Small Update for the Demo!
Thanks to all your feedback on the demo, I've been able to make a few changes that are now live on Steam! This update mainly focuses on optimization, bug fixes, smoother progression, some UI polish, and a bit of extra juiciness added to the game feel!
(The complete patch note at the bottom of the article)
After the intense rush leading up to the Steam Next Fest — wearing all the hats of developer, artist, QA, marketing, bizdev, and community manager all at once — I’m going to take a well-earned break as summer rolls in. So I’ll be unavailable from July 23 to 29.
Beyond the joy of making a game, there are a lot of tasks that require business and marketing skills — things like social media, answering emails, QA — and all of that takes time away from actual development. That’s why I’m currently looking for a publishing partner who could help take over those non-production tasks.
Of course, I still want to keep chatting with you directly, sharing colorful miner doodles and writing these little dev messages myself. But to keep moving forward and take Drill To Hell as far as it can go, I also need to reach a wider audience and ensure the project's commercial stability — and maybe even afford some delicious home-cooked meals all year round! That’s why I’m searching for the right publisher — one that understands the identity of Drill To Hell, and can help it reach more players.
And who knows… maybe that could also help fund a future project on Steam someday?
Lapin Lambda
New / Changes
Game Features:
Added basic tutorials with mouse animations.
You can now access a block's encyclopedia entry by simply holding Shift and hovering over it.
Minecarts can now be locked/unlocked outside of the Garage tab.
All blocks that react to water now interact with it from all sides, not just the top (e.g. clay blocks).
The Encyclopedia tab is now cheaper, while the Progression tab costs more.
Interface Updates:
You can now hide/show the top, bottom, left, and right interface tabs. They can be revealed by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen.
New animation when hiring miners.
More detailed miner stats have been added to item descriptions.
Various other item descriptions have been revised for clarity.
Juiciness (Polish):
Enhanced visual and sound effects when getting bonuses from piggy banks or coffee bags.
Added new sound effects:
Minecart movement
Chest
Piggy bank use
..and more
Flowers that growing can't be destroyed by miners.
Optimization:
Some textures are now grouped into atlas.png for better performance.
The loading screen now properly waits for resources to load and won't freeze after the miner animation ends.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed the Play button not updating when switching languages.
Fixed the Detonate button not displaying the block falling animation.
Fixed frustrating drag-and-drop behavior with minecart items.
Increased main menu music volume, which was too low.
… and more