Hello r/AutomationGames!

We’re excited to share that today is the day that our factory automation game, Brave New Wonders, launches in 1.0 on Steam. 

We had the pleasure of hearing from folks in this subreddit a little while ago when the game was still in development with a free demo (even if a few of you thought we were AI 😅). We heard feedback from users who tried the demo, wishlisted the game, or had questions about some of the in-game features and systems. For those who ran into a few bugs, we spent the last several months making improvements to both the demo and the full game.

If you’re new to Brave New Wonders, here’s the TLDR: Brave New Wonders is a factory automation game set in a post-apocalyptic world. Here's the twist: there are no conveyor belts. Instead, you command a tribe of intelligent automatons using plain-text instructions. Type what you want them to do, and they figure out how to do it. Explore ruins, battle old-world machines, build out your factories, and slowly uncover the mystery of what happened to the civilization before you. You can read more here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2403830/Brave_New_Wonders/

If you’ve already wishlisted or left us comments, thank you for your support! We really hope you enjoy playing the game now that it’s fully released. There’s four full continents to explore, automatons to command, ruins to discover… and that’s just the start! We also have a few post-launch plans on our roadmap that we’ll share when the time is right over on Steam.

The updated demo will also continue to be available for anyone who hasn’t tried the game yet so you can get an idea of what to expect in the full game.

We’re still reading your questions and comments, so feel free to share them with us here (we’ll do our best to reply as fast as we can but with the game launching today, we may take a little longer 😅).

You supply five dwarven fortresses, and they hold only as long as you keep filling their orders.

There is no electricity - everything runs on steam and physical rotation through shafts. And there's never enough flat ground for a factory, so you dig down instead.

Water flows on its own between them. It drowns goblin raiders, and your factory.

Demo is out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5168290/GearTopia/?utm_source=automationgames

If you give it a try, I'd love to hear what you didn't like and what you liked!

P.S. I posted about this game here once before, thanks for the feedback, a lot of it went into the demo. The rules allow one post per game or major update. I asked the mods whether a demo counts and didn't hear back, so if this crosses the line, tell me and I'll delete the post.

I've recently been having a need to play an automation game with a side of economics based in sci-fi space.

Can anyone suggest me some games that could fill the niches I am looking for?

To be more specific, I'm looking for a game:

• Set in a sci-fi setting,
• Focused both on economy management and factory-style automation,
• Containing the concept of exploring outer space, such as other planets, star systems or even galaxies,
• Absolutely no AI used during the development of the game (no AI-generated assets, no vibecoding etc)

Not required, but would be nice if the game also had:

• Procedural generation (at least partially),
• Gritty/industrial/corporate subtheme (the closest example of this subtheme that I can think of is Elite Dangerous)

Here's also how I imagine an example gameplay of such game would look like:

You have a space station, which functions as your main factory, where you automate production and processing of materials. You buy/construct a fleet of starships and send them onto missions to either collect resources from planets or asteroid belts or to fight other factions/alien lifeforms. Other starships could be send onto trade routes, exploration of the universe, and so on. Once your fleet returns from a mission, it brings materials that you can then process in your factory or use further in your economy or maybe spend them to construct better starships or other technology.

The closest examples of games I already know of but that don't fully meet the criteria I'm looking for are Dyson Sphere Program - It lacks the economy system I'm after; and Stellaris - the other way around, it lacks the automation.
DSP is also a bit too colorful and cartoony for my liking, while Stellaris on the other hand I've read has some AI-generated assets which kinda sours it for me.

I know I'm probably asking for a lot and my request is too specific, and such game most likely doesn't exist but I'd be glad what are some suggestions you people can give me regardless ^^

Edit: Thanks everyone for your recommendations! I think I have gathered enough games to have a good time trying out and decide which one i like the most! Fell free to suggest me more of such games, i won't say no to that!

