….

Regal stood and began pacing slowly, his hands gesturing as he spoke.

"Act I: The Descent begins on September 1st, when Thomas Garrett boards the Hogwarts Express.

"Everything seems normal initially. He reunites with friends, hears the sorting, and attends his first dinner. But there are whispers. Something is different about the Dementor guards this year. They seem more aggressive. More present."

He pulled up a scene breakdown on the screen. "By the end of Day One, Thomas witnesses something he shouldn't:

"A Dementor attacking a student outside the castle. The student is found and treated by Madam Pomfrey, but they are changed. Withdrawn. Traumatized. The student claims the Dementor was not acting defensively - it was hunting deliberately.

"Act I culminates when, on the night of September 3rd, Thomas attempts to investigate the castle and discovers that something has fundamentally gone wrong. Dementors are present in places they should not be. They are multiplying. They are feeding. And the castle's protective enchantments are failing."

David was taking detailed notes. "What's the mechanical escalation?"

He asked. "How do we communicate danger to the player in an interactive way?"

Regal nodded, clearly pleased by the question. "In Act One, Dementors are present but avoidable."

"The player can observe patterns, find safe routes, and progress relatively safely. The horror is environmental - seeing things that shouldn't be there, finding evidence of attacks, hearing screams in distant corridors. It's atmospheric dread."

He moved to the next slide. "Act II: The Conspiracy spans Days Two through Four.

"Thomas, along with a few trusted friends, begins investigating what has happened. They discover that the Dementors were not sent randomly. They were part of a Ministry initiative code-named Operation Harvest - a program designed to identify and capture Death Eater sympathizers among the student body by using Dementors as hunters.

"But here is the twist: someone has weaponized Operation Harvest. Someone high-ranking in the Ministry is using the Dementor presence to eliminate not just suspected Death Eaters, but political rivals, inconvenient witnesses, and inconvenient truths."

The screen showed a complex organizational chart with question marks at various nodes.

"The player discovers through environmental storytelling, NPC dialogue, and finds documents that the conspiracy reaches into the highest levels of power. Names emerge and motivations become clear. And the player is faced with moral choices:

"Do you expose the conspiracy, knowing it might destroy careers and careers and reputations? Do you focus on immediate survival? Do you try to save specific people, knowing you cannot save everyone?"

Regal paused. "This is where narrative divergence becomes crucial.

"Thomas meets various characters throughout Act II. Some are victims. Some are complicit. Some are trying to help. The player's choices about who to trust and who to help determine who survives and who becomes Kissed."

He pulled up a branching diagram showing potential character fates.

"At minimum, there are fourteen named characters who are affected by player choice. Their fates branch into forty-three possible outcomes across Act II alone. By the end of the game, those branching paths create unique narrative experiences for each player."

Thomas Park leaned back in his chair, absorbing this.

"That's definitely new. The choice to design a web of interconnected narratives."

"Correct." Regal said. "Which is why this game requires extensive player agency and consequence. Nothing feels meaningless because every choice leads somewhere."

Marcus gestured for Regal to continue.

"Act III: The Confrontation occurs on Day Five.

"Thomas has gathered information. He knows what Operation Harvest is. He knows who is running it. He knows where the Dementors are being controlled from. But confronting this requires a choice."

Regal pulled up four distinct options on the screen.

"Option One: The Exposure Path - Thomas gathers evidence and attempts to expose the conspiracy through official channels. This is the safest path mechanically but requires the player to navigate politically. If executed correctly, the conspiracy is exposed and authorities move to contain the Dementor threat. But exposure is incomplete. Some perpetrators escape.

"Option Two: The Sabotage Path - Thomas learns that the Dementors are being controlled via enchanted items hidden within the castle. He attempts to find and destroy these items. This is mechanically dangerous—Thomas must navigate to high-security locations and survive intense encounters. If successful, the Dementor control breaks and they become feral and flee. Many still escape, but the immediate threat is neutralized.

