Introduction
Dig Through Earth is an incremental game where you dig your way through planet earth. Using various tool and machines to improve digging performance you must manage it all to dig through earth as efficiently as possible.
The game is still only in early stages but if you want to check it out you can play it in your web browser now from the link at the top of this page.
Game Design
I like a good incremental game and one day I got the idea of building one around the concept of digging through our planet earth. Incremental games seem to have no end goal and so the aim becomes reaching new and higher states as the game progresses. This game, however, does have an acheivable end (the earth is not infinite) but it is very large and the player's aim is to manage their digging setup well for maximum digging performance.
An incremental game I have enjoyed is Cookie Clicker and from playing this I was inspired to create my own. I recommend you go check it out if you have the time to spare. Incremental games are great because they don't require constant monitoring. You can go on doing somthing else and just check back every now and then to see how the game is progressing.
In Dig Through Earth the player begins digging by hand. This gives meaning as the game progresses because the player unlocks new tools and machines enabling an exponetial increase in digging speed. Digging almost 13,000 kms (8,000 miles) through the earth seems impossible for a start but as the player progresses and the digging speed increases this goal seems more acheivable.
Art Style
From the beginning I wanted to at least have a go at creating all the artwork for the game myself. This worked well with the style which was to keep things simple but looking slick and professional.
Brushing up on my Illustrator skills I quickly designed artwork for some of the core game elements.
The game level is pieced together from tile images.