Bismuth Tales - Once Glorious Artahk Dev
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bismuthtales.bsky.social
Bismuth Tales - Once Glorious Artahk Dev
@bismuthtales.bsky.social
61 followers 50 following 130 posts
Solo game dev behind Once Glorious Artahk, a lore-rich, dark fantasy adventure game.

Available now on Steam!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3390310/Once_Glorious_Artahk/
Website: https://oncegloriousartahk.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/FCtxUAebHm
Posts Replies Media Videos
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Hotfix 1.2.1 is now live, make sure your game is up to date!

Small update that fixes a few typos, prevents a rare crash, and adds a small QoL feature to preview what lore entries are in a serial while scrolling through the list

steamcommunity.com/games/339031...
December 3, 2025 at 10:14 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
The first player has officially beaten the game! 🎉🎉
The achievement "Let There Be Light" from the game Once Glorious Artahk, rewarded for reaching the ending of the game. The author forgot to grab a screenshot of the version where the unlock percentage is shown so you'll just have to trust him
November 24, 2025 at 2:08 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
This ability caused by far the most headaches during development trying to catch every edge case where the player can strand themself without a way back, but it's very cool! 🌸

Final #ScreenshotSaturday post for this project, because it's available now!: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...
November 23, 2025 at 3:05 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
I FOUND THE VINE THAT'S BEEN KILLING PLAYERS!
Image depicts a terrified looking cat being grabbed by a hand with the caption "YOU"
November 21, 2025 at 4:06 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
If you're playing the game, just know that I'm secretly cheering you on every step of the way! Genuinely out here looking like this every time I check in and see that the unlock % on a progress milestone achievement has gone up
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Have YOU seen this achievement? You shouldn't have!

It seemed like a fun idea at the time to add one that can be a consolation prize for dying to a bug, but now I'm haunted by the fact a bug killed at least 2 players that I have no knowledge of! Please tell me what happened to you! 🙏 #indiegame
A steam achievement for the game Once Glorious Artahk labeled "A Terrible Fate" with the description "Die in an unanticipated way. But if there's an achievement for it, isn't it anticipated? Something to think about."
November 19, 2025 at 11:01 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
For the last #ScreenshotSaturday before the game releases, here's the last asset I made for it! 🌳

Pro tip for devs: When art is your weakest area, don't put a tree regrowing all of its leaves fully on screen in your game! It's really hard to do!

#pixelart #indiegame #solodev
November 16, 2025 at 12:42 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Guess who learned about #wishlistwednesday at the last possible opportunity? Once Glorious Artahk releases on November 18!

📖Uncover ancient lore
🧩Solve a twisted maze of puzzles
✨Restore light to a starless sky

Wishlist now!: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...

#puzzlegame #indiegame #solodev
November 13, 2025 at 3:26 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Just wrapped up giving a final coat of polish to all the menus in the game! Here's a quick look at the title screen you'll be greeted with when you boot up the game in just over a week

#pixelart #indiegame #indiegaming
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Light is your most important tool in Once Glorious Artahk! ✨
For #ScreenshotSaturday, here's a look at one of the ways you can use it outside of just your torch!

(No, I don't know why I took such a weird route to push the second block)
#indiegame #gamemaker #gamedev #puzzlegame
November 8, 2025 at 10:17 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Hey #PitchYaGame !
Once Glorious Artahk is a puzzle-heavy adventure game in a world trapped in endless night. With only your torch to guide you, uncover the history of the ancient city of Artahk and use what you learn to return light to a starless sky
Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...
November 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Once Glorious Artahk releases on November 18, 2025!

Explore the ruins of an ancient city, solve puzzles to unlock forgotten lore, and use what you learn to find a way to restore light to a starless sky.

Wishlist now on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...
#indiegame #solodev #gaming
November 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Getting around is not always so simple in these tangled ruins... 🌸🌸

Wishlist Once Glorious Artahk now on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...

#indiegame #gamemaker
November 7, 2025 at 2:53 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Just realized that I don't think I've shared the full key art for the game before! Art was done by Jeff Fay (lateral_moves_only on Instagram), super happy with how it turned out!

#art #indiegame
Hand illustrated promo art for the game Once Glorious Artahk. A red cloaked character holding a lit torch stands on the edge of a cliff in the foreground, dwarfed by a massive ziggurat towering in front of them. The sky is framed by dark clouds and a massive moon is positioned behind the structure, revealing the small silhouette of a fox sitting at the top
November 4, 2025 at 3:14 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Correction: I just remembered that for like 1/3 of development The Beast was literally just a red square with an angry face drawn on it and now looks like this, so *that's* definitely gotta be the biggest improvement

#pixelart #gamedev
October 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Found out I had an old alpha test build installed still and it was fun seeing how far things have come! I think the inventory menu had one of the biggest glow ups

Wishlist Once Glorious Artahk now on steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/3390310?...

#screenshotsaturday #indiegame #gamedev #gamemaker
Two different versions of the inventory screen from the game Once Glorious Artahk are shown, on top is an old alpha version made of simple grey rectangles with a generic font, labelled "just make it exist first", then the final version is on the bottom, now featuring fully detailed assets and a much more suitable font for the text, labelled "you can make it good later"
October 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
These vines are still my favorite asset I've made for the game, super satisfying watching them recede every time

#sreenshotsaturday #indiegame #pixelart
October 11, 2025 at 10:54 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Once Glorious Artahk is coming soon on Steam! Solve puzzles and uncover ancient lore in a quest to return light to a starless sky.

Sign up for the mailing list over on my website to get access to a special prologue story in the lead up to release!
oncegloriousartahk.com

#solodev #indiegame #gaming
October 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Fun fact: It was harder and more time consuming to get this title page on lore entries where the body text takes up less space than usual working properly than it was to implement most actual gameplay mechanics #gamedev #gamemaker
August 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
The problem with having oppressive darkness be a strong aesthetic element of the game is that all of my posts look like this in your feed

#gamedev
A doodled drawing of a BlueSky message feed, with a fake post from this account saying "hey check out this cool new area! :)" with an attached image that is almost entirely a solid black rectangle with just a small hint of color in the middle. The post is sandwiched between two others that feature bright and vibrant colors, the one on the bottom labeled "literal coolest thing ever". For some reason, the text is all crudely handwritten instead of just using a font.
July 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Don't know why, but this broken bridge is one of my favorite spots in the game. Something oddly cozy about it :)

#ScreenshotSaturday #indiegame #solodev
July 12, 2025 at 11:26 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Here's one last ability I've been keeping under wraps for #ScreenshotSaturday! The mysteries of Artahk run far deeper than what you see on the surface...

#indiegame #gamedev #gamemaker #solodev
June 29, 2025 at 12:31 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
Quick look at another ability! Sometimes it takes something a bit brighter than your usual torch flame to get the job done.

#ScreenshotSaturday #indiegame #gamedev #gamemaker
June 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
"Beyond this world, a garden grows. And it grows and grows and grows; forever, eternally, into infinity in all directions. It is life and death, truth and lie, the beginning and the end. Of the gardeners, we dare not speak..."

#pixelart #gamedev #indiegame
June 16, 2025 at 1:46 AM
bismuthtales.bsky.social
The tall grass has come a long way from when it used to be just a flat texture under the player

#ScreenshotSaturday #indiegame #gamedev
June 1, 2025 at 5:18 AM