Mini Update 5 is the first of a few mini updates that will focus on Drones. The goal is to make drones feel less like a supplementary defense, and more like an alternative choice from turrets.

New Drone Upgrades

A new tier of Drone upgrades has been added, as well as a new Taser Drone upgrade line. This should now give drones a full array of defense options.

Permanent Drone Upgrade

You can now purchase a base model improvement for your Drones just like you can for turrets.

[ 2024-10-18 02:53:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bonus Balance Patch

Small balance patch:

Tweaked ore so more is given at lower power and less at higher power. Does not effect contract requirement.
Contracts given will have a lower difficulty when army is stronger and vise versa. This means if all your soldiers die you can access single difficulty missions regardless of rank.
Slight Auto Pistol nerf

[ 2024-10-17 03:32:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Fest Mini Update 4

Todays mini update focuses on bringing up the threat to your soldiers. Plan to keep your soldiers protected, or they will die. Tomorrows Mini Update will focus on making Drones more useful and fun to use.

Advanced Enemy Targeting

No longer can you easily protect your soldiers with carefully placed turrets. Enemies now will ignore your turrets more often than not, and go straight for attacking your soldiers.

Hardened Turret Rework

With the changes to enemy targeting, upgrading your turrets health alone no longer makes as much sense. The "Strong Frame" upgrade has been changed to "High Vis Frame". This not only increases health, but greatly increases the chance of being targeted by enemies.

Longer Demo Goal

The demo / probation period goal has been increased to Rank 10. The difficulty has also been tweaked to ramp up slower. To show higher difficulties properly in the UI, difficulties above 5 are represented with this new icon:

[ 2024-10-16 23:29:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Fest Mini Update 3

Continuing with the theme of the last mini update, todays update introduces another way to protect your soldiers from being attacked. With these new ways to protect your soldiers, tomorrows update will focus on bringing up the threat of losing soldiers.

Cloaking Beacons

Introducing an all new tower, the cloaking beacon! This new later game tower will provide a cloak to nearby towers, making them invisible to all enemies. This means they can no longer be attacked while the cloak is active. Enemies can target the cloaking device still, so keep it safe!

New Turret Art

The turret upgrades have been given a fresh coat of paint! No longer will all your turrets look the same.

This is just a small sample of the new art! Check it all out in game for yourself!

Balance Changes

- Turret Armor Piercing upgrade tree has been removed - Sniper turret has been given increased Armor Piercing & Damage - Fast Turret & Twin Turret has been given increased RPM - Crab enemy has been given an additional point of armor & a slight health decrease There are many other bug fixes and improvements as well, such as fixing the bug with med kits not being available.

[ 2024-10-16 01:27:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Fest Mini Update 2

This is the first of 3 mini updates that I have planned that will focus on adding new ways to combat enemies that can attack your soldiers.

Taser Turrets

A new upgrade path for turrets introducing a new but familiar mechanic. These "taser turrets" can stun enemies when they are hit.

Health Changes

Turrets as well as mining outposts now have a higher base health, while soldiers have been given a slight decrease in health.

[ 2024-10-15 04:09:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Fest Mini Update 1

This update focuses primarily on improving the armor mechanic with a new enemy & increased feedback.

Armored Bugs

The new armored bugs help introduce the armor mechanic earlier and in a more forgiving way.

Armor Overhaul

Enemy armor has now been given increased feedback through additional sound & visual effects when bullets do not penetrate.

Reworked Repair Kit

The repair kit has been changed to now apply healing slowly over time, and it now has a cooldown to limit how often it can be purchased.

This is in preparation for the next mini update, which will focus on new ways to defend against attacking enemies.

HUD Redesign

The HUD has been streamlined to take up less screen space while still showing relevant info.

Balance Changes

Difficult enemies have been pushed to higher difficulties, and the overall amount of enemies spawned at each difficulty has been decreased.

[ 2024-10-14 04:39:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Great Next Fest Update

Next Fest is almost here, and with the planned release date approaching real soon Private Mining Company will be participating! I have been working on some large overhauls to the core gameplay for a while, and they are ready just in time for Next Fest! So I present to you,

The Great Next Fest Update! (or v0.2)

Level Redesign

Each level has been redesigned to give a more engaging gameplay experience where space is more limited.

Contract Overhaul

To address many of the issues in the core gameplay loop, I have reworked how contracts are completed. Contracts will now have a progress meter that is separated from the ore you can spend on upgrades. This progress meter is linked directly to your mining output, but it will not go down when ore is spent.

