Tales from Zilmurik News

[p]For the better part of a month, I've been writing out enough lore to fill a library (or - rather - every library in Eylin), and at long last, it's finally ready for release. For those who have wanted to know more about the world in easily digestible chunks (and I know you have): you're in luck! Today's massive update (over half a megabyte!) grants you access to a staggering eighty-one unique books for your browsing pleasure, including statistical information tacked onto your status menu (if you're into that sort of thing). [/p][p][/p][p]Immerse yourself in nearly a millennium of world history, lovingly compiled into a yearly timeline, filled with a deep dive into the lives of the heroes, villains and side characters you've come to know, the events which shaped the world and cultural mythos unique to each region of Eylin. The previously renameable protagonists of the Zilmurik Chronicles (or Divine Record, if you so desire) have been given permanent names which reflect the books written about them, such as Siltar the Conqueror (chapters 1 & 2), the siblings Zorn and Trista (chapter 2), Malik and Leala (chapters 3 & 4), as well as General Xander and Rane Salundras (chapters 5 & 6).[/p][p][/p][p]So crack the spine on a book (or dozens) today![/p][p][/p][p]P.S. [/p]

1. [p]The Elven Capital is now called Ernamius.[/p]
2. [p]I've left the door open for potential future rewards for reading all 81 books. Your statistics may come in handy later. We'll see.[/p]
3. [p]As of now, this is likely to be the last significant update to Tales from Zilmurik. Twenty years is a long time, my friends.[/p]

[p]For those plucky adventurers who explore the entirety of Eylin and are left wanting more, this most recent update opens up a whole new view of Ternotris.[/p][p]Anyone who's gotten around to seeing this place previously (since the 2020 release) would recognize it as this:[/p][p][/p][p]But you see, I've come to feel like this isn't a big enough eye candy reward for having completed the quests required to get here, so having become dissatisfied with my previous work, I went back to the mental drawing board and sculpted something entirely new.[/p][p][/p][p]I feel it both flows and looks much better now, and I hope you'll agree.[/p][p][/p][p]Along with this, it's come to my attention that a few revisions I implemented in previous updates created some graphical goof-ups (one that even broke the game!), which I've now gone back and patched. If you found yourself getting confused at why the cutscene camera is showing certain parts of Vermolin you're not currently at, or frustrated by the caverns under Caldinasus soft-locking you by throwing you into the water after seeing Yilphruk do his thing, I've heard from you and addressed them. Now you can get back to playing uninterrupted.[/p][p][/p][p]See you in the next update! Twenty years![/p][p]
EDIT: A brand new patch has been put out because a player has found a scene in the Forest Path that didn't have its display options set correctly, resulting in a black screen softlock. I'm sorry I haven't caught these much earlier, but I do know it was disabled to allow me to extensively playtest the new interior map.[/p]

It's hard to keep track of all the changes that have taken place since the last update, but I'll try to recount as many as I can remember. I've been going through and revamping numerous areas to improve their appearances as well as their gameplay. Because there's such a wide range of areas, I'll be forgoing what I did last time and just show screenshots of the most current versions of these maps. Feel free to go exploring for all new treasures and secrets tucked away in the extremities of this expanded world.

Caldinasus:

Vermolin:

Vermolin Checkpoint:

Market of Thieves:

These final two deserve their own special section given how drastic the updates are:

Cathedral of Shadows:

Caldinasus Caverns:

With new sub bosses, new puzzles, new traps, new treasures and a revised gameplay loop, you won't want to miss what these have to offer.

As of June 2025, Tales from Zilmurik will have been in development for twenty years. Twenty years of unwavering dedication to reach where it is now. In the latest update, these changes were made:

♦ The overworld has been vastly improved upon to add small detail and flourish with every step.
♦ Docks around the world can now be used to "Set Ship Location", automatically moving the ship to the player.
♦ Western Vermolin Mountains has had a puzzle reinstated to direct the player towards treasure and progress routes. Encounter rate has been decreased and disabled in the puzzle room to remove distractions and dissuade over-leveling.
♦ New item "Boots of Flight" removes "random" encounters when worn. Obtained from the hero's chest in Darunmus.
♦ New item "Ring of Valor" summons the dragon mount Valor to your location on the overworld. Obtained after saving Caldinasus in Chapter 3.
♦ "Fishing Rod" item no longer requires equipping to use.
♦ "Knife & Trowel" and "Pickaxe" items have had their icons changed.
♦ Continued efforts have been made to improve tileset usage in dungeons and their respective battle backgrounds.
♦ Given changes made to organizing the database, a new passive event checks to see if past players have the "Boots of Flight", "Ring of Valor" and "Fishing Rod". If the requirements are met but the items are not present, they are given. You may need to check your characters' equipment if you don't see one.

Now if you'll allow me, I'd like to share the evolution of two maps and how they've changed since 2007 (the furthest back I can view). The first is Lefarnius.



First introduced to the game around 2006-2007 during its initial post-release expansion, Lefarnius was just another town. It was brought to my attention years later that Lefarnius is an anagram for "Leaf Ruins," which is very apt given where it is now.



From 2008-2010, Lefarnius gave me a tremendous amount of trouble as I was never quite happy with how it turned out. This was its 2011 iteration and perhaps the second instance of dividing the new city from the ruins of the old city.



By 2014, I had bought the English RPG Maker 2003 and had started on my final revision of Tales from Zilmurik. You'll see how confused and discouraged I had become by 2012-2013 when we get into the second map I've chosen to display. Longtime players will recognize this as the Lefarnius available upon the 2020 Steam release. This is also the first time Lefarnius had its Fishing Guild.


Finally, in 2024, I decided to take another crack at making this place shine. Now I feel it flows much smoother by literally reading left-to-right instead of the circular method of the old design. The Foraging Guild became the new introductory centerpiece of the town, and its hosting of the yearly nature festival began in earnest.

The second map to be shared is the all-important overworld.



Would you believe it if I told you this was a VAST improvement over its 2005 origins? It's hard to believe, but I seem to recall the very first overworld was just brushstrokes of grass with towns dotted on them. It was terrible. You can still sort of see how the islands were laid out, though 2006-2007 saw a doubling of the landmasses and locations to explore. This was my 2007 beauty.



Shortly afterward in 2008, I became eager to make changes and introduced the shadow of Hronulum as the troubled homeland of Corfaisus. It sank. This time also saw a vast departure from simplicity of the villains being physical manifestations of sour emotions (Rage, Greed and Fear, in that order) into a world that truly existed before the audience began watching it. Rage, Greed and Fear became the children of Chaos (with Corfaisus being adopted into the family), the turmoil of Yilphruk and his relation to the Mages Guild as well as Vrenmasil to Corfaisus helped bring the world to life.


Then something in my brain went haywire and I thought turning these islands into fully-realized continents was what the game needed. I'd sketch out these giants and start implementing them into the game. This is where the confusion of 2012-2013 comes into play, and why I decided to scrap this idea completely and start fresh. A scary development for sure, but one that I'm very glad worked out as this was the crossroads between do or die (or, in this case, give up/cancel).



So here we are at the release of Tales from Zilmurik and its "shiny new body" (Futurama reference; sue me (but actually don't)). It's nice, but could do with somethin', you know? Which brings us to today's update.



See you in the next update!