This May, GaMaYo #24 is being held at Project House, Leeds where 38 games are demoing, with 300+ developers, game industry publishers, investors and platforms in attendance. Head to Project House, Leeds to see all of the demos live.

This event is brought to you by Game Republic along with their Official Partners Barclays Games and Creative, Plus Accounting and Red Kite Games

Today we are looking at ‘Racecar Crashers’ which is confirmed to be at the event, from Trajectile Interactive!

Racecar Crashers by Trajectile Interactive

What would be your description of your game?

Racecar Crashers is a high-octane, couch multiplayer, and competitive racing experience where up to 4 friends (or enemies) compete to be the last car standing, or the first one to complete 3 laps.

While you need to be wary of your competition’s nefarious tactics, the biggest threat is being eliminated by failing to stay on the screen which is always following the driver in pole position. Luckily, you have an arsenal of items at your disposal to sabotage your opponents and tip the odds in your favour.

How did development start? (Were there any key inspirations or ideas that drove you?)

While discussing ideas for our game, we observed a common pattern regarding some of our most cherished gaming moments of our childhoods. Further discussions revealed that a lot of other people think back fondly to memories of playing casual or competitive games with their friends. Be it racing in Mario Kart, running deathmatches and free-for-alls in shooters such as Call of Duty or Counter-Strike, or just sitting on the sofa running 1v1s in FIFA. From there, it became an easy and obvious choice to try to recreate the camaraderie of couch multiplayer.

Design and development started in early January 2025, with inspiration coming from classic titles such as MicroMachines and more recent competitive titles such as Speedrunners. We heavily brainstormed different mechanics and features to allow friendly sabotage and began to see our visions align in racing. With the car controls being the most important feature, this was an immediate priority for us; we want the driving to be intuitive and fun to swerve around the track. From there, we continued to build, test, and iterate more and more features until the team started spending more time playing the game than developing new mechanics.

Tell us about the team behind the game!

We are a driven group of Master’s undergraduate students at the very end of our degree. We have each spent 4+ years developing and innovating in Computer Science for Games and many of our ideals align. We became friends through a university group project module, and have grown closer since. Here is a short paragraph from each team member:

Luke Jason Hibbert: “My love for video games started when I got my first DS, playing New Super Mario Bros. with my Dad through wireless multiplayer. Since then, there have only been more positive experiences with games and this was accelerated when my younger brother started following in my footsteps. Our favourite games are anything Nintendo and he loves to beat me up on Goat Simulator 1 and 3. I want to capture the things he loves most about games, and turn them into something made from his older brother, for him.”
Charlie James Edwards: “I got into game development due to my love for video games, and hope to develop games that people can enjoy as much as I enjoyed games growing up. My favourite games to play are JRPGs, but I have played many games from a variety of genres as well.”
Gergő János Kocsis: “From a young age I always enjoyed maths, problem solving, and of course playing video games – particularly online shooters which promote teamwork such as Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, and Overwatch. Naturally, my interests and hobbies along with my creativity led me down a path to programming and game development. These skills and passions allowed me to compete in and win various game jams and hackathons throughout my numerous years in the industry.”
Aliyaan Zulfiqar Bhatti: “It may sound cliche, but I have been playing them for as long as I can remember. From playing games like X-Men: COTA and various Street Fighter games on PS1 to when games started to truly resonate with me as pieces of art with games like Devil May Cry on PS2. That was when I realised that I wanted to make games – create art – as well as continuing to play them. My love of fighting games has only grown since then and I now play them at a competitive level and have achieved tournament success in a few titles. Both through and alongside games, I gained a passion for music, and have been playing the guitar for 6 years. I have produced a few finished songs, one of which was used for a game that won an award at the end of year showcase in the first year of university.”

What kind of experiences do you hope to bring players?

Our main focus has always been to capture comradery through competition, rivalry, and excitement. We want players to enjoy fighting with their friends to try to be the last car and win every time. We want them to feel the same kind of experience that team all experienced as kids when playing couch multiplayer with our friends and family.