What is an automation game?

An automation game asks the player to build machines and production lines that run on their own: mine, transport, craft and scale up output. shapez and Dyson Sphere Program are automation games.

A factory looks finished in a trailer and endless in play. shapez keeps it abstract: shapes, belts and ratios, with no enemy to fight. Dyson Sphere Program spreads the same idea across a solar system, one planet at a time. In both, a session ends when the line runs clean, and starts again when the next target asks for more.