STRATA: Dig Through Time
STRATA is a one-button idle digging game. The page itself is the earth's cross-section — every meter you dig changes the world's color as you descend through 11 eras of history, from fresh topsoil all the way down to THE CORE.
Topsoil → Modern Era → Industrial Age → Medieval → Roman → Bronze Age → Stone Age → Ice Age → Age of Dinosaurs → Primordial Depths → THE CORE.
Each stratum multiplies your coin value. Hire shovel crews, steam excavators, diamond drills and tunnel borers to keep digging while you watch the layers scroll by.
33 artifacts are buried in the strata — common, rare and legendary. Every find pays a coin burst and gives +2% earnings forever. Fill the museum grid, then "Publish Expedition" from 800 m for permanent Fame (+10% each) and start a deeper, faster dig.
One button. Tap DIG. Buy tools. That's it.
· Your dig continues while you're away (up to 8 hours of offline progress)
· Auto-saves every 10 seconds — close the tab, come back tomorrow
· Works on phone and desktop, one finger is enough
The whole game is a single HTML file with zero downloads and zero external requests. Made by TovPlay Studios — we build games with purpose.
Hit a legendary find or reached THE CORE? Tell us in the comments 👇
Development log
- v1.1 — The Great Rebalance (you were right, the economy was broken)12 hours ago
- STRATA is Live — Launch Devlog16 hours ago
Comments
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no dam balancing
Fair call! Balancing is the thing I am actively tuning right now. What felt most off to you - upgrades scaling too slow, coins piling up with nothing to buy, or prestige at 800m coming too early/late? Genuinely helps to know where it broke for you. Patch coming this week.
For me at least, I beat the game in about 2 minutes. I'm not sure if the costs are too low, or the coins given are too much, but basically it just exploded to where I had infinite money and could buy as many of the auto-dig tools as I wanted.
2 minutes to the end - ouch, that confirms it. You nailed the diagnosis: income per meter scales with the era multiplier way faster than the x1.15 cost curve, so a few meters in you can already afford everything. Rebalancing both curves now (slower coin growth, steeper tool costs) so the first prestige takes a proper session instead of two minutes. Thanks for the precise report - patch coming shortly, would love your take once it lands.
v1.1 is live! Your diagnosis drove the fix: the structural problem was income multiplying x2.7 per era while costs grew 16% per level. Added soil hardness per era (raw dig power divided by depth resistance) plus steeper costs and smaller artifact bursts - in simulation the full run went from ~2 minutes to many hours across multiple prestiges. Also added a x1/x10/MAX buy toggle. Would genuinely appreciate a second run if you have a few minutes.
Tyler's right. It's almost painful to recommend slowing down a clicker games progress, but within ten seconds of starting I could afford the most expensive upgrades, had over a dozen relics, and was several strata deep already.
(An ending would also be nice.)
"Almost painful to recommend slowing down a clicker" - best bug report I have ever gotten :) You are right on both counts. The economy explodes within seconds (era multipliers outrun the cost curve almost instantly) and I am rebalancing it now so progression actually takes effort. And noted on the ending - making sure reaching THE CORE feels like a real finale, not just a stop. Patch coming shortly, would genuinely love to hear if the pacing feels right after.
v1.1 is live - both of your points addressed! The economy got the full treatment (soil hardness per era, smaller artifact bursts, steeper costs - no more buying everything in ten seconds), and THE CORE now has a real ending screen with your expedition stats and a final-publish moment. Your "almost painful to recommend slowing down a clicker" line made it into the devlog. Would love your verdict on the new pacing.
Update: v1.1 is live with the rebalance. Deeper strata now have real soil hardness (your dig power fights the earth), artifact finds are bonuses instead of jackpots, and tool costs actually bite. Full details in the devlog. You called it first - thanks for the push. Would love to hear if it feels like a game now.