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GDC 08: Square Enix's White Engine renamed Crystal Tools photo

In a panel this morning hosted by Taku Murata, general manager of research and development at Square Enix, the White Engine internal game engine was renamed Crystal Tools.

Murata says that since September 2007, Square Enix has been using ver 1.0 of Crystal Tools to create Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and an unnamed next-generation MMO. These in-house authoring tools and runtime libraries were developed for cross-platform use, supporting the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. 

He covered the history of how Crystal Tools came about, citing technology used in games all the back to Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. Things came to a head with Final Fantasy XII in 2006, and soon after, an internal division was established to create this engine. 

Murata showed screenshots of Crystal Tools' graphical user interface, character viewer, and score editor, explaining how each work within the system. He followed the discussion with an impressive new Final Fantasy XIII trailer, explaining how everything shown was created in Crystal Tools. 


Continue: More Square Enix stories





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11 comments | showing # 1 to 11

Kaddis's Avatar
Kaddis at 02/22/2008 15:53
...What?
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 02/22/2008 16:01
I hope someone has a video of it *cough* because I would love to see it in action
007's Avatar
007 at 02/22/2008 16:16
New Final Fantasy XIII trailer? ...So, wanna show us some love and give us some footage?
Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 02/22/2008 16:30
Hey Dale, you forgot to mention they announced the Wii has some Crystal Tools support, too. (Seriously, check Wired.)
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 02/22/2008 16:35
Oh boy...it's been renamed. HOW ABOUT YOU RELEASE A FUCKING GAME THAT USES IT.
Axion22's Avatar
Axion22 at 02/22/2008 16:57
Guilty on one count of perpetuating the term "next-generation" when describing a PS3/XBOX360/PC game.

Apologies are accepted in engraving only.
perri's Avatar
perri at 02/22/2008 17:11
According to Wired (and the guys at GAF) this engine has Wii support as well...Some are drawing conclusions that because Nintendo introduced their 'pay and play' initiative that Squares doing an MMO for the console. Maybe they're changing 'Crystal' Chronicles AGAIN...
Artix Lumin's Avatar
Artix Lumin at 02/22/2008 18:27
Wow... What is the purpose of renaming it if there is not much of a difference between this and the other FF games?
Lord The Night Knight's Avatar
Lord The Night Knight at 02/22/2008 21:32
"Wow... What is the purpose of renaming it if there is not much of a difference between this and the other FF games?"

FFXIII isn't renamed. The engine is. And the White Engine just sounds like a certain famous rock album, and the new name is their own.
Lucca's Avatar
Lucca at 02/23/2008 04:40
Well, I like it.

Now, where is that new trailer you were speaking of? :)
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
HarassmentPanda at 02/24/2008 11:57
Haha, I'm completely in agreement with Necros.
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