On Thursday, during Indie Quest 2025 hosted by The Gaming Shelf, a new and intriguing JRPG capped off the show by the name of Infinite Alliance. This is not just another new Indie JRPG, rather it is a crossover between 13 different ones. Spearheaded by Joshua Hallaran, the Director of the game and the lead developer on the recently released 8-Bit Adventures 2 (which is also featured in the game), it will be launching as a free game across PC and consoles next year.
Considering how far out the release is, there is a lot to learn about this upcoming title, and more importantly, how it all came together. Thanks to Joshua, we were able to get some behind the scenes details on Infinite Alliance and how it all feels like a miracle for all of the games featured and the developers behind them are involved.
Assembling JRPG Developers like the Avengers (Literally)
Speaking to Joshua about how he got the game idea off the ground and how long it has been in development. He gave a very lengthy and surprising response, detailing the following:
“I’m friends with a lot of other developers in the Indie JRPG scene, so I’d always flirted with the idea of crossover content in 8-Bit Adventures 2. But it never quite seemed to fit organically, and I wasn’t sure how successful that would be.
Then in 2023, I was getting into some old Marvel comics and read the original Secret Wars story. The copy of the book I had, gave some additional history, explaining that Secret Wars really propelled Marvel into the spotlight at a time they were facing challenges. So I wondered about doing something similar for Indie JRPGs – an “event game” in the same way that comics do “event comics”.
So I started talking to a few developer friends, and working on some ideas. When I was confident in the concept and had everything figured out (the characters I thought would work well together, how they play, the overall story and release strategy), I individually pitched each developer – explaining how their IP would be involved.
Amazingly, everyone loved the idea and trusted me! So I didn’t get a single “no”. I think everyone wants to see a spotlight shined on the incredible work of the Indie JRPG scene, and our approach is definitely pretty novel! But it’s really only happening because everyone involved is so trusting and supportive; it’s a great reflection of the developers involved.
But while this sounds like years of strenuous planning and active development from the get go, Infinite Alliance only started active development in February of this year:
Actually, it’s been in full production for just 3 months! I started getting everything conceptualized and pitching developers in 2023, then I started trying to find a source of funding – which I ultimately did with Electric Airship in early 2024.
Joshua being the Director, Writer and Game Designer for the game also means that he’s having to handle most of the major decisions. Between his team, the IP holders, and the publisher, Electric Airship, it may seem like a very scary position to be in. But Joshua explained that its been a very smooth experience with everyone placing their trust in him. But after speaking to him further about the process, the story behind Infinite Alliance being free (which is the most surprising part of the announcement to me) is due to Electric Airship themselves.
Electric Airship’s Role in Helping Infinite Alliance
Infinite Alliance being a massive crossover for many different Indie JRPGs, such as Chained Echoes for example, was always planned to be free from the get go, according to Joshua. Electric Airship is “footing the bill” so to speak, and he also explained:
“The publisher was a really pleasant surprise! I was trying to find a funding model for Infinite Alliance, and things were looking bleak, given that it’s a free game. I was going to try and pay for development myself, but then I took a wild swing. One of the programmers that helped port 8-Bit Adventures 2 to console had just started up an Indie JRPG publisher called Electric Airship. So I asked if he’d be interested, and we went from there!
With 13+ IP holders, a publisher, and the dev team, doing a paid release seemed like a difficult proposition. But more importantly, I wanted to make sure there were no barriers to entry.
The goal of Infinite Alliance is to draw players in with games they know, and then introduce them to games they didn’t know exist; showcasing the creativity and variety of the Indie JRPG scene. So by making Infinite Alliance free, it means everyone can discover these characters and games, and will hopefully grow everyone’s audience!”
According to Joshua following that statement, he explained that Electric Airship echoes the sentiments behind the approach to make it free:
“Electric Airship want the same thing we all want: attention for our games. Just in their case, it’s attention for them as a publisher, and for the games they support.”
Joshua also explained that working with the developers behind the IPs involved with Infinite Alliance can be found with titles such as Eternal Remnant and My Familiar.
For more information on all the Indie JRPGs involved in the game, you can find a full list on the game’s official Steam page here.
We at Lords of Gaming would like to express our sincere gratitude to Joshua Hallaran for allowing us the opportunity to learn more about Infinite Alliance behind-the-scenes. You can find a link to his official X account here, if you use that social media platform.
