Game Title
Trench Core — The primary title used throughout this document.
Alternate options: Deepwarden, Hollowlight, Coreborne, Underrealm: The Sundered Heart
Elevator Pitch
Buried beneath a dying world, 1–8 explorers awaken in the shadow of the Sundered Heart, a pulsing relic that hums with the memory of a lost civilization. In Trench Core, every block you break uncovers danger or bounty. Mine deeper to discover rare ores and ancient secrets; craft gear to survive increasingly hostile biomes; farm crops in underground grottos; build sprawling bases with logic-powered automation; and hunt down six legendary Titans that guard the path to the Core's true power. Cooperative, creative, and relentlessly atmospheric — the deeper you go, the more the world fights back.
Current Build — What's Live
The playable build at / already ships the following systems. Everything below in sections 4–7 is the full design vision; this section is the ground truth of what exists today.
6 Biomes Live
The Core (hub), Clay Caves, Forgotten Ruins, Azeos' Wilderness, Sunken Sea, Desert of Beginnings — each with unique tile palette, ore distribution, and a colored on-enter banner.
Biome-Specific Creatures
Glow Slime, Clay Crawler, Ruin Wraith, Thornling, Sea Lurker, Sand Stalker. Each has unique HP/dmg/speed stats, colored aura, and biome-themed loot drops (copper, crystal, mushroom, seeds, wood).
Quests & Bounties
3 active rotating quests at all times: Mine X ore, Defeat X enemies, Harvest crops, or Feed the Core. Completion grants coins + score and rolls a fresh quest.
Upgrade Shop
Press B near the Core. Spend coins on 5 tiers each of: Reinforced Suit (+HP), Sharper Pickaxe (+dmg), Light Boots (+speed), Power Drill (mining speed).
Boss Every 5 Waves
A scaled boss slime spawns at waves 5, 10, 15… with crimson aura, 2× damage, and HP scaled to wave + party size. Drops 1000×wave score, coins, and 5 crystals.
Multiplayer Difficulty Scaling
+60% spawn rate & enemy cap, +35% enemy HP, +50% boss HP, faster enemies per additional connected miner. Swarm xN indicator in the header.
Solana Wallet Sign-In
Phantom / Solflare wallet gate. Shortened wallet address is the player name and broadcast to other clients.
Live Player List
Top-right roster shows you + every connected miner in real-time with a status dot. Names auto-prune after 4s of silence.
Mining, Crops & Building
Pickaxe mining, tilling dirt, planting seeds (25s grow), harvesting crops, placing wood walls, chopping trees, mushroom healing — all working.
Shared World State
Realtime broadcast: tile changes (mine/place/till/plant) sync to all clients. New joiners request a full world snapshot from existing peers.
Personal Island Hub
Step into the Island Portal near spawn to teleport to your own private island — a calm, instanced space tied to your wallet for stashing loot and decompressing between runs.
Cloud-Synced Chests
Three storage chests per island sync across every device and session. Deposit / withdraw ore, wood, crystal, mushrooms, seeds and coins from any browser — backed by the cloud database, not localStorage.
Redesigned Wallet Gate
Structured Terminal landing screen with system status line, intro briefing, per-provider wallet slots (Phantom / Solflare / Backpack) showing Detected vs Not Found, and a footer linking straight to this design doc.
Polished Island UI
Chest panel grouped into colored cards with per-resource rows: emoji + name, live Bag / Chest counts, and a clean 2×2 grid of Deposit 1 / All and Withdraw 1 / All buttons — easy to scan at a glance.
Calm NPC Interactions
Friendly NPCs (Island Keeper, Portal Steward) no longer violently shake when you walk up — they idle with a gentle bob and only react with subtle highlight cues when you're in range.
Lobby Browser & Matchmaking
Browse public servers, create private lobbies with a shareable code, or join by code. Hosts set max players (1–30), world seed, and difficulty. Cloud-backed lobby state with live player counts.
Lobby System — Matchmaking
The lobby layer handles how players find each other, create worlds, and drop into the same shared session. Everything below is live today at /lobbies.
Browse Public Servers
A live list of all open public lobbies. Each card shows the lobby name, host wallet (shortened), current players vs max, world seed, difficulty, and how long ago the server started. One click to join.
