The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline .(June 2024) |
Automation | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Camshaft Software |
Publisher(s) | Camshaft Software |
Designer(s) | Robert Hoischen |
Programmer(s) | Caswal Parker, Jayelinda Suridge, Isaac Blomfield |
Artist(s) | Andrew Lamb, Hannah Grace, Casey Frost, Mathew Child |
Composer(s) | Michael Trott |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 (originally Kee Engine) |
Platform(s) | Windows |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Simulation |
Mode(s) |
Automation (known as Automation: The Car Company Tycoon Game in cover and online sources) is a simulation video game developed by Camshaft Software for Microsoft Windows that allows the player to create and run a virtual car company and design vehicles to sell. [1] It is currently available via Steam. [2]
The game, currently still in early access, allows for the design, creation, testing, and sale of various vehicle platforms and drivetrains. More features will become available closer to the official release date.
There are three components to the game: engine design, car design, and a tycoon simulator. The engine design component was released first in order to drive demand for pre-orders and fund the development of the rest of the game. By April 2014, it had sold 10,000 pre-orders. In April 2015, pre-orders reached 25,000. [3]
Car design consists of a system involving a bare, featureless car body on which fixtures such as lights and grilles are placed. Upon placement, most fixtures will conform to the shape of the body. There is also a "3D" placement mode which allows the user to place fixtures anywhere in 3D space, with the trade-off that these fixtures won't conform to the body.
On 25 May 2017, the first version of Automation within Unreal Engine 4 was released as an open beta. [4] It included a host of new content and features, including a more robust paint system, more engine configurations, and most importantly, a significant graphical update. The previous version of the game, built-in Camshaft Software's own Kee Engine, is deprecated.
On 13 July 2018, an option became available to export vehicles made in Automation to BeamNG.drive as drivable vehicles. [5]
As of 9 November 2020, more options became available in terms of customization. The "Light Campaign v4.1" update added "3D" fixture placement (wherein parts can be placed independently of the car body surface), as well as transparent windows and lighting controls. [6]
For the "Light Campaign v4.2" update, Camshaft aimed to further rework both the business simulation aspect of the game and the way vehicles and engines are engineered. [7] Additions included balance shafts and harmonic dampers, [8] more turbocharger configurations, and the ability to engineer a better weight distribution into one's cars. [7] On 22 December 2021, this update was released in an opt-in alpha form, with further work being done by Camshaft for a more stable release. [9] The stable release occurred almost a year later on 8 December 2022, with additional features such as the "Advanced Trim Settings", which allow players to adjust the dimensions of the chassis, wheels, and engine to their liking, as well as hide certain components should they interfere with players' designs. [10]
As of 2024, Automation is still in early access, but is still receiving updates.
The Porsche 928 is a grand touring car with a 2+2 seating layout manufactured by Porsche AG of Germany from 1978 to 1995. Initially conceived to address changes in the automotive market, it represented Porsche's first fully in-house design for a production vehicle and was intended to potentially replace the Porsche 911 as the company's flagship model. The 928 aimed to blend the performance and handling characteristics of a sports car with the comfort, spaciousness, and ride quality of a luxury car. Porsche executives believed that the 928 would have broader appeal compared to the compact, somewhat outdated, and slow-selling air-cooled 911. Notably, it was Porsche's inaugural production model powered by a V8 engine located at the front, and it achieved remarkable top speeds, earning recognition upon its 1978 release by winning the European Car of the Year award. The Autocar described it as a "super car" in 1980.
A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
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The Saab Sonett is an automobile manufactured by Swedish automaker Saab between 1955 and 1957 and again between 1966 and 1974. Sonetts share engines and other components with Saab 93, 95 and 96 of the same era. It was mainly intended for the lucrative American export market and was only offered intermittently in the Swedish domestic market.
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van, cutaway van chassis, and a pickup truck. The vehicle is also known as the Ford T-Series, a nomenclature shared with Ford's other light commercial vehicles, the Ford F-Series trucks, and the Ford E-Series chassis. As of 2015, 8 million Transit vans have been sold, making it the third best-selling van of all time and has been produced across four basic platform generations, with various "facelift" versions of each.
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In a piston engine, either a timing belt or timing chain or set of timing gears is a perishable component used to synchronize the rotation of the crankshaft and the camshaft. This synchronisation ensures that the engine's valves open and close at the correct times in relation to the position of the pistons.
Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 first-person shooter Tribes 2. In September 2012, GarageGames released Torque 3D as open-source software under the MIT License.
Italian automobile company Lancia was the first to manufacture cars with V4 and V6 engines in series-production. This started with a number of V4-engine families, that were produced from the 1920s through 1970s.
A tappet or valve lifter is a valve train component which converts rotational motion into linear motion in activating a valve. It is most commonly found in internal combustion engines, where it converts the rotational motion of the camshaft into linear motion of intake and exhaust valves, either directly or indirectly.
The Chrysler Hemi engine, known by the trademark Hemi or HEMI, refers a series of high-performance American overhead valve V8 engines built by Chrysler with hemispherical combustion chambers. Three generations have been produced: the FirePower series from 1951 to 1958; a famed 426 cu in (7.0 L) race and street engine from 1964-1971; and family of advanced Hemis (displacing between 5.7 L 6.4 L from 2003 to 2024.
A camless or free-valve piston engine is an engine that has poppet valves operated by means of electromagnetic, hydraulic, or pneumatic actuators instead of conventional cams. Actuators can be used to both open and close valves, or to open valves closed by springs or other means.
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The Lancia Appia is a passenger car introduced in 1953 by Italian car manufacturer Lancia as a replacement for the Ardea, and which remained in production for ten years. The Appia was the last in a long line of Lancia production cars dating back to the Lancia Lambda to use sliding pillar front suspension. All three series produced had a 1089cc Lancia V4 engine.
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
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Assetto Corsa is a sim racing video game developed by the Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. It is designed with an emphasis on a realistic racing experience with support for extensive customization and moddability. The game was first released through the Steam Early Access program on 8 November 2013, and officially left Early Access as final release version on 19 December 2014.
BeamNG.drive is a vehicle simulation game developed and published by Bremen-based video game developer BeamNG GmbH. The game features soft-body physics to simulate realistic handling and damage to vehicles.
The Alfa Romeo Scarabeo is a concept car engineered by Giuseppe Busso and Orazio Satta Puliga for Alfa Romeo with a body designed by Sergio Sartorelli at Officine Stampaggi Industriali. The car debuted at the Paris Motor Show in 1966.
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