Dig for Home

Grandma expects you back. The fuel gauge has other plans.

MALUM wants to turn your Italian village into a private resort. Grandpa is in hospital. His homemade digging machine is still in the shed. Beneath the vineyard lies the secret he spent his life trying to uncover.

Take the controls. Dig through history, haul your finds home to Grandma, and turn rusty machinery into an expedition rig built for the deep. Every trip funds the next improvement. Every extra artifact tempts you to stay a little too long.

Build your way into the deep

• Your drill cannot cut upwards. Dig sideways, down or diagonally, reach finds with the drill tip, and leave yourself a route home. Falling rocks, heat and corporate drones complicate the journey.
• Six systems. Eight upgrade levels each. Drill, tank, cooling, hull, cargo and radar change the machine's appearance and capabilities. Improve your weakest module to unlock the next of seven story chapters.
• A fuel stop you build yourself. Buy a mobile base kit, excavate a supported 5-by-4 chamber and deploy it. Its reservoir starts empty. Haul fuel from the surface, choose how much to store, and use your own supply line to reach further.
• Forty discoveries with stories. Everyday objects, antiquities, fossils and minerals open illustrated English museum entries with real-world source links. Repeat finds earn money without inflating your collection.
• One persistent procedural world. Explore approximately 1.6 kilometres of cultural and geological layers, caves and hidden structures. Choose Generous, Normal or Stingy deposits. Your excavations, discoveries, upgrades and base fuel survive saving and loading.

Version 1.0.1 is available now — $4.99. Windows game and experimental Android APK included. The interface, dialogue and museum are in English. Sound is not included yet and will be added in upcoming updates. Android has received owner playtest feedback; broader device coverage remains in progress.

In 1.0.1, Android gets a much closer surface camera, a larger interface and floating touch steering. The chassis can approach rock while drilling without losing the trick of collecting finds from a safe ledge. Hover over workshop upgrades, or tap the separate ? button, for Mario's engineering notes. Early diesel modules tremble; hydrogen fuel cells at tank level 4 bring steady electric propulsion.

Historical placement and some artifact attributions are fictionalized for the adventure; museum articles distinguish the real-world references.

Controls and installation

WASD or arrows: move and drill. Forward + down: diagonal drilling. W/up: thrusters in an open passage. E: services. X: dynamite. F: unlocked pulse. B: mobile base. M: map. J: museum. Escape: pause and Grandpa's notes. On Android, drag from any free screen area to steer; lift your finger to stop. Thrust, charges and pulse keep their own buttons.

Windows: extract Dig-for-Home-Windows-1.0.1.zip and run Dig-for-Home.exe. Android: download Dig-for-Home-Android-1.0.1.apk; install over the previous version without uninstalling to retain local saves. Broader Android device testing remains in progress.

Previously published as MALUM — Terra nostra. The game is now Dig for Home; MALUM remains the corporation threatening the village.

Gallery: version 1.0 gameplay and feature demonstrations. Base and story demonstrations use staged test saves; they are not a continuous earned playthrough.