A name I've not heard for a while that I seemed to miss some emails on recently. Colony building sim Maia, from developer Simon Roth, had a rather big upgrade. This is the first major update since early in 2021.
Some major new features were added to the game including: an entirely new mini-map system to let you get a glimpse of your colony, controller support and big optimizations to performance to help lower end devices like the Steam Deck.
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Some other changes includes:
- Fixed a shader issue with AMD GPU driver support that was stopping the game from running for some users.
- Pause button on keyboard now rebindable.
- Fix for colonists trying to make small adjustments whilst running causing them to abruptly come to a half and then start running again.
- Upgraded SDL support.
- Objective flashing animation improved.
- Rain textures and animation improved.
- Grid simulation no longer shows invalid values on energy storage devices when the game is paused.
- Lava simulation optimised and threading removed to prevent crashes. (Full lava rewrite postponed due to complexity)
- Colonists will now prioritise the meteor pickups in the second level of the campaign.
- Massively reduced the constraint iterations on the cloth simulations to improve CPU performance when the player has lots of flags.
- Fix for incorrect light colour in Radiation Containment room.
- Protobird sleep behaviour fixed to stop it running automatically into groom behaviour.
- Capsules landing will no longer set the ground on fire if the ground is covered in snow.
It has a Native Linux version but the developer recommended Proton (specifically GE-Proton) for playing on Steam Deck.
While the game has struggled over the years to find an audience, and deal with some of the more problematic parts of the AI, it's nice to see such an interesting take on a colony builder still continue to be improved many years later.
You can buy Maia on Steam and also itch.io.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments
I remember when this game was in alpha. Hard to believe it's been over 10 years since the Kickstarter. Perhaps I'll pick it up again.
0 Likes
herrorange Feb 7, 2023
This game is so appealing, I've supported it like 5 years ago...but the AI is still fundamentally broken for me, each time everyone dies because they stop doing anything. Every. Single. Time.
1 Likes, Who?
It has a Native Linux version but the developer recommended Proton (specifically GE-Proton) for playing on Steam Deck.That's a shame, because (regardless of anything else about them having made a version that they recommend people don't use) that's going to prevent the game ever being Deck Verified and getting that potential additional exposure. Valve won't pick a Proton version for the Deck that doesn't come from them (obviously). If the devs can't fix up their native build they ought to at least try to work with Valve to get their game working adequately in the mainline Proton.
4 Likes, Who?
I wanted so badly for this game to be good. Since the early days when it first went on Steam in what was basically Early Access, although I'm not sure it was even called that yet. But colonists not doing tasks, dying with alarming regularity from lack of sleep while standing next to their beds, fires appearing for no apparent reason and the little robot thing that got added later not really making that much sense, that stuff finally killed my enthusiasm to keep trying. Never saw any word that any of that really improved all that much.
If the dev went back and overhauled it the way the No Man's Sky devs did? I'd still be willing to give it a chance, after all this time. But it'll take a little more than what this update has to offer.
If the dev went back and overhauled it the way the No Man's Sky devs did? I'd still be willing to give it a chance, after all this time. But it'll take a little more than what this update has to offer.
1 Likes, Who?
Luke_Nukem Feb 8, 2023
If the dev went back and overhauled it the way the No Man's Sky devs did? I'd still be willing to give it a chance, after all this time. But it'll take a little more than what this update has to offer.
The dev struggles with money flow in many cases - I'd be very surprised if they could do what the NMS team managed.
2 Likes, Who?
This game is so appealing, I've supported it like 5 years ago...but the AI is still fundamentally broken for me, each time everyone dies because they stop doing anything. Every. Single. Time.I've seen this comment a lot, that's what most reviews say too.
I flailed about the first scenario too. However after watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zvcbDKnqsU it made a lot more sense and I never had any bad issues since. And his latest video on this is even better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaeplosCUMQ
I would even say most scenarios are too easy.
I do have the occasional CTD, but he's trying to reproduce them on the Linux build.
The worst path finding issues have been fixed somewhere in 2019. They still get stuck between a wall and a bed or something occasionally, but deleting that bed helps.
It has a Native Linux version but the developer recommended Proton (specifically GE-Proton) for playing on Steam Deck.If I recall correctly it has to do with the controllers behaving weird in the Linux version.
Edit: Wording, missing sentences
Last edited by gunnarg on 8 February 2023 at 8:19 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
If the dev went back and overhauled it the way the No Man's Sky devs did? I'd still be willing to give it a chance, after all this time. But it'll take a little more than what this update has to offer.
The dev struggles with money flow in many cases - I'd be very surprised if they could do what the NMS team managed.
Obviously I'm not talking about the scale of what they did. I mean the concept of coming back and picking a system, overhauling it and releasing that change, bit by bit.
0 Likes
Obviously I'm not talking about the scale of what they did. I mean the concept of coming back and picking a system, overhauling it and releasing that change, bit by bit.
Yes he basically told in his discord that while he would still rewrite his own engine, he would switch to vulkan instead. But the way it stands, it's not economically viable.
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