Maia 0.45 is ready for playing. Here's a quick look video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czrGGgSi2rU


A problem shared! New AI interaction code allowing your colonists to communicate with each other and delegate tasks to the most able. Your colony will now run like a well lubricated Morris Minor.

Research! Many new technology perks based on real science have been added. Improve your wind turbines with electrodynamic bearings and coat your bulkhead doors with carbon-carbon to make them stronger than ever!

A new room. The living area provides an insulated, safe and quiet environment for your colonists to rest and recuperate in, improving their health and sanity.

Many optimisations. Lower end CPUs will see a big improvement in framerate thanks to a new pathing system for locked doors and inaccessible rooms.

• Key bindings reworked and interchangeable. 1..9 can cycle objects in a build list and q+e can cycle rooms.
  
• Doors are no longer in build lists, are context sensitive when walls are moused over (not perfect yet, can be finicky)
  
• Starvation is now more accurately tracked. Colonists will die much quicker without food.
  
• Imp now is more responsive to cancelled jobs.
  
• Reflections are now lit and are looking quite pretty.
  
• Some new meshes for upgraded items.
  
• All crash bugs nailed (he says).
  
• Earthquakes are slightly gentler.
  
• A whole bunch of Linux issues nailed down.
  
• Better performance for Mac users.
  
• Imp no longer recycles full water barrels like some sort of crazy eco warrior.
  
• Colonists no longer leave empty barrels by the solar still.
  
• Imp can destroy plants outside and uproot grasses.
  
• The ecosystem is balanced and you can see some cool battles between the plant species play out over the weeks.
  
• Pressing y during the tutorial no longer spawns earthquakes that make the game unplayable.
  
• AI needs have been tweaked to make mature bases more manageable.
  
• OCD placement mode (ctrl) no longer offsets everything randomly by 1 degree. ;)

There are a few features that had to be missed for the milestone such as loading direct from the menu and on-map meteor strikes - due to me taking a few days off with the flu. I'll drop these into the game in a week or so when they are tested.

Thanks for all the feedback on 0.44!

Maia 0.45 is ready for playing. Here's a quick look video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czrGGgSi2rU


A problem shared! New AI interaction code allowing your colonists to communicate with each other and delegate tasks to the most able. Your colony will now run like a well lubricated Morris Minor.

Research! Many new technology perks based on real science have been added. Improve your wind turbines with electrodynamic bearings and coat your bulkhead doors with carbon-carbon to make them stronger than ever!

A new room. The living area provides an insulated, safe and quiet environment for your colonists to rest and recuperate in, improving their health and sanity.

Many optimisations. Lower end CPUs will see a big improvement in framerate thanks to a new pathing system for locked doors and inaccessible rooms.

• Key bindings reworked and interchangeable. 1..9 can cycle objects in a build list and q+e can cycle rooms.
  
• Doors are no longer in build lists, are context sensitive when walls are moused over (not perfect yet, can be finicky)
  
• Starvation is now more accurately tracked. Colonists will die much quicker without food.
  
• Imp now is more responsive to cancelled jobs.
  
• Reflections are now lit and are looking quite pretty.
  
• Some new meshes for upgraded items.
  
• All crash bugs nailed (he says).
  
• Earthquakes are slightly gentler.
  
• A whole bunch of Linux issues nailed down.
  
• Better performance for Mac users.
  
• Imp no longer recycles full water barrels like some sort of crazy eco warrior.
  
• Colonists no longer leave empty barrels by the solar still.
  
• Imp can destroy plants outside and uproot grasses.
  
• The ecosystem is balanced and you can see some cool battles between the plant species play out over the weeks.
  
• Pressing y during the tutorial no longer spawns earthquakes that make the game unplayable.
  
• AI needs have been tweaked to make mature bases more manageable.
  
• OCD placement mode (ctrl) no longer offsets everything randomly by 1 degree. ;)

There are a few features that had to be missed for the milestone such as loading direct from the menu and on-map meteor strikes - due to me taking a few days off with the flu. I'll drop these into the game in a week or so when they are tested.

Thanks for all the feedback on 0.44!

Maia 0.44 is out! Here's a quick video of me giving the new build a go.

http://youtu.be/g2nwQ999F_I


Catastrophic earthquakes! Poorly constructed bases are now vulnerable to chain reaction collapses. Digging out large areas will cause structural weaknesses to build in the rock above. Strong earthquakes can cause the rock to give way, destroying anything unlucky enough to be caught underneath. Build rooms and bulkheads to strengthen areas and avert disaster.



