Square Enix using Gamebryo engine, let's guess what for

by Randy Nelson { Mar 17th 2009 at 11:00PM }

Square Enix today announced that it has licensed Emergent Game Technologies' Gamebryo engine, the backbone of such titles as Fallout 3 and Warhammer Online. The press release contains no mention of Square's intended use for the engine, but we have our suspicions.

We've ruled out Final Fantasy XIII, since even though work on the Xbox 360 version won't begin until the PS3's is finished, Square is using its cross-platform Crystal Tools engine to develop the title. The most likely candidate, then, would be the yet untitled "original action game" being produced at the publisher's new El Segundo, Calif. dev studio.

The specific variant of Gamebryo licensed -- Floodgate -- is intended to make porting multi-processor code written for one platform onto another an effortless task, providing extra time to optimize the game for the unique capabilities of each individual platform. Sounds perfect for a new team working on a new title from a Western (read: multiplatform) mindset. When contacted, a Square Enix rep told us the company "will hopefully have something to announce soon."

Tags: emergent-game-technologies, engine, gamebryo, square-enix

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Deeznuts420 @ Mar 17th 2009 11:05PM

for its latest shoot em up:

FF7 Dream killers

ShadowflareXIII @ Mar 17th 2009 11:10PM

Einhander sequel!

Giroro @ Mar 17th 2009 11:12PM

Gamebryo engine has some of the worst character animations of this generation.

Good luck with that Squeenix, and Godspeed.

Ihavepants @ Mar 17th 2009 11:24PM

Seriously, did you just blame an engine for bad animations.

Really?

Even the version Bethesda uses- which is heavily modified for their purposes- is not to blame for the animations, their animators are.

devilsei @ Mar 17th 2009 11:32PM

Yeah, the animations in Warhammer Online are pretty good actually.
Bethesda is just lazy, and figured no one would want to play their games in the third person, so why bother with fancy animations, or characters that don't fall into Uncanny Valley :P

Giroro @ Mar 18th 2009 1:14AM

I haven't played WAR, so I'll take your word.

I just remember some reviews of Fallout 3 saying something along the lines of: 'Fallout 3 uses the same engine that Oblivion uses, so naturally the animations still suck.'
I guess it makes more sense that Bethesda is to blame, though I hear that it is hard for developers to find good game animators right now.

PN04 @ Mar 18th 2009 2:37AM

I saw someone (not sure if it's the same guy) blame the Unreal Engine for bad character animation as well months ago so it's clear there are some people who have this concept in their heads and arnt afraid to voice it.

Joe @ Mar 18th 2009 2:16AM

@Ihavepants

It's possible that the engine is partially to blame for animations that don't look good depending on how the engine implements blending (e.g. using forward/inverse kinematics) between keyframes and multiple animations poses.

Also the implementation of skinning in skeletal animation in an engine usually gets lumped together with the appearance in the quality of animation.

Jtenma @ Mar 18th 2009 2:50AM

@JOE

In that case, I'm going to have to agree with Giroro. I have played both OBLIVION and FALLOUT 3 and the animation blending is horrid. More so in TES4.

I still just love me some F3 and TES4 tho'.

Donald @ Mar 17th 2009 11:48PM

Dirge of Cerberus 2.

Because the first one didn't fail enough.

MEATLOAF2 @ Mar 18th 2009 12:36AM

+1 because it made me lol :P

Doreo @ Mar 18th 2009 12:00AM

A oblivion-esque kingdom hearts sequel? I can see it now, first person keyblade action! Traveling the barren wastelands of such Disney properties like Aladin, Lion King, The Little Mermaid, etc. Fighting heartless, in search of project that will purify the land; but in the wrong hands this "Project Purity" can end up turning everyone into heartless... Oh I can see it now! Pssh don't even get me started on a Kingdom Hearts MMO! Everyone would have the choice of being a mage, keyblader, or defender (Dude with shield), but everyone would choose a keyblade and just run around hacking and slashing everything.

Kattleox @ Mar 18th 2009 12:26AM

Final Fantasy XII-2 Online for all major mobile phones?

Cosmo @ Mar 18th 2009 12:33AM

Terranigma 2!!!

Nick @ Mar 18th 2009 12:34AM

Well if that engine can handle the world of Fallout 3 and Warhammer Online then the FFXI-2 MMO is certainly not out of the question. But you would think they would be way beyond deciding on a game engine, as it's been several years in the making now. However, most of that production is assuredly PC side, and they could be looking at using the engine for their 360 port.