When Last Minute Creations first conceived the idea for AMINER, the plan wasn’t exactly world domination. It was 2018. Retro Komp in Gdansk was hosting a game dev competition, and the goal was humble: make a simple, quick game—something fun, something light, something to fill the time.
But once things get moving in game development, they tend to pick up a life of their own.
KaiN — the engine wizard behind ACE, a custom Amiga development tool — put down the first lines of code. AMINER was born with modest ambitions but strong foundations. And to everyone’s surprise, that quick project scored second place at Retro Komp 2018. Not bad for what was essentially supposed to be a weekend experiment.
What happened next wasn’t quite a victory lap. It was the long pause of “now what?” The team found themselves in creative limbo, unsure of how to push the idea forward.
That all changed when a new competition was announced on the English Amiga Board. This was the nudge they didn’t know they needed.
They went back to the drawing board — literally. The color palette expanded from 16 to 32 colors, and the story shifted into something far less ordinary. What was once a casual miner game slowly morphed into a quirky adventure set in an alternate-history communist country. Suddenly, ideas for quests, campaign modes, and gameplay systems went far beyond the original plan.
Another competition. Another second-place win.
At this point, walking away was no longer an option. This wasn’t a side project anymore — it was unfinished business.
Fast forward to today, and AMINER (2025 Edition) is inching closer to completion. It’s bigger, weirder, and more ambitious than anyone thought back in 2018. The development is still ongoing — quests are being written, features are being polished, and yes, easter eggs are waiting to be discovered.
Softiron, one of the project’s creators, credits KaiN’s code for holding it all together. Without it, AMINER would be just a folder full of pixel art and half-baked ideas. But with it, the project lives, grows, and stubbornly refuses to stay unfinished.
This update isn’t a victory speech — it’s a progress report. And a promise that more is coming.
Minimum System Requirements for AMINER (2025 Edition)
- 1MB Chip RAM
- 1MB Additional RAM
- Any OCS Amiga
A Game for Everyone
One of the most exciting things about Aminer is its accessibility. The game will be free to play under a “Name Your Own Price” model, with a suggested contribution of just $5.00. This approach allows everyone to enjoy the game while giving players the chance to support the developers by paying what they feel it’s worth.
 by Last Minute Creations — an Amiga game that started as a quick project but grew into a full-scale alternate-history adventure.){kind=link}