is a

video game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which f ...

working for

Square Enix is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', '' Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game franchises, among numerou ...

(formerly

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

), as well as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

of the

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

division of the company. He was born in 1965 and joined Square in 1991. He is most notable as the main programmer for ''

Final Fantasy Tactics is a 1997 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. Released in Japan in June 1997 and in the United States in January 1998 by Sony Computer Entertainment, it is the first game of the ...

'' and ''

Vagrant Story is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in 2000, and has been re-released through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3, PlayStatio ...

''. He also worked on the development of the PlayOnline service. Murata also helped promote a new proprietary cross platform

game development tool A game development tool is a specialized software application that assists or facilitates the making of a video game. Some tasks handled by tools include the conversion of assets (such as 3D models, textures, etc.) into formats required by the g ...

called Crystal Tools. His latest work was on ''

Final Fantasy XII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series: an open w ...

'' as the programming supervisor of the game.

Biography

Games

During the creation of ''

'', Murata and other team members decided that a "real time 3D" was the way to go, though the scale of the game and the heightened expectations that came with it made him feel "uneasy". Later, while supervising development on ''

'', he stated that development and innovation became such a protracted affair that the game was in danger of being technically obsolete upon release, so 70% of their staff was assigned to improve the quality of the game's art assets. In this way, each of the three development priorities (innovation, quality and volume) were all held together, though innovation remained top priority.

Crystal Tools

Beginning in 2004,

decided there was a need to create a common 3D data format, and as a result a Research and Development Division was established in September 2006. At the 2007

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tuto ...

, Murata noted that the development team was using proprietary software to allow "real time display" of PlayStation 2 output to a television to see immediately and precisely how a game would look. At the

2008, Murata did a presentation called "The Technology of Final Fantasy" during which he revealed that they had been working on a

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

exclusive game development engine called "White Engine", and it had already reached Version 1.0. He also announced that Version 1.1, or '' Crystal Tools'', was finished in September 2007. Murata later said in an interview that White Engine was meant to be a code name, and they wanted to have an official name that had something to do with

, and Crystal both sounded right and reflected "many different colors". Finishing his 2008 speech, he stated that the technology would be used on

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

, PC and a "scaled down" version for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

, and that ''

Final Fantasy XIII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and later for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Released in Japan in December 2009 and international in March 2010, it is the ...

'', '' Final Fantasy Versus XIII'', and a new

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (of ...

would both make use of the technology. The developers working with the engine, in keeping with the ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...

'' style, requested many closeups and stylization of characters. When asked if Square might license the engine to other companies to develop games with, he stated that Squares focus was elsewhere, and that there was not yet enough documentation to do that.

Games

*''

Secret of Mana ''Secret of Mana'', originally released in Japan as is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game ''Seiken Densetsu'', relea ...

'': Boss character algorithms *''

Seiken Densetsu 3 ''Trials of Mana'', also known by its Japanese title is a 1995 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Famicom. It is the sequel to the 1993 game '' Secret of Mana'', and is the third install ...

'': Boss character algorithms, maps, world maps *''

'': Main programmer *''

'': Technical supervisor *''

Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer. The third installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it is the first numbered ''Final Fantasy'' game to feature the job-change system. The story revolve ...

'' (Nintendo DS version): Special thanks

References

External links

Developer Magazine Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murata, Taku 1965 births Living people Japanese video game programmers Final Fantasy designers