Trailmakers

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Trailmakers.

SOMETIMES I SEE A TEXT BOX AND I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSSDFGFFDHFGDJGGFSHGDFH

This page sucks.
If you could make it suck less, that would be awesome.
Specifically: Appears to contain a mix of prototype and prerelease content. Sort it out and move appropriately.

Trailmakers started development as "Project Karoo" by Press Play and Microsoft in mid-2015, with a teaser being posted on YouTube on August 18 of that year. Later on, Press Play left Microsoft and was renamed to Lightbulb Games, with the game being renamed to "Pioneers"; still later, the company settled on their final (and current) name of Flashbulb Games with the game being renamed "TrailMakers", which then changed to the game's final name in early 2018.

The only currently-available prototype is an Alpha Demo from the TrailMakers era of development, which was made public after the game went into Early Access. It can be found as manifest 1105845463103535907 of the public Trailmakers depot on Steam.

Unused Assets of Alpha Demo#

Model from an aircraft controller pack by Peter Lee. Probably used for idea testing early in development.

"PlaceholderScreenshot.png", not seen anywhere in the Alpha Demo. Probably some placeholder for a UI element that was scrapped.

Scrapped/Planned Content#

Content within TrailMakers that never made it into the full game.

Fuel#

In pre-release versions, the developers were experimenting with a fuel system and fuel tank for engines. They however scrapped it before it made it into the game.

Another depiction of the fuel tank within concept art.

UI for in-game fuel, found left in the files of the Alpha Demo.

Minimap#

TrailMakers initially had a minimap, however this never made it into the full game.

Piranhas#

Initially, there were piranhas that would kill the player in campaign mode if they swam out into open water too far, however this was removed with the full release. These are the only things that can be remotely considered an "enemy" in such old versions, but as they aren't more than a fancy display, they are not.

Megafauna#

While not entirely gone, there were instances of megafauna in pre-release versions that never made it into the full game.

GIF showing a giant land whale in pre-release TrailMakers.

GIF showing a giant tortoise while developing the Alpha Demo. It was removed with the release of the Alpha Demo.

Screenshot from the Project Karoo era of development showing giant armadillos.

Screenshot from the Alpha Demo showing a very large bird.

Tiny Alpha Course#

A big sand- and stone-based map for the Alpha Demo.

Screenshot of the Tiny Alpha Course from free camera.

Planned Map#

A planned very large map featuring a variety of regions, from deserts to meadows and fields to snowy mountain ranges and volcanic wastelands. It is often referred to in the official Discord as "old map". It was never publicly accessible and stayed private to developers aside from pre-alpha-1 where very few testers were able to try it.

GIF of driving through The Meadows past the crossing to Hurricane Heights, leaked in the official Discord server by former developer Stidsholt.

Screenshot of a place in the planned map, as seen in the announcement trailer.

End banner of the Alpha Demo, showing the planned map.

Texture of a billboard in Beta Expedition (early access) showing concept art for Hurricane Heights of the planned map.