Create Server
Host a new lobby from the browser. Choose a name, set max players from 1–30, pick a world seed (or random), and select difficulty: Peaceful, Normal, or Hardcore. Public lobbies appear in the browser instantly; private lobbies hide behind a shareable 6-character code.
Join by Code
Private servers don't appear in the public list. The host shares a short lobby code; friends paste it into the 'Join Private Server' panel to connect directly.
Cloud-Backed State
Lobby metadata, member lists, and presence are stored in the cloud database with realtime subscriptions. Player counts update live without polling. When a host leaves, the lobby stays open for remaining players.
> Lobby Settings
Slider from 1 to 30. Default is 8. The host can cap their server to any size up to 30 miners. Larger lobbies increase enemy scaling.
A text string that seeds procedural generation. Same seed = same world layout, ore veins, and biome placement. Leave blank for fully random.
Peaceful — no enemies spawn, pure building & mining. Normal — standard enemy spawns, scaling, and boss waves. Hardcore — 2× enemy damage, permadeath on zero health (wallet save resets).
Public — anyone can browse and join. Private — only joinable via 6-character code. Private lobbies still sync to the cloud; they just don't appear in the public list.
> In-Game HUD
Once inside a lobby, the game HUD shows the current lobby name in the top bar and a "Leave Lobby" button that cleanly disconnects the player and returns them to the lobby browser. The world channel is scoped to the lobby ID — tile changes, player movement, and combat only sync to other miners in the same lobby.
Core Mechanics — Full Vision
Mining & Excavation
Everything is destructible. Pickaxes, drills, and explosives reveal procedurally generated caverns. Different tool tiers and speeds matter — some walls require specific gear.
Crafting & Building
200+ craftable items across workstations: Furnace, Anvil, Fabricator, Bio-Lab, Logic Bench, and more. Build with structural integrity — unsupported ceilings collapse.
Combat
Real-time top-down action with dodge-rolls, charged heavy attacks, and throwable items. Enemy telegraphing is essential in dark biomes.
Farming & Cooking
Underground crops need artificial light and water channels. Cooked meals grant temporary buffs and health regen.
Exploration
Procedural biomes, hidden ruins, secret vaults, and an ever-expanding map. Light is a resource — torches, lanterns, and bioluminescent flora keep darkness at bay.
Multiplayer Cooperation
Drop-in/drop-out co-op servers support 1–30 players max. Shared world state, optional friendly fire, and role specialization through skills.
Unique Biomes
The Shattered Crust
Theme: Rocky browns and grays, loose gravel, occasional crystal clusters.
Resources: Stone, Copper, Tin, basic wood (petrified roots).
Enemies: Cave mites, pebble crabs.
Mechanic: Gravel tiles are unstable — walking over them can trigger mini-cave-ins.
Glowshroom Groves
Theme: Vibrant purples and teals, massive bioluminescent mushrooms.
Resources: Glowcaps (light source), fungal wood, spore silk, iron.
Enemies: Spore walkers, puffball bombers (explode on death).
Mechanic: Spore clouds reduce visibility and slowly drain stamina unless wearing a gas mask.
The Sunken Abyss
Theme: Dark blues and blacks, flooded tunnels, underwater flora.
Resources: Aquatic ore, pearlstone, kelp biomass.
Enemies: Abyssal eels, barnacle hulks.
Mechanic: Oxygen meter when submerged. Air pockets and crafted diving gear extend exploration.
Obsidian Spires
Theme: Glossy black rock, rivers of magma, jagged formations.
Resources: Obsidian, magma cores, sulfur, diamonds.
Enemies: Magma striders, obsidian golems.
Mechanic: Heat meter — without thermal protection, players take continuous damage. Magma flows are dynamic and can be redirected.
Rustfall Junkyard
Theme: Metallic oranges and rust reds, scrap piles, ancient machine parts.
Resources: Scrap metal, wiring, gears, ancient data cores.
Enemies: Junk bots, scrap swarms.
Mechanic: Salvage piles can be searched for random loot but may trigger security drones.
