Dev Diary: Evolving the Tulimshar Beach Map

by Reid

A couple of weeks ago, I had some free time and decided to sketch a concept for the beach map west of the Sandstorm map. This area has seen many different iterations in The Mana World (TMW), but none of them ever quite fulfilled the potential of the space.

Initially, the first version of the map from almost 20 years ago was a simple land link between Tonori and Argaes. The second removed that connection but this land section ended rather abruptly. The third introduced a lone house that was surprisingly working very well and remains my favorite version to this day. The fourth and latest iteration added new gameplay elements like a pyramid and a teleport to the 2006 version of this map, but to me it always felt out of context.

For Source of Mana, this map will take on a new purpose: it will serve as the final desertic area on the west of Tulimshar, leading to the Manayir Tower.WildX proposed the idea of a vast desert region to the south of this area. I agree that this desert map should serve as the entrance to the savannah later on, but for now, our beach map will block that access until this map development start.

I plan to use a large cliff formation to close off the savannah path and  direct players to pass through the future southern section to access this greener area.

Back on this  beach map, the design plan is to add two elevated ground areas that create a more natural, layered terrain. These areas will be sheltered by cliffs and dotted with patches of grass. The northwestern section will form the entrance to the Manayir Tower, inspired by the causeway of Mont Saint-Michel in France.

Our Manayir Tower map itself will blend architectural elements from Mont Saint-Michel with the Tulimshar city walls, creating a massive fortified tower surrounded by multiple defensive layers. The goal is to capture a grand, ancient atmosphere structure that feels both imposing and naturally integrated with the surrounding landscape.

I also want to incorporate design elements from rEvolt/TMW, particularly a grassy field near the central tower, similar to a rose garden from the villain of Hunger Games, or even the garden of Vizima from The Witcher.

I plan to find time soon to update the global Tonori concept map, which will include the High Plateau map east of Tulimshar and the southern desert map below the beach. These two new areas will serve as fresh combat and boss zones, using the full range of our available desert monsters sprites.

Both of these upcoming maps are planned for the next milestone, adding more replayability and variety to the desert region with relatively little additional development effort.

Meanwhle, work continue on this map with almost all cliff tiles placed out!