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?