Reworked research! Secure new technologies with an improved research system. Collect animal remains and fossils to generate data on the planets ecosystem. Colonists with free time and rest will turn their minds to invention and generate data on their own.

Creepy herbivorous underground dwellers. A new creature to destroy your solar panels and ruin your day!

AI improvements. The AI now has a greater understanding of the world around them. Colonists now track over fifty individual and group needs and will make smarter decisions on what tasks to carry out.

Even more Haikus! With many more topics to explore and a more detailed understanding of their environment, the colonists can now write one million different procedural poems. They can also write useful reports, which is probably more important that poems.



Save games. Detailed additions to the save system now track far more aspects of the simulation. Allowing you to carry forward every aspect of your base

Engine performance upgrades. With some careful profiling and optimisation I have managed to increase performance by up to 15% for low end users. Further upgrades in the game code have levelled CPU usage, which should reduce frame-rate stutter and similar issues.

Medical treatment. Your colonists can now rest up in the medical room to overcome their injuries and ailments. Injuries will are now more obvious and shown through the characters movements.

Game code improvement. A massive rewrite of the core game code has eradicated the stability issues and allowed for more aggressive use of system memory. It also opens up the path towards extensive scripting support for modders.

• New shrubberies and a more realistic procedural planting system.
  
• More ground detailing.
  
• Linux fixes. XDG compliance and a few windowing improvements.
  
• Fail states when you are terrible and should feel bad.
  
• Hopper functionality actually working. Efficient storage of building materials.
  
• Amnesia issue fixed. Colonists will try to remember what they are doing when the world changes.
  
• Text speed variation. Larger chunks of text are drawn faster to remove waiting for it to appear.
  
• Animation flickering fixed.
  
• Fixed creatures coming into the base to sniff things.
  
• Colonists are no longer compulsive eaters.
  
• Lots of sound tweaks. Atmosphere alarms are more obvious.
  
• IMP lockups eradicated.
  
• Temporary quicksave icons on the GUI because nobody ever remembers to look up how to save.
  
• Death reports are no longer sent twice.
  
• Colonists landing from orbit are less likely to land somewhere bad.
  
• Lots of other small glitches fixed.

Thanks for being patient whilst we got this huge update together!

Maia 0.44 is out! Here's a quick video of me giving the new build a go.

http://youtu.be/g2nwQ999F_I


Catastrophic earthquakes! Poorly constructed bases are now vulnerable to chain reaction collapses. Digging out large areas will cause structural weaknesses to build in the rock above. Strong earthquakes can cause the rock to give way, destroying anything unlucky enough to be caught underneath. Build rooms and bulkheads to strengthen areas and avert disaster.



Reworked research! Secure new technologies with an improved research system. Collect animal remains and fossils to generate data on the planets ecosystem. Colonists with free time and rest will turn their minds to invention and generate data on their own.

Creepy herbivorous underground dwellers. A new creature to destroy your solar panels and ruin your day!

AI improvements. The AI now has a greater understanding of the world around them. Colonists now track over fifty individual and group needs and will make smarter decisions on what tasks to carry out.

Even more Haikus! With many more topics to explore and a more detailed understanding of their environment, the colonists can now write one million different procedural poems. They can also write useful reports, which is probably more important that poems.



Save games. Detailed additions to the save system now track far more aspects of the simulation. Allowing you to carry forward every aspect of your base

Engine performance upgrades. With some careful profiling and optimisation I have managed to increase performance by up to 15% for low end users. Further upgrades in the game code have levelled CPU usage, which should reduce frame-rate stutter and similar issues.

Medical treatment. Your colonists can now rest up in the medical room to overcome their injuries and ailments. Injuries will are now more obvious and shown through the characters movements.

Game code improvement. A massive rewrite of the core game code has eradicated the stability issues and allowed for more aggressive use of system memory. It also opens up the path towards extensive scripting support for modders.

• New shrubberies and a more realistic procedural planting system.
  
• More ground detailing.
  
• Linux fixes. XDG compliance and a few windowing improvements.
  
• Fail states when you are terrible and should feel bad.
  
• Hopper functionality actually working. Efficient storage of building materials.
  
• Amnesia issue fixed. Colonists will try to remember what they are doing when the world changes.
  
• Text speed variation. Larger chunks of text are drawn faster to remove waiting for it to appear.
  
• Animation flickering fixed.
  