"Option Three: The Sacrifice Path - Thomas discovers that he, personally, has the magical ability to perform an ancient ritual that can banish Dementors permanently from Hogwarts grounds. But performing this ritual requires extreme magical exertion and results in Thomas becoming Kissed in the process. He saves Hogwarts by sacrificing his soul.

"Option Four: The Escape Path - Thomas concludes that he cannot stop this alone and cannot trust the system to help. He gathers the students he has saved and leads them out of Hogwarts, abandoning the castle to its fate. It is the morally problematic choice, but it is survivable for those who matter to Thomas."

The room was quiet. Amara asked the question everyone was thinking.

"What's the 'good' ending? Or are they all ambiguous?"

Regal smiled slightly.

"There is no 'good' ending. There are only endings. Each path saves some people and fails to save others. Each path has consequences that ripple outward.

"The Exposure Path stops immediate threat but fails to hold those responsible accountable in a meaningful way. The Sabotage Path is violent and chaotic. The Sacrifice Path is noble but comes at personal cost. The Escape Path is self-serving but realistic."

He clicked to another slide, showing epilogue variations.

"The epilogue - which players see after beating Story Mode - adjusts based on their choices. Characters appear or don't appear based on whether they survived. The wizarding world responds differently to the outcome.

"If Thomas exposed the conspiracy, we would see news of investigations. If he sabotaged the system, we see the Ministry scrambling to explain mysterious Dementor departures. If he sacrificed himself, we see him celebrated as a hero but the tragedy acknowledged. If he escaped, we see Hogwarts recovered but changed, with Thomas absent from the narrative."

David was nodding slowly. "So each playthrough feels unique."

"Fundamentally." Regal concluded. "I want players to replay this story multiple times to experience different narrative outcomes."

The room was silent as people processed this vast scope.

Sofia, the lead programmer, spoke first.

"So we are essentially building two complete games. Story Mode is a narrative-driven single-player horror experience. Free Roam Mode is an MMO-lite social sandbox with competitive and cooperative elements."

"Yes." Regal said simply. "But they are built on the same foundation. They share assets, the castle, the magical systems, the NPCs. The difference is operational context and gameplay focus."

Elena, the audio director, raised her hand. "How does the audio transition between modes? Story Mode is psychologically dark. Free Roam Mode is aspirational and social."

"Excellent question." Regal replied. "The audio design completely changes between modes.

"Story Mode has the constant low-frequency hum we discussed. Dementor presence is audibly represented. Ambience is unsettling. Free Roam Mode has warm orchestration, welcoming ambient sounds, the sounds of a functioning school. The same castle sounds completely different depending on mode."

Patricia Gonzalez, the Environment Lead, asked the next logical question. "Do we need to build Hogwarts twice? Or is it one space with different rendering and audio?"

James, the Level Designer, jumped in. "That is something we need to discuss. My instinct is one comprehensive castle model with contextual variations. Story Mode might render certain corridors in darkness. Free Roam renders them brightly. But the underlying space is the same. That saves enormous development time."

"Agreed." Yuki said. "One asset base with contextual rendering. Different materials, different lighting states, different audio layers, but the same underlying geometry."

Marcus made a note. "That's a technical decision we will need to finalize in the next week. For now, let's proceed with the assumption that we're building one comprehensive Hogwarts that operates differently depending on mode."

He turned back to Regal. "We haven't discussed multiplayer logistics. How are instances structured?"

"Free Roam Mode operates on a server-based system. And we can have liberty to increase the exploration of the map with every update. We can even do Chistman updates." Regal explained.

"Each server hosts multiple instances of Hogwarts. Each instance holds a limited player population - I suggest around 100-150 players per instance.

"Players can choose which instance to join or can be auto-placed. Friends can ensure they're in the same instance.

"The Great Hall, Hogsmeade, and other major social spaces are cross-instance - meaning when you are in those locations, you see players from all instances on that server. This prevents the social hubs from feeling dead while preventing overcrowding in the main castle."

