HP. A history of character development

RU EN +

Image

It’s been 10 years since the first Harry Potter game was released…

All that time we have been able to watch the game industry’s evolving technology bring something new to each successive game in the series, whether it be potions, magical duels or a meticulously crafted castle. The depiction of the world of the HP has become increasingly detailed and realistic, and the characters in the game have become almost complete replicas of the actors playing in the film.

In this article, we invite you to trace the entire history of the changes of our favourite characters in the PC version*.

(From left to right: SS/PS – CS – QWC – PA – GF – OP – HP – DH1 – DH2)


Harry Potter

Click here for the original.

Ron Weasley

Original image available by click


Hermione Granger

The original is available by click


As you can see, Harry’s model hasn’t changed in the first two games, unlike Ron and Hermione, whose images have been tweaked slightly.

In CS, the characters have learned to blink and open their mouths when talking. And in PA, with the new version of the engine, the quality of the graphics has improved and the animation of the characters has improved (especially the developing gown flaps while running and the beautiful wand flicks come to mind). However, they still looked only remotely like the actors in the film (Harry’s hair looked like it was electrocuted).

In GF, the friends finally switched from school uniforms to informal clothing, while in OP and HP they again dressed in a strict style. Also, as you know, the heads of the main actors were computer scanned for the GF, making the characters in the game identical to their prototypes and most of them speaking in their real voices. Unfortunately, facial expressions were not reproduced to an adequate level, so the faces look stiff.

In HP the quality of the models was reduced, with Hermione, Ginny, Snape and some other characters being blacklisted. But their hair got shinier, like in shampoo commercials. In the last two games, the developers also tried to portray the characters as realistically as possible, working on small details, shadows, colours (they overdid it with light reflection, but okay), and costumes. The expression of Harry’s face remained doubtful, but on the whole, the impression was favourable. What do you think?


Part two of the article “History of Character Development: The Teachers”.

Part three of the article “Character Development Story. Friends and Enemies”.


Feel free to comment!

*All platforms were left out, as well as Lego HP (as it already has a different publisher).

Author: Setebos

Special thanks to: OOKS (for providing material on the Quidditch World Cup), АlехeyMS (for his responsive guidance).

Note. Hermione’s image for Prisoner of Azkaban corresponds to the Sony Playstation 2 version of the game.