The Forgotten Gardens
Theme: Overgrown greens, soft golden light from unknown sources, ancient arbors.
Resources: Ancient seeds, golden sap, mossstone, silver.
Enemies: Thorn lashers, pollen wisps.
Mechanic: Day/night cycle still exists here — light hours are safe, darkness brings sleeping predators.
Crystal Lattice
Theme: Transparent walls of crystal, rainbow refractions, echoing chambers.
Resources: Quartz, prismatic gems, resonance crystals.
Enemies: Shard spirits, crystal serpents.
Mechanic: Sound-based — loud noises (explosives, heavy impacts) trigger crystal resonance that damages everything in the room.
The Null Depths
Theme: Absolute black with shifting geometric outlines, anti-light.
Resources: Void ore, null shards (end-game crafting).
Enemies: Null stalkers, unreality horrors.
Mechanic: Light sources are suppressed. Players navigate by sound and a special sonar pulse ability. Sanity mechanic — staying too long causes hallucinations that become real.
Fungal Hive
Theme: Organic walls that pulse, warm amber light, honeycomb structures.
Resources: Hive resin, royal jelly, chitin.
Enemies: Drone swarms, hive guards, the Broodmother (mini-boss).
Mechanic: Hive walls regenerate over time if the central Heart-node isn't destroyed.
Echo Caverns
Theme: Massive open spaces with reflective water, stalactite forests.
Resources: Echo pearls, deep marble, ancient bones.
Enemies: Echo bats, mirror shades (copy player appearance).
Mechanic: Sound echoes — enemies hear your mining and combat from far away, drawing them in.
Progression Systems
> Tech Tree
Branching research unlocked by spending Ancient Data Cores found in ruins. Categories:
- Mining: Tool tiers, explosive recipes, vein detection
- Combat: Weapon types, armor sets, dodge abilities
- Automation: Conveyor belts, auto-miners, logic gates
- Biology: Crop variants, tameable creatures, healing tech
- Exploration: Map upgrades, movement abilities (grappling hook, jet boots), light amplification
> Skill System
Passive progression through doing. Each skill levels independently, granting small permanent bonuses:
- Mining → faster swing speed, chance for bonus ore
- Combat → damage reduction, critical hit chance
- Farming → crop growth speed, yield bonuses
- Crafting → reduced material costs, chance for quality upgrade
- Exploration → movement speed, minimap reveal radius
> The Titans — 7 Legendary Bosses
The Golem of Bedrock
Shattered Crust depths
Destructible armor plates — mine them off to expose weak core
Mycelia, the Spore Mother
Glowshroom Groves heart
Constantly spawns minions; must destroy central mushroom while managing spore clouds
Leviathan of the Abyss
Sunken Abyss trench
Underwater fight with limited oxygen; uses current attacks to disorient
Ignis, the Obsidian Warden
Obsidian Spires caldera
Arena floods with magma; players must build platforms and manage heat
Omega, the Last Construct
Rustfall Junkyard core
Phase-shifting machine — vulnerable to different damage types per phase; requires coordination
The Hollow Gardener
Forgotten Gardens center
Manipulates arena terrain, growing thorn walls; only vulnerable when pruning its heart-vines
Null, the Unbeing
Null Depths terminus
Reality-warping — arena geometry shifts, player controls invert randomly, must use sound navigation
Standout Features
The Echo System
Every action in Trench Core leaves a mark — and enemies react. Loud mining draws predators. Explosions collapse unstable ceilings. Light attracts photophilic horrors. The world is not static; it listens and responds. This creates tense risk/reward decisions: do you mine slowly and safely, or rush and fight what you wake?
Logic-Powered Automation
A full wiring and logic system lets players build automated mining rigs, sorting systems, trap defenses, and even puzzle mechanisms. AND/OR/NOT gates, timers, sensors, and conveyor belts turn your base into a living machine. No programming required — pure visual logic.
Structural Integrity
Builds must be structurally sound. Unsupported ceilings collapse. Bridges need pillars. This forces creative base design and makes every construction feel earned and grounded in the world.
Biome-Driven Survival
Unlike games where biomes are just visual skins, Trench Core biomes fundamentally change how you play. The Abyss needs oxygen management. The Spires need heat protection. The Null Depths test your sanity. Each biome is a new survival challenge, not just a new palette.
