Fans of management and simulation games may want to head over to Kickstarter and check out Project Automata, developed by Dapper Penguin Studios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os-vaWpMMsA

Follow in the footsteps of men like Henry Ford and Cornelius Vanderbilt to bring the light of progress to the masses. Provide the people with jobs and a sense of purpose. In turn, they will help you build a financial empire that will go down in history.

Project Automata is an industrial simulation game in which players must take command of a small company and grow it into a financial and industrial empire. Gamers must exploit resources, construct factories, and develop infrastructure to transform little towns into bustling cities of industry.

The developers promise that once the game is complete, Project Automata will feature some of the most advanced AI ever created for a game. Mayors and town councils will make autonomous decisions and the world will constantly grow and evolve.

• Resource gatherers, factories, and towns
• Roads and goods transport by truck
• Trading between towns
• Original soundtrack
• Huge, procedurally generated maps using a seed system
• Sandbox mode that gives you the freedom to build and grow your empire any way you like

• Advanced town and city A.I., making for an intelligent and challenging game world.
• Cooperative and competitive multiplayer
• Beautiful hand crafted visuals designed to emulate the Art Deco style of the early 20th century.
• Story driven campaign and scenarios.
• Different town personalities.
• Transportation networks including trains, conveyor belts, even airships!
• Industrial parks that can produce goods on a massive scale.
• Contracts, random events and quests
• Pollution, waste, diseases and other industrial by-products you’ll have to handle.
• Different biomes, seasons and time advancement mechanics so that every game is different.
• Experience tailored for every player. You can specialize in just trading, production, gathering, politics or any combination.

Gamers interested in testing Project Automata before backing the Kickstarter campaign can download a playable Alpha Demo here. The Mac and Linux builds are not officially supported right now, and the developers warn users that there may be some issues with Intel chipsets.

A Steam Greenlight campaign is also underway.