I am so tired as I write this. Developing Automation is a balancing game, weighing up risks, deciding what is worth my time and what isn’t. Earlier today our keys database got ‘hacked’ by using SQL Injection techniques. All the keys got assigned to one user (who I won’t name, as it might not be his/her fault, but it is mightily suspicious). This database is separate from both the forum, and our wordpress front end. The risk of an SQL Injection was something that was always there in the back of my mind, something to get sorted out, but I’m not a php/mysql guru. This stuff was written over a year ago, where we had no money (as compared to today’s a little money) so could not afford to get someone in to work on it.

This SQL Injection is more of a major annoyance/time sink to fix. The database is restored from a backup from the 8th April. So most users are fine, apart from those who have ordered the game recently. I have manually edited them back, but there could be some mistakes and have fixed one this morning. As the keys were all assigned to one user, under his forum profile all keys in the database would of appeared, including future unsold keys. All keys have been regenerated, and the old keys are no longer valid and cannot be used. The keys system has been updated to stop this occurring again, and more regular backups have been instated. My father says problems always occur in 3′s, so I wonder what will be next?

Thanks for your support, and we are sorry that you the customer got caught up in all this.

Turbochargers are now available to everyone who has preordered Automation. Open Automation and it should ask to update automatically.

Sorry for the website outage for most of today. Our web hosting provider had series problems at their data centre. We still managed to release the update regardless using links on facebook instead.

For a list of changes to Automation, you can read about them here: http://game.automationgame.com/

We have created a Greenlight project on Steam. Steam is the biggest digital distributor of PC games, Greenlight is their brand new method to allow small independent developers to get their game published by allowing the community to vote for the games they want.

If you have a Steam account, and you like to see Automation on Steam please press the Thumb Up button and rate us here: Automation Greenlight

Discuss Here

So finally, V8s are here! If you want to play with them, you have to have a preorder!

Automation Patch Notes:

• Crossplane V8s are now available for everyone who has preordered
• New V8 Scenarios
• GUI now scales with resolution
• Different length conrods depending on piston choice.
• Fixed Demo slash screen not scaling
• Added the ability to select different base scenarios (Tutorials, Inline 4, V8s)
• Adjusted engine sound volume
• Adjusted UI volume
• Added Dual Exhausts
• Fixed Engines Changing width on testing
• Added Colour Blind mode (Found within the in game options)
• Added AKI option for the US
• Engine should change sound when it jumps onto VVL cams (V-Tec just kicked in yo)
• Fixed UI ordering, windows have much higher offset values now
• Should always play the tutorial sound to the end
• Added a blank plate to the tech year slider in scenarios with a locked year
• Fixed Cam Timings for INL4 DOHC
• New Camera System (left click on what you want to look at)
• Updated Shaders
• Updated Environment Maps for shaders
• Explosion Sprites are now additive
• New Loading Screen(s)
• New Photo button
• New spline driven flex join (from headers to cat)
• New carbon fibre shader
• Loads more little fixes and changes!

Launcher:

• Will now save password locally
• Various issues with the Options file not saving hopefully fixed.
• Handles being offline a lot nicer

Discuss/Comment Here

Watch the video, or read the summary below:

In the next few weeks we are going to do a Q&A session, so ask us a whole load of questions, either email them in to contact@camshaftsoftware.com or Post them here on the forums.

Also good news! Thanks to everyone’s support, and pre-ordering Automation we can now afford to work full time on automation! Thanks everyone, else please tell your friends so we can continue to afford to buy lunch things things.

The Launcher has been updated, here are the fixes/changes:

• Launcher only closes itself for updates to the Launcher itself. The launcher can repetitively download updates to Automation without closing.
• Launcher does not crash if you are not connected to the internet
• Launcher will warn if it detects that your graphics device does not support Pixel Shader 3.0 (You can ignore this warning and try to play Automation anyway)
• Launcher will warn if it detects that your graphics device does not support a high enough resolution (1280×720 is the minimum)
• Launcher downloads all patches and keeps them in My Documents\Automation\Installers
• If Automation already has an installer/updater downloaded for the version it is attempting to update to. It will ask if you want to use the existing installer, or download the installer again.

Discuss Here or Post Here if the new launcher is giving you issues

The Engine Designer demo is now available for everyone! Download it from the link above.

So after 2 years of hard work, no social life, overwork causing health issues (my shoulder seized up at one point, Andrew had his own issues), Automation Engine Designer demo is out!

Automation is now available to download if you have pre ordered. We were a little late, but it is out!

Chrome will flag the download as malicious but is isn’t. This is a common issue if you google “Chrome appears malicous false positives”

There are a few video tutorial glitches, and we missed a couple of part descriptions, so we will release a new update tomorrow.

Discuss Here