Maia - Dungeon Keeper/Dwarf Fortress/Bullfrog in hard SF setting (Kickstarter)

[b0rsuk]

There's a promising Kickstarter project in need of funding (currently 36% with 20 days to go).

Inspired heavily by the 70's Sci-fi aesthetic, Maia is a colony management simulator where you must keep your colonists safe, fed and happy. Liberally influenced by nineties god games, the game will have a dark sense of humour and more toys to play with than you can shake a Molyneux at.

(...)
Gameplay
--------------
You must excavate an underground colony to escape the hostile surface of the world. Mine minerals for construction, build rooms to house, feed and entertain your colonists and defenses to protect them from dangerous wildlife.

Research sources of power, water and food. Explore the surface and perform science to produce the technology you need to survive your new home.

Features
------------
Up to 2km x 2km x 2km of procedural world
Complex colonist AI
Dark humour
A unique aesthetic
Water and Lava simulation
A dark ambient soundtrack
Cellular Atmosphere
A simple minimalist UI
Inspired by 1970s hard sci-fi
Intricate defense systems
Bi-polar androids
First person mode
Open data for modders.

Development
-------------------
Maia is currently in early alpha. A playable release will be available as soon as mid January. The game will run on Windows, Mac and Linux and have absolutely no DRM.

The game will ship in summer 2013. After that, development will continue indefinitely, with regular updates, and swathes of new content every month.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1438429768/maia

Some interesting bits from PCGamer:

Robots who are afraid of the dark, moody colonists inspired by 70s sci-fi films, kleptomaniac aliens and self-seeding flora – all are locked together in the complex ecosystem of indie god-game Maia, currently seeking £100,000 of funding on Kickstarter.
(...)
“Everything has to fit into this ecology, and balancing it will be interesting and fun for the player,” says Roth. “If they kill all the predators, then they’ll just end up with hundreds and hundreds of little furry things running around. If they kill all the furry things then the predators are going to start looking for things to eat, and venturing into the colony."

...and reddit:

In the first person mode you will be able to do most the things that the computer you possed can do.

Possess a IMP and go digging, possess a turret and defend your base from invaders or even possess a door and.. well... annoy people.

The pitch video includes view from possession mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45N3MHLoZFk

[mostly_harmless]

Certainly very ambitious.
Thanks for posting this.

mh

[Jkaen]

Not sure they should have bothered with 1st person. Just a sci fi nice graphics dwarf fortress would have been a sell for me. Splitting their time between 2 views seems brave for a small kickstart

[b0rsuk]

"They" are actually a single person, Simon Roth, with sidekicks. And his specialty is rendering engines. He simply enjoys tinkering with that sort of stuff.

[mostly_harmless]

Yes, that's what I gathered as well. (the leaning towards shininess)
I am a bit sceptical he can implement all the actual game mechanics in that short time.

Lets see.

[Zed-F]

Wary of overambition here as well. I'll wish him luck tho.