Wonderbook: Book of Spells art director Joel Smith and producer Suzanne Tee recently discussed how far back they began the Harry Potter interactive book project with author J.K. Rowling, and how the Playstation 3 and Move-compatible book can be integrated into a player's Pottermore account.

Especially with anything connected to JK Rowling or the Harry Potter world, the appetite for new products is so strong that when you announced it at E3 I was thinking how come I haven’t heard of that yet? So how long have you guys been working on it?
So we showed J.K. Rowling Wonderbook around two years ago now and it was her idea to create the Book of Spells she thought it would be a natural fit for the technology. The technology has actually been around for a number of years now maybe 5 years plus I'd say.

How much of an influence and input has JK had on the Book of Spells? Is it a license deal or is she there all the time?
She is very much hands on, not only did she come up with the Book of spells but she has written the story, the spells and conundrums but also her and her team have been very hands on with looking at what we have done and signing off on everything. Looking at the characters and locations and making sure they are authentic enough.

So as Art Director how much freedom did you have to let your own imagination flow?
Quite a bit actually from the look of the book itself, the look and feel of everything like the paper styling but it was very much a case of showing everything to JK and ensuring that it all fits, as it is important that everything we create fits into that world and is authentic.

In terms of a story mode or campaign then is there one within the Book of Spells or is it a series of separate spells you learn?
Well JK wrote a conundrum that takes you through the book and teaches you the qualities that a wizard should have so at the end of each chapter you receive a piece of the conundrum which tells the story of a previous Hogwarts student that maybe didn’t have the right quality to be successful. So all those pieces come together to make up the whole over arching storyline.

So is there any online side to it that you are talking about yet?
Well …am if you have already got an account with the Pottermore website when you start the game you get to link your accounts at the start of the game and the same house you get in the Pottermore website you get in the game.

Wonderbook: Book of Spells, exclusively for Playstation 3 and out this fall, can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.