Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 131: 2022 Year in Review - A Time of Change and Looking Ahead

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 131: 2022 Year in Review - A Time of Change and Looking Ahead

In regards to my hobby as an Automationeer, 2022 has proven to be a whirlwind year, with many ups and downs along the way. First, the bad news: I still haven't won an Automation forum competition... Yet. Worse yet, one such challenge, the Automation Legacy Challenge, intended as a showcase for the evolution of the fictional country of Araga, ended up in limbo after debuting with so much promise, although the Letara History Challenge has since filled the void it left behind. However, in the many challenges I have entered this year, I have learned many important lessons on how to build a car for a specific purpose, especially with the game having received many huge updates over the past year, thereby forcing me to re-learn some fundamental car-building skills.

Speaking of which, those updates have rendered everything I made in the previous game build obsolete, but this brings us to the good news: I treated this as an opportunity to make a fresh start. To that end, I exploited every new feature that was introduced for the newest release build (4.27); they have allowed players like myself to make cars that are more visually detailed and realistically engineered than ever before. And the really good news is that by now, the game has received a lot of new content, not just from the developers, but also from the thriving modding community, opening up lots of new possibilities. From new car body sets to extra trim and fixture options, as well as aesthetic advanced trim settings, designing a car in Automation has never been more enjoyable. Also, the community challenges hosted over the forums and Discord server are now generally of a higher standard than ever before. 

Keeping all of this in mind, 2023 should be a big year for us Automationeers, as I expect developers and modders alike to build on the work they've done over the past year, giving everyone a chance to take full advantage of the possibilities the new game build has provided us with, thereby raising the standard for car-building and challenge hosting to unprecedented heights. Here's to many more years of fun with Automation - I'll see you in the New Year, because that's when some of the challenges will wrap up, having being announced at some point in 2022, but are still ongoing as of now.