Crystal Tools

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Crystal Tools
Developer(s)Square Enix
Initial releaseSeptember 2007; 16 years ago (2007-09)
PlatformMicrosoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U
TypeGame engine
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.square-enix.com/jpn/index.html Edit this on Wikidata

Crystal Tools is a

authoring tools. The target systems of Crystal Tools are the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and the Wii
. This was decided with the intention of making cross-platform production more feasible. The idea for the engine sprang from Square Enix's desire to have a unified game development environment in order to effectively share the technology and know-how of the company's individual teams.

Crystal Tools entered development in August 2005 under the code name White Engine. It was intended for the PlayStation 3-exclusive role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII, while it was first showcased in the Final Fantasy VII technical demo for the PlayStation 3. The decision to expand Crystal Tools' compatibility to other game projects and systems marked the official project start for a company-wide engine. Development was carried out by the Research and Development Division headed by Taku Murata, which was specifically established for this purpose. As Square Enix's biggest project to date, the creation of Crystal Tools caused substantial problems in the simultaneous production of several flagship titles; various critics cited the engine as the primary cause of significant delays in the release of Final Fantasy XIII.

Features

Crystal Tools is a unified

video memory and microarchitecture still necessitate fine-tuning adjustments in the games, for example concerning texture sizes.[1][5]

Development

Origins

As a video game company with different production teams, Square had wished for its employees to efficiently share their know-how and technology even before the merger with its competitor Enix. The desire for a common development infrastructure and engine dates back to the 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy Tactics, which was created in the transitional period from 2D to 3D game production.[3] Back then, the artists working on the game asked programmer Taku Murata for a fast way to check how their work would look in the final game. As the development was carried out on personal computers, the graphics were displayed on computer monitors. This looked very different from the PlayStation console's actual graphics displayed on a television screen. Initially, a faithful preview of the game's visuals was too time-consuming because all data had to be transferred from PC to console first. To evade this step, Murata created an instant preview tool. With this, he soon witnessed a boost in the artists' productivity and in the quality of their work. For 2000's Vagrant Story, the developers opted to reuse this instant preview tool rather than programming a new one from scratch.[3] Murata and his colleagues added new functions to create a unified preview and cutscene tool tailored to the game's fully polygonal 3D graphics. With 2001's PlayOnline service, the company then made its first foray into introducing a common software for all its divisions.[1]

After the Square Enix merger, however, the individual teams still continued to program and customize their own tools for each game, which would eventually go to waste as only their respective creators knew how to use them. With the amount of assets and tools required by the in-development

seventh console generation, a common data format for the company was proposed in 2004. It was to be developed in-house and replace general-purpose formats such as FBX and COLLADA. Realizing the goal of an engine with a common set of tools proved to be difficult, as many production teams wanted to further their own interests rather than those of the company as a whole. Select staff members from different company divisions teamed up to work on the project on a voluntary basis, but their loose organizational structure failed to yield results. Nevertheless, Murata considered this group effort a first step in the right direction.[1] In 2005, he was appointed general manager of the newly formed Technology Division.[3] Although this enabled Murata and his subordinates to talk about a company-wide engine more extensively, the lack of manpower again prevented any significant achievements.[1]

Version 1.0

Following the public's positive reaction to the graphics of the

action RPG Final Fantasy Versus XIII (later rebranded and repurposed into Final Fantasy XV) and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Final Fantasy XIV.[6][7][8] In order for the company to stay competitive in a multi-platform environment, support of the engine was extended from the PlayStation 3 to the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, both of which were successful in Western markets.[1][5] This marked the official development start of a company-wide engine for whose purpose the Technology Division was expanded into the Research and Development Division in September 2006.[1][3] Murata remained the division's general manager with a full-time staff at his disposal.[1]

During development of Crystal Tools, the Research and Development Division continually surveyed what types of tools were needed to create Square Enix's flagship titles. Among the most frequently requested features was an extensive use of character close-ups. This made the staff realize that the Final Fantasy series put great emphasis on the "anime-like coolness" of its characters. Consequently, the engine's developers focused on attractive visuals rather than on accurate physics. To achieve a stylized look, a post-processing filter for additional lighting, blur, and visual effects was implemented. Square Enix's large teams were typically composed of a mix of industry veterans and rookie game developers. To accommodate this, the graphical user interface of the engine became another main feature and was designed to be as intuitive as possible. The large investments into technology and human resources quickly made the White Engine the company's biggest project to date. After one year of work, version 1.0 of the engine was completed in September 2007.[1]

Version 1.1 and later

Crystal Tools in 2009

After version 1.0 had been finished, the engine's code name White Engine was changed to the official title Crystal Tools.

