Hogwarts Secrets
Arithmancy Doors
The Arithmancy Doors was a labor of love for the whole team. The original puzzle was created by designer Nathan Scott and was meant for the open world, but was cut early on. Working with him we then took the design and iterated into a new form that would better serve as Hogwarts only gameplay. I was in charge of coming up with the new puzzle mechanics and working with the BP experts, we made the BP and set up the display that would reveal on each door. I worked on the placement and set up for each door and working with the Systems Team on how many we could have and what rewards they would give. I also helped create and set up the study guide note that the player could receive from the chest outside the classroom, making the BP, and setting up the rich paper tech to display the note. While iterating on this design I pushed for including the arithmancy symbols imbedded in the door frame to help player better learn the puzzle.
It was 100% worth the effort.
Hidden Secrets, Misc
We had a lot of fun when creating Hogwarts and we went above and beyond on the Hogwarts Team to fit as much love as we could into the castle. We took inspiration from the books, the movies, and fan reactions when coming up with all the magical things we could make. One such example was making sure to have the movies safari painting as well as the books definition of the Map of Agryllshire for one of the secrets shown. It was this blend of being accurate to the books as canon, but also having small references that the majority of the fanbase would easily recognize, making the castle the love letter that it was.
Some examples of other secrets we created were the Room of Lost Wands, the potion brewing stations in the bathrooms, The Goblet of Fire, Hagrid’s Hut, the Death Day Dungeon, and more. I worked with the Render Team and Mission Designers to make sure we got as much as possible from the books and incorporated them into actual gameplay features that we included in the castle. Some got incorporated into missions or Knowledge Objects while others we only managed to get in as references or Easter Eggs in one form or another. The big challenge working with an already established IP was making sure that nothing we did conflicted with canon and working with the folks at TBP to ensure everything made sense in the grander scope of the Harry Potter universe, making for quite a unique pipeline for created features.
Relic Chests and Daedalian Keys
When we were planning out gameplay for Hogwarts we really wanted a big puzzle that would be unique for players depending on what house they picked. The end result of this was the Daedalian keys and the House Relic Chests they unlocked. I created the initial design and over multiple iterations we landed on the design of a single big chest in the common rooms that through the mission system would give you an epic gear item.
My role in this feature included coming up with what the rewards for this system would be, how the chests would work, and setting up the Daedalian Key cabinets throughout the castle. I worked with the Mechanics Team who created the House Chests, Daedalian Keys, and cabinets to bring these to final polish. I was the one who set up the chests, the cabinets, and authored the splines in the castle. Working with the Concept Team we iterated on what the gear items would be and look like, worked with artists to make the House Tokens for each house, and I made the logic that would swap out the token’s material depending on what house the player had picked.
Hogwarts Notes
When we were going through Hogwarts, one of our main goals was to make the school feel like a school. We wanted players to see students and teachers living out their school lives while the player was exploring. One of the ways that we were able to add some flavor into the mix was with the idea of Hogwarts Notes. Working with some of the Tech Team and the Story Team we created notes that could be found throughout the school with little stories contained in each one. Example span all the way from a professor’s shopping list to a personal letter written between close friends.
My role in this feature was setting up the BP that was used in game wherever the player would pick up said note and then have it go into the players note inventory. This included working with the Story Team to set up IDs that would link to the stories they made for each note. Along with setting them up to utilize our rich paper system created by the Tech Team to give that nice polished visual of reading the notes after you collected them.
My favorite part of these little notes is that they really allowed us to add some bits of flavor to characters that we couldn’t fit into the games larger story beats and/or missions.