Hi Everyone.

Martin here again with a friendly neighbourhood community announcement.

If you want to contact us and ask us something to do with your account or items or shipping or any other kind of questions specific to your situation, please just message us directly.

DO NOT post your customer service issues for all to see in the community section since we don’t want to be discussing your private info in the public forum.
Any future messages that don’t follow these rules that are posted to the community section will simply be deleted.

Please leave the community section for sharing cool stuff with your fellow Patrons   😀

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

To SKIP straight to the PATCH UPDATE please SCROLL DOWN.

I am writing to you from the new underground lair out in the QingPu District of Shanghai. We spent all of last week packing and prepping to move – and then 7 hours on Saturday loading/moving/unloading two big trucks. It’s amazing how much crap can be accumulated in a house / studio over the course of 8 years! 

Now in the new location, we’re busy unpacking and exploring the new space. Once everything is set up this will be a wonderful location for our Mysterious Studio and YouTube Live Stream studio. But right now… it’s a bit of madness! 

That’s the underground lair (Lulu for scale) in which the Mysterious studio and our live stream space will live. 

Having now spent a few hours exploring the local area we’re at a loss as to why we didn’t make this move sooner. Things are just better out here – cheaper, cleaner, quieter, less crowded, more friendly, and featuring all the amenities necessary for expat life in China (namely a very impressive cheese shop!)

Anyway, more on the move as we unpack and get everything set up!

PATCHES UPDATE

The patches shipped last week (June 18th) and should take anywhere from 7 to 30 days to arrive in most locations around the world. We’ve already seen reports of patches arriving with Patrons in the USA. Since they ship from Shenzhen, China you can create a rough estimate of delivery time based on how long it might normally take a package to go from Hong Kong to your home country via standard overseas post. 

The patches shipped with tracking – but WAIT – please, do not write to us asking for tracking details unless a) it’s past July 10th and b) you feel reasonably certain you live in a place with “normal” post delivery times. For example, if you live in Chile, and it normally takes longer for mail to get to you, then please refrain from writing to inquire why your patches have not yet arrived. 

In the event of (a) and (b) above and you still want a tracking link then PM us here on Patreon. Martin can then pull your info and provide a link. 

If you missed your chance to get the patches via the promotion here on Patreon then you can still grab them (while supplies last) via the Mysterious Shop. 

Lastly… If you did get patches via Patreon and are confused/upset about the fact that they are also selling on Mysterious, please note that our Patreon Goal allowed you to get the patch set for $5 (which is the cost of our shipping these to the USA – never mind Chile) and that we’re selling them for $24.99 (plus $5 shipping) on Mysterious in order to protect the “value” of the reward for being a Patron. 

INSTAGRAM CONTEST

Another way to get your hands on Patches is to win the contest we’re currently running over on Instagram. Simply reply to THIS POST with an @ to a friend and you’ll be automatically in the running to win patches. We’ll pull a handful of names out of those who enter.

We’ll announce winners during this week’s live stream… 

LIVE STREAM

Live Stream on Thursday, June 28th @ 9AM Hong Kong Time

If you are confused about time/dates and the dateline in general, I highly recommend using International Meeting Planner to look at times/dates. 

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder – and while you are there make sure you are Subscribed and that you’ve hit the “Bell Icon” for notification when we go live. Thing is… even if you set a reminder, subscribe, and hit the bell icon, there’s a good chance YouTube still won’t tell you when we go live. So… maybe also set a reminder on your calendar/phone. /shakes fist at YouTube

During the live stream we’ll discuss what we think is the FINAL version of the Alice: Asylum PPT. This is what we’re going to print and mail to EA along with Chaos Coins, Embroidered Patches, and other physical stuff we’ve been working on. 

OK… I have to get back to unpacking. 

From the Underground Lair,

-American (and Lulu)

It’s been said there are few things in life more stress inducing than death, taxes, and moving. So the stress I’m feeling lately makes sense. Last week I was in Texas to visit with family – several of whom are suffering illness and old age. The time there prompted discussion and thought on the fleeting nature of life and the proper use of the time we have. 

