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masterofmystery · #1 (**permalink**) 09-02-2011, 10:40 PM

LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 video game designer Wil Evans recently commented about a variety of new changes and scenes in the upcoming game focusing on the latter half of the Harry Potter books and films. Of particular note was the two-dimensional aspect of The Tale of the Three Brothers, and how the player will get the chance to play the three brothers going against Death.

The lighting and overall backdrop of the game has been enhanced, where the weather in the background is now more realistic and moving, and Lumos is cast in a way to now give the characters shadows and lighting on their faces, becoming more realistic. More on that here.

Quote:

"We have new lighting in the game," Evans points out. "It's real-time dynamic lighting. Lumos looks great, it casts shadows around Harry as he moves, the light shines on his face."

There's the diffindo spell that allows you to cut into a wall of LEGO and create your own pieces on the fly, not needing to worry about shapes or patterns. There are also times in the game when you can use a mind-control spell [Imperius] to take control of other minifigs.

To recapture the feel of The Tale of the Three Brothers, the developers decided to create levels that had players controlling the brothers as they proceeded through the story from left to right on a scrolling, two-dimensional screen.

This section of the game is presented like a sort of LEGO pop-up book, with characters that pop up from the landscape, and unfold in ornate sections of cut paper, created in LEGO pieces. Stark lighting and a gritty filter help complete the feel that you are reading a book as you play through the level.

"It's a really cool, really eerie artistic world created in an art style we've never done before," Evans said.

The Tale's Death, a towering cut-out creature of wings and serpentine neck, is a sight to behold.

When the team first started designing this level, they asked their LEGO designers to come up with a Death figure. The first one that came back was a minifig, but the team wasn't happy with it, Evans said, so they sent it back.

"Half an hour later they came back with a big model made of LEGO," he said.

This new Death had sticks for legs and arms, skeletal claws for hands, giant, tattered wings of LEGO and a long, serpentine neck. It's almost vulture like in it's appearance.

The Tale of the Three Brothers is a huge part of the game, Evans said, but it's not something you play through all at once. Instead players will return to the on-going tale as they make their way through the broader story of Harry Potter's final three books.