is possible.  I never implemented mouse-leading so aiming with the keyboard is less than elegant.

Regardless, I'm closing this chapter by making this game free-to-play as in its lifetime it has not earned more than $500 in total sales over eight years.  That is okay because I felt it was at least a dollar's worth of fun and now anyone can enjoy it without the obligation!

I am still proud of Cluster Dust and I hope that you, even for a moment, find enjoyment in playing it.  It works very well on the Steam Deck too!

Thank you and enjoy!