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Harry Potter - Quidditch, Sorcerer's Stone?
Thanks to two different readers for submitting Harry Potter game-related stories. On the one hand, a recent IGN Cube interview talks with EA about Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, an interesting sports game concept if ever there was one. According to EA, "..there's a progress from Hogwarts to working your way up a World Cup ladder. I can confirm that Viktor Krum (who appears in book 4) is in the game--which is appropriate since he's the 'Michael Jordan' of Quidditch in a sense." On the other hand, the ever rumor-spreading C+VG site are claiming that next-gen versions of Harry Potter And The Sorceror's Stone are scheduled for later in 2003, based on a leaked release schedule, since there has only a Playstation 1 console version of the first movie/book so far - this is far from confirmed, however.
The only change I would recommend for the next-gen versions is they actually make the game half-decent.
I wonder how the sports game will work though. I presume you will be able to switch between the different players and the roles. But in this case wouldn't it always just be best to be the seeker and use your advantage over the AI to win the game?
The rules for Quidditch are so insane. Essentially, almost all the time, the seeker is the one who wins the game. 150 points for one individuals accomplishments, it might work in fiction with a protagonist, but it's horrid for an actual game.
Because it's broken.
The Seeker getting 150 pts for the snitch is ridiculous. That decides the game right there.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
In some recess of my mind, I recognize that a Quidditch game could be cool. Think about it. Online play. 14 players (plus there could be substitutes on the sidelines). Player customization and skill stats. Essentially a 3d flight sim and sports game in one. High speeds, lots of action, a little bit of violence. Fun for everybody.
Then the part of my brain trained over the years to interject with reality steps up. It's going to be a crappy movie liscence game. From EA. Geared towards childen. With crappy AI cause everybody wants to be the seeker. Let's toss in crappy controls too.
If it wasn't for the fact that it would be Fox-ed rather quickly, the task of making a good Quidditch game would fall to mod devlopers for UT2k3/4, q3, d3, or hl2. Thank god trademarks will prevent a good movie game from ever being made.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
Yes, because goodness knows the original Quidditch rules where a work of art, destined to echo down the ages, and were so well-thought-out and conceived that not only were they ideal for a diversionary color device in a children's book series AND some nifty special effects shots*, but are also perfect to actually play with... despite being some of the the most unbalanced, crappy rules in the history of fake games.
*: Actually, those are some of my least favorite shots in the movies, because having played my fair share of twitch games like Quake and such, I can't help but realize as I'm watching "Quidditch" on the big screen that no real human would survive the game. The people are moving around at what, thirty, forty miles an hour? So an oncoming person zips by you at sixty miles an hour, swinging a stick at you no less! (Oh, sure, they're really swinging at the blodger. At least, that's what the Slytheryn player tells the ref when they get caught, right?) Nobody's reactions are that fast. (And you don't really get to go with "Well, they're wizards, they're special", because they're not made out as supermen in any other way...) The shots tear me right out of my suspension of disbelief.
I suspect that much of the problem is taking the scenes out of the book too literally; Quidditch could kind of work if you couldn't just go zipping around on a broom at full speed, but instead were limited to 10 or 15 mph... although even that would be enough to kill nearly instantly if two people collided head-on the wrong way.
On that topic, the Playstation game designers will suffer from similar problems, since they have to actually make the game playable in 3D while allowing human-speed reflexes to play the game. Given the relative realism of 3D, they're going to have to actually decide how fast these people are going in an accurate model. I'd be intrigued to hear how they are going to do that/have done that.