Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
| Harry Potter: Wizards Unite | |
|---|---|
| Studio | WB Games San Francisco Niantic |
| Publisher | Niantic |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
  June 21, 2019 |
| platform | iOS , Android |
| genre | Augmented reality , location-based game |
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite ( HPWU or WU for short ) is a freely accessible, location-dependent augmented reality game that is inspired by the magical world of the Harry Potter franchise. The game was developed by WB Games San Francisco and Niantic and published by Niantic. A beta version was released in New Zealand and Australia in April and May 2019. Global release began June 20th in the UK and US. The game has also been available in Germany since June 22, 2019.
overview
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was announced on November 8, 2017 as an augmented reality mobile game developed by WB Games San Francisco and Niantic . Players can visit real locations while casting spells, discovering mysterious artifacts, and encountering iconic characters and legendary animals from the Harry Potter universe. The mechanics have parallels to Niantic's previous AR games Pokémon Go and Ingress , while the game infrastructure of these games has largely been adopted.
With the takeover of Escher Reality , Niantic set an example to implement new technologies in the game to enable persistent worlds within AR. The 2019 release was confirmed on November 14, 2018.
Game mechanics
The gameplay is described as similar to Pokémon Go, with players being able to view the gameplay world through a smartphone.
After creating a game account, the player creates an avatar , the location of which depends on the geographic location of the device. The player then moves around in the real world to find magical creatures and to free them from their dark guardians by using spells. Guesthouses (to replenish the magic energy), greenhouses (to grow potion ingredients) and fortresses (to fight off evil creatures and unlock rarer rewards) are located at numerous geographical locations in the vicinity. The avatar moves within the game card synchronously with the movements of the player in his real environment.
The player profile (ministry card)
Playing HPWU in context means supporting the Ministry of Magic in the fight against dark forces. For this, the players receive their profile in the form of a ministry card. Players are free to choose their Hogwarts house , wand and profession, and change or adapt at any time. The choice of house does not currently affect the rest of the game.
Each player can put together their own wand. There are 38 types of wood to choose from, such as beech, yew, chestnut, walnut or cedar. The properties and suitability of each type of wood are described depending on the character of the owner. The core of the wand can be made of dragon heart fiber, unicorn hair or phoenix feather. The flexibility can be set in 13 different levels, the length in 21 levels from 9½ to 14½ inches .
In addition, the player can choose different professions - professor, auror or magizoologist. The different professions in fortresses have different strengths and weaknesses or are more effective against certain opponents than others. Progress within one occupation is not affected by changing to another occupation.
In the medium to long term, you can unlock various titles and magic successes by regularly participating in the game, which are then optionally displayed in the profile for others to see. Titles are represented by names such as “Outstanding Magician” or “Chamber Challenger”, while sorcery successes are represented by pictorial badges.
Findable items
The game enables players to encounter magical figures and objects from the fantasy universe of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts , the so-called "findable objects", and to protect them from hostile forces, so-called "found guards" in the form of, for example, spider webs, dementors or flames, to set free. These appear in the virtual environment in the form of “traces”; the actual object can only be recognized by tapping this trace. Mythical beasts can be fought in fortresses, which means that rarer findable items are available as rewards. Exempted findable objects are recorded as images in a register. The register consists of four categories: Exploration , Challenges , Mysteries, and Events . Each category is in turn divided into different tab pages.
The "research" includes ten tabs: Care of Magical Creatures , Dark Arts , the Hogwarts School , Legends of Hogwarts , the Ministry of Magic , Magizoologie , Magical Games and Sports , mysterious artifacts , the wonders of the world of magic and oddities . Findable items in this category can be registered through encounters on the map and rewards from fortresses. The “Challenges” category comprises the seven tabs of books , joke articles , magical devices , symbols from the world of sorcery and wands from Dumbledore's army, as well as two extra pages with various profiles of dark magicians and characters. Findable items in this category are only available as Fortress rewards. The “Mysteries” category only contains objects that can be found from the series of so-called “WDG assignments”, a series of tasks that can be solved together with various ministry employees. The “Events” category is the only category that is continuously being expanded and a tab page is added with each new “Brilliant Event”. There were ten events until April 2020: Fantastic flora and fauna , Potter's disaster , Back to Hogwarts , Fighting Troops , Stronger Together , Christmas Disaster , Times of Darkness , Lost Love , Disastrous Circus , Besieged Burrow . Findable items in this category are only available during events or via portkeys and rune stones received in the event.
