Gem Miner TD news & patch notes

The Spark Season has arrived! ⚡

It’s time to say goodbye to the Pre-Season and officially kick off the Spark Season! To celebrate the new season, we are thrilled to announce that we are participating in the Steam Tower Defense Fest!

Starting right now, you can grab the game at a 20% discount. This matches our biggest launch discount, making this the absolute perfect time to hop in and start mining!

👀 Coming Soon: A New Way to Play...

Before we get to the patch notes, we want to leave you with a little tease. We are currently working on a highly innovative, experimental beta game mode where you will be able to conquer other players' mines. We’re keeping the details under wraps for now, but expect more news on this very soon!

For now, check out the massive performance overhauls, balance tweaks, and completely new Augments in the Spark Season update!

Spark Season Update 1.010

Season & System Changes

• The Spark Season Begins: Leaderboards have been wiped and updated to support the new Spark Season. There are now leaderboards for the highest wave in Endless Mode!

• Run Save Data Reset: Please note that due to the season change, old Pre-Season saves are incompatible with the new version (the main menu will now tell you why incompatible saves cannot be loaded).

• Massively Optimized Save Files: Save file sizes have been dramatically reduced by 70-95%.

• Endless Mode Adjustments: To reduce clutter on deep Endless runs, damage numbers and augment triggers are now disabled by default. We've added 3-state toggles in the settings so you can still force them on if you prefer!

New Content & Balance Changes

• NEW Augment - Refresher: Grants a Miner Ability to replenish all ability uses for a target Gem! (One use each wave).

• Opalite Rework: Its destroy ability has been replaced. It can now absorb buffs from a target Gem and transfer them to another.

• Corallium Rework: Max triggers increased from 3 to 6, but the fire rate buff is halved. Trigger chance is now halved for every 50 buffs already on that Gem (the exact chance will be displayed on the confirm popup).

• Gem Spawning Changes: Moonstone, Red Beryl, and Labradorite now spawn gems at the end of the wave instead of the start.

• Peri(dot)meter Buff: Fire rate buff increased from 2% to 3%.

• Spike traps and Azurite traps are now untargetable (making them also unbuffable). Untargetable gems now visually show an "unbuffable" tag.

• Reverse Blocks no longer change tiles with gems created by the map (e.g., Toxic Veins).

MASSIVE Performance Optimizations

This part gets a bit technical, but here you go! Did the game need these optimizations? Not really. But I love squeezing every bit of performance out of the game, especially if it helps keep your Steam Deck battery alive longer.

• Huge Physics Rework: We’ve completely removed Rigidbody2D and active colliders from all projectiles. Collision detection now uses highly efficient, single manual CircleCasts. Enabled Physics2D multithreading, reduced solver iterations, and eliminated per-frame GC allocations!

• Rendering & Draw Call Optimizations: SetPass Calls on absolute maximum giga load have been slashed from 800 down to 270! Projectiles and AoE effects now use SRP batcher compatible shaders for significantly better CPU performance.

• UI Optimization: The Damageboard and Boss Damage Tracker now update 5 times a second instead of every single frame, saving massive amounts of CPU on big waves. Damageboard also no longer heap-allocates by constantly showing/hiding UI objects.

• Enabled dynamic batching for renderers to drastically reduce draw calls, especially on damage numbers (which also received increased pool sizes).

• Greatly optimized projectile and effect shadow rendering by sharing static materials, static layer masks, and sorting layers.

Bug Fixes & QoL

• Fixed an Int32 overflow bug with the score. Scores and victory screens are now properly formatted across the game and leaderboards.

• Fixed unlimited ricochet projectiles with high movement speed getting stuck inside walls or when hitting exact corners.

• Fixed rotating projectiles (Malachite, Serpentine) losing their rotation upon bouncing to the next mob.

• Projectiles now start their homing logic instantly, rather than waiting until they are "grown" to full size.

• Fixed "Planned Speed" being incorrectly applied on restart when it was disabled.

• Fixed Untargetable gems incorrectly triggering the Lone Wolf augment.

• Augments that grant Miner Abilities and the Weighted Dice augment now correctly show synergies.

• Wave-end effects that create gems no longer instantly force the mergeboard to show up.

• Booster Package now has a slick "fly-to" effect towards its target.

• Added a safeguard preventing full version maps from being accessed in the Demo version.

Thank you for all the support, stay tuned! -iFeral

Update 1.006 brings a massive visual overhaul to the Gem Merge UI and targeting UI, alongside pathfinding fixes and balance adjustments. New season on March 9th!