• Fixed creatures coming into the base to sniff things.
  
• Colonists are no longer compulsive eaters.
  
• Lots of sound tweaks. Atmosphere alarms are more obvious.
  
• IMP lockups eradicated.
  
• Temporary quicksave icons on the GUI because nobody ever remembers to look up how to save.
  
• Death reports are no longer sent twice.
  
• Colonists landing from orbit are less likely to land somewhere bad.
  
• Lots of other small glitches fixed.

Thanks for being patient whilst we got this huge update together!

We've just released the latest alpha build of Maia.

Here's a few things to look out for:

Brand new IMP AI. The IMPs will now be more useful and plan and execute orders better. They can now run and will manage water barrels and the storage room better.

Core AI rewrite. Lots of small AI bugs sorted. The code for the core AI components has been unified and as a result is faster and less buggy.



Pathfinding and multithreading optimisations: Smoother game-play with a 15% increase in performance on some machines and a noticeable reduction in stuttering.

Casualty reports: When a colonist dies, you'll be presented with information about their injuries. The data obtained from their loss can be fed back into your research program.

Snap rotations are more responsive and tweakable. Hold control when rotating an object to have it move to the nearest 45 degree angle.

Crew drops have been polished. Expect your new charges to arrive with style.

Beds are now usable from both sides and colonists will sleep for longer to reduce their fatigue.

Graphics glitches on the edge of the map and many other small glitches smoothed out.

Megacephalalgia is better balanced, will come inspect things you leave outside. It will also groom itself and perform other animal like behaviours.

Other changes

• Progress reports can no longer come from dead colonists.
  
• Animation system flicker and popping fixed.
  
• Megacephalalgias no longer turn into chickens when loading.
  
• Several savegame crashes fixed.
  
• Colonists movement tweaked. Colonists will avoid running through bulkheads.
  
• Colonists who die outside will now collapse instead of turning into creepy statues.
  
• Comms tower is easier to build.
  
• Atmosphere generator will decay slower when turned off.
  
• Turret emits smoke when firing.
  
• Few other % tweaks on wear and tear.
  
• Fix for some objects not being prioritised well by colonists (Building superfluous workshop tables etc.
  
• Updated to the latest SDL.
  
• Fixes a slowdown caused by Megacephalalgia running out of food and flooding the path finder looking for more.

Previous Update

We've just released the latest alpha build of Maia.

Here's a few things to look out for:

Brand new IMP AI. The IMPs will now be more useful and plan and execute orders better. They can now run and will manage water barrels and the storage room better.

Core AI rewrite. Lots of small AI bugs sorted. The code for the core AI components has been unified and as a result is faster and less buggy.



Pathfinding and multithreading optimisations: Smoother game-play with a 15% increase in performance on some machines and a noticeable reduction in stuttering.

Casualty reports: When a colonist dies, you'll be presented with information about their injuries. The data obtained from their loss can be fed back into your research program.

Snap rotations are more responsive and tweakable. Hold control when rotating an object to have it move to the nearest 45 degree angle.

Crew drops have been polished. Expect your new charges to arrive with style.

Beds are now usable from both sides and colonists will sleep for longer to reduce their fatigue.

Graphics glitches on the edge of the map and many other small glitches smoothed out.

Megacephalalgia is better balanced, will come inspect things you leave outside. It will also groom itself and perform other animal like behaviours.

Other changes

• Progress reports can no longer come from dead colonists.
  
• Animation system flicker and popping fixed.
  
• Megacephalalgias no longer turn into chickens when loading.
  
• Several savegame crashes fixed.
  
• Colonists movement tweaked. Colonists will avoid running through bulkheads.
  
• Colonists who die outside will now collapse instead of turning into creepy statues.
  
• Comms tower is easier to build.
  
• Atmosphere generator will decay slower when turned off.
  
• Turret emits smoke when firing.
  
• Few other % tweaks on wear and tear.
  
• Fix for some objects not being prioritised well by colonists (Building superfluous workshop tables etc.
  
• Updated to the latest SDL.
  
• Fixes a slowdown caused by Megacephalalgia running out of food and flooding the path finder looking for more.

Previous Update

Check out this delightful video to see all the cool new features:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM278ex_jxc&hd=1

Our best update yet brings the first native creature into to the world: The Megacephalalgia! A gigantic protomammal that is as dangerous as it is fluffy (very).

