Smoke and Flame: before the next attempt

After a bad race, it’s easy to decide you just need a more powerful car. Or a cannon. Or another cannon, so your rival finally gets the point. The garage gives you time to cool off and work out what happened on the track.

We’re making this a quieter part of Smoke and Flame. You can spend a moment with your car, switch characters, and check your loadout. A decision that had to be made in a split second during a race can now be considered at your own pace. Pip, of course, is back, too. He’s bound to have an opinion.

Build your answer to the last race

You choose a character and a car separately. Your choice brings the captured contestant’s personality and the car’s character together; there’s no required pairing. Pip pays for your first car. The dealer has the Beetle, Rusty Cadillac, and Courier available to start with, and later purchases expand your garage.

In the garage bay, you can zoom in on a car and rotate the camera around it. But the most interesting part begins when you look over your build with a particular race in mind. Where did you lose your position? In the approach, through a turn, or on the run to the finish? The answer shapes what you’ll want to try next time.

Front spikes, a cannon, and mines can all be mounted on your car at once. Each weapon calls for a different position on the track. To hit with the spikes, you need to bring the front of your car into contact with a rival. To fire, you need to aim your car at a target. A mine is left behind on a stretch of track you’ve already driven over.

The cannon and mines draw from the same energy reserve as your boost. So even a fully armed car leaves you with an awkward choice: interfere with someone else’s race now, or save the charge so you can speed up yourself. In the garage, you can put together a plan. On the track, your rivals will have suggestions of their own.

What carries over to the next series

The car dealer sells cars; a separate weapons dealer sells weapons and their ranks. In the garage, you install or remove equipment you already own. A purchase expands your options; it doesn’t install an item on your car by itself.

The cars, weapons, and weapon ranks you’ve bought carry over after a series. Your installed build stays, too. A defeat gives you a reason to rethink your preparation, but it doesn’t make you buy again what you already own.

That return to the garage matters to us: the race is over, but the urge to figure things out and try a different approach is still there. You can switch cars, rearrange your equipment, or head out again with the same setup because the mistake was in a decision you’re now ready to change.

Pip watches you prepare, reacts to purchases and results, and makes snide remarks when a damaged car returns. His presence is a reminder of who owns this whole experiment. But he doesn’t choose your character, car, or actions for you.

Smoke and Flame is in development. The garage already connects preparation with the race; we’re still creating the characters’ stories and the trials ahead.