Salt Mines

**Salt Mines** is an online multiplayer mode that is accessed via the pixel lobbies. It was introduced with the game when it launched in Early Access in February 2018, and would go on to receive significant design updates and relaunching as Salt Mines 2.0.

The portal to the Salt Mines is in a hidden location in each pixel lobby:

* In **Pummelin’ Plains**, the entrance is hidden behind the waterfall. Players must jump in the river to access it, and then walk up into the waterfall.
* In **The City of Reine**, the entrance is hidden behind the derelict shop left of the Cap'n'Cash's shop.
* In **A Dreary Place**, the entrance is hidden in the hole near the center of the lobby. Players must jump down the hole to access it.
* In the **Hallowed Grove**, the entrance is on the bottom left side of the lobby, in the trees that line the edges of the map.

Inside the Salt Mine lobby room, a gate guards the entrance to the mines proper. If there are no players currently in the mines, any player can open the gate. Once the gates are open, players will have 25 seconds to enter the gate before the salt mine run starts.

Once the run starts, any player outside that wants to access the mines must pay salt to gain access. The salt cost to enter the mines increases as the difficulty level goes up. Once the second phase of the run starts, the gates will close, and can only be opened again once the run is finished. Players in the mines can leave at any time through the main menu. If all players are eliminated from the mines, the run will end.

Pixel lobby avatar of choice will serve as the playable character in the mines. The player will not be able to change their character once they enter the Salt Mines.

## Gameplay

### Phases

The first phase of the Salt Mines lasts 15 minutes. During this time, players can mine for salt, open chests, and battle predators. The Final Showdown phase begins once the 15 minutes have elapsed. Whichever player has the most salt on hand will transform into a bear, and must chase down and defeat the other players, while the rest of the players must either outlive the bear or beat it in the battle. If there is only one player surviving at the end of first phase, the run will end, and the remaining player will be teleported back into the lobby.

### Difficulty

The mines have ten levels of difficulty, each determine how the predators behave in battle, how many predators spawn, how much salt is yielded, and the darkness of the rooms. Defeating predators is required to raise the difficulty level. When a difficulty transition happens, it's signified by the sound of a wolf howling, followed by the room flashing black and exits being locked out temporarily. In each transition, salt deposits, chests, and predators will reset. The background music becomes more intense after every two levels.

The ten difficulties are:

* Level I - Feelin' Fine (x1.0 salt yield)
* Level II - Almost Anxious (x1.1 salt yield)
* Level III - Slightly Spookified (x1.3 salt yield)
* Level IV - Getting Ghostly (x1.6 salt yield)
* Level V - Halfway Haunted (x2.0 salt yield)
* Level VI - Quite Quiversome (x2.5 salt yield)
* Level VII - Tremendously Terrifying (x3.1 salt yield)
* Level VIII - Notably Nightmarish (x3.8 salt yield)
* Level IX - OHGODMAKEITSTOP (x4.6 salt yield)
* Level X - AAAAAAAAAAAAAA (x5.5 salt yield)

Once player reaches the highest difficulty, it will no longer be possible to progress any further and reset the map.

### Mining

Salt is found in nodes and mine carts throughout the mines, and players can mine it by pressing Heavy button (keyboard default D). Mining produces noise that may attract or wake up nearby predators. At random, a salt node of any size may suddenly produce much more salt than it usually does, making a louder noise. Salt nodes also have a small chance of restoring health.

### Predators

Predators are located throughout the mines, and a certain amount of them must be defeated to move to the next difficulty. A base number of six predators is required to be defeated if one person is playing, and adds two more predators required to defeat for each other player in the mines. The complexity of their battle AI and their total amount of health is determined by the current difficulty level.

Predators have three distinct behaviors. Sleeping predators will not attack, and can only be woken up if the player is standing, mining too close to them, or throwing dynamite. Scouting predators will have a purple glow around them, and they will wander around the room. Attacking predators have a red glow around them, and a sound effect will play to warn that it's chasing a target. Only one predator can chase one player at a time. Predators will also teleport to maintain a presence among the players.

Occasionally, Fluffers, when spotting the player, will not chase them and summon Shadow clones before disappearing. Shadows are the seven player characters but with unique palettes, have higher health and, much like their Arcade Mode counterparts, more complex AI than the normal predators. They will not fall asleep, and their spawning sometimes will temporarily lock the room's exits.

### Chests

Chests are scattered throughout every room of the mines, and each one costs salt to open. Chests are opened by pressing the Magic button (keyboard default Z). Chests are typically visible, but sometimes may be hidden in salt nodes, which must be broken to reveal the hidden chest. There are three types of chests:

* **Dynamite Chest** - opens immediately, gives the player one stick of dynamite. Costs 60 Salt.
* **Health Chest** - opens immediately, restores some of the player's health. Costs 100 Salt.
* **Treasure Chest** - opens after 10 seconds, gives the player either a hat, a mask, or a neck accessory. Cost vary based on rarity: 200 for Uncommon, 400 for Rare, and 800 for Epic.

If a Treasure Chest has spawned in a room, an indicator will appear on any entrance leading into the room, and a sound effect will play upon entering it. Once a player has begun to open a Treasure Chest, a ten-second countdown will appear before it opens. When a player successfully opens a Treasure Chest, a message will display on screen for every player in the Salt Mines. If the item produced is one already in the player's inventory, it will return all of the salt spent, as well as gift extra salt - a total of 300 if Uncommon, 600 if Rare, and 1200 if Epic rarity. If the player was being pursued by a predator before attempting to open a Treasure Chest, the predator will disappear.

