Spell Interactions
Accio Pages
Accio pages were chosen as the most plentiful of the spell interaction as it’s one of the very first spells the player has access to in the game, while also being super easy to fit within any area. I was in charge of the design and placement of these and authoring each splines flight path, tweaking each spline to make sure it had a smooth curve and leaned into the turns as it flew to help make the pages seem more lifelike. I also assisted with the mission in game that introduces the player to these spell interactions in a more official capacity working with mission LDs on placement and tuning for the mission experience.
Incendio Braziers
Incendio Braziers were specifically set up in two forms. When creating these we really wanted to lean into that metroidvania spirit and designed the Incendio braziers to use Incendio and Confingo. Wall mounted braziers would required the ranged fire spell while the floor braziers could be solve with either.
Spell Interactions are the collection of gameplay objects within the castle that are one off interactions requiring a single spell to solve, Rewarding the player with a field guide page for an exp reward. We created these with the idea that we wanted the castle to have a metroidvania style feel to it. We really wanted to give the feeling of as you progressed through the game that you would always have more and more to do, so the castle would never feel old as you kept returning. My work with these features included being the designer for the interactions and working with the systems team on how these would connect into the game’s progression as a whole. I was also in charge of population and distribution of all spell interactions in Hogwarts.
Levioso Statues
For the Levioso statue, outside of the design, I helped with setting up the spawn location of the Exp Page in the BP. Working with the tech artists to set up the skeletal mesh and sockets to spawn the page at the desired orientation and height. This was a fun one to dive into, when designing all of these. We always checked if there was any way to play into the lore and set the figure of the statue as the canon creator of the spell Levioso.
Lumos Moth Picture Frames
The Lumos Moth frame was the most work intensive of the spell interactions. I was in charge of the initial design where we had a desire to create a treasure hunt like gameplay. Utilizing the tech found in the dungeons, we set up these frames to react to Lumos, lighting up a darkened image to show the target location. I was also in charge of picking said locations for the frames and where the respective moth would then spawn. I took the images that would display per frame and set up the BPs to use the respective frame and image.
Disillusionment Chests
We initially designed the Disillusionment Chest to reward pages, but later leaned into them being huge gold rewards to better fit into the exp and gold progression plan from the systems team. The idea itself came from Madeye’s magical eye that could see people through walls and this chest was made where it could see through walls in the same way.