On returning to Shanghai I started immediately packing my home / studio for a move. I’ve lived in this same central-Shanghai apartment for nearly 8 years. It’s a great location surrounded by all the hustle and bustle of a 25 million person megalopolis. But rent inflation in Shanghai being what it is, we’re slowly being priced out of the market. Fortunately there is hope… Out beyond the outer ring road lies an area called QingPu which is filled with actual *houses* – things I only have the vaguest recollection of living in back in the US – a place where the rents are cheap, the trees are abundant, and life is more relaxed. 

So we’re moving out to the countryside! Yee haw! Our rent over the coming years will go down, the amount of space we have for work and life will go up, and best of all Lulu will have an actual YARD in which to run around. Yay! But first… packing and moving! Which is what this week is all about. 

Still, some new art! Above is an image from Alex – a design for the Chaos Coin and promotion, marketing, etc. Maybe a card we include with each coin? Not yet decided. 

Some art from Joey containing a Pig Baby! She’s also sent other cool images we’ll review and discuss during the upcoming Live Stream….

And Omri is working on realistic heads for the physical box product idea. 

All of this and more will be on display during this week’s LIVE STREAM. This will be our last live stream from the old studio. Next week (hopefully) we’ll be broadcasting from an actual underground lair (sub-level below the new house). 

Get your comments and feedback recorded below!

Live Stream is at 9AM on June 21st, Thursday morning (Hong Kong Time). Please check for your local time and remember the date line! 

Hit that link and set a reminder!

PS: Everyone yell at Martin to move his butt out to QingPu and get over his anxiety about travel, new places, etc! 😛 

From Shanghai with Boxes of Stuff,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Our little Asylum is rapidly filling with new Inmates – all anxious to get their hands on a Chaos Coin. To all the new arrivals – WELCOME! Your support and involvement is greatly appreciated 🙂 

Today’s art comes from our good friend Omri. He’s delivered yet another stunning illustration of Alice’s adventure through Asylum. The Jabberwocky (and his spawn) dominate a scene of fiery destruction. This is in keeping with his allegorical position as the “Black Dragon” in his treasure-filled lair. The metaphorical representations here are at the core of Alice’s internal battle. 

Before we go any further… last week’s live stream made me realize we need to start throwing out spoiler warnings. This is an interactive design / writing process where we’re going to define the scope, narrative, and design of Alice: Asylum. If you don’t want the surprises spoiled, stop reading when you see spoiler warning. If you want to engage in the creation of the next Alice game, then continue reading and share your comments / feedback below.

– SPOILER WARNING – 

As was mentioned on last week’s live stream I think we’re likely to see the Jabberwocky presented as Alice’s primary foe and his destruction as the overarching goal in the surface narrative. Something along the lines of: get your bearings (find the Internal Compass); arm yourself (find the Vorpal Blade); and defeat the Dragon (find and kill the Jabberwocky). But this is an illusionary quest and set of goals. 

What’s the real quest? Well, we’ve been playing with the idea of Alice’s true foe being her own Shadow Self. And it might make sense to split that shadow into the elements we see represented in “Alice” and “Madness Returns” – namely Rage Alice and Hysteria Alice. 

Fighting these two Shadow Alice’s in order to reincorporate them would make for a nice symmetry and set us up nicely on the path to the narrative of “Alice.” While I was thinking on this idea privately I received an email from Alex C. in which he proposed the same thing – so I think there’s a powerful shared vibration with this narrative setup… 

What do you think? Have you ever found yourself fighting external foes and challenges only to realize that the greatest foe is yourself… the most difficult challenge is confronting your own shadow self? I know I’ve been there… and incorporation of our own potential for malevolence is often a critical step in overcoming trauma and depression.

Leave your feedback and comments below. We’ll go through your thoughts during the next live stream. 

