Inventor Simulator is a crafting, shop-keeper and light automation game. Craft inventions and sell them to customers, then automate your workbench, workshop and store! Research new inventions or create your own from scratch. Set prices based on an economic model, unlock and craft upgrades, and vertically integrate your supply chain. Become the world's greatest inventor!
Steam page with gameplay video: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3108410/Inventor_Simulator/
Press Kit with images and video: press kit
Inventor Simulator has some key differences from other games in the same genres:
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Crafting is based on attributes: Each invention is made of components, components both give and require attributes. Customers demand these attributes, not the items themselves. This makes both the crafting and selling mechanics more dynamic.
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More detail in the price-setting mechanic: Whenever I play shop simulator games I always want something deeper than the market-price-plus-5% mechanic. Here it's based around a clearer demand model, and finding the best price comes with feedback.
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More traditional automation in a shop keeper game: to be very clear, this isn't Satisfactory or Factorio, the automation systems are lighter than those. But when playing a shop sim I always want more than "hire employees". So this has classic conveyors, you can pass components into automatic crafters, then into storage, etc.
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You start with products and work down into component and components of components: I love traditional automation games that have you start with raw materials and work up into cool items tens of hours later, but I don't have as much time for them any more. Instead, in Inventor Simulator, you can craft products straight away and unlock new ones pretty quickly, but you have to buy the components and so only make a modest profit. Over time you then research how to make the components, and the components' components (and so on), increasing your margins and your profit.