Money is obtained by winning stages on the map (replay at your leisure), and via achievement unlocks. Mining provides you with materials to upgrade the gear you buy.
Looks great... except for the part where outside the title screen, it's identical to this game ( http://www.kongregate.com/games/MateuszSkutnik/labyrinth ), which Mateusz Skutnik put on the site last year...
As usual, a lot of fun to play. Not sure, but the Spy may be even more fun to use than I remember. Also, as neat as it can be to take out the base of a building to watch it topple with all the enemies still on it, it is somehow even more gratifying to disconnect a tree or vine from the ceiling with enemies still onboard.
Also: the puzzle for which the binoculars gives the clue/answer can be brute forced. I just played through the game a 2nd time, and because I remember the solutions, I simply put in the answer and it worked. Before ever even entering the room where the binoculars are found.
The way out of the cube should be the bottom left room. The correct color for that room is cyan. So, if you have gotten yourself lost in the cube, move left until the option is no longer available (should only be once), and keep trying to move back (at most 2x, 2nd time leaving you outside).
Too bad we don't have more inventory space in the burning village at the beginning: there are 5 more doors I could be salvaging. (The only things the Hammer doesn't work on are the flames and the flooring. Even potholes!)
Great to unlock new mission variety as I level up, but I'm thinking the Asteroid Mapping comes too soon: At Lv17, I'm in the biggest ship I can use, a Medium, but the enemy has invariably been a Heavy ship. It's unwinnable at the level it's introduced.
Neat little trick: At least as far up as worms, you can isolate/wall-in monster spawn points. Guesstimate where it is, and start plopping cliff blocks there. If it says you can't build there (looks like a dirt block with an X through it), you've found a spawn point. Wall it off and come back later (to make sure you didn't just wall off a berry by mistake :P ).
fixed ! RAH ! now for the harder ones :(