Aground Original Game Soundtrack Deluxe Edition Soundtrack

With Aground, we wanted to try something a little different with the survival genre - we wanted a game that wasn’t an open world, but instead focused on progression and story. As David Maletz, Designer and Programmer for Aground put it: “I want to know why I'm mining or gathering resources - what's it all for?” This brought a breath of fresh air to the genre that players simply loved. We have had over 3 million plays and extraordinarily positive reviews after releasing the game last fall, to portals like Armor Games, Kongregate, and Newgrounds.
While it has inspiration from games like Minecraft, Starbound, and other resource-gathering and crafting games, it actually has more in common with the text-based game A Dark Room. Starting off with literally nothing but the ability to gather wood, the game is designed to constantly surprise the player and make them wonder "What's next?" First mining unlocks, then farming, crafting, trading, sailing to other islands, then power and technology start to develop, and eventually you can make your way into space and must deal with the alien threat that caused humanity to crash on this planet in the first place.

This is where the theme of progression shines - we want the player to feel like they are really progressing and that exciting options are constantly opening up for them. By the end of the game, even though there will be a lot of systems and complexities, since they have built up slowly, the player is able to easily manage all of it.