Milestone 1: Hello!

Hello and welcome to Alaren Studio's new blog! We are a brand new studio formed in January 2026 from The University of Texas at Austin. 

Not only are we excited to share the formation of our brand new studio, but we are also excited to announce our first game: Hedge Mage!

Follow along every week with the latest and greatest updates from our studio and about Hedge Mage. We are very excited to showcase our amazing game and take you behind the scenes each and every week! 

You might be asking yourself, what is Hedge Mage? We are glad that you asked!

Hedge Mage is a Fantasy-Horror PC game where the player is trapped inside a dark maze and is tasked to escape, for their survival! The player must put together a spell to escape the maze by collecting letters for each word that is part of the spell. Collect all letters and words and the player escapes the maze. Just one thing, don't let the creatures who stalk the maze kill you before casting the escape spell.

Who is behind Hedge Mage? Let's meet the team!

 

Renzo Baird 

Producer, Lead Game Designer, 

Narrative Designer, & UI/UX Designer

Alan Zhou

Lead Programmer & 2D Artist

Lauren Findley

Lead 2D Artist, Sound Designer, 
& UI/UX Designer 

Planned Milestones

• UI/UX for Book Redesign 
• Assigned to: Renzo
• Key Targets: Improve Flow & Functionality
• Details: Work on a revamped Book UI/UX that is easier to navigate for the player, improve navigation, enhance lore, and streamline gameplay.
• Artwork for The Maze
• Assigned to: Lauren
• Key Targets: New Artwork for Central Plaza & Trees 
• Details: Implement new artwork for the central plaza which will replace the temporary artwork as well as develop tree art.
• Programming for Book Bug & Familiarization 
• Assigned to: Alan
• Key Targets: Fix Bug for Round Word Vanishing & Familiarize with new code
• Details: Currently the game doesn't show the word and the progress for each round (bug). This needs to be fixed. Also new code has been added over the past couple of months for Alan to become acquainted with as well as stabilize. 

Works Completed

UI/UX Book Redesign Current Design:

UI/UX Book Future Design:
Figma Interaction

Central Plaza Artwork Before:

Central Plaza Artwork After w/ New Trees:

Updated Programming:

Works Incomplete

• None

Takeaways & Adjustments

• This week we got to discuss how we can make improvements in the player's experience by introducing new emergent gameplay ideas. 
• Our scope was safe this week to allow us to find our footing.
• For next week's scope, we will be ramping up the work for each member of the team and push the development of the game. Our key focus will be a playable book redesign and test the new emergent gameplay.

Next Week's Milestones

• Programming for Book Redesign
• Assigned to: Alan
• Key Targets: Core Structure, Functionality, & Playtest Ready
• Details: The book UI needs to reach a status of playtest ready with placeholder art and typography for testing of user flow, structure, and content assessment. 
• Artwork for Creatures
• Assigned to: Lauren
• Key Targets: Complete Animations for Current Creatures - 3 in Total
• Details: Our Minotaur, Flyer, and Mirelight all need a complete set of artwork to complete animations.
• Game Design & Narrative for Creatures
• Assigned to: Renzo
• Key Targets: Design Narrative & Mechanics for (5) New Creatures, Improve Lore,  Introduce Diverse Creatures and Abilities, & Write Out Narrative for Current Creatures
• Details: Introduce additional creatures to the game that will add to dynamic gameplay that improves the player's experiences and evolves over time. Creatures must be diverse in ability and player inability.
• Game Design & Narrative for Spell Casting
• Assigned to: Renzo
• Key Targets: Design Narrative & Mechanics for (5) New Spells, Improve Lore, Enhance Gameplay, & Write Out Narrative for Spells
• Details: Introduce new spell casting abilities to the game that will add to dynamic gameplay that improves the player's experiences and evolves over time. Spells must be diverse in ability and player survivability. 
• Environmental Artwork for Maze
• Assigned to: Lauren
• Key Targets: Improve Lore Through Artwork Enhancements, Create Plaza Fountain, & Create Landscapes
• Details: Continue development or artwork for the maze's landscape with new central fountain, trees, flowers, gates, etc. that add to the visual appeal of the game.