Update 1.3: Skill Tree & New Rigs

The workshop is gone and a 42-skill tree takes its place. The drill rigs are rebuilt from scratch and show the skills you give them. Plus a new ending, a game menu and a rebalanced first dig.

 

Update 1.3 is the biggest one since the game jam. 

The workshop and its materials are gone. In their place is a skill tree with 42 skills, and the drill rigs have a completely new model that changes as you upgrade it.

  • New rigs: a drill pod on four legs with a spinning bit
  • Skill tree: 42 skills in four branches
  • New pickaxe upgrades: Crit Chance, Crit Damage and Splash Damage
  • A new ending with a results screen, and a reason to dig again
  • Game menu on Esc, with volume, credits and your progress
  • Pixel cracks and better-looking layers

Your save carries over. Workshop materials turn into money, and parts you crafted turn into skills. 
 

The old rigs were put together from ready-made factory parts. The new rig is our own model: a drill pod that walks across the layer on four legs, picks a block and drills into it while the bit spins.

You can build up to six rigs in your first dig, and a skill gives you a seventh. Rig Engines is gone, because rigs already find their way well. If you had levels in it, you get the money back.
 
Every rig skill changes how your rigs look, so you can tell at a glance what they have.
  • Drill bits: the basic bit, then the Steel Crown Bit, then the Carbide Bit, each hitting harder
  • Fan Cooling and Water Cooler: the cooling ring turns blue, then bright cyan
  • Prospector: a blinking lamp on top; these rigs go for ore blocks first
  • Overcharge: yellow knees; every 8th hit deals triple damage
  • Twin Drill: a gold band
  • Rally: red trim

 
The Skills tab opens a full-screen tree with 42 skills in four branches. New rows open as you reach layers 12, 25 and 40. Some skills need a skill from the next branch over, so you can take different routes through the tree.
  • Pickaxe: Shockwave, Weak Spot, Stonebreaker, Finisher, Momentum and Frenzy
  • Rigs: better bits, cooling, Prospector, Focus Fire, Overcharge, Twin Drill, Drop Pods and a seventh rig
  • Fortune: Layer Bonus, Interest, treasure chests, Lucky Strike, Jackpot and golden chests
  • Biscuit: after you find him, he sniffs out chests, digs with you and finds bones
The Next dig row and Biscuit's branch open from your second dig.
The pickaxe has new upgrades: Crit Chance, Crit Damage and Splash Damage. With the Shockwave skill, each hit also damages the blocks around the one you click, and Splash Damage sets how much.

Frenzy is a skill for fast clickers. Clicking quickly fills a meter under your money. When it's full, every hit is a crit for a few seconds.
Biscuit now waits in a treasure pit under the last layer, and your rigs gather round to watch. After the scene, a results screen shows your time, blocks mined, money, chests, biggest crit and skills learned.

Then you can start the next dig. You keep all your upgrades and skills, and a golden chest with a dig bonus waits at the bottom. Try to beat your best time.

  • Pixel cracks: blocks crack in pixel-art stages, starting from the middle of the top edge
  • Layers: rock now comes in bands with iron veins. Gems and rare crystals appear from your second dig
  • Sidebar: the Pickaxe, Rigs and Skills tabs are in one sidebar on the left, and the camera keeps the dig centered
  • Game menu: Esc opens a menu with your progress, best time, music and sound volume, credits and New game. It also greets you when you continue a save
  • Tooltips: every upgrade explains what it does
  • Balance: a gentler start and many small upgrade levels. The first dig takes about an hour to an hour and a half
  • Achievements: the new Researcher achievement, for learning every skill. Tinkerer now unlocks when you learn 10 skills
  • Fixes: aiming at empty space no longer mines the blocks next to it

Thanks for playing, and for all the feedback so far. Tell me what you think of the new rigs and the skill tree! 


Skill Tree & New Rigs

1.3.0
27 September 2026
Areas
31 changes in this update

Added

17 changes
Skill tree
  • Skill tree - 42 skills in four branches: Pickaxe, Rigs, Fortune and Biscuit

  • Rows by depth - new rows open at layers 12, 25 and 40; the Next dig row and Biscuit's branch open from your second dig

  • Frenzy - fast clicking fills a meter; when it is full, every swing crits for a few seconds

  • Treasure chests - chest blocks on some layers pay part of the layer's value, some of them golden

  • Fortune - Layer Bonus, Interest, Lucky Strike, Jackpot and Bargain

  • Dig Buddy - Biscuit digs with you, sniffs out chests and turns up bones

Rigs
  • New rig - a drill pod on four legs with a spinning bit

  • Skills you can see - rig skills change the bit's shape and recolour the rig

  • Seventh rig - a skill adds one more rig to the six you can build

Pickaxe
  • Crit Chance, Crit Damage and Splash Damage - new pickaxe upgrades

  • Shockwave - a skill that spreads your hit to the blocks around it

Ending
  • Treasure pit - Biscuit waits in a pit in the bedrock under the last layer, and the scene is longer

  • Results card - your time, blocks, money, chests, biggest crit and skills, compared with your best dig

  • Golden chest - later digs end with a golden chest and a dig bonus

Menu
  • Game menu - Esc opens a sidebar with your progress, best time, music and sound volume, credits and New game

  • Welcome back - the same menu greets you when you continue a save

Achievements
  • Researcher - learn every skill in the skill tree

Improved

11 changes
Achievements
  • Tinkerer - now unlocks when you learn 10 skills

Mining
  • Pixel cracks - blocks crack in pixel-art stages from the middle of the top edge

  • Layers - rock comes in bands with iron veins; gems and rare crystals appear from your second dig

  • Aiming - aiming at empty space no longer mines the blocks next to it

  • Outline - a thinner outline on the block under the cursor

Balance
  • First dig - a gentler start and many small upgrade levels; the first dig takes about an hour to an hour and a half

  • Rigs - stronger rigs that do about half of the digging by the middle of the dig

  • Late game - the last upgrade levels cost more, for a final push to the bottom

UI
  • Sidebar - Pickaxe, Rigs and Skills tabs in one sidebar on the left; the camera keeps the chunk centred

  • Tooltips - every upgrade explains what it does

  • Volume sliders - new sliders you can click or drag

Removed

3 changes
Rigs
  • Rig Engines - rigs already find their way well, so the upgrade is gone

Workshop
  • Workshop - crafting and materials are gone; ores pay money instead

  • Save carries over - materials become money, crafted parts become skills, extra rigs and Rig Engines levels are refunded

people
Log in to reply
You can't reply if you're not logged in. That would be crazy.