you can be as unlucky as the project zomboid team
The Zomboid team are really cool guys. I actually spent the last 3 days with them getting drunk off my face with them at Rezzed. We even did a game-jam together! Andy (@captainBinky) is probably Maias biggest fan, he literally started throwing cash at me in the pub.
If anyone would like to see the engine in action, I actually used it for the game jam to make "Thomas was Alone", the indie platformer, in fancy 3d.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er4FVUn2nTgJust how open is the modability going to be?
The entire graphics pipeline is XML based. You can chance the entire look of the game. Textures are just TGA's so you can go in and do a full reskin with any paint package. Models will be exportable from Maya (3d software) via a Pymel script. I'll probably help the community port that to blender too.
As for gameplay, once its all in roughly, I will add scripting support.
Is the game going to be purely sandbox, or will there be objectives, missions, an 'end game'?
Once I'm happy with the game I will make a campaign of 4-5 missions, they will encourage players to try different styles and mess about with features they may have been scared of before in the sandbox.
Are resources going to be limited purely to what can be found in the explorable area, or will there be ways of acquiring resources from elsewhere?
Lava and water flows will come in from off the edge of the map. This means that if you carefully manage it you can obtain more resources. (cooling lava with water will create precious minerals) Animals will also wander into the level on the surface as well as plants that will create resources. I may even add supply drops (that will cost you a massive amount of energy, your most important resource).
Is there going to be a limit on how many inhabitants/bots/creatures are running around?
Yes there will be a limit. However I'm aiming at PC's only, so that limit will probably be criminally high.
Is the game going to be single player only?
If I raise a pile of cash I will add multiplayer that allows you to be an IMP bot in your friend's colonies. However, if I raise a mountain (300k+) I'll go nuts and bring in net coders so you can play on a massive coop server with your friends.
You're probably not looking for any further influence or ideas at this stage, but it might interest you to check out some Startopia gameplay, if only for curiosity's sake. I'd be interested to hear how close it is to your vision of Maia, how similar or different the style and gameplay might be, etc.
Edit: Some non-trailer gameplay here.
More influence is great. Its good to be a sponge when it comes to designing games. Otherwise you end up repeating other peoples mistakes and looking like a right idiot.
I'm not sure how close my game is to it to be honest. One of the key things about my game is the very definite style, that will be much more realistic. My main inspirations are filmic like 2001, Silent Running and Gerry Anderson's Space 1999.
The life of every colonist will be precious and every death will be a massive blow. This will hopefully make the game much darker and get players invested in their colony.