The Wizarding World beckons when Hogwarts Legacy launches on PS5 and PS4 on February 10. The creation of everyone’s favorite magic school’s magical grounds is the work of a dedicated team of love. at Avalanche.
Explosions of color and light emanate from students’ wands throughout Hogwarts, harnessing the graphic potential of the PS5. Players can soar through the open world on their sturdy broom or their loyal mount, tapping into super-fast SSD loads in fantasy environments.
Starting this year, it’s now easier to find a PS5 than before thanks to an increased supply of consoles, which is great news for future Hogwarts students. To help players understand what to expect, Hogwarts Legacy Jose Villeta, Director of Software Engineering, shares some developer insights into how the Avalanche team harnessed the PS5 to enhance the magical journey.
We’re also excited to announce the brand new limited edition Hogwarts Legacy DualSense wireless controller is coming to the US and UK to celebrate the game’s launch on PS5. Artists Vanessa Palmer and Jeff Bunker at Avalanche Software talk about the design inspiration behind this wondrous DualSense controller.
Do magic with PlayStation 5
What was your first impression when you first learned about the power and capabilities of the PS5, from a developer perspective?
Ever since the first day I got the PS5 early reveal, I knew we had a great console on our hands. My video game career started with the launch of the first PlayStation and knowing how many technological advancements have occurred since then is a dream come true. The DualSense controller feels immediately next-generation. The ability to quickly access content via the super-fast SSD combined with stunning 4K graphics and visuals laid the foundation for what we could deliver for our games.
What are the most important ways that developing the PS5 version of the Hogwarts Legacy enhances the overall experience for players?
When we designed our game, we built it around the following five technological pillars.
- DualSense controller
- Fast loading time
- 3D . sound
- Graphics and images 4K
- Game activities and help
Each of these pillars contributes to the development of a complete, groundbreaking gaming experience. We’ve invested in and leveraged the power of PS5 around them. From manipulating our player avatars by walking or flying on broomsticks to fast travel to multiple game locations in a massive open world to aurally sensory 3D experiences to environments and Stunning characters, beautiful to the quest track and role-playing gameplay, the PS5 version of the Hogwarts Legacy lets the player become a wizard or witch who wants to be in the Wizarding World universe.
Visually stunning magic is the foundation of the Wizarding World. How does Avalanche exploit the PS5’s ability to create visual effects that “sell” the magic of in-game magic?
Right from the early days of development, we wanted to make sure that we brought great visual effects to all the spells and spells in the Wizarding World. Leveraging the Unreal Engine, the next-generation Niagara visual effects system combined with the PS5’s massive rendering and computing capabilities, Hogwarts Legacy offers dozens of unique spells, each with their own presentation and treatment. own graphic management, effects and effects area. We’ve built a visual language for each spell, and as you gain experience, you’ll gain access to more powerful and advanced visual effects.
The DualSense wireless controller offers a unique level of immersion thanks to its tactile and adaptive triggers. Which DualSense wireless controller implementation do you like best in the Hogwarts Legacy?
The DualSense wireless controller allows us to build a unique gaming experience that leverages key technologies like adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, LED light feedback, trackpad usage, audio speaker bar and tilt control. The most exciting part of our game is the amazing combat experiences while controlling your wand and casting all sorts of unique spells. The combination of adaptive triggers with haptic feedback makes our combat encounters real and fully immersive. You feel like you’re in complete control of your avatar, and when it comes to combos and finishes you’ll be rewarded with stunning visuals and enemy reactions.
Hogwarts Heritage DualSense Wireless Controller
We’ve said it before: The PlayStation 5 DualSense Wireless Controller is an extension of your wand in Hogwarts Legacy, seemingly putting the game’s magic directly into your hands. We’ve also detailed the DualSense features that will connect you to that magic, from haptic feedback that delivers unique sensations throughout the game to adaptive triggers that enhance your abilities. spelling transmission. Extending beyond mere spells, the DualSense wireless controller immerses you in the wizarding world of the 1800s Hogwarts Legacy like never before, allowing you to feel the flap of a bird’s wings. hippo and feel the whisper of the mysterious Ancient Magic.
With that in mind, we’re really excited about the prospect of creating a limited edition Hogwarts Legacy DualSense controller. We knew we wanted something special that looked good as well as felt in the hand. But when it comes time to start a particular design, it’s a much more difficult process to analyze.
The Wizarding World franchise has so many elements to take from that, how can we distill this down into a single controller design? Do we use the wand motif to represent that connection to the controller? Maybe we’re leaning towards the unique Ancient Magic themes of the Hogwarts Legacy? How about taking inspiration from the four houses of Hogwarts, or even “light” and “darkness” to represent the choices you can make? But through the many ideas we had to choose from, we always came back to what lies at the heart of this whole experience: Hogwarts itself.
With a lot of consideration and thought put into this design, I went in person to Avalanche Software Artist Vanessa Palmer and Art Director Jeff Bunker to better understand how the Legacy wireless controller is designed. DualSense Hogwarts School Limited Edition:
Vanessa Palmer: “We wanted to design a controller that combines magic with Victorian decorative elements. Sweeping magic and the stars draw you to Hogwarts itself, creating a unique blend for the game and our time period.”
Jeff Bunker: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the PlayStation team to create this new DualSense controller for the upcoming game, Hogwarts Legacy. Our goal is to bring a little bit of in-game experience to players…literally. Various themes were considered, from representations of different houses, magic wands, beasts or even a sorting hat. But obviously we should focus on the star of the game, Hogwarts itself. So we took the iconic castle as the centerpiece and incorporated the swirling motifs of Ancient Magic into the design, highlighting the unique role the player plays in the story.
“From the very beginning, we had a vision of a simple, clean and refined aesthetic. White, blue and navy along with several other colors were tried but in the end we chose matte black as the primary color for the controller, not least because it contributed to the aesthetic we wanted. want but also because it hints at darker themes that players can expect in the game. For added realism, we’ve incorporated old gold Victorian intaglio engraving into the castle designs and the Ancient Magic vortex, highlighting the era in which the game takes place.
“It’s been an exciting and fun process to bring part of the virtual world of the Hogwarts Legacy into the real physical and interactive world of the controller. We can’t wait for players to get their hands on it and fully immerse themselves in the game.”
At Avalanche, our passion for The Wizarding World is channeled into everything we do, whether it’s giving fans an authentic Wizarding World video game experience or creating a new controller. custom controls to play that game. We hope fans love the limited edition Hogwarts Legacy DualSense controller as much as we do.
Download directly from PlayStation
DualSense Wireless Controller – Hogwarts Legacy Limited Edition will be available in limited quantities and exclusively on direct.playstation.com US and UK only.
In the United States, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, February 10, 2023, the DualSense Wireless Controller – Hogwarts Heritage Limited Edition will be available to pre-order (when stocks last). row) into direct.playstation.com with a US launch date of February 28, 2023.
In the UK, starting at 10am GMT on Friday, February 10, 2023, the DualSense Wireless Controller – Hogwarts Legacy Limited Edition will be available for purchase (when stock runs out). ) above direct.playstation.com with a UK launch date of 10 February 2023. Stay tuned direct.playstation.com for more information.
