Yup, there you have it. This is a present and particularly for Avalanche software, the makers of Hogwarts Legacy. I’ve been mulling a few things over and I reckon that at times we have to give back to the people who kept us entertained. As such I am giving this idea to Avalanche and they can use it, ignore it. Whatever they want. It also assumes that Hogwarts legacy 2 is as open as its predecessor was.
First
In the first you need to be able to own houses. These houses can be decorated and they all have a ‘secret’ setting, but in addition to this The game will have its collection of castles, derelict places and others. These are the foundation of my focus. As it goes each of these places have the ability to have a secret level (rooms is more apt). And these houses need specific updates and some of them need to be found.
Portal elements. In the game you will be able to find unique portal items, as well as stress lanterns, and interior spells (an advanced version of Reparo) These houses will then be ‘decorated’ in the style of your graduation house, As such if you play the game 4 times, that place will look similar but different. As the game progresses you will find more unique spells and items (these will have a different icon, item card) the stress lamps are placed around the house or in the house and will give muggles the creeps when they get near one (but they do not know why). Portal items are specific for a type of dwelling and will show this, these portal keys are specific and limited to one location (your secret level) and these levels are consistent to the area they are set and the rooms are not unlike the Room of requirements, but they have limits. You now have places for wardrobes, spell crafts, potion crafts and so on.
Second
I mentioned before jobs (in a previous blog) I set the ideal gave to a maximum job and two minimum jobs. So the 4 houses have a maximum job and 2 minimum jobs. As such we get 12 jobs. I wanted to add a segment to this, but I don’t want to steamroll everything. For Slytherin the idea of having a potioneer. As a Potioneer you get benefits, like an additional potion for every potion you make and you need one less ingredient for any potion made. For Auror you get more resources for every enemy you slain (like 7 troll bogeys instead of 5) As we get to the setting of minister, or civil servant, you get additional goodwill when you are walking around.
Third
As you have graduated, you no longer need a field guide, but the idea can be transferred to the next game, it will have a different name, lore pages as you get the lore of specific things you find. This might also give you additional talents and spells. It might be nice that some of these are house related, like the original lore page writer gives the house wizard an additional page, a ‘golden’ page and that is house dependent and will give the person a skill, a spell or a conjurations linked to the thing you are revealing.
These settings are to instill the replay-ability of the game and the need for people to keep on exploring. As I wrote before in the jobs story, this will give you an income and that matters as you progress in the game, more money means more options (just like real life) and here we see that the smaller jobs are easier to get, but pay less, as such you can create the skills you need to get the ‘big’ job. The job will also give ‘renown’ as well as privileges. These privileges are limited to some degree, but they can make life easier in certain settings. For example a minister gets discounts, a auror gets stronger outfits. It can be applied to the same cloak. It gives an auror 20% better defense and that same cloak is 20% cheaper but does not have the 20% better defense.
You can still find and upgrade stuff, but the stronger clothes must be bought and they aren’t cheap. The aforementioned cloak could be found (acquired in a fight) with a defense of 60, that same cloak could be bought with a defense of 96. There is the idea that a loom could be conjured (or found), but the animal furs need to be bought from a pet shop.
As I learn more about the second game I might get more ideas, but Avalanche here is your boon. You payed for it by entertaining me with an excellent first game.
Have a nice day all and the people at Avalanche happy programming.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 