Depths — a minimalist mining roguelike made for the Nokia 3310 Jam — 7th Edition. Descend, mine, sell, and upgrade to reach the hidden idol.

DEPTHS

Quick Overview

Goal: reach the great idol deep inside procedurally generated caves. Mine ores, manage energy and inventory, buy upgrades on the surface, and use ladders, platforms, and mining robots to progress. You cannot jump—every placement and move matters.

Nokia 3310 Jam

Made to meet the Nokia 3310 Jam constraints (two colors, low frame rate, 84×48 resolution, single sound channel). Theme: THE GRIND. Jam page: Itch.io — Nokia Jam 7.

How to Play (Core Loop)

• Mine blocks to collect ores.
• Return to the surface to automatically sell ores and buy upgrades/items.
• Use earned money to upgrade tools so you can break tougher blocks and go deeper.
• Manage energy: breaking blocks consumes energy; zero energy = game over (energy resets on the surface).

Controls

Keys (Normal)	Keys (Num Pad)	Action
W, A, S, D	8, 4, 2, 6	Move, navigate menus, mine
K	7	Place ladder
J	9	Place platform
H	1	Deploy mining robot
ENTER	5	Confirm / buy
ESC	3	Cancel / back
Q	0	Open player info
E	Decimal	Open shop (only on surface)

Gameplay Details

Mining

Stand next to a tile and press the movement key toward it to strike. Tiles have durability; some require multiple hits. Collected ores go to your bag. If the bag is full, you must return to the surface to sell before collecting more.

Camera & Map

The camera recenters when you move past the edge. The map has indestructible walls on the left and right.

Energy

Every broken block consumes energy. If your energy reaches zero, the run ends. Energy is restored when you return to the surface.

Items & Resources

• Ladders — enable vertical travel.
• Platforms — bridge horizontal gaps.
• Mining Robots — mine automatically using your current tool strength (they only break the same blocks you can).

Items can be bought on the surface or found inside boxes in the cave.

Tile Types

• Ground — breaks in one hit.
• Stone — tougher the deeper you go.
• Ores — sellable resources.
• Boxes — break to obtain random items.
• Walls — indestructible boundaries.

Hazards

• Spikes — instant death on contact.
• Rolling boulders — move horizontally and can crush the player; safe to stand on top. Boulders can destroy ladders and platforms.

Features

• Procedurally generated caves with increasing difficulty.
• Tool upgrades, purchasable items, and resource management.
• Non-jump movement: placement and planning are essential.
• Traps, boulders, and other emergent hazards.

Requirements

• OS: Windows 10 or later
• DirectX: 9.0c or newer
• RAM: ≥ 100 MB
• Disk: ≥ 100 MB free
• Architecture: x64 (64-bit)

Tips

• Return to the surface frequently to sell ores and refill energy.
• Buy upgrades in small increments — tool damage scales with depth.
• Use robots to clear predictable sections safely.
• Place ladders and platforms thoughtfully; removing them may be costly or impossible under pressure.

Open Source

Source code: github.com/Starciad/Depths

Credits

Developed by Starciad. Fonts and some audio assets provided by the Nokia Jam resources: Nokia Game Jam Resources.

Licensing

Code: MIT License. Assets: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).