{"id":51594,"date":"2025-09-02T17:40:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51594"},"modified":"2025-09-02T17:40:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:40:56","slug":"nihon-falcoms-in-house-game-engine-is-called-fdk-we-ask-ceo-toshihiro-kondo-about-the-technology-behind-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/nihon-falcoms-in-house-game-engine-is-called-fdk-we-ask-ceo-toshihiro-kondo-about-the-technology-behind-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter\/","title":{"rendered":"Nihon Falcom\u2019s in-house game engine is called \u201cFDK\u201d. We ask CEO Toshihiro Kondo about the technology behind Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When Nihon Falcom first unveiled <strong>Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter<\/strong> last year, the remake\u2019s vibrant 3D graphics and elaborate animations felt like such a big step up to some fans that the developer had to come out and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/trails-in-the-sky-remake-is-developed-100-in-house-nihon-falcom-president-assures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">say, yes, we really are making this ourselves<\/a>. Like other recent Trails releases,<strong> <\/strong>Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter uses Falcom\u2019s proprietary engine, but its pretty visuals are actually not the result of large technological breakthroughs or a switch to higher-spec development. We asked Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo about the details.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Opening Movie - Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tGJNH-8xHMc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn terms of technology, our recent The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon was developed with PS5 standards in mind, but compared to that, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter was tuned so that it could run on Nintendo Switch as well. Even so, I think the colors and motions came together so well that fans started joking about us outsourcing development to another studio (laughs).\u201d According to Kondo, when it came to the remake\u2019s character models and motions, he gave his development team less detailed instructions than he normally does for mainline entries. But with 2004\u2019s Trails in the Sky having such a long history and solidified image, the team put 20 years\u2019 worth of their understanding of the original game into the renewed graphics. Additionally, the synergy between new, younger developers on the team and veteran staff led to more elaborate camera work and animations than the series has seen previously.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1271\" height=\"718\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1271px) 100vw, 1271px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-002.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-002.jpg 1271w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-002-380x215.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-002-768x434.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But essentially, developing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter\u2019s remake was a return to simplicity for Falcom. As Kondo comments, \u201cIt taught me that games aren\u2019t necessarily just about specs. It made me rethink how to present both content and graphics. Although its scenario is simpler compared to Trails Beyond the Horizon<em>,<\/em> the game has a straightforward playability that feels refreshing even after all these years. Games that pursue richness and complexity are fun too, but Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter\u2019s simplicity made me think, \u2018this kind of game is pretty neat too.\u2019 That&#8217;s why I really feel it was worthwhile to do this remake.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked about the engine Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is running on, Kondo explains, \u201cwe\u2019re using our own engine, the Falcom Developer Kit (FDK). From Trails of Cold Steel (2013) to Trails into Reverie (2020), we used Sony\u2019s PhyreEngine. But with Trails through Daybreak (2021), we built everything related to graphics rendering and sound playback ourselves, and that became the base for our proprietary engine. So rather than a brand-new engine, it\u2019s more like we\u2019re reusing Trails through Daybreak\u2019s engine as our standard engine. For Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter\u2019s development, we only made small shader adjustments to fit the graphics, there was no big version upgrade to the engine. In principle, the remake is the same as previous titles on the inside, I think it\u2019s just the change in presentation that made players feel like the graphics became much better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1276\" height=\"716\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1276px) 100vw, 1276px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-header.jpg\" alt=\"Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter\" class=\"wp-image-51600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-header.jpg 1276w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-header-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51594-header-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Trails in the Sky the 1st launches September 19, 2025 for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3375780\/Trails_in_the_Sky_1st_Chapter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>), Nintendo Switch and PS5. The game will also receive a <a href=\"https:\/\/trailsfirstchapter.com\/product\/#switch2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Switch 2 edition<\/a>, which can be purchased as an Upgrade Pack for $1.00.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo talks about the company&#8217;s recently developed in-house engine, the Falcom Developer Kit (FDK).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":51601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-interviews","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nihon Falcom\u2019s in-house game engine is called \u201cFDK\u201d. We ask CEO Toshihiro Kondo about the technology behind Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo talks about the company&#039;s recently developed in-house engine, the Falcom Developer Kit (FDK).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/nihon-falcoms-in-house-game-engine-is-called-fdk-we-ask-ceo-toshihiro-kondo-about-the-technology-behind-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nihon Falcom\u2019s in-house game engine is called \u201cFDK\u201d. 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