The developer's site names no ancestor, so the tree lists it as its own root. It follows the Rogue tradition (a turn-based dungeon crawl in a curses console) but replaces classes, races and experience with items, enchantments and paid training. Releases: v2.4.2 (Windows XP), v2.5.2, v2.6 (2022-01-22, the version played here).
Credits
BtS
Design, code and content, 2014–2022 (readme.txt)
PDCurses
The console library the game is linked with (the shipped pdcurses.dll, 2008 build)
v86
The x86 emulator in this web version (Fabian Hemmer, BSD-2-Clause)
memmaker
Web port: Windows and curses compatibility layer, windows, saves
Trivia
The game is free to play, and its developer has said the source code will stay closed. (thegroundgivesway.com)
Its win screen thanks you for bringing "the ancient trombone-like thing" to the surface, and hopes you can get home "without the ground giving way again". (the game's own text)
If the game is not shut down properly it offers to recover from the last autosave, and calls that cheating unless the game crashed. (the game's own text)
What's unique
No classes, races or experience. Strength comes from items and their enchantments and from paid training.
Effects with durations by source (Permanent, Equipment, Temporary, Context, Instant), shown in the Attributes table. (reference.html shipped with the game)
Thievery, noise and vision decide stealth: 5 + vision − noise drives traps, stealing and thief weapons. (reference.html)
A coffee-break game: about two hours from start to the artifact and back.
Code dive
Binary: one 32-bit PE executable of 2,997,760 bytes (.text 2.4 MB) plus pdcurses.dll (112 KB). MSVC C++ with the static runtime; no packer. The source is closed, so nothing here comes from source.
Interface: it imports only 40 PDCurses functions and 128 kernel32 functions. It builds one curses window per pane (Map, Attributes, Seen, Target, Item, Messages, Status, backpack, equipment).
Background thread: a 200 ms ticker thread; saving works only when it runs.
This port: the unmodified exe runs inside the v86 emulator; a host layer implements the kernel32 subset and the 40 curses functions and hands each window to the page as its own text pane. Source of the layer: memmaker/tggw-cloud (private; it holds no part of the game).
Stats
Counts from the developer's site, not from code (the source is closed): about 700 items and more than 180 monsters. (thegroundgivesway.com)
Manual
The manual and FAQ are on the developer's site: manual, FAQ. They are not copied here: the licence does not allow redistribution.
Getting started
Open the game and choose Start Game, then a slot marked New game (Space selects).
Move with the arrow keys or the vi keys. Walk into monsters to attack.
Esc opens the main menu (inventory, maps, messages, discovered lists, save & quit). c is the inventory, x target mode, a activates stairs and items.
Use Save & quit to leave; the slot keeps your character in this browser.
No walkthrough was found for this port. The game's own tutorial is on its start menu, and the developer's FAQ answers common questions. The tips in the game's reference: keep your thievery between 0 and 10 for reliable trap disarming, and remember that magic attacks always hit.
Cheats
No wizard or debug mode is known.
Save scumming works: Export save before something risky, Import save if it goes wrong. The game itself calls recovering from the autosave after a crash "cheating".