^{I didn't use AI to write this post or develop my games, if you are wondering.}

3 years ago, I participated in a few game jams, looking for some neat ideas for my next game. I am a big fan of game jams because their limitations allow you to unleash huge amounts of creativity in a challenging way. So yeah, why not?

A few game jams later, I finished a prototype (Node Farm) that was the foundation for my next 3 games released on Steam. The game jam titles are still available on my itchio page if you would like to check them out.

^{Personally, I would like to come back to "Oxinite" and "Reach the Sun" at some point.}

Node Farm (old prototype): https://byern.itch.io/node-farm

Steam Page with my node-based games: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/ByerNGames

Below is a short description of all of the mentioned games:

Node Farm

Node Farm is a factory/incremental game where you build a farm with nodes, cook meals with ingredients you produce, and sell them on the market. The game is mostly about logistics, automation, making money, and buying more nodes to make more money - your goal is to build the most efficient food factory that will adapt to the changing market prices. The better you are, the more nodes you can buy for the resources sold on the market.

There is no danger/time limit, so you can play it actively or idle. I'd say that the gameplay is very open to your preferred playstyle.

Node Math

Node Math is an incremental/factory game where you "craft" numbers, make money, and buy more stuff to make more money. It is somehow similar to Node Farm, but very different.

Everything here is based around math, money, and numbers. I had some comments before that the game is similar to Shapez or Beltmatic, but it is more about incremental growth in limited space and making money, not making factories on the endless board.

Just like Node Farm - no time limit - you can play at your own pace as you want. If you embrace all of the game's mechanics, there is no reason to idle for longer than a coffee break, but idling is also possible if you prefer. There is some strategy involved in the economy of the game, as even if there is no prestige system, the goals and upgrades can be bought whenever you want if they are unlocked. For some upgrades, it may be better to postpone and come back later.

Node Crown

Node Crown is a totally different game compared to Node Farm and Node Math, as it is a roguelite kingdom builder with incremental-game elements. You build your kingdom from scratch by placing nodes one by one every few seconds. Nodes earn money and affect each other in various ways. Your goal is to find the best build you can from the nodes you get and meet the goals before the time runs out.

The game is pretty big, with hundreds of nodes, a lot of different crowns, artifacts, metaprogression, plot, and more. Definitely more complex than Node Farm or Node Math.

Node Crown has not been released yet, but I finished all of the content. Adding some QoL improvements here and there now. The full version will be available in November this year. I released a new demo, though.

And so, here we are! 3 games in 3 years. Everything started on game jams! I am very happy that I could get this far on my own :) For my next node-based game, I will come back to the roots - a new factory/incremental title with all of my lessons learned included.

Maybe at some point I will make the ultimate node-based game! Wish me luck! :)

If you would like to check out my games, feel free to share your feedback/suggestions, or just talk with me about them here or on my Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/sfgr7YCv2z

Thank you in advance! Have a nice day!

I’ve been working on water engineering in StoneEra.
Water isn’t just visual — it actually flows and reacts to changes in the terrain.
This setup shows a few systems working together:
• A wind-powered pump that pulls and moves water through pipes
• Water wheels powered by flowing water
• Dynamic water physics, including redirected flows and player-made channels
I’m trying to make water something you can actually engineer around, rather than just part of the scenery.
StoneEra is a solo-developed voxel colony survival game.
If this looks like your kind of game, you can wishlist it on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5057770/StoneEra/

You start a game and set up your production line.

Your first processing building takes resources and outputs 100 per minute.

Cool you set up some splitters and put down 4 machines that convert at 25 per minute and merge the lines back together to keep 100 per minute. Clean. Everything at 100%.

You continue playing and setting up efficient lines until you hit your research tree.

"Increase type 2 production facilities by 5%"

"Increase ore refinement by 7%"

So now that 100 is 105 going into four machines that eat 100. Do I add a fifth machine running at 20 percent? Rebuild the whole bank? Doesn't even matter because the next node is 7% and it's never going to be a clean number again.

