After a longer than usual development cycle, time has come to release the first proper tycoon gameplay to Automation: the Lite Campaign V1. This game mode strings together the various car design and engineering aspects and implements them into a barebones but functional campaign mode in which you lead your company to success or failure with your car and engine designs.



Unfortunately this all comes with a few limitations that will be lifted in future versions beyond the V2 release. For instance, it is not possible to add trims to a car already in production or to share engines between different car models. We would have loved to put that in already now.

The four main additions to this big update are:

• Lite Campaign Mode
  
• Factory Add-Ons
  
• Inline-3 NA Engines
  
• Longitudinal FWD

There are also plenty of other additions and fixes, new car bodies, updates to UI and gameflow.



This, of course, is in no way close to being the fully fleshed out tycoon experience Automation ultimately will be. Rather it serves as a minimum viable core game that we now can build on. The next little building block will be dropped into open beta already next week with the Lite Campaign V2, for which you chose to see basic R&D and the Engineering Familiarity systems added to the game. With the V2 update we will also add more useful data for you to track your company’s progress and usability features in general.



Up next after the V2 release, which should add a lot of replayability to the Lite Campaign, we will finish up porting & rewriting Automation to Unreal Engine 4. Part of our small team has been working on this alongside of development for about a year already. We are excited to focus all our effort on that version, solving some of the long standing design flaws within Automation along the way.



If you have been playing the open beta of this update you do not have to switch over to the public branch in order to play, it was updated with the same version.

Enjoy, cheers!

After a longer than usual development cycle, time has come to release the first proper tycoon gameplay to Automation: the Lite Campaign V1. This game mode strings together the various car design and engineering aspects and implements them into a barebones but functional campaign mode in which you lead your company to success or failure with your car and engine designs.



Unfortunately this all comes with a few limitations that will be lifted in future versions beyond the V2 release. For instance, it is not possible to add trims to a car already in production or to share engines between different car models. We would have loved to put that in already now.

The four main additions to this big update are:

• Lite Campaign Mode
  
• Factory Add-Ons
  
• Inline-3 NA Engines
  
• Longitudinal FWD

There are also plenty of other additions and fixes, new car bodies, updates to UI and gameflow.



This, of course, is in no way close to being the fully fleshed out tycoon experience Automation ultimately will be. Rather it serves as a minimum viable core game that we now can build on. The next little building block will be dropped into open beta already next week with the Lite Campaign V2, for which you chose to see basic R&D and the Engineering Familiarity systems added to the game. With the V2 update we will also add more useful data for you to track your company’s progress and usability features in general.



Up next after the V2 release, which should add a lot of replayability to the Lite Campaign, we will finish up porting & rewriting Automation to Unreal Engine 4. Part of our small team has been working on this alongside of development for about a year already. We are excited to focus all our effort on that version, solving some of the long standing design flaws within Automation along the way.



If you have been playing the open beta of this update you do not have to switch over to the public branch in order to play, it was updated with the same version.

Enjoy, cheers!

With this update we're ready to release the Lite Campaign V1 into the public branch of the game, i.e. V1 is done. :) We want to thank all of you who have participated, reported bugs, and given us feedback during the past two weeks and hope you'll enjoy the V1 campaign gameplay.

Here is the list of changes since yesterday's update:

B161006 Bugfixes:

• Fixed issue with dropping a trim's production to zero
  
• Fixed engine drop down menu getting confused with 2+ families
  
• Fixed factories for engines that are not produced showing
  
• Fixed timeline not showing second engine factory on revise
  
• Fixed distribution screen loading canceled project
  
• Fixed issue with pinning in second market window
  
• Fixed timeline error on revising a car on a fresh load
  
• Fixed issue with trying to engineer a car that is not finished
  
• Fixed alignment of distribution window for revising a production

Note: Like we warned last week, with the launch of the public version unfortunately we have to discontinue supporting older campaign savegames from previous open beta builds. This affects this version, which will be the public release version.

Thank you for your patience with this release and have fun!
Cheers!

