Martin Griffiths, an engine programmer at Hello Games, revealed early development footage of an open-world Harry Potter game, highlighting a significant connection to the Quake series. He discussed his prior experience with the Harry Potter engine, particularly the 2006 game The Order of the Phoenix, which he described as the “first fully streamed, open world game.” The footage showcased a prototype of Hogwarts, featuring a t-posing Dumbledore, and evoked nostalgia for fans. Additionally, Griffiths noted that the engine used for the Harry Potter games had previously been adapted to port Quake 3 to PlayStation 2, where he faced challenges like implementing four-way split screen rendering due to the console’s limited GPU memory. His current work involves applying advanced technology from No Man’s Sky and Light No Fire, demonstrating the game’s capabilities by traveling across multiple planets rapidly.

In a past life at EA I worked for 8 years on the engine for the Harry Potter games - in 2006 it was a formative time because Order of the Phoenix was the first fully streamed, open world game that we'd made : from an old sd card.. the first time Harry ran around Hogwarts on PS3! pic.twitter.com/836wH5d0JL

— Martin Griffiths (@Griff_) September 7, 2024