UI & Visuals

• Gem Merge UI Overhaul: Major visual update including better spacing, clearer rarity glows, updated colors, and silhouette indicators for unowned starter gems.

• Targeting System: Abilities and Augments now feature visual lines, specific icons, and range previews during selection.

• Show Path: Now displays the total length of the maze.

• Added a pulsing indicator for tiles about to turn into water.

• Enchantment sparkle effects now correctly follow the gem if it moves (e.g., via Transposer).

• Fixed a shader bug causing black gem glows.

• Crowd Control: Diminishing returns now reduce the slow amount rather than the duration.

• Wizards (Wave 34): Blink frequency reduced to every 2 seconds (was 1s), but movement speed increased.

• Transformations: Gems (like Ammolite/Bismuth) now immediately re-apply augment effects after transforming.

• Achievements: Fixed tracking for Enchantment V and Jackpot Time.

• Pathfinding: Optimized performance and fixed issues where "safest tile" suggestions were incorrect.

• Logic: Fixed the 3D Printer targeting ore tiles and fixed movement bugs in Grasslands while mining.

• Fixed Spelunker augments not appearing in The Vault for older save files.

• Fixed rare errors occurring during the Final Wave or upon completing Enchant quests.

Huge thanks for all the feedback and support! Also, big news: we are now Steam Deck Verified. Pretty cool, right? -iFeral

We have a massive update for you today! Version 1.005 brings a brand new Augment, tons of fixes and performance optimizations for late-game, and a reworking of the UI to better support Steam Deck and smaller screens. We are also including the changelogs for hotfixes 1.002 and 1.003 below.

Version 1.005

New Content

• New Augment: Mirror Link — Summons an untargetable Mirror Gem that links to a chosen gem. When the Mirror Gem attacks, the linked gem strikes the same target.

Performance & Optimization

• Pathfinding Overhaul: Optimized pathfinding logic to eliminate freeze spikes. This is especially noticeable in Toxic Veins in deep Endless Mode runs.

• Visuals: Optimized damage numbers; numbers spawned directly on top of others now hide the older ones to save resources.

Quality of Life & UI

• Steam Deck / Large UI: Significant improvements to the "Large UI" setting. Gem list now shows two columns, buttons are repositioned, and text sizes are increased for better readability on handhelds.

• Input: Tipbox tips now show specific glyphs based on your platform and control scheme.

• Dynamic Speed: Introduced a new setting to speed up the game (up to 5x) during waves when no gems are shooting.

• Fixed Planning Speed: Added setting for "Fixed Planning Speed" (toggleable for players who prefer the game to remain at 3x speed during planning).

• Augment Trigger Texts: Introduced a new setting to disable texts on the ground when augments trigger.

• Visual Clarity: Merged multiple augment trigger messages into single pulses (e.g., "Buff Echo x2") to reduce clutter.

• Renamed: "Tenacious" renamed to "Tenace".

Balancing & Fixes

• Peri(dot)meter: Attacks now correctly count as an augment trigger.

• Grasslands: You can now mine anywhere without hitting the "unable to reach" check. Wave 15 boss adjusted (cultist spawn interval slowed down).

• Fix: Fixed an issue where loading a save with over 20 Chalcedony caused the buff to reset to 20.

• Fix: Fixed Ammolite persisting in the starter loadout after restarting a run.

• Fix: Added a fallback cooldown (0.05s) for attacks happening in the same frame.

• Fix: Crystallize can no longer target lava.

• Fix: Fixed "Tactical Swap" not working on chooseable gems when rerolled with "High Roller".

• Fix: Fixed gamepad navigation when a gem has multiple abilities.

  And a lot more.

Previous Hotfixes

Here is a recap of the smaller patches deployed earlier.

Version 1.003

Released: January 23, 2026

• Serpentine: Damage doubled, but fire rate halved. (Same DPS, but better performance in Endless Mode).

• Labradorite: Damage output nerfed.

• UI: Damage board numbers now support billions formatting (B).

• UI: Added tooltips explaining unreachable gems and run modifiers.

• Fix: Fixed Gamepad D-Pad navigation issues on Steam Deck/DualSense.

• Fix: Fixed Fluorite and Corallium losing their target if a destroy attempt is blocked.

• Fix: Merges are now re-checked immediately after a gem is destroyed.

Version 1.002

Released: January 22, 2026

• Balancing: Waves 20-22 and Wave 34 (Wizards) slightly nerfed.

• Adventurer Exploration: Selection pushed back from Wave 25 -> 29.

• Requirements: Soup requirement increased (5->7), Treasure Hunt increased (7->9).

• Visuals: Enchant buffs now show the total buffed amount.

