Demo 0.2.0 — New Diggers, Gold Skills & Co-op Upgrades

[p][/p][p]Ahead of October’s Steam Next Fest we’re rolling out Demo 0.2.0 – a polish‑heavy update focused on user experience improvement, co‑op synergy and moment‑to‑moment feel. You can now play solo or with 1–3 players, try new cave mechanics, queue your skills, and compare impact with a fresh score & stats pass.

[/p][p]Below you’ll find the highlights and full notes. Jump in, try the new toys, and tell us what breaks (so we can fix it fast).[/p][h3]— Highlights[/h3]

• [p]New Cave Anomalies: Black Hole, Twin Portals, Fog.[/p]
• [p]Gold Skills for: Nuke, Rocket Barrage, Mech Shield, Damage Buff, X‑Ray, Bomb, Portal.[/p]
• [p]Skill Queue — new skill cards are queued, not replacing your current one.[/p]
• [p]Choose Digger Role in the hub before a session.[/p]
• [p]End‑game stats & Player Score to measure contribution.[/p]
• [p]New puzzle‑like cave structures that boost co‑op interaction.[/p]
• [p]Big visual pass (lighting, flora), feel improvements (VFX, screen shake, shooting), UI/UX refresh, optimization.[/p]
• [p]Waves balance update + 1–3 players unlocked.[/p]
• [p]Digger model update + Mech death animation.[/p]
• [p]Lots of bug fixes.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h3]
Cave Anomalies[/h3]

• [p]Black Hole — an unstable pair of linked rifts roams the mine, sucking in resources and warping them to the other side. Route planning just got spicy.[/p]
• [p]Twin Portals — two connected gates that let squads reposition fast and create clever resource loops.[/p]
• [p]Fog — a drifting mist in the caves that applies a random effect to any Keeper caught inside. Watch your step and adapt.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Gold‑Tier Skills[/h3][p]To add variety and a dash of RNG, we’ve introduced Gold versions of several abilities:
Nuke, Rocket Barrage, Mech Shield, Damage Buff, X‑Ray, Bomb, Portal.
Gold skills open up stronger or more situational plays — experiment and find your team’s favourite combos.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Core Co‑op Flow[/h3]

• [p]Skill Queue. Picking up a new skill adds it to a queue instead of replacing your current one. No more “oops, my build is gone”.[/p]
• [p]Role Selection in Hub. Choose your Digger role in the lobby before the run — faster drafts, cleaner starts.[/p]
• [p]Player Score. Almost every action contributes to your in‑game score, so you can compare impact across the team.[/p]
• [p]End‑Game Statistics. The death/summary screen now surfaces clear team metrics to review what went great (or not).[/p]

[h3]Exploration & Structures[/h3]

• [p]New Cave Structures. Procedurally‑spawned puzzle structures encourage cooperation, routing and shared decision‑making.[/p]

[h3]Visuals & Feel[/h3]

• [p]Cave visuals improved: lighting, vegetation and atmosphere for better readability.[/p]
• [p]Surface feel pass: post‑processing, shooting feedback and screen shake tuned for punch without nausea.[/p]
• [p]UI/UX refresh: cleaner windows across the game; more legible at a glance.[/p]
• [p]Digger model update: a fresh look for our hard‑working miner.[/p]
• [p]Mech death animation: say goodbye in style (then get back to work).[/p]

[h3]Balance, Accessibility & Performance[/h3]

• [p]Waves balance update for a smoother difficulty curve.[/p]
• [p]1–3 Players Unlocked: run solo, duo or trio — your call.[/p]
• [p]Optimization across the board.[/p]
• [p]Audio & Mic settings now available right from the main menu.
  [/p]

[p]
[/p]

• [p]Fixed a crash caused by simultaneous ore counting between host and client.[/p]
• [p]Fixed laser not working when a Digger stands on ore.[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing towers on Mech for both host and clients.[/p]
• [p]Cave background too dark in some seeds — additional lighting pass in progress.[/p][p][/p]

[h2]Enjoy the game [/h2][p]Play the Steam demo during Next Fest, try the anomalies and gold skills, and drop feedback or clips in our community channels (Steam discussions & Discord). Your notes directly shape the next patch.

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