For each freed findable item and each reward received, the player receives not only experience points but also so-called "family XP", which can be used to level the tab page corresponding to the findable item. For each new level, in turn, you receive a runestone from this family, which you can use to fight in fortresses and win rarer items. The highest level of the register pages is 65, but runestones will continue to be awarded after completing this level.
Portkey
The player can pick up port boxes via the virtual environment. These port boxes have different distances that have to be covered by movement in the real world. This allows you to unlock portkeys that, by opening them, travel to another magical location within the game. At this location, five silt slips have to be found, each of which contains different rewards such as potion ingredients, experience points, magic energy or family XP. There are four different port boxes: valuable port boxes (2 km), splendid port boxes (5 km), event port boxes (7 km) and outstanding port boxes (10 km). These port boxes are used with golden (unlimited use) or silver (one-time) keys; The latter, in turn, can be purchased or rarely received as an additional reward for freeing objects that can be found. The unlocked portkeys are displayed differently depending on the type of portcase as boots (valuable portcase), shimmering boots (event portcase), kettle (magnificent portcase) or flat ball (outstanding portcase).
Potions
Potions have a variety of functions in the game. There are potions that improve the magic performance in tracks or fortresses, that improve endurance during a fortress battle, that prevent the find guard from escaping with the findable object or that detect additional tracks. Potions are brewed over a period of several hours. The ingredients for this appear anywhere in the virtual environment, but can also be grown specifically in greenhouses using water and seeds. The brewing time can be reduced by 15% by entering a mixing formula. Both potions and ingredients are stored in the dungeon, along with rune stones, seeds and other items.
Fortresses
Fortresses are mostly located in parks or at sponsored locations. In fortress battles you face different magical creatures, such as bogwarts , werewolves or dark magicians. There are a total of 20 different fortress levels that have to be unlocked one after the other and are divided into four different categories: Ruin Chamber 1–5, Tower Chamber 1–5, Forest Chamber 1–5, Dark Chamber 1–5. As soon as a level is unlocked, you can fight at this level again and again without having to unlock the levels below. Higher levels are more difficult to play and require a higher professional level of the player, but also unlock rarer rewards. Fights can be fought together with other players.
guest houses
Most of the actions in the game, such as using spells or attacking an opponent in a fortress, cost magic energy. In order to be able to replenish this energy, there are different types of inns, in which symbolically magical energy can be obtained by consuming food and drinks. The number of energy points differs depending on the type of menu.
Friends / gifts
At the end of 2019, a friendship system similar to that in Pokémon Go was introduced. Players can now receive different types of gifts in greenhouses, forts or inns, each of which contains ingredients, rune stones or magic energy. These gifts can be sent to other players you are friends with.
publication
A first gameplay video for the game was published in March 2019, which shows that dementors and werewolves appear in the game, from which you have to defend yourself. On March 11, 2019, pre-registration for the app on Google Play was opened and new in-game material from Niantic was released. The game was released in beta testing in New Zealand on April 17, 2019 .
On April 24, 2019, an email was accidentally sent stating that the game would be beta testing in Australia . The game was launched in Australia for beta testing on April 26, 2019. A few hours later, Niantic confirmed it was another bug and that the app had been removed from the App Store. The game was re-released in Australia on May 2, 2019.
The game has been available in the UK and US since June 20th. The release followed on June 22, 2019 in numerous other countries, such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Niantic, Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactiv Entertainment announce partnership for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite ™, a mobile augmented reality game based on the wizarding world by JK Rowling. Retrieved May 20, 2019 .
- ↑ "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" in the first test: Pokémon Go in the world of wizards. In: Techgarage. May 14, 2019, accessed on May 20, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
- ^ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite beta now live in Australia and New Zealand. Retrieved May 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now available in the US and UK. In: Techgarage. June 20, 2019, accessed on June 20, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
- ↑ "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" is online now in Switzerland, Germany and large parts of Europe and Asia. In: Techgarage. June 22, 2019, accessed on June 22, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).