• Fix: Fixed an issue where mobs beyond Wave 50 in Endless Mode became invulnerable.

• Fix: "Cant Miss" tag renamed to "Ignores Evasion" for clarity.

• Fix: Freeze Frame and Slow Aura now correctly list each other as synergies.

• Fix: Fixed a crash on Grasslands when pressing "Show Path" after Wave 1.

Thank you for the incredible milestone of 1,000 copies sold!

It’s been a crazy journey, and I’ve probably yapped enough about all the emotions already (especially if you’re on the Discord).

Truly though, thank you. You have my deepest gratitude. 💙

Celebration game bundles!

We’re excited to announce the Below the Gem Miner Bundle, a brand‑new team‑up between Below the Stone and Gem Miner TD! If you love digging deep, crafting clever builds, and surviving by the hairs of your beard, this bundle brings two wildly different flavors of mining mayhem together in one shiny package.

Both games celebrate the thrill of diggin', danger, and deep dwarven-tier determination just in totally unique ways. One tests your survival instincts, the other tests your strategy and gem‑crafting genius. Together, they make a bundle that’s perfect for players who love to dig deep and think deeper.

We have also bundled up with the legendary Gnomes and A Game About Feeding A Black Hole.

Huge thanks to everyone leaving a review for the game on Steam! We are cooking things behind the scenes. So stay tuned! -iFeral

Oh man. The past few days have been some of the most anxious of my life. So many emotions I didn't think existed. This passion project that my brother and I have been working on for 4 years is finally out and I cannot believe it. What a crazy journey it has been!

1.0 Full Release content

• 60+ Gems to experiment with

• 9 miners with unique unlockable starting augments

• 80+ Augments to customize your strategy

• Vault feature to choose any augment from any miner when lv 10

• 4 Maps with 2 Game Modes and 40 Waves

• 50+ different Mobs to challenge your defenses

• Endless mode if you literally want to break the game

• Run Modifiers to farm Blue Dust for all the skins

• 21 Miner skins (might include your favorite creators!)

• 4 map themes to unlock (play maps on any map's visuals)

• Leaderboards for each map and game mode, for difficulty and damage score

• 18 Steam achievements that challenge your playstyle

• Run Save system (so you can farm endless to wave 999... actually don't do that)

And more...

What makes Gem Miner TD unique

• Most TDs make you build around a path. In Gem Miner TD, you dig the path.

• The Gems ARE the Towers: There are no generic turrets. You mine for 60+ different Gem Towers that can be merged and upgraded.

• Insane Synergies: Stack buffs and combine 80+ Roguelike Augments to create wild power spikes. Break the game!

• Unique Lose Condition: Enemies attempt to grab your Miner and drag them into the lava.

• Endless Replayability: 50+ mob types, 4 maps offering completely different tower defense experiences, and 9 different Miners (classes) keep every run fresh.

The demo will stay available, so tell your friends to give it a try!

💎 PS. Go grab the Forehead Foreman Miner skin in-game for just 1 Blue Dust! (That’s the in-game currency you earn every run, no microtransactions here.) Inspired by my declining hairline… thanks, Gem Miner TD!

What's next

🎯 Tower Defense Fest on Steam: March 9–16! We might be cooking up something special for it… so stay tuned!

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” Gem Miner TD will continue in active development! Got a fire idea for a gem, an augment, or even a map? Share it with us on Steam Discussions or in our Discord server! And please leave us feedback and a review, it means the world to us!

A huge thank you to all the supporters, playtesters, demo players, and content creators covering the game... every single one of you! Appreciate you being part of this journey ❤️ - iFeral (& Sakethur)

Demo has received a huge update, packed with improvements, balancing tweaks, new visuals and new features like run saving system. Also includes a new Gem that buffs all starter Gems in the map and a few augments, like Slow Aura for your miner!

Plus, we’re kicking off the first leaderboard season: Pre-Season, available now on the demo. Leaderboards have been wiped.

Go explore and see what’s new! Enough about the demo update, lets talk about the release.

The release is packed with content!

• 60+ Gems to experiment with

• 80+ Augments to customize your strategy

• 9 Miners, each with unique starting Augments

• Vault feature to choose any augment from any miner when lv 10

• 50+ different Mobs to challenge your defenses

• 4 Maps with 2 Game Modes and 40 Waves

• Run Modifiers

• Endless mode

• Miner skins and map themes to unlock

• Steam achievements

Every map changes the gameplay drastically, offering endless replayability with all Gem and Augment combinations.

The game will launch at $12.99 USD (with dynamic pricing that make it cheaper in some regions) and will feature a 20% launch-week discount for the first seven days.