There is no live stream this week as I am currently in Dallas, Texas visiting with family. See you all again when I am back in Shanghai! 

From Texas with Yee-Haw, 

-American

The Chaos Coin promotion seems to be causing a lot of, well, chaos. In hopes of making things a little more clear here are some recent comment responses I’ve written: 

The Chaos Coin is a physical coin. Owning one grants you a matching virtual coin in Alice: Asylum upon which we’ll encode your name (per our approval).

Material: Copper core with nickel plating. 

Size: 4.5cm diameter

Weight: 28 gram

You need to have pledged (and paid) $35 in the month where we reach the 2000 Patron goal. We don’t know what month that will be – but we’ll get there a lot faster if everyone interested would pledge a minimum now ($1) and then wait until we reach 2000 Patrons. 

At the moment we hit 2000 change your pledge to $35. Once you’ve been processed for that month at that amount you can reduce your pledge (OR keep it at $35 for 2 more months and get a free Art Print as well). 

We will deliver the coins everywhere in the world. 

My Patreon is set up as a monthly subscription to help support the various projects we’re working on. You can pledge any amount from $1 to $1,000,000 per month and that amount will be charged one time each month around the start of the month (1st-5th of each month). 

Our current goal/reward is the Chaos Coin. It unlocks for all Patrons who are processed for a pledge at $35 or higher when we have 2000 or more Patrons. As I write this we have 1,275 Patrons.   

If it is your goal to “game the system” and get the Coin for as little as possible then I recommend the following: Set a pledge at $1 right now. That increases our Patron count and moves us closer to our 2000 Patron Goal. When you see us hit 2000 Patrons adjust your pledge to $35. After you’ve made that adjustment wait until the next payment is processed. Then adjust your pledge back to whatever level you’re comfortable with. Keep in mind that two more months at $35 gets you an art print of your selection.

Once you’re pledged at $1 you’ll automatically receive Patron updates – and I’ll be sure to send out a notice when we hit 2000 Patrons so that everyone knows to adjust their pledges accordingly.

I know there are a lot of you out there waiting for 2000 before pledging. But I guess we could hit 2000 Patrons in short time if all the fence-sitters would pledge $1 right now.

As I write this the coins are being manufactured. We’ll post more and better pictures/videos of the final product very soon. 

If you miss your opportunity to get a Chaos Coin via this Patreon Reward, you will have another chance to purchase it directly via Mysterious. The price per coin there will be somewhere close to $100. And we’ll also offer it when we start proper crowdfunding for Asylum but it’s too early to predict the tier/cost it will carry at that point. 

Questions or feedback? Share in the comments below! 

Dear Insane Children, 

There are a lot of things I find myself wanting to improve in relation to the first two Alice games when we start work on Asylum. Controls, design,  etc… but one thing in particular keeps popping up in my head with regards to the overall theme / genre / mood of the new game: Horror 

As much as I love the beautiful environments Alice explores in Wonderland – and I really love those places – it feels like a lot more could be done to sell the terror and isolation Alice must feel on these adventures. There’s plenty of opportunity for horror – has been in both the previous games – but we never really ‘went there’ in a meaningful way. 

This time around… let’s change that, shall we? 

And what could be more terrifying than CLOWNS + Tweedles?! 

“Welcome!!” indeed. 

Who wants to share a mental prison with these guys… 

What’s your feeling about horror? What sort do you like? What sort can’t you stand? What’s the best horror you’ve experienced in a film or game recently – and the worst? 

Drop your feedback in the comments below and we’ll discuss HORROR in full during the next… 

LIVE STREAM <— Click that link to set a reminder for this week’s stream.

We’re doing this one on Thursday @ 9AM Hong Kong Time (Wednesday, 6PM PST). Please join me, Martin, and Lulu. We’ll discuss Asylum, hand out embroidered patches as prizes, and watch me fall repeatedly to my death. Weeeeeee!

From Shanghai with Goosebumps,

-American