Luminous Studio engine.[9] Other teams, such as the staff behind Final Fantasy XIII-2, kept using and refining Crystal Tools.[10] For Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the engine was adjusted to make it more suitable to games with an open world design.[11]

Problems

While Final Fantasy XIII was in production, the development of Crystal Tools caused significant problems and delays. The programmers spent much time on taking all demands from staff into account. Based on this feedback, Murata's team tried to adapt the engine to the needs of several game projects, which proved to be virtually impossible and prevented the engine's specifications from being finalized.[12] Furthermore, as separate groups were working on the individual tools of the engine, there was no comprehensive software documentation to ensure usability and compliance.[13] Unable to wait any longer, the Final Fantasy XIII team had no choice but to begin creating assets to keep to the game's production schedule. However, the lack of specifications resulted in these assets being incompatible with the engine. In the end, it was decided that XIII was to be the principal focus of Crystal Tools and the game's team began cooperating with the Research and Development Division more closely to receive the required tools and specifications.[12] While preliminary support of Crystal Tools was developed for the Wii, the console did not fully support all components.[3] In 2008, Murata said that Square Enix might license the engine out to other companies at some point in the future, although the limited documentation and the impracticality of supporting licensees posed great problems in doing so.[1][5] Two years later, the game's producer Yoshinori Kitase stated that developing an engine from scratch to go with a new game may have been a mistake and a likely cause for the long period between the title's announcement and release.[14]

Reception

At the time of Final Fantasy XIII's release, Crystal Tools was met with praise from critics.

Luminous Studio engine.[18]

Games using Crystal Tools

Title Year Platform
Final Fantasy XIII[1] 2009 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Final Fantasy XIV[7] 2010 Microsoft Windows
Final Fantasy XIII-2[10] 2011 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Dragon Quest X[21] 2012 Wii, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII[11] 2013 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Nakamura, Seiji (2008-02-25). "スクエニ村田琢氏、「ホワイトエンジン」改め「Crystal Tools」を正式発表 「The Technology of FINAL FANTASY」、質疑応答も全文収録!!". Game Watch. Archived from the original on 2013-09-12. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  2. ^ a b "Crystal Tools". United States Patent and Trademark Office. 2007-09-28. Archived from the original on 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  3. ^
    Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  4. ^ Tsuchimoto, Manabu (2010-03-13). "【GDC2010】実に6時間も及ぶカットシーンの制作ワークフロー・・・『ファイナルファンタジー13』". GameBusiness.jp. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  5. ^
    1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on 2016-05-26. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  6. ^ a b c "特集 ファイナルファンタジーXIII". CGWorld (138). Works Corporation: 25. 2009-12-26. Archived from the original on 2013-12-16.
  7. ^ a b c Juba, Joe (2010-03-10). "The Making of Final Fantasy XIII". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  8. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2006-11-08). "Final Fantasy XIII Update". IGN. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  9. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2011-09-21). "Why is Final Fantasy Versus XIII Using the Luminous Engine?". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13.
  10. ^ a b Leo, Jon (2011-06-14). "Final Fantasy XIII-2 Q&A: Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2014-03-21. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  11. ^ a b "【E3 2013】2013年はいろいろな形で「FF」を盛り上げたい―「ファイナルファンタジー」シリーズを手がける北瀬佳範氏、鳥山求氏にインタビュー". Gamer. 2013-06-13. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  12. ^ a b Toriyama, Motomu; Maeda, Akihiko (October 2010). "Postmortem: Final Fantasy XIII". Game Developer. 17 (9). United Business Media: 24–29.
  13. ^ "［GDC2008＃33］ファイナルファンタジーのために作られたスクエニオリジナルエンジン「Crystal Tools」とは". 4Gamer.net. 2008-02-23. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  14. ^ Juba, Joe (2010-03-10). "FF XIII Producer Says Crystal Tools May Have Been A Mistake". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  15. ^ Leadbetter, Richard (2010-03-05). "Face-Off: Final Fantasy XIII". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2011-05-08. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  16. ^ Lanxon, Nate (2010-03-08). "Final Fantasy XIII review, part three: Conclusion". Wired UK. Archived from the original on 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  17. ^ a b Harris, Stephen (2010-08-24). "Final Fantasy XIV Beta Hands-On Preview". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  18. ^ a b Wynne, James (2015-07-23). "Square Enix needs to tighten its belts: A story of budgets and engines". Game Zone. Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  19. GamesRadar. Archived
    from the original on 2016-05-13. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  20. ^ Heemsbergen, Derek (2014-11-02). "Review - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  21. ^ Ould Braham, Idir Alexander (2012-07-14). "Notre interview vidéo exclusive de Julien Merceron". FFDream.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
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