With this update we're ready to release the Lite Campaign V1 into the public branch of the game, i.e. V1 is done. :) We want to thank all of you who have participated, reported bugs, and given us feedback during the past two weeks and hope you'll enjoy the V1 campaign gameplay.

Here is the list of changes since yesterday's update:

B161006 Bugfixes:

• Fixed issue with dropping a trim's production to zero
  
• Fixed engine drop down menu getting confused with 2+ families
  
• Fixed factories for engines that are not produced showing
  
• Fixed timeline not showing second engine factory on revise
  
• Fixed distribution screen loading canceled project
  
• Fixed issue with pinning in second market window
  
• Fixed timeline error on revising a car on a fresh load
  
• Fixed issue with trying to engineer a car that is not finished
  
• Fixed alignment of distribution window for revising a production

Note: Like we warned last week, with the launch of the public version unfortunately we have to discontinue supporting older campaign savegames from previous open beta builds. This affects this version, which will be the public release version.

Thank you for your patience with this release and have fun!
Cheers!

After another big round of fixes and additions, this most likely is the last open beta patch before releasing the Lite Campaign V1 public version. We would appreciate a lot if you could give this patch a fresh go (new game) today to see if there are any big bugs left we need to solve. Just press yes on the error reporter for any first error you get (the follow-up errors are less interesting).

B161005 Additions:

• Added I3 Sounds
  
• Added Sign-Off and Distribution icons for timeline
  
• Added total cars sold column

B161005 Bugfixes:

• Fixed I3 exhaust placement issues
  
• Fixed production efficency being zero on factory screens
  
• Fixed being able to clone variants/trims over limit of 6
  
• Fixed production summary/distribution window not clearing trim list correctly
  
• Fixed demographic that don't exist being considered highest scoring
  
• Fixed market windows to remember the last region you chose
  
• Fixed issue with selecting engine factory after deleting engine variant
  
• Reversed save game list order to show newest first
  
• Fixed issue with production type list
  
• Fixed issue with going to sign-off screen when revising signed-off project
  
• Fixed issue with distribution tab shift slider not showing underproduction warning
  
• Fixed engine plot always being $0 on engine factory setup window
  
• Fixed behavior switching trims on 2nd market tab
  
• Fixed default landing screen for revising in-production car to distribution page
  
• Fixed sign-off screen graph not adding engineering costs to the factory building costs
  
• Fixed music playing very infrequently
  
• Fixed wedge body issues
  
• Fixed another engine matching issue

Still a few more issues in there of course, we'll see what needs fixing before the V1 release. Thank you all for helping us out during the open beta phase!
More info on how the next week or so of development will look is coming with the public release of the Lite Campaign V1 (hopefully tomorrow).

Cheers!

After another big round of fixes and additions, this most likely is the last open beta patch before releasing the Lite Campaign V1 public version. We would appreciate a lot if you could give this patch a fresh go (new game) today to see if there are any big bugs left we need to solve. Just press yes on the error reporter for any first error you get (the follow-up errors are less interesting).

B161005 Additions:

• Added I3 Sounds
  
• Added Sign-Off and Distribution icons for timeline
  
• Added total cars sold column

B161005 Bugfixes:

• Fixed I3 exhaust placement issues
  
• Fixed production efficency being zero on factory screens
  
• Fixed being able to clone variants/trims over limit of 6
  
• Fixed production summary/distribution window not clearing trim list correctly
  
• Fixed demographic that don't exist being considered highest scoring
  
• Fixed market windows to remember the last region you chose
  
• Fixed issue with selecting engine factory after deleting engine variant
  
• Reversed save game list order to show newest first
  
• Fixed issue with production type list
  
• Fixed issue with going to sign-off screen when revising signed-off project
  
• Fixed issue with distribution tab shift slider not showing underproduction warning
  
• Fixed engine plot always being $0 on engine factory setup window
  
• Fixed behavior switching trims on 2nd market tab
  
• Fixed default landing screen for revising in-production car to distribution page
  
• Fixed sign-off screen graph not adding engineering costs to the factory building costs
  
• Fixed music playing very infrequently
  
• Fixed wedge body issues
  
• Fixed another engine matching issue

Still a few more issues in there of course, we'll see what needs fixing before the V1 release. Thank you all for helping us out during the open beta phase!
More info on how the next week or so of development will look is coming with the public release of the Lite Campaign V1 (hopefully tomorrow).

