automationgame.com

So, I wondered why my transmission on my Grand Marquis and all the Crown vics and Grand marquis I've ever driven has this whining noise in the lower gears. I learned that it is because these lower gears (1-2) are straight cut and not helical so they cause less stress on the transmission housing while the higher two gears (3-overdrive) are helical which makes them operate very quietly.

From what I have already seen in videos about the car designer, you can choose what type of gears you want. I wanted to suggest allowing the player to individually select which type of gear they want for each gear or have maybe three options such as "straight" "helical" and "mix". I think it would add to gameplay, but it may be difficult to incorporate into the game...

Just a thought.

To be honest, I dont see this adding to the gameplay. Its just 'another' option for players to choose, which is very in-depth and players don't know much about, thus having to explain with tutorials again.
I think the way the gearing and differentials to choose form and work now is good enough. Though, a final gear with overdrive could be a good one, as it has been used a lot in older cars.

Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe not the most appropriate for a tycoon game.
I just though it was a happy medium between longer transmission life versus quietness, but in reality, I guess helical gears don't really reduce transmission life that much anyway and the game doesn't need to be as specific as that.

What about the enthusiast? Is automation going to be made for casual iPad owners, or for people who enjoy cars and what to experiment with every aspect of their creation?

i in all honesty would love to see dogleg and straight gearboxes, you know, the racing ones

First of all, this game is aimed as a mobile platform game, for all I know.
Secondly, I, myself am a car enthousiast. Its fun to experiment, but unless you still want to wait until 2017 before a first good and playable version of this game releases, it is not a good thing to add all the in-depth details that make this game quite complex also. The devs are trying their best to make a game both exciting for tycoon enthousiasts (and not particularly also car lovers) and also car enthousiast to create their cars and engines with quite some detail and finesse. They just have to put a limit on the things to implement. They have to draw a line somewhere for the first release of the game I think.

It is aimed at the enthusiast, but if you want it to cover every possible aspect of car creation down to the finest detail, it's never going to be finished and it's going to end up an unplayable engineering tool rather than an enjoyable game.

It's like what we've done with cam profile, if we had every parameter that actually goes into designing a cam profile, we'd have to have a whole screen dedicated to cams alone, and we'd have a hell of a time explaining to new players how it all works. So we condensed it to the main tradeoffs of cam design (high rpm power vs poor economy/poor low rpm power/poor idle & emissions) and bundled it into one slider.

We kind of have to choose the design choices that have the most impact on the finished car, that are the most interesting to make, and that we are able to teach the players about successfully, and have the UI space to incorporate without cluttering the hell out of everything. I'm not sure if there will be a straight cut gear option or not, but there will be trade offs of torque capacity & reliability vs weight/cost/ease of driving etc.


I'm sorry if this displeases you, but it's the reality of designing a game that's fun, playable, and able to actually be completed by a small team like us..

Honestly, it would be a cool idea, and I think LATER after they you know polish they shit out of it should be added, like a " basic " and " advanced " mode.. basic for that BAM i'm ready to make 5000cc engines!! and advanced to adjust a few more parameters that might effect the engine more drastically, but at current, I like how it sets, but I do hope they add in more advanced things for gearing, and other odds and ends, but in the end it does have to be user friendly...

I mean, I just thought it would be a cool idea but in the end, the devs want to get this game done. I'm sure it'll be a great game regardless of having to say no to the sometimes crazy features that won't add very much to gameplay.
The game would never get done if every time some guy says "my transmission whines in low gear so let's put it in the game" they start implementing it.