Thomas Park nodded. "We will need robust backend infrastructure. Database management for character data, relationship states, customization options, rankings, achievements. We are talking about potentially thousands of concurrent players across multiple instances."

"Which is doable." Yuki said. "But we need to start planning the server architecture immediately."

"I will put together a technical specification." Thomas said, making notes.

Marcus stood and walked to the window, looking out over the city. "So here is what I am hearing:

"We are creating a narrative-driven survival horror game with genuine branching story consequences. Simultaneously, we are creating a social, persistent online world where players can live out their fantasy of being a Hogwarts student. These are built in the same space but operate as fundamentally different experiences. Both are ambitious. Together, they are enormous."

He turned back to face the room. "The question is: Is this achievable in three years with our current budget and team size?"

The room looked to Yuki. "If we execute cleanly, if we maintain technical discipline, if we don't scope creep... yes"

She added. "But barely. We will need to expand the team significantly in the coming months. We need more programmers, more artists, more designers. And we need everyone operating at maximum efficiency."

"How many additional people?" Marcus asked.

"For this scope, I would recommend expanding from our current 15 to approximately 85 people within six months. We are talking 20+ programmers, 18-20 artists, 12 level designers, a full QA department, localization specialists, community managers for multiplayer support."

Marcus made calculations on a spreadsheet. "That will consume most of our remaining budget."

"It has to." Yuki said. "There is no other way to ship this game in three years."

Marcus looked at each department head. "Are we committing to this? Because once we greenlight team expansion, we are committed. We cannot scale down."

One by one, each person nodded. When it came to Regal, he simply said:

"This game is an extension of the creative vision of [Harry Potter] - which is the first bet I have made with everything I have on line. And I have no intention of half-assing it. I have spent months designing this, and I would not have designed it this way if I did not believe it was achievable."

Marcus took a breath. "Alright–

"We commit. Effective immediately, we begin team recruitment.

"Yuki, I need a full technical specification by the end of the week. "James, I need a complete castle design document by the end of month. Amara, I need visual direction concepts. Elena, I need audio direction concepts. David, I need a comprehensive Game Systems Document outlining all mechanics for both Story and Free Roam modes.

"Everyone else: your department heads will give you specific assignments. But the message is clear: we are building something that has never been attempted before. It will be hard. It will be challenging. But it will be worth it."

He looked at Regal again. "And Regal will be the north star for all of us. When we are unsure, we return to Regal's vision. This game succeeds or fails based on how faithfully we execute his design."

Regal nodded, acknowledging the responsibility. "I have one final piece." He said, standing again. He pulled up a single image on the screen: Hogwarts Castle at sunset, beautiful and mysterious.

"This game should be a love letter to the source material and to everyone who has ever dreamed of attending Hogwarts.

"Story Mode is a nightmare version of that dream - what happens when the dream becomes a nightmare. Free Roam Mode is the dream itself. Both are essential. Both are true."

He looked at the assembled team. "You are not just making a game. You are creating a world - people who will grow up with this story - can experience it in a new way. Some will experience the horror. Some will experience the wonder. Many will experience both. That is the scope of what we are building."

The room was silent.

Marcus stood and extended his hand to Regal–

"Then let's build it."

….

David sat in the apartment that evening, video-calling Emma.

"How did it go Uncle? Did you meet him?"

She was eccentric when David informed her that they will be finalizing the game today.

"It went well."

Honestly, as a game creator, David is terrified.

Their team just committed to building something massive - something of a scale he hadn't expected to sign up for.

But for some reason he just know–

It was the best decision he had made.

After a few more minutes of chatting they hung up

However, David was still on his laptop and looked at his task list.

By the end of the week, he needed to deliver a comprehensive Game Systems Document outlining all mechanics.

Outside his window, the city lights twinkled.

Somewhere in those buildings, eighty people would soon be working toward a single vision.

And in three years, they would attempt something that had never been done before.

.

….

[To be continued…]

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