Cheers!

(EDIT: Fixed yesterday's mistake that had to be rolled back, added a lot of more fixes to the changelog. Cheers!)

Just a quick-but-important little update that should get rid of yet another bunch of errors people were having in the open beta of the Lite Campaign V1.

B160930 Additions

• Added delete button for savegames

B160930 Fixes

• Fixed issue with wrong base markups
  
• Fixed issue with fitting engines into incomplete car
  
• Fixed another issue with 365 to 360 day date conversion
  
• Fixed tooltip behavior on the 2nd markets window
  
• Fixed various UI flow issues causing errors
  
• Fixed TopBar error in sandbox when populating engines
  
• Removed broken fullscreen option from options
  
• Fixed various graph errors
  
• Fixed issue with cars blowing their tires causing issues
  
• Fixed issue with engine matching
  
• Fixed drop-down menu issue with selecting engine family

Important Note: We are going to make open beta savegames incompatible with the launch of the fully public version of the Lite Campaign V1. That will happen some time early next week, so please enjoy and finish up any playthroughs you currently are on over the coming weekend.

The reason for doing this is that it becomes impossible to properly track bugs & problems with the old savegames having the symptoms of bugs that previously were resolved. That makes the bugfixing process a lot more difficult and holds us up too much.

Thank you for your understanding in the matter!
Cheers!

(EDIT: Fixed yesterday's mistake that had to be rolled back, added a lot of more fixes to the changelog. Cheers!)

Just a quick-but-important little update that should get rid of yet another bunch of errors people were having in the open beta of the Lite Campaign V1.

B160930 Additions

• Added delete button for savegames

B160930 Fixes

• Fixed issue with wrong base markups
  
• Fixed issue with fitting engines into incomplete car
  
• Fixed another issue with 365 to 360 day date conversion
  
• Fixed tooltip behavior on the 2nd markets window
  
• Fixed various UI flow issues causing errors
  
• Fixed TopBar error in sandbox when populating engines
  
• Removed broken fullscreen option from options
  
• Fixed various graph errors
  
• Fixed issue with cars blowing their tires causing issues
  
• Fixed issue with engine matching
  
• Fixed drop-down menu issue with selecting engine family

Important Note: We are going to make open beta savegames incompatible with the launch of the fully public version of the Lite Campaign V1. That will happen some time early next week, so please enjoy and finish up any playthroughs you currently are on over the coming weekend.

The reason for doing this is that it becomes impossible to properly track bugs & problems with the old savegames having the symptoms of bugs that previously were resolved. That makes the bugfixing process a lot more difficult and holds us up too much.

Thank you for your understanding in the matter!
Cheers!

We have made good progress on fixing bugs and polishing the open beta version further, getting close to a version that marks the definitive Lite Campaign V1 release as a public update.

In today's update we have a whole bunch of more fixes, among others one which makes your savegames from before work again after that unfortunately got broken with the last patch. Here are the latest changes:

B160928 Improvements

• Added auto-update from 365-day year to 360-day year for savegames
  
• Added a lot of tooltips for engineering & production pages
  
• Added info about reputation/prestige preferences of demographcis

B160928 Fixes

• Fixed empty demographics showing as competitive
  
• Fixed negative cars sales number prediction
  
• Fixed production split UI affecting wrong UI elements
  
• Fixed design not appearing after quitting out without sign-off
  
• Fixed yearly report prestige/reputation change
  
• Fixed several tech-pool related bugs
  
• Fixed engine reliability getting negative values
  
• Fixed cars getting better drivability the worse they become
  
• Fixed limited & mass production causing engine production mismatches
  
• Fixed specific bug in distribution window when revising project
  
• Fixes issue with not having two demographics pinned
  
• Fixed various timeline & top bar issues
  
• Fixed issue with deleting engines from productions
  
• Limited number of trims/variants to the intended limit of six
  
• Disallowed changing engine after sign-off via timeline

Update on the Polls for Lite Campaign V2

Last week we asked you which two features you would most like to see out of six different options. These two options will be included in the second iteration of the Lite Campaign, V2. The two clear winners are "Simple R&D" with 63% of the votes on one side and "Engineering Familiarity" with 57% on the other side. Here just a recap of what these two options are:

