AutumnXd
patreon
Chapter 88: Battle Royale on Wheels ( PLAT )
🕑 Added 2025-11-01 02:30:09 +0000 UTCMelissa, Luke, and Chris had thought the career mode gameplay was already brilliantly designed.
Then Melissa entered competitive mode and read the ruleset.
Her jaw actually dropped.
"Oh my god," she whispered.
Competitive mode offered two different categories:
Mode One: Battle Royale
Mode Two: Team Deathmatch (Coming in future update)
Currently only Battle Royale was available in the launch build. Team Deathmatch would release in a subsequent update.
The Battle Royale ruleset was insane.
All players spawned simultaneously on the same massive map. Only one could survive and claim victory.
Ten different maps were available, each supporting 10-100 players depending on the specific environment. Smaller urban maps capped at 50 players. Massive open-world maps could handle 100 simultaneous competitors.
According to the detailed rules, players spawned randomly at different starting positions around the map's perimeter, waiting for the match to begin.
At the start, every vehicle had identical performance stats—basic, unmodified cars with no weapons. Players chose from over a dozen free vehicle models and could customize colors and cosmetic details, but mechanical performance was standardized.
The match progressed through four distinct phases:
Phase One: Resource Scramble
The system periodically announced approximate locations of resource drop zones. Each announcement revealed 1-3 zones simultaneously, each containing randomly distributed supplies.
Players had to race to these zones and compete for limited resources—first come, first served.
During the scramble, you could gain advantages through superior driving, or by using the environment and obstacles to damage or destroy opponents' vehicles through collisions and aggressive maneuvers.
When you eliminated another player, your vehicle received a performance upgrade, giving you better acceleration, handling, and top speed for the next resource competition.
Resources found in drop zones included:
Consumables: Fuel and nitrous oxide. (Fuel was critical—run out completely and you were eliminated immediately)
Performance Upgrades: Engine enhancements, chassis reinforcement, computer systems, suspension improvements
Weapons: Mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, incendiary bombs, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, ammunition supplies
Defensive Equipment: Bulletproof glass, armor plating, reinforced tires, various defensive modifications
Repair Stations: Temporary workshops where damaged vehicles could be repaired, with a chance for comprehensive upgrades
Resource quality improved as the match progressed—better weapons, more powerful upgrades. Each drop zone displayed different colored markers based on resource quantity and rarity, helping players choose where to go.
Obviously, zones with better loot attracted more players, creating hotly contested combat zones.
Eliminating opponents during this phase not only upgraded your vehicle but also yielded their fuel, nitrous, ammunition, and other consumables. You had a chance to salvage their weapons and armor too.
Phase Two: Survival of the Fastest
The game's mastermind—Warden Hennessey from the story mode—began periodically launching guided missiles at players with the lowest kill counts and slowest average speeds.
To survive this phase, you had to aggressively hunt other players AND maintain high average velocity. Fall behind in either metric and you'd be eliminated by missile strike.
Phase Three: Arena Combat
All surviving players were forced into a designated track area and required to complete a minimum distance while resources became scarce. The system stopped providing location hints—you had to find supplies through exploration or by eliminating opponents.
Consumables like fuel and ammo were only reliably obtainable by killing other players at this point.
The track spawned random obstacles, hazards, and environmental traps that clever players could weaponize against opponents.
Every five minutes, Warden Hennessey deployed a "Dreadnought"—that massive weaponized tanker—to attack all players indiscriminately for at least two minutes. Successfully destroying a Dreadnought earned substantial resource rewards.
Phase Four: Final Sprint
When only ten players remained, the final phase began. All survivors had to race along a system-designated route to the finish line—a track filled with traps, mechanisms, and environmental hazards.
Every two minutes, Warden Hennessey launched a missile that eliminated whoever was currently in last place.
The pressure was relentless—if you fell behind even momentarily, you died.
This continued until only one player remained and crossed the finish line.
The ultimate winner received Warden Hennessey's location, drove there to confront her, and earned the right to "deal with" the evil mastermind.
The victory screen displayed: "WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!"
"Holy SHIT," Luke breathed, having read the rules over Melissa's shoulder. "This is... this is fucking genius."
His eyes were wide with genuine excitement. The career mode races had already impressed him, but this competitive framework was on another level entirely.
Just reading the ruleset had him captivated. He could already visualize the emergent gameplay, the strategic depth, the incredible variety each match would create.
Under these broad parameters, chemical reactions would occur. Players would develop countless strategies and playstyles. Every match would be filled with suspense and uncertainty, dramatic reversals, clutch moments.
From a spectator perspective? This would be absolutely incredible to watch.
"This gameplay design is revolutionary," another reviewer said, reading the rules on his own screen. "Who knew you could do THIS with racing games? This is insane!"
"We need to test this properly," Melissa announced, standing up decisively. "Get thirty people together—I want a full Battle Royale match right now."
She could clearly foresee this becoming the standard competitive format not just for racing content, but potentially for Infinite Realms esports more broadly. This had mainstream appeal, viral potential, the works.
This would absolutely make racing esports genuinely engaging to watch, exactly as Alex had promised on that livestream.
"On it!" Chris said, already messaging other departments.
"Hey Melissa," Luke asked, pointing at the greyed-out Team Deathmatch option. "What do you think this second mode will be?"
"No idea," Melissa admitted. "We'd have to ask Morrison directly. But if it's anywhere near as innovative as this Battle Royale mode..."
She trailed off, shaking her head in genuine admiration.
"Alex Morrison is legitimately brilliant. This isn't just iterating on existing ideas—this is fundamentally reimagining what competitive racing can be."
Luke nodded slowly. "ET Games is going to be so pissed when this launches."
"Good," Melissa said with a slight grin. "Maybe it'll motivate them to actually innovate instead of just polishing the same basic formula for ten years straight."
Within twenty minutes, they'd assembled thirty Infinite Realms employees for a proper test match.
Melissa pulled her VR headset back on, already grinning in anticipation.
This was going to be incredible.
