Discover your second house.
Back when he watched the films, Lorne had imagined what it would have been like if Harry had gone to Slytherin. After all, during the Sorting Ceremony, the choice between those two houses for Harry had come down to a single thought.
What if the words "anything but Slytherin" had never crossed Harry's mind?
Would a Ravenclaw Hermione have found it easier to fit in and become stronger? Would a Hufflepuff Ron have had the House-elves make him special meals every day?
Lorne planned to hold an event like that, letting everyone discover their hidden house. Along the way, they could learn about the cultures of the other houses, too. Perhaps then they would be less house-centric, less inclined to form cliques and regard one another with hostility.
Lorne had the event's general procedure worked out, but some details still needed refining and filling in.
More important than that, however, was the event's prize.
A Magic Mobile Phone.
Most students reported that Hogwarts lacked entertainment facilities-not just Hogwarts, in fact. Entertainment facilities were scarce throughout the Wizarding World.
A single event only treated the symptoms, not the cause. With Hogwarts's ten o'clock curfew, how could they possibly do without some form of entertainment they could enjoy while lying in bed?
How could magic be something so inconvenient!
And the Magic Mobile Phone solved all those problems perfectly.
The convenience of something from a later era went without saying. If he could actually roll it out, it would surely cause an epoch-making storm.
But how should he roll it out?
Lorne decided to start with the first-years at Hogwarts.
Morning.
"Director Lorne, you don't look very well." Hermione appeared beside Lorne, her face full of concern.
"It's nothing. I stayed up too late last night. Thank you for your concern, Hermione." Lorne opened his eyes and saw another young wizard beside her. "And thank you for coming to see me, too."
"This is Neville, Director," Hermione introduced him.
"Oh?"
Lorne was puzzled. This was quite different from the Neville in the films. The child before him had reddish-brown curls and baby-fat cheeks. Though his expression was somewhat flustered, it could not hide the jewel-like color of his eyes.
"My name is Neville Longbottom, Director. I... I'd like my questionnaire back."
Neville was rather timid, but he still stood in front of Hermione and told Lorne what he wanted.
"Of course. I've already finished organizing the requests, but may I ask why, Neville?"
Neville hemmed and hawed, and Hermione spoke for him instead. "He's afraid Professor Snape will give him trouble if he sees it."
"Professor Snape knows my handwriting," Neville added quietly in his own defense. "He said he'd rather watch a Troll dance than look at my writing."
"There's absolutely no need for that, Neville. I promise the questionnaires won't pass through Professor Snape's hands."
Lorne found it hard to imagine such a lovely child constantly suffering bullying from his classmates and teachers. It strengthened his resolve to have a talk with Professor Snape.
"Are you free this weekend, Neville? I'd like to have a proper chat with you."
"Say yes to the director, Neville," Hermione urged from beside him. "He'll definitely help you."
But Neville remained silent.
Lorne did not press him. "The General Affairs Office is on the second floor of the castle's main building. I'll be there all evening this weekend. If you change your mind, feel free to come and see me."
The lesson was History of Magic.
Lorne had read until two or three in the morning the previous night. Already listless, he was now even sleepier under Professor Binns's hypnotic influence.
He pinched his thigh hard beneath his robes, forcing himself to sit upright.
The young wizards were slumping every which way, too, but Professor Binns turned a blind eye to everyone's slacking. That was also why he had scored fairly well in the professor evaluations.
Lorne picked up his quill and began sketching on the parchment.
He was brainstorming.
Since the first people to try the Magic Mobile Phone would be eleven-year-old children, the first app Lorne made would, of course, be a game.
But what kind of game should he make?
First, it needed to be immersive, preferably with a Wizarding World setting.
For these children who had only just entered the Wizarding World, a game that let them learn more about magic would hold a unique appeal.
Like China's xianxia games, the United States' technology-themed games, and so on, such games attracted considerable local attention from the moment they appeared. Cultural identification gave them a social dimension.
On top of that, it needed satisfying payoffs.
Games kept people playing by satisfying human desires in various ways. The randomness and progression of roguelites, the immediate combat power and impact effects of action games, the exploration and worldbuilding of RPGs... If Lorne wanted to retain the young wizards, his game needed at least one such strength.
Limited by his storage components' capacity and his technical skills, Lorne could not produce some earth-shattering masterpiece. And even using magic to make a game, a game he could finish and test within a few days-
That settled it! He would make a fantasy adventure RPG.
"The player will play a young wizard, find companions, grow stronger together, and ultimately defeat the forces of evil."
Lorne gave his brilliant idea a thumbs-up. He would not even need to finish the storyline. He only needed to reach its first small dramatic turn, and he could dignify it with the name of a trial version, then gradually release new versions to retain players.
As for insufficient memory, he could simply make it a pixel-art game.
After all, in the current era, the 1990s, pixel-art games were the mainstream. Games like Mario and Tetris were the hottest titles around.
Besides, pixel art did not demand particularly high artistic skills, and little characters three heads tall would make it easy for the young wizards to project themselves onto them.
For the crucial combat aspect, Lorne decided to make it turn-based.
There was no other reason. He could not make a real-time game even if asked.
Besides, turn-based combat might be easier for players to accept at present: simple, easy to learn, and easy to control. Young wizards encountering a Magic Mobile Phone for the first time could all master it easily. An action game would probably put quite a few people off with its difficulty.
Although this mode of taking a slash at someone and then waiting for them to stab back did not quite reflect how squishy wizards actually were...
Lorne could only say helplessly: what more could you ask for!
In just a few minutes, Lorne had settled on the game's positioning and direction. He could not help considering it from a player's perspective: why would he play a game like this?
The story.
The story had to stand out. Countless games in later years distinguished themselves through their graphics and gameplay styles, but those that truly endured would all share one strength: an excellent story.
There were even plenty of games that broke into the mainstream on the strength of their stories alone.
As for the satisfying payoffs, Lorne decided to build them around acquiring companions. After all, in a turn-based game, acquiring companions was essentially equivalent to gaining combat power.
As for how to acquire them, Lorne flashed a devilish smile. Through gacha, of course!
There was no denying that the gacha systems so heavily criticized in later years did have their merits. Rare items among randomized rewards, along with the chance to defy fate by turning a small stake into a huge win, could produce a dopamine rush much like a lottery.
Of course, Lorne would not go that far. The game had no way to spend real money right now anyway. He decided to give players a ten-pull at the start with a guaranteed gold card, creating the illusion that "I'm the chosen one, and this gold card is my destined card."
But if there was gacha, the character illustrations would have to be up to standard. Lorne rubbed his brow. Why did it feel as though the more he thought about it, the busier he became?