Milestone 2: Spells, Creatures, and a Book, Oh My!

Milestone 2: 

Spells, Creatures, and a Book, Oh My!

Hello everyone and welcome to Week 2 - Milestone 2 at Alaren Studios! 

We made some tremendous progress this past week in terms of the design direction and mechanics of Hedge Mage. We are oh so very excited to share some of them with you here today.

To start, let's recap what our goals were for the week.

Planned 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. 

Works Completed

Programming for Book Redesign 

Alan was able to get the core structure and functionality of the book's new UI into the game. New tabs were added to contain new sections of the book which include the round's dynamic word tracking and game progress, spell abilities, creature information, and game settings.

Additionally, Alan was able to get basic our spell system semi-functioning within the book UI. Overall, Alan was able to accomplish last week's Milestones.

Great job, Alan! Progress photos and videos below:

Creatures & Spells

Renzo created "The Bible" for Hedge Mage - which houses the game's creatures and spells all into a single sheet.  "The Bible" is a single point of reference for the team containing information on all creatures and spells within the game. This sheet is to serve as a way for us to thoroughly and meticulously track and playtest each and every spell/ creature.  

The Milestone of the week was to create (5) new spells, and (5) new creatures for the game. 

Renzo was able to create (12) total creatures, each broken down into 25 total columns containing important game information. Examples of the information within these columns range from the creature's category (such as an attack, deception, or control-type creature), to how it interacts with the player, to even how we rate the strength of each creature. 

Sneak peak of The Bible's Creatures:

Renzo was also able to create (19) total spells, each broken down into 24 total columns. These columns contain information ranging from the type of spell, to how the player can use it, to even how we rated the strength of each spell. Additionally, the narrative descriptions of each spell have been completed and are ready for in-game implementation. 

Sneak peak of The Bible's Spells:

Milestones for him were completed and exceeded!

What does all of this mean and how does it affect the development of Hedge Mage? Well, several things actually! The team has had conversations that allowed us to narrow down the game's initial release of spells and creatures in-game. We can now work to develop these creatures and spells with new programming, new artwork, narrative and lore, and overall increase the player's experience. 

Such decisions allowed the team to discuss the game's story, and how it fits within the world's narrative. More exciting details surrounding the game's story will be announced next week!

New Artwork

Lauren was hard at work to re-imagine Hedge Mage's artwork and lore. After many conversations with the team, we were able to come together and have a direction for all artwork. 

Balancing feedback from the team, she was able to create a vastly improved Minotaur for Hedge Mage. From this, we set out new ambitions for what the game's artwork can and will be. New artwork styles are being introduced that allow for things like new colors, shading, highlighting, sizing, and even realism! 

With that said, as a team we put too much work on Lauren during this week's Milestone. We spent better use of our time this week getting organized on what our art style is, what creatures and spells we are including, and what the game's story is. It is with this information that we can streamline our development going forward which should allow Lauren to thrive in a better environment.

Lauren finished up all new artwork for Minotaur's movement. Additionally, she was able to add diagonal artwork which will dramatically improve gameplay. We still need to add death animations for Minotaur.

As for the other creatures, she was able to get the concept art completed and approved by the team. Feedback from the team was provided and adjusted the artwork accordingly.

Please see below for the amazing artwork and creatures! 

Minotaur:

"Flyer" Finished Concept:

"Screamer" First Sketch Concept:

Next Week's Milestones

Programming for Creatures

• Assigned to: Alan
• Key Targets: Functionality & Playtest Ready w/ Current Creatures + New (1) Creature
• Details: Improve logic/ functionality of Mirelight & Flyer, while adding logic in for new creature.
• Artwork for Creatures
• Assigned to: Lauren
• Key Targets: Complete Animations for Mirelight & Flyer
• Details: Our Flyer and Mirelight all need a complete set of artwork to complete animations.
• Game HUD Redesign
• Assigned to: Renzo
• Key Targets: Prototype New HUD, Feedback, Implement Artwork of Book UI
• Details: The game needs an updated HUD that improves the design and layout of health, lives, and the book. We need to remove the timer and incorporate the book's new lore design while adding spells/ abilities tot he HUD. Also work in Unity to update Book UI.