We've bred Cryptokitties, and Axies, ducks, and even mechanical horses. But, as far as I know, this is the first time we've been introduced to car breeding! Riot Racers released new details about their upcoming breeding functionality, which covers both Drivers and Cars.
Already running a functional racing beta with both paid and free racing, Riot Racers has been tweaking their race payouts, adding new courses and weather effects (resulting in some very interesting races!), and preparing for the next phase, breeding! Breeding includes both Cars and Drivers and dovetails with a planned Rental system that should be landing at the same time.
With the coding for the visual, 3D representation of the races already in progress, Riot Racers is very quickly putting together all of the pieces to their game.
Riot Racers consists of three generations of assets -- Genesis, Apollo, and Artemis. Artemis, the newest class, includes any assets created via breeding. Spawning consists of pairing two Cars or two Drivers to create a new NFT. Spawning a new Driver requires pairing a Male and a Female Driver together, or two Mechas. Any two Cars can be bred together. For those with only one Car or Driver, never fear! Riot Racers features the option to pair with neutral, unowned game assets known as the "Milk Truck" and the "Queen B".
When two cars spawn, the offspring will be rarity equal to the lowest of the two cars. Drivers, on the other hand, spawn with random results (except for paired Mechas who will always create a Mecha offspring). NFTs from the Artemis collection have some limitations. Artemis Drivers have the same range of total skill ratings (323-433) as Genesis Drivers. However, instead of those stats being randomly distributed through the five skill categories, they are split evenly across the board, meaning that the highest skill an Artemis Driver could have is 86. Also, Artemis Cars do not earn experience.
In addition, every Artemis asset has a Time to Retire value of 9 months. This means that after nine months, that asset can no longer be used for racing or breeding! Though we don't have any details, the team plans to add some use case for retired assets. A burning mechanism would make sense to me, but we'll see what the Riot Racers team decides on.
To keep the market from being completely flooded with new Cars and Drivers, there are Spawning limits. Each Car and Driver can spawn a maximum of seven (7) times. For Artemis collection NFTs, this is a permanent limitation. Genesis and Apollo collections have their spawn limits reset every few months. Every asset used for breeding or generated as a result of breeding triggers two cooldown timers. These timers prevent the asset from breeding and racing. Timer length varies based on asset Class and ranges range from 24 to 96 hours for breeding, and 0 or 24 hours for racing.
And as you might guess, Spawning new assets is not free of charge. In fact, the price is kind of steep! Spawning a new Driver costs 1500 RIOT tokens plus $50 USDT! Breeding Cars can cost even more. In fact, this price may seem too much for owners with few assets. But, this is where the rental system comes into play!
Having seen and experienced first-hand the power and value of an accessible rental market in Splinterlands, I am going on the record and stating that rental systems will be a must-have for most play-to-earn games going forward. Those without them will soon find themselves falling behind. In this regard, Riot Racers is ahead of the curve, already planning the release of their rental system in tandem with the breeding system.
One of the best part of the rental system in Riot Racers is that Renters pay nothing upfront. The whole system runs on commission. Owners set a commission percentage when posting their rental. Anyone who wins tokens while renting that asset automatically pays the appropriate percentage of their winnings back to the owner. No need for any extra input from the renter or owner! And though some races require RIOT tokens to enter, there is also a constant stream of free races available. It is most definitely possible to work you way into a play and earn situation with zero investment!
This is a trustless rental system. The owner's assets never leave their wallet and they can cancel the rentals at any time. Players can rent up to 10 Drivers and 10 Cars at a time. Owners may also choose to rent to a specific player, allowing for easy setup and coordination of a scholar system. In fact, some guilds are already filling their garages in preparation! We don't have an official release date yet, but it should be soon!
For more info, read our Riot Racers Guide and Review.