  We present a molecular dynamics simulation scheme that we apply to study the
time evolution of the self-organized growth process of metal cluster assemblies
formed by sputter-deposited gold atoms on a planar surface. The simulation
model incorporates the characteristics of the plasma-assisted deposition
process and allows for an investigation over a wide range of deposition
parameters. It is used to obtain data for the cluster properties which can
directly be compared to recently published experimental data for gold on
polystyrene (M. Schwartzkopf \textit{et al}., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
\textbf{7}, 13547 (2015)). While good agreement is found between the two, the
simulations additionally provide valuable time-dependent real-space data of the
surface morphology some of whose details are hidden in the reciprocal-space
scattering images that were used for the experimental analysis.
