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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 - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 15:53
Kaddis
...What?
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 16:01
king3vbo
I hope someone has a video of it *cough* because I would love to see it in action
007's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 16:16
007
New Final Fantasy XIII trailer? ...So, wanna show us some love and give us some footage?
Novakaine's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 16:30
Novakaine
Hey Dale, you forgot to mention they announced the Wii has some Crystal Tools support, too. (Seriously, check Wired.)
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 16:35
Necros
Oh boy...it's been renamed. HOW ABOUT YOU RELEASE A FUCKING GAME THAT USES IT.
Axion22's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 16:57
Axion22
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 - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 17:11
perri
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 - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 18:27
Artix Lumin
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 - Comment posted on 02/22/2008 21:32
Lord The Night Knight
"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 - Comment posted on 02/23/2008 04:40
Lucca
Well, I like it.

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