During the countdown, another player with enough salt to open the same chest may approach and contest for it. The two players will then play a single-round fight. Both players will earn either an item or extra salt after the fight is complete, and the winner of the fight will get the item of rarer value than the loser. In the last ninety seconds of the first phase, Treasure Chests will no longer be able to be contested, allowing players to open them immediately.

The more players are in the mines, the more Treasure Chests spawn. During the Final Showdown, Treasure Chests will stop spawning entirely, while Health and Dynamite ones become significantly more rare.

### Dynamite

Dynamite is used by pressing the Light Attack button (keyboard default A). Once thrown, dynamite will travel in a straight line based on the player's last line of movement (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal), and explode after one second. Every player will receive one stick of dynamite at the beginning of their run, and additional up to 10 dynamites can be obtained from chests.

Dynamite explosions have a small blast radius that will kill all predators within it, instantly mine salt nodes, stun and hurt other players. Stunned players will lie on the ground for several seconds, leaving them vulnerable to predators.

### Final Showdown

If the round successfully ends after 15 minutes with more than one player still in the mines, the Final Showdown phase will begin. The salt multiplier will stay at whatever percentage it last was until the game ends. The mines will become brightly lit, all predators will disappear, and the players will have thirty seconds to mine salt and open chests. After thirty seconds, whichever player has the most salt on hand will transform into the bear, wearing whatever hat the player was wearing. Health from all players (including the bear) will start to slowly bleed out.

When playing as the bear, the rooms will be uniformly lit with a red hue, and the player will no longer be able to mine salt or throw dynamite. In order to win, the player must navigate the mines and defeat other players. The bear will roar when it spawns and each time it defeats a player, makes loud stomping noises when moving. If a player is in another room, an indicator (a doughnut) will appear on entrances to that room. For each player defeated, the bear will regain health and earn salt.

When not playing as the bear, all of the rooms will become pitch black, with the only a small ring of light around each player. The objective is to either survive the bear long enough for it to bleed out of health, or to defeat it in battle. Players can mine salt, and salt nodes may reveal Health or Dynamite chests. Each time a player is defeated or withers away, a message will be shown to all of the other players. The game ends once all of the players are defeated, or if the bear is defeated.

### Scorecard

Once a player has been eliminated from the Salt Mines, a scorecard will appear showing how many predators the player had defeated, how much salt they mined, how many chests they opened, and the either how much damage they did to the bear, or how many players the bear had beaten. The top of the scorecard will show what character the player was using, how high the difficulty had become, how long the player survived, and what beat them (if applicable). The bottom of the scorecard will show what cosmetics had been earned, if any.

There are seven possible bonuses that can be earned, which yield additional salt. The bonuses are as follows:

* **From the Beginning** - enter the Salt Mines during the setup phase. Adds 200 Salt.
* **Taste for Salt** - break at least 100 salt nodes. Adds 400 Salt.
* **Reverse Hunter** - defeat at least 25 predators. Adds 600 Salt.
* **Final Showdown** - survive into the Final Showdown. Adds 300 Salt.
* **Bear Slayer** - defeat the bear in the Final Showdown. Adds 800 Salt.
* **I AM BECOME BEAR** - transform into the bear during the Final Showdown. Adds 500 Salt.
* **Apex Predator** - defeat all of the other players as the bear. Adds 600 Salt.

If the player earns Apex Predator bonus playing in one of the official pixel lobbies (green or blue), they can unlock Shadow palette of the character they were playing in the mines. If all the players but one leave the mines during pre-bear transformation phase, the remaining player will transform into the bear and recieve Apex Predator bonus, but will not unlock the Shadow palette.

## Trivia

* During Frightenin' Herds, the chests are replaced by pumpkins, and all of the predators will wear newly released Halloween hats.
* During Winter Holidays, the chests will have a white, red and yellow gift box decorations, and all of the predators will wear newly released Christmas hats.
* It was possible to carry up to 30 dynamites.
* The Early Access version of the mines was significantly different from the current design.
	+ The fight stage resembled more of an empty cave, with stalactites and stalagmites, and presumably predators' eyes and teeth flashing in the darkness.
	+ Teleporting to the mines used to be through interacting with a small statue, and it would cost 3 salt as base price. Standing close enough to it, the statue would glow and play a short melody. Teleporting into the mines was immediate, and there was no timer, letting players to stay in the mines for as long as they could.
	+ To get salt, players would need to open chests with a salt decoration, found in the old versions of the mines. The chest would grant 6 salt.
	+ To restore some health, players could open wooden chests, spending 25 salt. The chest would give player an apple instead of health points.
	+ The mines would usually be empty, but predators could spawn randomly, and would always chase down a player, until the player either leaves the room or interacts with a chest.
	+ When fighting predators, players would already have their characters' magic and super meter bars filled to maximum.
	+ Pom's NPC clone wouldn't appear in earlier game builds due to her AI being broken, making only the rest of five characters appear in the mines. Furthermore, character clones used to have default palettes, before an update to set the difference between playable character and enemy.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/salt-mines-2-0-early-access-patch-18-09-11-19.2224/
2. ↑ https://www.forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/early-access-patch-19-09-21-19.2227/
3. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/games/574980/announcements/detail/1786146242179143621