Simple R&D - In order to stay ahead of the curve you must invest money into R&D. The simple tech pool model into which you place points at the setup remains and acts as a lower limit from now on. Via a simple menu in the “hub area” you can continuously invest different levels of money into “tabs” of the car & engine designers, which slowly gets you more tech pool to unlock new tech or improve component quality.

Engineering Familiarity - Engineering specific design choices makes them quicker to engineer thereafter, making your company an expert in specific designs after reusing them over and over, giving your company a “style” you will perfect over the years. Technology familiarity overlaps, too. For example, if you have spent a lot of time making 2-barrel carbs, then the 4-barrel carbs won’t be magic to you, but MPFI still will.

Unfortunately we cannot feasibly add engine sharing or adding facelifts, that will have to wait until the UE4 version of the game and campaign. As soon as we have released the V1 version of the Lite Campaign to the default branch here on Steam, we'll move on to implementing the two new features you chose and make more improvements and fix bugs, etc. So please keep the feedback coming!

Anyway, thank you all for your participation.
Cheers!

We have made good progress on fixing bugs and polishing the open beta version further, getting close to a version that marks the definitive Lite Campaign V1 release as a public update.

In today's update we have a whole bunch of more fixes, among others one which makes your savegames from before work again after that unfortunately got broken with the last patch. Here are the latest changes:

B160928 Improvements

• Added auto-update from 365-day year to 360-day year for savegames
  
• Added a lot of tooltips for engineering & production pages
  
• Added info about reputation/prestige preferences of demographcis

B160928 Fixes

• Fixed empty demographics showing as competitive
  
• Fixed negative cars sales number prediction
  
• Fixed production split UI affecting wrong UI elements
  
• Fixed design not appearing after quitting out without sign-off
  
• Fixed yearly report prestige/reputation change
  
• Fixed several tech-pool related bugs
  
• Fixed engine reliability getting negative values
  
• Fixed cars getting better drivability the worse they become
  
• Fixed limited & mass production causing engine production mismatches
  
• Fixed specific bug in distribution window when revising project
  
• Fixes issue with not having two demographics pinned
  
• Fixed various timeline & top bar issues
  
• Fixed issue with deleting engines from productions
  
• Limited number of trims/variants to the intended limit of six
  
• Disallowed changing engine after sign-off via timeline

Update on the Polls for Lite Campaign V2

Last week we asked you which two features you would most like to see out of six different options. These two options will be included in the second iteration of the Lite Campaign, V2. The two clear winners are "Simple R&D" with 63% of the votes on one side and "Engineering Familiarity" with 57% on the other side. Here just a recap of what these two options are:

Simple R&D - In order to stay ahead of the curve you must invest money into R&D. The simple tech pool model into which you place points at the setup remains and acts as a lower limit from now on. Via a simple menu in the “hub area” you can continuously invest different levels of money into “tabs” of the car & engine designers, which slowly gets you more tech pool to unlock new tech or improve component quality.

Engineering Familiarity - Engineering specific design choices makes them quicker to engineer thereafter, making your company an expert in specific designs after reusing them over and over, giving your company a “style” you will perfect over the years. Technology familiarity overlaps, too. For example, if you have spent a lot of time making 2-barrel carbs, then the 4-barrel carbs won’t be magic to you, but MPFI still will.

Unfortunately we cannot feasibly add engine sharing or adding facelifts, that will have to wait until the UE4 version of the game and campaign. As soon as we have released the V1 version of the Lite Campaign to the default branch here on Steam, we'll move on to implementing the two new features you chose and make more improvements and fix bugs, etc. So please keep the feedback coming!

Anyway, thank you all for your participation.
Cheers!