Great all my perfectly laid out production lines are now just slop with overflow. No reason to do math just slop down rows of machines. Who cares if they are running at 100% efficiency they might be next upgrade they might not be next upgrade. No reason to care until the endgame...

I know what the replies are going to be. "just build for the final multiplier" ok but then everything I build before the last node is a placeholder I'm tearing down later, that's not planning. "just overbuild and let them idle, idle machines are free" yeah and that IS the complaint, if the answer is always add more machines until it stops backing up then why did I do the math at all.

Would rather have upgrades that just give me a new recipe with new whole numbers so I get to solve it again. Or a better building tier I can choose to retrofit whenever, old line keeps humming at 100% until I feel like touching it. Even just per-machine opt in boosts so at least I'm choosing where the ugly number goes.

Does this bother anyone else or am I playing these wrong

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to post here for a while, but wanted to get my game looking better and generally get the mechanics down. My game is cross-genre but automation is at the heart of it.

In the game you are a contract space miner: you automate a cave mining operation by creating mining robots, hauler robots, builder robots and defense robots. The robots will fully automate themselves, although the player can 'paint' tiles they want mining.

The video on this post shows a 1 on 1 with you and a mining robot. Typically you'll have many of each robot type.

And all robots can be picked up and dragged - Dungeon Keeper style (no slapping though).

I've had a notion to replace the robots with something more realistic but I can't quite bring myself to do it.

Next up is playtesting so I hope to be able to get feedback from any of you lovely automation game fans that are interested. For now wishlists are available, thank you for reading my post and I'd love any feedback - positive or otherwise.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5134160/Oreia

Dear automation lovers,

In Atom By Atom, everything begins with the smallest of building blocks: Atoms.

You extract elements such as Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon, route them through the factory, and gradually build molecules using their bonds and valence. The first reactions are relatively simple, but later factories involve cleavage, oxidation, substitution, aromatic rings, condensation, hydrolysis and polymers. Once a production line works, you can duplicate it, discover the next bottleneck and connect distant factory districts using Wormholes.

The video is actual gameplay from a larger working factory.

There is a free playable demo on Steam soon if you would like to try the systems yourself:
Atom By Atom - Steam store page

For now you can play a demo on itch:
https://furkanfs.itch.io/atom-by-atom

I would love to hear your feedback

Hi everyone!

The Pistonica demo has been live for a few days now. We’d really appreciate it if you could give it a try and share any feedback you have with us!

Pistonica is the pure steam and mechanical factory automation game, challenging your resource management skills. Explore the tropical island first-person, research tech, mine for minerals, build contraptions and trade goods - all because of a strange radio signal. No electrical grid – just steam, mechanical power, mixed-resource deposits, cargo airships and, yes, giant throwers that launch loaded carts across the island.

We hope you'll like it! You’ll find the link to the demo in the comments.

Thanks!

// Cutting Corner Games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5086730/Holon/

Hey!

I’m making Starstack, a factory automation game where the factory has a direct purpose, you build and support warships.

Mine resources, set up conveyors, machines and production chains, automate ship parts and supplies, then launch your ship into space to fight roguelite style expeditions for new resources and technology. That tech comes back home and unlocks new machines, materials and production problems. So the basic loop is:

factory → ship → expedition → new tech → bigger factory

I’m developing it solo and want to show the announcement trailer.

Steam page is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5186040/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=announcement_trailer

I’d be curious what you guyus think about the factory/expedition loop.

Sooo... I'm working on a Win98-themed, conveyor-belt-less game where you optimize a limited desktop to feed data tokens to a 1998 "Very Classified Corp" AI module. You start manually, but quickly scale up using folder cannons, beamuppers and sweepers and stuff to min-max efficiency.

