Automation: A very very PC-oriented Car Tycoon Indie Game

[zeekthegeek]

I was surprised today to do a search of RPS and not discover any mention of upcoming Indie project Automation. It's kind of amazing is what it is.

Automation is a car company tycoon game in which you design and build cars from scratch.
It is you who designs everything from the very core that is the engine, over the chassis, to the suspension and the car's looks.
Several games have tried this before... but were able to merely scratch the surface.
Go ahead, build your dream-car company, or simply aim to dominate the world markets with your superior design skills!

What's most amazing is that it's already very much working and they've got a demo version coming up shortly, while they try to rustle up some money for an art team and all that. Despite a pretty shabby basic UI, it looks fascinating and iconic of the crazy depth of the PC. God I sound like a salesman at 1 AM. The point really: check out this video for a look at the current basics of how it all works. Future plans will build it into a game about running a car company, starting post-war and up to the near future and might possibly include exporting your cars to a racing game if they can swing it.



http://automationgame.com is where you can find out more info, apply to be a beta tester, get news and all that stuff what you can usually do on a decent games website. I'll probably be chipping into their Rockethub preorder thingamajig myself fairly soon.

[DigitalSignalX]

Link is broke, here's the vid from their site. It looks interesting.

[zeekthegeek]

Link is broke, here's the vid from their site. It looks interesting.

Thanks for pointing out, wasn't sure about the youtube link I shortened down. I blame the late hour. Fixed.

It was actually a different video from an older news post though, which gives a complete runthrough of what they currently have for car design implemented. Already it's featureful, although I guess I'll probably need to learn a bit more about cars to play it - I don't actually even drive myself so I don't know the first thing about cams and what not like they talk about and adjust in the video.

[metalangel]

Very interesting. Did anyone play Detroit back in the day? That had you developing new parts and designing a range of cars.

Also, Apex (by Milestone) let you design, build and then race the cars.

[Tikey]

This looks interesting. I miss good ol' tycoons.
Thanks for the heads up

EDIT: I remember trying to play detroit as a kid. With my limited knowledge of the language and young age I didn't understand a thing.

[zeekthegeek]

This looks interesting. I miss good ol' tycoons.
Thanks for the heads up

EDIT: I remember trying to play detroit as a kid. With my limited knowledge of the language and young age I didn't understand a thing.

Ditto. In the gameplay video it looks like they intend to explain the purposes of different parts and settings so hopefully that'll make it more approachable for the layman like me. They also listed Detroit as a partial inspiration.

[Daffyflyer]

Massive thread bump, self promotion.



I'm one of the two developers on this project, and thought I'd just A: show you our latest videos, and B: point out that you can give us all your money *cough* I mean, preorder again at http://automationgame.com/buy


See below for the latest videos :)


Splinky Updated engine designer, complete with new sounds and exploding engines




New lighting and environment method for the car room, paint looks cool now!



And Finally a bit of a trailer, explaining what Automation is all about

[Bhazor]

I have zero interest in cars but I love the look of this.

Good catch.

[Daffyflyer]

I have zero interest in cars but I love the look of this.

Good catch.

Sweet! we hope it has some broad appeal, and it'll aim to be easy to get into for non car nuts :)