A little different of an Indie Game Spotlight here.

The previous ones I were aware of via Twitter and have been following the devs for a while and their games were released around the time. This one is a casual mobile game I randomly found on the app store, amidst all the garbage, and thought I'd share since it is an almost impossible challenge to find anything on the app store that doesn't make you watch an ad every five seconds.

From some quick googling, I believe it is an indie developer, and it is definitely pixel art, so it makes it a good fit for my Indie Game Spotlight.

Tap! Dig! My Museum!

You run a dinosaur museum so it has a bit of that Zoo Tycoon feel to it. Of course not as many options but that's probably better for a mobile game.

Here though, you have to find all the exhibits yourself!

The pixel art here reminds me of Earthbound, a mix of digging in the desert and the scientist camp in Winters.

As you progress, the dig sites will grow in complexity. Both in width and height, but also depth, having to excavate multiple layers of soil, and additional soil types, such as rocky soil.

Once you get done with an excavation, you bring your fossils back to the museum and add them to the exhibit.

You have a limited number of displays, so you can swap out which dino is on display using the edit screen.

Additional displays and rooms are unlocked as you progress.

There is a map that you will choose which site to start excavating when you start a new exhibit.

Overall, it is a pretty simple and straightforward game, but it is definitely satisfying to complete an exhibit.

Ads and Idle Time

To hit precisely on the topic on everyone's mind when looking at a free mobile game: How many ads do I have to watch? How much idle or mindless activity do I have to grind to progress?

Ads really aren't that bad. I'm not sure how exactly it is programmed, but it seems like you are forced to watch an ad maybe every 5-10 digs. I'm not good at estimating time, but it seems like you could play for maybe 15 minutes straight without having to watch an ad. You aren't bombarded with ads anywhere close to a lot of games you will download.

As far as watching ads to progress, the game really isn't gatekeeping like that. The main boost from watching an ad is kind of cute - watch an ad to get a bus to pull up to the museum and drop off a bunch of kids on a field trip, of course, getting you some income!

I believe there are a couple of other places you can watch an ad to progress faster or get a boost, but those aren't shoved in your face and I haven't needed to rely on those to progress.

As far as idle or mindless time, this game isn't filled with that either. The one chore you have is to collect the coins, your income. When you are away and come back it will be collected for you. I don't believe you collect as much while the app is closed though. When you go on a dig and come back that is usually the time to collect.

Little robots that look like a Roomba are available to auto collect your coins. So far, the one I have can't keep up.

Overall, the game hasn't felt like a grind. Sometimes if you are wanting to do something now you will idle and wait for coins to drop. But the excavation is where you feel like you spend most of your time on the game.

Links

Here are the links to the game on mobile:

• Apple Store
• Google Play

Developer/Studio:

• Oridio on Twitter
• I believe this is the developer on Linked In: Takuya Ori (as I was trying to figure out if this was an Indie Game)

Also, when searching I did find there is a Wiki on Fandom, if you want to take this casual game serious, ha!

Enjoy!