PlatinumGames Reveals To Be Developing Its Own In-House ‘PlatinumEngine’

Japanese game studio PlatinumGames has been quite the talk of the town regarding big changes coming to the transitioning independent developer. The team commencing the Platinum4 initiative set the first stone to illustrate the company’s ambition to create new projects and other endeavors as the developer pursues full independence to work and publish its own projects.

Most recently, the third segment of the team’s Platinum4 self-publishing program revealed that PlatinumGames would be opening a new studio based in Japan’s capital city, Tokyo. At this new location, the developer could double the amount of creative power in both the east & west of the coastal nation.

Reading deeper into the team interview, however, more information was shared regarding another project currently being developed at PlatinumGames. When speaking with the Research and Development Group based under the game development team, it was revealed that PlatinumGames is in the process of creating its own ‘in-house’ engine.

“We’ve used our own in-house engine, specialized for action game development, since PlatinumGames was founded. But modern games demand a whole new level of quality, a greater variety and number of objects on-screen, and a richer amount of expressive visual power, ”PlatinumGames reveals for its ambitions in a new engine. “Our new engine will help us make bigger, more expressive games than ever before, and with greater ease.”

Wataru Ohmori, PlatinumGames Research and Development Group

Upon unearthing the engine’s development, the team currently dubs it as the ‘PlatinumEngine.’ To clarify, the team suggests that the naming of this engine is subjected to change further into development for the project. Tsuyoshi Odera, one employee working on the engine, shared that PlatiumGames’ pursuit to develop its own engine in contrast to other third-party alternatives were to exceed beyond just the graphical output for the technology.

Instead, the studio began swaying to the decision towards crafting the PlatinumEngine was ultimately decided when meeting certain withholding traits while using products like Unity and Unreal Engine. This then entails for PlatinumGames to make a less complicated and convoluted system that gives not only artists, but also programmers the freedom to work with less restrictions.

Ohmori later on shares that development for the engine initiated about two years ago and is currently comprised of 6 to 7 developers involved in the project. He does disclose that the team would like to receive more hands in the pot as the finish product is still long whiles away.

Discussing the development with Ryoichi Takahashi, he disclosed that the PlatinumEngine is being crafted to implement several different artistic appearances when creating future projects. When working closely with the game development divisions, he conjured a system to support several visual styles for the respected project; cartoony cell-shading; photorealism; “and beyond.”

Source: Platinum4