Anonymous
The pressure to get the game complete in time for the movie release window can be pretty bad considering that the development time frame is short compared to the average AAA title due to the script not being released or even finished.
Then the game content has to be checked by all the IP holders which in the case of Harry Potter, is Warner Bros and JK Rowling. It they don’t like something, it has to be changed which can be very frustrating.
There are some upsides such as being able to see the script before the film release and the fact that the background source material already exists giving the designers a base to work from.
On the last Harry Potter game I worked on, the Half Blood Prince, getting the potions minigame together was one of the highlights of my career as we managed to get the controls and gameplay to the level we wanted them at through proper iteration and play testing.
We did overuse the minigame a bit too much throughout the single player but that was another issue altogether.
In short, there will be constraints but you just have to make the best of them.