We now have weather and seismic research stations. Use them to forecast incoming weather and earthquakes, and use their data in your research room to uncover new technologies



Feeling lonely? You can now call new colonists down from orbit! Just build a microwave communications tower and wait for the prompt on your GUI.

Improved AI. Your colonists will better manager their needs and wants. Just remember that a happy well rested colonist is a productive one!

• Doors now have lots of new things to say.
  
• Physics mesh refinement on many objects. (easier to click them).
  
• Door locking clicking bug fixed.
  
• Pathfinding flood slowdowns fixed.
  
• Procedural Haiku generation.
  
• Seismic station.
  
• Weather station.
  
• Megacephalalgia creature.
  
• Foliage now edible(for some), destroyable. Growth rates tweaked.
  
• Chickens are less prone to making too many babies.
  
• Turret has 84% more DAKKA.
  
• Crash logs are more detailed.
  
• Fixed odd exterior object placements.
  
• Intel 4400 support.
  
• Gui is more responsive and juicy.
  
• New UI button. "Cycle warnings".
  
• New UI button. "Call colonists from orbit"
  
• Colonists no longer plough head first into doors.
  
• Wear and repair quality values fixed /tweaked.
  
• A bunch of sound stuff that I don't understand but Nick tells us it's good.
  
• Toilets
  
• New PFX.
  
• A bunch of silly easter eggs.
  
• All crashes fixed (that we could find).
  
• Lots of small improvements from feedback whilst showing at Rezzed. (Thanks!)
  
• Code base checked on 3 different static analysers and hundreds of fixes made.

Have fun!

-Simon

Check out this delightful video to see all the cool new features:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM278ex_jxc&hd=1

Our best update yet brings the first native creature into to the world: The Megacephalalgia! A gigantic protomammal that is as dangerous as it is fluffy (very).

We now have weather and seismic research stations. Use them to forecast incoming weather and earthquakes, and use their data in your research room to uncover new technologies



Feeling lonely? You can now call new colonists down from orbit! Just build a microwave communications tower and wait for the prompt on your GUI.

Improved AI. Your colonists will better manager their needs and wants. Just remember that a happy well rested colonist is a productive one!

• Doors now have lots of new things to say.
  
• Physics mesh refinement on many objects. (easier to click them).
  
• Door locking clicking bug fixed.
  
• Pathfinding flood slowdowns fixed.
  
• Procedural Haiku generation.
  
• Seismic station.
  
• Weather station.
  
• Megacephalalgia creature.
  
• Foliage now edible(for some), destroyable. Growth rates tweaked.
  
• Chickens are less prone to making too many babies.
  
• Turret has 84% more DAKKA.
  
• Crash logs are more detailed.
  
• Fixed odd exterior object placements.
  
• Intel 4400 support.
  
• Gui is more responsive and juicy.
  
• New UI button. "Cycle warnings".
  
• New UI button. "Call colonists from orbit"
  
• Colonists no longer plough head first into doors.
  
• Wear and repair quality values fixed /tweaked.
  
• A bunch of sound stuff that I don't understand but Nick tells us it's good.
  
• Toilets
  
• New PFX.
  
• A bunch of silly easter eggs.
  
• All crashes fixed (that we could find).
  
• Lots of small improvements from feedback whilst showing at Rezzed. (Thanks!)
  
• Code base checked on 3 different static analysers and hundreds of fixes made.

Have fun!

-Simon

We've released 0.41 early to let you start testing the new features.

• Fatigue now kills your colonists. Build beds and couches to let them rest, try to manage their workloads by turning off objects that are not in use, reducing build orders and locking doors.
  
• Colonists now have inventories. Ensure they have access to mined minerals so they can use them for producing objects.
  
• Badly damaged items will now require building materials to repair.
  
• Earthquakes can cause cave-ins in excavated areas, build rooms to prevent this rare, but deadly occurrence.
  
• Colonists will now better balance the overall needs of the colony with their own.

Other things to check out:

• A new animation system has been added which will remove footslip and several other issues and allow for more procedural animation in the future.
  
• Lots of new animations have been added.
  
• New HD rock models!
  
• The physics mesh on the door frame is finally fixed. Woo!
  
• Multithreaded loading code will improve game startup speeds.
  
• Damage rates on items tweaked to better reflect their usage and to smooth out game play issues.
  
• IMP AI stalls fixed.
  
• Exterior building crash fixed.
  
• Numerous bug fixes.

Maia will be at Rezzed this week. Come by and say hello!

0.40.1 Update Info