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[Briggsy16]

Looking good man

[LoSboccacc]

Still waiting v6 I have a busso ya know?

[lordcooper]

Serious question: do I have to become a mechanic to play this properly?

[LoSboccacc]

A petrolhead is enough

But there is enough information presented clearly so you can learn by trial and error

There also is a demo. Try that, you'll discover quickly if the technical intricacies of an engine interest you or bore you to death

[Kaje]

Anything relating to actually running the company yet? The 'tycoon' features? Or is it still very much an engine building simulator at the moment?

[LoSboccacc]

Only engines at the moment, an for the foreseeable future.

There is anpost with a tentative roadmap on the site news

[JWNoctis]

I do hope that we would at least get to adjust the gear ratio and torque split when we get to design the transmission, which is probably not that unfeasible. Although things like torque split would not be very useful unless we get a driving simulator, which is AFAICT going to come in the form of an exporter for rFactor or Rigs of Rods, the latter of which is probably better for this particular purpose.

Also, a lot of other options will become available when/if it gets to diesel, with heavy vehicles and most utility engines. However this would probably be enough to make a separate game in itself, and might come in as an expansion pack after v1 release as far as I know.

And on a related note, I hope that someday Gearhead Garage's developer will put their game on GOG or somewhere similar. That one was supposed to be good, but completely unavailable just about anywhere now.

Dreaming on.

[Kaje]

I do hope that we would at least get to adjust the gear ratio and torque split when we get to design the transmission, which is probably not that unfeasible. Although things like torque split would not be very useful unless we get a driving simulator, which is AFAICT going to come in the form of an exporter for rFactor or Rigs of Rods, the latter of which is probably better for this particular purpose.

Also, a lot of other options will become available when/if it gets to diesel, with heavy vehicles and most utility engines. However this would probably be enough to make a separate game in itself, and might come in as an expansion pack after v1 release as far as I know.

And on a related note, I hope that someday Gearhead Garage's developer will put their game on GOG or somewhere similar. That one was supposed to be good, but completely unavailable just about anywhere now.

Dreaming on.

I loved Gearhead Garage, and it IS available...just as perceived abandonware. I'm not sure on the legality of posting that sort of link here, but have dropped you a PM.

[daffyflyer]

Hey, its been a while but I thought I'd drop in and give you all a little update on the latest stuff we've released.

We just put out turbos for the engine designer, and they're pretty sweet.  Check out the video below to watch our producer build a 2000kw Twin Turbo V8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwDNTqYh--o

The talented ConeDodger240 has done an excellent lets play of one of our scenarios, so if you want to know what Automation is all about, have a watch of this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJgNQVTahhE

As usual you can get hold of the free demo and preorder to support us and get access to cooler stuff from www.automationgame.com and we'd apprecate it if you'd drop us an upvote on Greenlight

Feel free to bombard me with questions and or abuse in the posts below

[Morrigi]

Well, this is a massive necro, but I've been playing the game a lot lately and I made this:

Warning: large image

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[hemmingjay]

Nice! To be honest I can't enjoy this game until they put the tycoon/biz sim side in. Until then I am playing GearCity. It's not perfect but it's trying to modernize Detroit and add some of their own flavor. It's hard but fun.

[LoSboccacc]

Well the forum rally challenge seems fun, but I hate the unconstraibed quality pools and trch points

[dennislp3]

most competitions are a little more refined than unrestricted costs...I entered some and really enjoyed it.

[Kaje]

As Hemmingjay said above, it looks lovely but I can't possibly play until they have implemented the tycoon features.

[hemmingjay]

Cars Inc is slightly less buggy than GearCity and it looks like we are going from no proper car biz games to three by 2015. Feast or famine. Unfortunately, it's INCREDIBLY difficult to manage this genre, more than other biz sims unfortunately.

I have been playing these types of sims for my entire life starting at age 6. Recently, as a developer I have been studying them and tinkering with the formula that makes an addictive game and what makes a dull one. I'm curious to know what you all think makes or breaks one of these titles.

My own take is that a great business sim has to have nice art to counter the fact that the majority of your time is spent looking at numbers and charts. You need strong, smart competition and preferably a nemesis. About a third of users really want some sort of storyline but the rest don't want a story to interfere with their own imagination. You must feel like you are impacting the world around you. Making a lot of money doesn't mean much if you can't see how it changes your experience or the world as a whole then it feels pointless or worse, like your actions don't matter. Finally, there is an expected curve in the gameplay. You have to start out easy to figure things out then ramping up for the first challenge phase which you master then the game throws a new element or challenge at you which you have to overcome to get to the final stage of the game when you become powerful enough to enjoy crushing the competition.

Please let me know if I got this wrong. I studied and took notes on over 90 tycoon, business and strategy games to come to those conclusions but that doesn't mean it covers everyone.