Release doesn't mean the development will end, more features are planned. Thank you for this crazy journey and for all the support!

-iFeral

Massive demo update is here! But first, an important announcement.

The original release date was December 12, 2025.

After a lot of thought (and reading tons of your amazing feedback), I’ve decided to postpone the release to January 20, 2026.

🗓️ New Release Date: January 20, 2026 (Mark your calendars, or just hit that Wishlist button and let Steam do the work!)

I’ll be honest, with all the recent coverage, excitement, and feedback, things have gotten a little overwhelming… in the best possible way. Reading, analyzing, and replying to all your feedback takes a lot of time (who would have known, right?).

I might be a perfectionist, but this isn't just me tweaking pixels for another month. I want to make sure I'm actually listening to all of you and that the game you've been waiting for is worth the wait.

So please, let me cook just a bit longer! 🍳

And come throw your ingredients to the Discord channel! (or email, post to Steam discussion channel or comment here! I want to hear it!)

Rest assured, there’ll be a big launch discount! And btw, this absolutely does NOT mean that there will be no free content updates after release!

Thank you all for your patience, feedback, and incredible support.

Now, on to those patch notes… 👇

🌟 New Features in Demo v0.320

• Starter Gem loadout customization - Change what starter Gems you can discover when mining and placing blocks and how that affects all the merges you can create!

• Leaderboards system - activated in a few days if there are no problems populating it! Collecting your highest difficulty and score runs already.

• Encyclopedia added - browse all Gems and Augments in the main menu.

• Core, Aid and Archetype Augment Selection - New specialized Augment Selections appear on specific waves! Core for utility abilties, Aid to heal your miner, recharge abilities or fill your starter Gem loadout, and Archetype to change how you discover Gems when you are done mazing!

• Roguelike Timeline Tracker - Visual "map" showing your run progression with upcoming waves and Augment Selections!

• 3x Speed Option - Fast-forward through waves even faster.

Gem & Ability Changes

• Aquamarine - Now buffs itself for 1% Fire Rate per adjacent water tile at wave end

• Serpentine - Shoots 3 projectiles, damage reduced by 66%

• Chalcedony - Buffs now apply on wave end

• Iolite - Activates on first attack instead of wave start, added visual effect

• Fluorite - Ability can only be placed directly on gems and follows the target if moved

• Gems and Miners can now have up to 3 abilities simultaneously

• Stealth detection separated from attack range with new indicator (Pearl, Nacre, Pyrite, Chalcedony, Moonstone, Fluorite, Iolite reveal stealth at 3 range)

New Augment

• Synthesizer - Starter Gems gain a Gem Ability to combine with another Gem of the same type and level. The combining Gem also gains a permanent buff (+0.25 Range)

Balance & Gameplay

• Crowd Control Diminishing Returns - CC effectiveness scales down after expected travel time, reaching zero at 3x duration

• Damage check wave HP now properly scales with mob HP stat

• Damage check supports values up to int64 (over 9 quintillion)

• Final boss wave improvements to make leaderboards more fair

Quality of Life

• Reposition abilities now show transparent ghost image of the gem being moved

• Copy Cat can't target Traps anymore and places copied gems randomly around the Miner

• Abilities can now be used during augment selection

• Merge button updates interactivity without reopening UI

• Range indicators update correctly when checking merges

• Tooltips and merge info panels now have opening animations

• Better visibility for stealth detection and attack ranges in Frozen Trail

UI Improvements

• Tag icons added for detector, slow, stun, debuff, anti-air, and AoE

• Icon backgrounds added to gem and miner ability buttons

• Improved gem list sorting and navigation

• Enhanced gamepad navigation throughout menus

• Font fixes and improvements

Bug Fixes

• Fixed rare error where mobs at spawn point deal damage instantly

• Selector correctly updates after repositioning gems

• Copy Cat description clarified

• Malachite and Serpentine bounce descriptions corrected (5 bounces, not 3)

• Various tutorial fixes

• General UI and tooltip improvements

As always, your feedback is very much appreciated!

From worrying no one would care about my game to seeing so many players enjoying the demo, and even content creators covering it, it’s honestly beyond words. Thank you all so much for understanding, the incredible support and for all the wishlists! 💎

-iFeral

The biggest demo update yet brings new systems, content, and visuals to Gem Miner TD just in time for Steam Next Fest and Finnish Games Week!

🚨 Release date locked in: December 12, 2025 January 20, 2026! Mark your calendars (or save yourself the trouble and wishlist now!)

