The first concepts of "Sudeki" were proposed by a small team within Climax Solent, a branch of Climax Studios. At this time, it was titled "Symphony of Light" and was being planned for the Dreamcast. By April 2000, it had changed platform to the PlayStation 2. At some point after this, it changed platform again to become a high-end title for Microsoft Windows. After its first year of production, the title attracted the attention of Microsoft, which was preparing to enter the console market with the Xbox. Describing the company's choice, Microsoft manager Peter Connelly said that Japanese developers werefailing to deliver RPGs for the Xbox, so Climax Studio's project gave them an entry in an under-represented genre. The current form of "Sudeki" began development in September 2000, at the time as a console exclusive overseen and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Under Microsoft, the title was changed due to potential confusion with a similarly-titled series. The final game was planned to be called """", which roughly translates from Japanese as both "beautiful" and "great". Due to confusion during communication between Climax Studios and Microsoft, the title became "Sudeki". The production team consisted of between 50 and 70 people, over half the staff at Climax Solent. At the time, "Sudeki" was described by Climax managing director Joe Cavalla as the largest project ever handled by the company, and it was their first RPG project.