Titan Ascension
Defeating a Titan doesn't just drop loot — it permanently alters the world. Kill the Spore Mother and groves begin to wither, revealing hidden caves. Slay the Leviathan and the Abyss tides calm, opening new passages. Titans are gates that reshape the sandbox.
Atmospheric Co-op
Light-sharing, resource pooling, and role specialization create genuine interdependence. One player manages the farm, another builds defenses, a third scouts deep biomes. The dark is scarier together — and so is the payoff.
Visual Style
> Art Direction
Trench Core uses a rich 2D pixel art style with a focus on atmospheric lighting and environmental storytelling. The aesthetic sits between the clean readability of Stardew Valley and the moody density of Core Keeper. Each biome has a distinct color identity that players learn to read instantly — purple means spores, orange means heat, black means danger.
> Lighting System
Lighting is the heart of the visual identity. A dynamic 2D shadow system casts real-time shadows from walls, entities, and light sources. Torches flicker and dim over time. Bioluminescent flora pulses with soft bloom. Magma emits a harsh red-orange glow that reflects off obsidian walls. The Null Depths actively suppress light, creating a terrifying inverse-illumination effect where darkness itself seems to have weight.
> Animation & Feedback
Every action has satisfying tactile feedback. Mining sends pixel debris flying. Combat hits trigger brief freeze-frames and screen shake. Water ripples when disturbed. Particles tell the story of the world — dust falls from ceilings, spores drift lazily, magma bubbles and pops. UI is diegetic where possible: health is shown on the character, crafting stations animate while working.
> Interface Design
Minimal, contextual HUD that fades when not needed. The hotbar is small and unobtrusive. Notifications are in-world (floating text, sound cues) rather than modal popups. The map is a hand-drawn-style revelation that fills in as you explore, rewarding cartographers. In multiplayer, player names and health bars appear contextually.
Coin → SOL Economy
In-game ◎ coins are designed to become redeemable for real SOL on Solana mainnet at a fixed conversion rate. Your wallet IS your account — earnings settle directly on-chain to the address you signed in with. No custodial accounts, no off-ramp friction.
> Exchange Rate
Times are estimates for a focused solo player clearing waves, doing quests, and defeating the occasional boss. Actual earnings vary by skill, party size, and biome depth.
> Why Coins Are Hard To Get
Coins are deliberately scarce. The exchange rate is generous, so the earn rate is the throttle. Average sources of income at launch:
- ► Wave clear — 2–14 ◎ depending on wave number (+2 bonus with Coin Press tech)
- ► Quest completion — 3–24 ◎ (mine, kill, harvest, or feed the Core)
- ► Boss defeat — 15–30 ◎ (scales with wave, spawns every 5 waves)
- ► Daily / weekly bounties — 25–100 ◎ (planned)
Realistic pace: a focused 30-min session yields ~40–80 ◎. Reaching 100 ◎ (0.1 SOL) takes real effort, which is the point — value comes from scarcity, not faucets.
> Anti-Abuse Rails (v1 Launch)
> When Coins Become Transferable
In-game ◎ coins are not immediately redeemable for SOL. They become fully transferable only after the $TrenchCore SPL token migrates to PumpSwap — a Solana-native DEX that replaces traditional bonding-curve launches with instant liquidity pools.
Until migration, coins are "earmarked" to your wallet address and tracked server-side. Nothing is lost — everything converts 1:1 at migration time. The PumpSwap LP means there is immediate exit liquidity the moment migration flips on; no waiting for CEX listings.
> Treasury & Token
The in-game coin lives on Solana as $TrenchCore — an SPL token minted at launch. Players who don't want to cash to SOL can hold $TrenchCore directly in any Solana wallet, trade it, or use it inside the game economy (cosmetics, premium bases, named server slots).
Note: Cashout is shown in the Core Shop today as a preview. The button is disabled until server-side coin custody and the $TrenchCore mint go live. Coins earned now will be credited at launch for wallets that connected during the alpha.
Trench Core — Game Design Document — Built solo, runs in browser, Solana wallet login