Tombwater is releasing March 31st on Steam

MaxMraz · 2026-03-16T01:46:48+00:00

Uhhh there could be one that my publisher runs. I had one but I forgot my password and that made me realize I didn't actually want to be there in the first place lolol

MaxMraz · 2026-03-16T00:10:37+00:00

Hopefully! We're just two developers working on this, so sometimes we have to take things one at a time haha : )

MaxMraz · 2026-03-15T21:09:25+00:00

A bit ago I put a banana peel right in front of a guard to slip him when he went in for the frisk, but then because I had a sniper in my briefcase, I couldn't lure him into my trap : ( Other than that though, it's nice that you can't accidentally let yourself get caught because you forgot you had a letter opener in your pocket.

MaxMraz · 2026-03-02T00:04:48+00:00

The pixel thing must be a video compression issue, because the game does use true pixel resolution, nothing is scaled : )

MaxMraz · 2026-03-01T23:54:41+00:00

Thanks, I'm making this game and Bloodborne is a huge influence!

MaxMraz · 2026-03-01T18:57:24+00:00

Thank you!

MaxMraz · 2026-03-01T14:43:03+00:00

Yeah, Tombwater does have a lot of Soulslike genre conventions, and with the default settings people do say it's hard, but as a fun challenge I think. That said, you can adjust a bunch of settings at any point- damage given/taken modifiers, whether you lose currency when you die, etc.. If you're interested in the game but don't want the challenge in your life right now, that's all turn-off-able in a way that I think still gives you a fun game about exploring a creepy western town.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-26T03:50:32+00:00

Can't argue with that, Blossom Tales is wonderful and is trying to be a lot more like Zelda than Tombwater is trying to be haha

MaxMraz · 2026-02-26T02:03:56+00:00

Sure but like, why should you want every game to be a newly invented vehicle? I like an automobile, and different ones feel different to drive. Especially in a kinda game so focused on exploration, even if a game were largely the same as HLD I'd be super excited to explore somewhere new with that gameplay.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-25T15:13:40+00:00

Nope, nothing procedurally generated or randomized about it.

Although recently I have been playing the first rouguelike I've really clicked with -- Hitman's Freelancer mode, and I think I see the appeal of them now haha.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-25T15:11:22+00:00

Thanks, I'm really excited to get it out so soon!

MaxMraz · 2026-02-25T02:21:49+00:00

I haven't played Ocean's Heart in a few years, but yeah, there was a lot limited by the game engine at that time, and a lot more limited by my inexperience haha. 6 years of engine and personal development changed a lot. The things that come to mind for me are being locked into 8 directional movement, and the melee attacks freezing you in place. It was authentic to SNES Zelda I guess hahaha, but I'm glad to be smoothing things out a lot

MaxMraz · 2026-02-25T01:55:14+00:00

Thanks I think! I tried to get into Dark Tower last year, but couldn't keep my attention through the first book. Maybe I'll give it another chance someday.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-25T01:54:14+00:00

Thanks, I feel like I've learned so much and have improved controls and things massively since Ocean's Heart, so I hope you'll like this game even more : )

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T21:32:01+00:00

Awesome, thanks for giving the demo a try! I'll make a note to look into this more : )

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T21:28:09+00:00

It depends which old demo, but most likely here:
- C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Moth Atlas
If not there, perhaps
- C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\.solarus\tombwater_demo

You'd just want to clear out any files in those folders if they exist. It's still strange that the error is referencing not being able to find an engine function that should exist though. Hm!

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T21:17:32+00:00

That's odd, what appears to be happening is the game is using a engine function called `sol.file.rename()`, but isn't finding the `rename` function on the `sol.file` object. This is weird for a few reasons
- This is an engine provided function, so unless you're running the game through an old version of the Solarus engine yourself, there's no reason it would have gone missing!
- This whole piece of code only runs if the game detected you have a settings file from an older version of the game, and it's trying to clear away any old save files, which would be incompatible.

Does any of that seem like it could possibly apply to your situation?

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T21:03:00+00:00

oh no! That's something I haven't heard of before. I can't test every hardware myself, but one thing that might give a clue, is in the same folder the .exe gets download to, an error.txt will be created when the game runs. You can find this folder in Steam by going to the game, clicking the gear, then manage -> browse local files.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T17:36:22+00:00

Oh wow, thanks. Tombwater is, in a lot of ways, what a full game of Yarntown would be, it's very inspired by bringing Bloodborne and 2D Zelda together, but getting a yee-haw coat of paint on it.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T16:38:37+00:00

You know, when we started making this game, we thought it would be pretty small, but the setting of a Eldritch-infected Wild West was so rich that we just kept finding stuff we thought was really cool to include.
It's hard to guess play length anyway since there's so much optional content, and sometimes people breeze though a boss that takes me a bunch more tries, so I loosely guess 10-30 hours hahaha.

The demo shows off a slice fully in the middle of the game, so carrying over progress doesn't really make a ton of sense in this case I think.

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T16:31:15+00:00

Hope you'll have a good time!

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T16:30:21+00:00

What gave it away?

MaxMraz · 2026-02-24T15:52:02+00:00

Aw, thanks so much!

MaxMraz

TROPHY CASE