Hogwarts Puzzle Rooms

Hogwarts Puzzle Rooms were one of the more complex gameplay features we put within the castle. These were created with the desire to have entire rooms in the castle dedicated to gameplay. Starting out we had five large scale puzzles set up and eventually they were trimmed down to four. Three of them were placed systemically in the castle, the last one getting integrated into a side mission, though it could be completed outside the mission beforehand. For the puzzle rooms, I was in charge of creating and overseeing all of the designs for each puzzle and seeing them through the production pipeline. Working with the Mechanics Team and the Systems Team, we created the BP tech and implemented rewards used for each puzzle. We wanted these puzzle rooms to be easily recognizable and have the spell required be quickly grokked. The most intricate puzzle was easily the clock tower; it gave us a lot of potential for some fun and unique gameplay that would be for Hogwarts specifically. Some of the earlier puzzle designs for these rooms would later be utilized for the Depulso and Accio dungeons, along with the hidden chamber under the Greenhouse for one of the side missions. These split off areas would later become what we called Lost Corridors. I was in charge of the initial design for these areas and working with the Dungeon Team on prototypes, but later the Dungeon Team took over these areas and brought them to life.

  • Clock Tower Rune Gates

    The Clock Tower Rune puzzle was set up with the idea of a race against time using the spell Arresto Momentum. I prototyped out the puzzle design and worked with the Mechanics Team to get the BPs needed set up. I also worked with the Systems Team to incorporate the rewards for the puzzle. Each puzzle room pulled from a budget for rewards and I was in charge of deciding how best to use the budget we were given for puzzles. The Clock Tower had plenty of rooms and was given the most variety of rewards.

    Tuning the puzzle and working with our BP person on the gates and doors was my primary responsibility. I was tasked with setting up the BP created to work in Hogwarts and iterating on the design until we reached it’s final polished state.

  • Room of Admittance

    The design of the Room of Admittance was made as a deep lore reference that we really wanted to reward the well read player with. I ran point for pushing to keep this in because the Hogwarts Team all felt like this would be a really cool reward for players who had read the books as it was never touched upon in the movies. My work in this puzzle included setting up the rewards and the key needed to open up the door. Working with the mission team that blocked access to the Headmaster’s Office where the key was located.

    The door itself was something set up by the Animation and Mechanics Team. We knew we wanted a hefty feeling lock on the door, like this was a vault opening up and they delivered in every aspect.

  • Viaduct Bridge Torches

    The Viaduct Bridge Puzzle was set up to use the extra space under the bridge while making a cool puzzle to get down there. The design we came up with required the player to light torches and line up each torch with the right number. We put the solution to the puzzle on the grate and had the grate activate once all the torches were solved.

    I was in charge of the prototype for the puzzle and working with the Mechanics Team to get the torches and the grate BP working in game. I also set up the rewards for the puzzle and tuned the puzzle to it’s final polished state. One particular challenge with this puzzle included setting up collision blockers so the player couldn’t get into the lower section without solving the puzzle. Setting up collision to keep the player inside Hogwarts where they couldn’t jump off the bridge until they reached the point in the game where the open world was introduced and we let them roam free.