🌟 New Content

• NEW Miner: Pathmaker Places blocks that stop flying enemies but let projectiles pass, opening new maze-building tactics.

• NEW Meta-currency: Blue Dust Earned from bosses, waves, difficulty, and victories, used to unlock Miners and skins!

• NEW Augments:

  • Venomcap – boosts poison damage.

  • Extra Bite – +1 action per wave.

  • Waterforge – turns water tiles unpassable for the flying mobs.

  • Power Circle – increases AoE size.

  • Egg-celerate – when a Gem gains a permanent buff, it has a 10% chance to gain an additional buff.

• Procedural Map Generation:

  • Lava Cave and Frozen Trail now feature slightly random layouts for more replayability.

• New Synergy Visualization: Easily see which augments synergize with each other!

• New Map Backgrounds: No more black void! All maps now feature proper themed environments.

⚙️ Gameplay & UI Improvements

• Aura towers and Hematite scale AoE visuals with AoE size.

• Tutorial improvements.

• Added logic to prevent drawing augments with no compatible gems.

• Downgrader buff: downgraded gems gain +25% fire rate.

• Spelunker’s starting augment is now Transposer (reposition starter gem).

• Second starting augments unlock earlier (level 2 → was 3).

• New gem chance level-up visualization.

• Improved Victory/Defeat screens, tooltips, popups, and loading screen.

• Enhanced merge animation with smoke effects and animated Start Wave button.

• Scroll through the 6 upcoming Miners — exclusive to the full version! 👀

💎 Start mining, earn Blue Dust, and unlock the Pathmaker. Your next favorite Miner!

Thank you for all the support and wishlists!

-iFeral

Take it easy with a brand-new "Reforged" game mode, perfect for a more relaxed run to learn all Gems the game has to offer. Plus, meet Serpentine, the latest Tier 3 Gem, pushing the demo’s roster to 38 Gems!

New Game Mode: Reforged

A more casual, laid-back way to play. Use coins to merge Gems. Get coins by taking down mobs, mining and placing blocks and from choosing Gems.

New Tier 3 Gem: Serpentine

Poison, bounces between up to 3 mobs. Ability: Reposition (once per wave). On Wave End: Absorbs non-Enchant buffs from adjacent Gems.

Bringing the total to 38 Gems in the demo. Imagine the release version of the game!

Customizable themes are coming!

The same way you will unlock skins to your Miners, you will also unlock Themes so you can play any map with any tileset you want!

Stay tuned!

-iFeral

Demo updates

Since June, we’ve been hard at work making the Demo the best it can be! Here’s what’s new:

• New content: Second map (Frozen Trail), tutorial, Gem ability system, unlockables, Miner health system, and more augments & gems.

• Systems & features: Miner passives, helper tools for new players, and better visual clarity.

• Quality of life: Steam Deck support, Gem list, accessibility settings, camera edge panning, and loads of polish.

New Visuals

Brand new visuals! We’ve refreshed the look with a new logo, Steam page art, and a shiny animated main menu!

Skins are coming with the full release! 🎉

Skins are coming with full release! We’re planning a small supporter pack at launch that would include a few skins. Skins will be unlocked through hard-earned achievements and bought with currency earned by playing.

What's Next for Gem Miner TD

Stay tuned, more demo updates (and some secret cool stuff) are coming before Finnish Games Week and Next Fest early next month.

The release date will be revealed later this month/early next, and we will make sure the game launches with a big discount!

-iFeral

After 3 years of hard work, the day has finally arrived! Gem Miner TD Demo is live!

Inspired by the legendary Warcraft 3 custom maps, this is just the beginning. Play it now!

We will be adding more content and tweaking things based on your feedback, so stay tuned!

What’s in the Gem Miner TD Demo?

Get a taste of the action with access to the tutorial map and 21 waves from the first and second map!

• Two playable miners, each with unique mechanics and unlockables.

• Experiment with over 30 unique gems, representing about 30% of the full roster, including core starting gems and early-tier merges.

• Over 20 powerful augments to customize your strategy.

• A variety of unique enemy types to challenge your defenses.

Your progress carries over! The same save is used for both the Demo and Full version. This demo offers a streamlined version of the full experience, giving you a solid look at the core gameplay. The full game will feature multiple maps, significantly expanded gem selection, numerous miners with meta-progression, dozens of additional augments and expanded mechanics.

We are experimenting with using a demo/trial hybrid. More content than usual for a demo, but progression is slightly slower, and your save file carries over to the full game.

We hope you enjoy our passion project. Thank you for playing! Welcome to our community on Discord.

If you enjoy the experience, please consider leaving a review. Adding us to your wishlist would mean the world to us!