On top of that, each contract now has a timer for completion. Once this timer is up, the contract will be ended. To reach the contract requirement in time, drill power will need to be increased. The goal of this change is to encourage the active spending of ore throughout each contract.

Drill power has also been changed. You now will be able to trigger power increases on demand, taking out the tedium of balancing drill power.

Soldier Overhaul

Soldiers have been changed to take a more active role during gameplay. During missions, you can now purchase temporary boosts for your soldiers using ore.

Soldiers can now also have a unique class that grants them special abilities. The first class you will get access to in the demo is the Engineer, which provides a buff to nearby turrets. Soldiers also now can only be healed in between missions and will heal slowly passively. Be careful! Bringing an injured soldier into battle could be a death sentence.

Base Redesign

The home base has been redesigned to have a more streamlined appearance, while also providing more information than ever.

Planetary Travel

Although locked for the demo, in preparation for the full release you can now see some of the planets that will be available.

Rank System

Completing more difficulty missions now rewards you with higher ranks. Ranking up will give access to new planets and upgrades as well as more difficult contracts.

Naturally, this will be used as an overall progression goal for the full game. The Demo now concludes upon reaching rank 5. I hope you enjoy the new update. Many more changes and improvements have also been made that I have not listed here. Leave your feedback here!

[ 2024-10-01 18:05:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demo Update: Soldier Salaries & Balance

I am back with a new update for the demo! This is a smaller update, with the primary change being the addition of salaries for soldiers. You will now need to pay a small fee to each soldier on contract completion. The goal is to push players towards more difficult missions later in the game. I have also made significant balance changes in terms of ore mining and economy. Give the new changes a try! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3057900/Private_Mining_Company_Demo/ Please consider leaving a review for the demo! It is a new Steam feature. Each review helps me a ton, and helps me evolve the game based on feedback.

[ 2024-07-29 02:50:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demo Update: Mining Overhaul

The first major update for the Demo is now live! I have noticed a major problem in the current gameplay. Currently there is little incentive to invest ore into defenses. The optimal strategy to earn money is to complete contracts as quickly as possible by hoarding ore. To address this, I have completely changed the way ore mining and difficulty scale during missions.
Difficulty now primarily scales with a new resource called "Drill Power". The drill power will increase while mining is active, and quickly decrease while mining is paused. Drill power controls both how fast ore is mined, as well as the current difficulty. The goal is to encourage spending of ore during missions. I have also made some improvements to the HUD during missions. You can now see exactly how much you will receive as an ore bonus, and there is now a visual indicator for when the contract requirement is met. The update is live right now, so go check it out! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3057900/Private_Mining_Company_Demo/ You can now also leave reviews for demos, so please let me know how you feel about the game! What would you like to see added or changed next?

[ 2024-07-27 03:09:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Private Mining Company Demo is now Live!

The Demo for Private Mining Company is now available for free download. The demo will be available for a limited time up until the full release of the game.
As development continues, I will continue to provide regular updates to the demo, so be sure to check in from time to time for new features and improvements!

[ 2024-07-22 22:01:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demo Update 2

Demo release is less than a month away! I have been hard at work adding new features, levels, and tons of balance changes. The demo will provide hours of content for you to enjoy! I want to share the new upgrade system I have been working on! To add to the "meta-progression", you can now purchase permanent upgrades in your base. Currently this lets you upgrade turrets with new upgrades, as well as permanently increase mining speed of ore to help tackle more difficult missions.
Heres a quick preview of one of the new levels! This level will be locked to higher difficulties.
The demo will include 2 all new levels, for a total of 6 unique levels. If you want to try the game RIGHT NOW, join the Discord to get access.

[ 2024-06-26 16:58:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demo Update 1

In preparation the upcoming Steam demo, I have developed a system to automatically spawn enemies given a difficulty. On top of providing more balance and variety, this has given me an idea for a new gameplay concept. I have scrapped the wave system entirely, opting instead to give full control over when mining drills are active. This in turn, gives you complete control over when enemies are spawning. On top of this, I have also recently overhauled the ore system, and replaced mercenaries with new more interesting towers! If you want to try the game RIGHT NOW, join the Discord to get access.

[ 2024-06-08 23:28:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Private Mining Company
Alex Lavoie

Developer

Alex Lavoie

Publisher

Q1 2025

Release

Action Indie Strategy Casual RPG Adventure Simulation F2P Sports MMO Racing Singleplayer Multiplayer Coop EA