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Thank you, that's a lovely thing to read.

The control question is the one I keep circling around. The whole point is that dwarves decide for themselves and you shape those decisions through what you build and where you build it. But there are clearly moments, especially early on when you have two builders and one carrier, where you can see exactly what needs doing and have no way to say it. I don't want to turn it into a game about selecting units and issuing orders, so the answer is somewhere in between those two things. It's high on my list and I've been sketching at it.

On enemies and a warrior class: there is work happening on what's further down, and it isn't just more of the same tunnels. The game isn't called Crown Below by accident. I'll leave it there for now.

And thank you for the art especially. I draw all of it myself and pixel art is the thing I've been doing longest, so that one lands differently.

Thanks, this is really useful.

The bench thing is a real bug and it's fixed. A tired dwarf was walking to the first bench you ever built instead of the nearest one. That went out in the build I uploaded today, along with the same fix for tools, drop-off points and which side of a building a dwarf walks up to. All of it was measured in straight lines before, which doesn't count for much through solid rock.

Floor 14 is genuinely the current edge. There's nothing past the diamond seam yet, so you didn't miss anything, and filling that stretch is the next thing on my list. The pacing problem you describe is probably the same thing from the other end: not enough to spend on, then all of it at once.

On blueprints and ruins, the selection outline was drawing black instead of white and that's fixed, but you're pointing at the bigger issue, which is spotting them at all before you click one. That's still open and I don't have a good answer yet.

You're right about the deep delve, and that one is already underway. I'm drawing the art for it at the moment, so crossing that threshold will actually look like crossing it.

The font is the second time I've heard that now, so I'll look at it again.

Latest update notes are here if you want the full list:
v0.1.0.8645: The Hauling Update

Hi everyone! I’m Kaktora, and I’ve released the first demo of Crown Below. It’s my first game as a solo developer and my first release on itch.io.

Crown Below is a pixel-art colony-building game inspired by Kingdom Two Crowns, set inside a mountain. You expand mining shafts and galleries, build homes and workshops, and equip your dwarves to become miners, haulers, and builders.

As your settlement grows, better pickaxes let you mine copper, iron, and diamond. My favourite detail is watching tired dwarves head to the tavern for a beer, then return to work with a temporary speed boost.

The demo is free to download for Windows:

https://kaktora.itch.io/crown-below

I’m still working on the game, including improvements to the UI and in-game text. For the full version, I’m planning progression across different mountain maps, with new resources, architecture, and discoveries to explore.

If you try the demo, I’d love to hear how you get on. Was it clear what to do next? Did anything feel too slow or confusing?

You can reply here or join the Crown Below Discord.

Thanks for taking a look!

— Kaktora