Introductions, Progress, and more! | Devlog #1

Introductions

Trails of Rebellion's Logo

Hello everyone! It's me, Alice, director of Trails of Rebellion. I'd like to thank everyone who's had an interest in this project ever since it's inception late last year.

I'm excited to share some news and even some sneak peaks at content we've made for the game, but first I'd like to introduce the rest of the team!

Alice - Director / Project Lead, Composer and SFX, 3D Modeling, Animation, Scenario Writer

Akatsuki - Programmer & Programming Team Lead (Github)

Aleχ - Composer and SFX (X)

Clover - Character Artist and Illustrations (Bluesky / VGen)

marinatedlaundry - Programmer (Github)

Noelle - Gen. Writer (Bluesky)

Puddingnepp - Level Designer / Builder

Renza - Programmer

Ryn - Programmer (Bluesky / X / Github)

StarSketch - UI Design / Artist

Taddili - Gen. Writer

xalfafllfflx - Programmer

This team has been incredibly fun to work and grow with. For quite a few of us, this is our first game dev endeavor, and I value the passion that everyone has put into this so far. It's grown from what was originally a hoax, to a simple pitch document, and now into a game, and that would not be possible without everyone's support.

When I say this is something special, I mean it! Don't take it from me, though, let's go to our certified internal reviews!

taddili: "This is the most fun game I've worked on! ...and also the first."

Noelle: “This game’s gonna be so good, it’s Tio-approved! Five Mishylin Stars out of five!”

Progress

Trails of Rebellion formally began development on New Year's Day of 2025, since then we've been working hard to build the foundation of our game, or it's "identity" you could say. 

What makes Trails of Rebellion its own game, something that's still a fan game of the Trails series, but is unique in its own way? We've taken quite a few steps in terms of establishing that in many facets of development. I'll give you some sneak peaks at our assets, but first I want to talk about something I'm sure quite a few of you are eager to hear about, and that is play testing.

Programming

Our programming team has been hard at work as we attempt to reach our first major milestone of a playable battle prototype. Slowly but surely we have been building a basic RPG battle system and will build on top of that to include the new mechanics that were introduced.

As of our current sprint, most of that is done! Soon, all the code will be compiled and usable in a playable build which will be tested by our team and play testers. As a little sneak peek, here's a gif of some logic in relation to turn orders and swapping between targets.

I, too, love blue tubes, but I promise the game won't look like that, in fact I can show a little sneak peek on what you can expect the character models to look like!

3D Modeling

In the reference doc, I stated that I wished to reach a sort of balance between the chibi styled sprites of the Sky/Crossbell games and the 3D models used in Akatsuki No Kiseki. That way, it is a familiar yet sort of "unseen" style (as many people likely haven't had the opportunity to experience Akatsuki). I believe I've struck that balance, so have Arnice's head and face (body sold separately). 

I considered making the eyes thinner and vertically larger, but that doesn't quite fit, regardless the bigger heads and big ol' eyes give it the secret sauce for that signature chibi look. By the time the first prototype is ready, her model should be fully finished!

2D Art

A couple major characters in the reference doc were not complete during its creation, however I can share some concept art for Yuma, leader of Lamia, the Jaeger group Arnice works for!

By Maranja

Additionally, Arnice and Iris have sprites, done by Clover!

As a heads-up, the sword Iris is using will be changed, we realized that would be awkward to hold...

Music

Music is a very beloved part of Falcom games, and while making this game it was important to establish a unique style while still giving it those "Falcom vibes" people know and love. A big focus for these games "genre" is Jazz Fusion or J-Fusion, a very distinct and awesome style of music largely curated by bands like Dimension, T-Square, and Fox Capture Plan. 

To showcase this, have a preview of the battle theme, and a full track of the victory theme composed by myself.

(Blogger doesn't embed audio, so it links to a catbox upload)

Milestones

We have quite a bit planned for this game, and a couple milestones outlined on the way there. As of current, our focus lies on making a presentable prototype, which will feature the battle system, and it's new mechanics alongside basic models, animation, and simple set pieces.

Once that is finished, we will focus on world exploration and other integral parts 

Closing

We've come to the end of our first devlog, thank you for taking the time to read and for being interested in Trails of Rebellions development! I hope that as more time passes, we can gain more fans and make even more progress towards the completion of this dream.

I'm also happy to announce we will be reopening our applications, whether you've applied before or this is your first time hearing about this project, apply for ANY position!

This message will link to the form

At the end of each devlog I hope to give a quote from a different team member, but since this is the first time I'll give one of my own.

"Passion is what drives our dreams and makes amazing things reality, people are drawn to it, but you need to make your passion known. Take that first step, and you'll find that there are plenty of others who may be scared but want to as well."