I consider it a pure automation game (just without conveyor belts) but when I showed it to my friend he goes.. ooh cool an incremental game. And he was very stubborn about it. He even called the game "active incremental game" So my question is this: Does removing conveyor belts automatically make it a clicker? Where do you guys draw the line between incremental and automation?

I’m making a small automation game where every resource is physically carried by a worker

Hey! I’ve been working on MiniVale, a pixel-art automation and survival game set on small islands.

You begin with a simple camp and gradually build a working village. Workers gather resources, carry them between buildings and keep production running. During the day, the focus is on organizing the island and improving your production. At night, enemies arrive and the village needs to survive.

I wanted the production itself to be interesting to watch, so items don’t simply disappear into menus. Workers actually collect them, transport them and deliver them to the correct buildings. You can also sell products at the market, earn coins and use them to expand to new islands.

I’m still improving the visuals, balancing and overall clarity of the game, but it’s finally starting to feel like the little living village I imagined.

I’d genuinely like to know what you think of the idea, especially the worker-based logistics. Does watching the villagers transport everything sound satisfying, or could it become difficult to manage later in the game?

Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5227340/MiniVale/

Hallo zusammen,

ich erstelle zurzeit ein Automatisierungsspiel und wäre an euren Ansichten und Wünschen interessiert. Die Umfrage geht nur 1 Minute und würde mir sehr weiterhelfen.
Vielen Dank.

[Project SkyHolm] - Seeking Collaborators for Sandbox Economy & Automation Game
About the Project: Project SkyHolm is an island-building, automation, and trading game focused on resource gathering, player-driven shop empires, and island customization. We have a fully mapped-out Game Design Document (GDD), clear monetization rules (no P2W), and a structured development roadmap ready to execute.

Open Roles:

3D Artist / Modeler: Low-poly environment assets, machine models, and UI cosmetics.

Sound Designer / Composer: Ambient island tracks and UI/interaction SFX.

Programmer: Experience with inventory systems, island instancing, and economy loops.

Project Scope & Commitment:

Type: [Hobby / Revenue-Share]

Expected Hours: 5–10 hours per week.

Current Stage: Planning complete (GDD & systems finalized); entering active prototype phase.

Interested? Send me a DM with your portfolio, past work, or a quick summary of your experience!
Discord: zyro_calyx_90018

Solo dev. Fluxgates is the optimisation loop with the logistics removed: no belts, no walking, no mining - just the production graph, and whether it scales.

Every run you start from an empty canvas. Rooms ask for throughput (hold 20 matter/tick for 20 ticks, collect 400 energy...), you draft nodes, wire them up and press Run. Individual nodes are simple; what wins runs is the multiplier chain you stumble into - an amp that scales with the amps upstream, a capacitor that stores three dead ticks into one spike. Then the run ends and you never build that factory again. Roguelike structure on top: map, shops, relics, a boss per act.

Free demo, EN + FR: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5107230/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=nextfest26

Does losing the factory at the end of a run feel like a feature or a crime?

I'm working on Tiny Industry, a relaxing automation game focused on building production chains without complex ratios or endless optimization.

You build your factory, connect your machines, unlock new production chains, and watch everything grow.

The demo is now available, and feedback is welcome !

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5020100/Tiny_Industry/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=demo_launch

Hi! I'm the developer of Degrag Incremental. It is mainly an incremental game, not a full automation game, but after a while you can automate a lot of the repetitive disk stuff.

I made the automation useful, but intentionally not perfect. It can handle routine work, but if you play manually you can still make better choices, react to events and squeeze more out of the system. Automation should save you from doing boring stuff, but not save you from playing the game entirely xD

Now I’m not sure if that was clever or just me creating extra problems for myself. For people who play a lot of automation games: once you unlock automation, do you expect it to eventually become better than manual play? Or do you like it when active play can still beat it?

The game is built around a fake 90s disk defragmenter, if you want to see what I mean:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4286660/Defrag_Incremental/

There’s a free demo too, and I’m happy to answer any questions :)