Dear Insane Children, 

Since my return from Thailand I’ve been running around in a state of Mushroom Brains – which makes the latest concept sketch from Joey all the more appropriate! This is the initial sketch which she’ll turn into a full-color poster and we can offer as a print to Patrons. It’s going to be beautiful! 

Things turning my brain to mush Post-Thailand…

1) Pre-planning for Pirate Jam 2019 based on all the location info collected during this journey – along with prepping a presentation of our potential sponsors. 

2) Sorting of information, video, pictures, incentives, locations, people – and all the other stuff gathered around the idea of a new Development Studio in Thailand… then transforming this into a presentation for potential investors. 

3) Catch-up on all the shipping, customer service, and updates required for Mysterious customers, Kickstarter backers (Out of the Woods), and Patron rewards. 

4) And a MAJOR Life Event which I cannot speak of just yet… but… um, WOW. They say nothing ever prepares you for this and/or you’re never ready, and… well, yeah! More on that when the time is right! 

But. It’s all good! 2019 is going to be an absolute circus! 

Speaking of the circus… here’s the latest from Omri (collaboration with Joey) where he’s brought the circus vibe into the Denial stage at the start of Asylum. Clowns… why’d it have to be clowns?!

First Livestream of 2019

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder over on YouTube for this week’s livestream.

We’ll take a look at Asylum artwork, videos and pictures from the Thailand exploration trip (new studio and Pirate Jam 2019), plus talk about shipping thousands of Rewards to Out of the Woods backers around the world.

So much to cover! This is scheduled for 10AM on Thursday the 10th Hong Kong Time. That’s 6PM on the 9th in Los Angeles. 

Be sure to get all your QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS into the comments below! 

White Rabbit Update

A big WELCOME to all the new Insane Children who’ve joined us as we push to unlock the White Rabbit Plush at 3222 Patrons! All 5000 of the White Rabbits are manufactured and delivered… so we just need to hit that goal! 

But first, I had an idea: How about we link the White Rabbit with an in-game perk? With the Chaos Coin you got your name on the Coin (in-game). 

How would you feel if we made ownership of the White Rabbit a key to unlocking a special/exclusive White Rabbit Dress for Alice in-game? Or a pair of White Rabbit Bunny Ears? Or… any other ideas? Let’s decide and then ask Omri to render something for us!

I think the Rabbit + Bag + Lulu Patch are a pretty awesome reward as-is but I also forgot that I always wanted to link our physical rewards with something in-game… so… What shall it be? 

 Let me know in the comments below!

Happy to Be Back!

Looking forward to seeing you all on the next livestream! 

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American (and Lulu! Yay!) 

Dear Insane Children, 

I hope everyone had a lovely start to 2019! While I am wrapping up business here in Thailand and prepping to return to Shanghai, we received the latest Dark Symmetry print from Alex. “Time for Tea” indeed! 

This is the last print in the series… did you manage to collect them all???

This will be the print we send out to everyone at $75 and above for January. Alternately, if you’re doing the 3x$35 you can select this as your print – a reminder that it’s 3x payments of $35 to unlock one print selection. 

You can see the entire collection of Patreon Art from which you can choose over on Mysterious via THIS LINK. 

When I get back to Shanghai, Martin and I will be shipping out “Shadow Alice” for everyone who was charged (at the correct tier) for December. 

Lots more art in the pipeline to share with everyone once I am settled back in Shanghai. 

I’ll also have big updates on our Thailand exploration trip, Pirate Jam 2019, and continued development on the art/story/design for Alice: Asylum. 

White Rabbits

The White Rabbit Plushes are done and delivered. All sitting in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to people around the world. Awwww…

Now we need to hit our 3222 Patron Goal… 

The Exodus

Speaking of, many of you are aware of the Patreon Exodus. Lots of people (Patrons and Creators) leaving the platform in protest over their biased application of guidelines for creators. 

As a staunch advocate of freedom of expression I believe that we, as mature individuals, should be allowed to make our own choices about the sort of content we support and consume. And I support the free expression and debate of ideas – even those with which I do not agree. 

My ultimate concern as a creator is that these systems of control which are being justified for use against “Group X” today will be used against “Group Y” tomorrow. And having lived through the Moral Panic around video games in the late 90’s, I feel a real concern that it won’t be long before some Ministry of Culture comes along and tells us that we can’t have violence in video games (regardless of the context). 

At this point, as there are no viable alternatives to Patreon, I’m taking a wait and see approach. And as the situation unfolds we’ll discuss how this impacts our little Asylum of Insane Children – and what action, if any, needs to be taken. 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below. 

Out of the Woods

Lots of Woodies around the world now receiving their Kickstarter rewards and Backerkit pre-orders. 

When you get yours be sure to tag me and #ootw over on Twitter for a retweet (and maybe a follow).

If you missed the Kickstarter, fear not (well, fear a little, because there are wolves in those woods). The game and books are for sale over on Mysterious. 

The response thus far has been largely positive. So, thank you, to everyone who helped bring this project to life! 

Up next… another table top card game? Maybe OOTW2 or ??? 

I’d love to work with the Insane Children on hashing out ideas we might bring to life. 

Livestreams and Design Talks

Our usual schedule will resume next week… and I’ll post links to talks and streams once I’m back in Shanghai. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Be sure to get your SUGGESTIONS and QUESTIONS into the comments below. Surely you’ve been storing up lots of ideas over the holidays! 

From Thailand with Warm Love, 

-American (still missing Lulu and Yan)