Dear Insane Children, 

American here from The Future in Shanghai. It’s Thursday here and I’ve managed to get a TON of work done on Pirate Jam planning. Yarg! Updated the Planning Documents, made some improvements to our Participant Agreement, and worked out a roughly accurate route for the 2020 adventure. Blimey! 

If you’re interested in learning more about Pirate Jam or attending future events – there is a WEBSITE for that. Head on over, matey!

Now Back to The Asylum

No rest for the insane. Here are some updates on our progress with the Enamel Pin Collection. 

The gallery (above) contains the WIP concept art for the Backing Cards. There are two cards (total of 4 sides) – one card for the “regular” 4-Pin set. One card for the Patreon Special “Rutledge Asylum” Pin. 

We’re aiming to run a promotion here on Patreon in February of 2020 – meaning that’s the month in which you’ll need to DO THE THING in order to get the 4-Pin Set plus the 1-Pin Rutledge Set. Expect to see a bit of marketing and promotion for that event over the coming weeks.

We expect to make this promotion available at $35. But we’re working with Backerkit on a system that should make it possible for you to grab the set without any need for Tier selection or adjustment. In other words, if you’re at $5 then you’d stay there, go over to the Backerkit page, add $30 to reach the required amount, provide your shipping details, and… you’re done! 

More info on that system and how it will work – coming soon!

Enamel Pin samples (photos) will be shared in a few weeks (they are now in production). 

Last thing to note is that we’re not calling the Rutledge Pin “Exclusive” because we’d like to use it for future promotion, prizes, etc. Don’t expect to see it for sale on Mysterious but don’t be surprised if you see us giving that pin away during a YouTube Livestream or with a… 

Patreon Monthly Giveaway

I noticed a couple of the other Patreon channels I follow do a Monthly Drawing to give away prizes to their Patrons. Hey, why aren’t we doing that too?!

Well, now we are! Starting January 2020 on the 5th of each month we’ll randomly select 5 lucky Insane Children to receive a prize. To start with I’m thinking we’ll offer the Rutledge Enamel Pin. If you don’t want another pin then an Art Print of your choice. Or something like that. 

Let me know what you think of the idea – and share your thoughts on how we might make it work best! 

Shipping Update

For those of you poking Font Lord for updates on your Art Print shipping… It’s MY FAULT! I need to sit down, sign stuff, and ship it out. There are about 50 more Art Prints in the system from previous months which I’ll tackle as soon as I hit POST on this update. And we’ll then tackle the 200+ other prints in the pipeline over the next couple of days. 

I apologize for the delay… but I am the weak link in the system. If I wasn’t signing every print then we could automate the process and just ship straight from the printers to the logistics company to you. As it is, every print takes a detour to my studio where it waits for a signature before being sent on its way. Busy, busy!

Anyway… enough babble. Time to sign things! 

From Shanghai with Insane Love, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

A couple of quick updates from Hatter’s Domain for you this morning. 

First up (top image), Omri sends over the “final” version of the new Alchemy Dress. This is what we would see Alice wearing as she enters into Hatter’s Domain. I like the addition of the Queen’s Gift (the Queen of Hearts asks Alice to carry a “gift” to Hatter) in a glass bottle. Since her domain represents “Anger” I’m reminded of the phrase regarding anger as a poison you drink hoping it’ll kill someone else. Well, our Queen is smarter than that, right? What if she’s found a way to bottle up her Anger and send it out into the world? 

The notion of “bottled up emotions” is one we touched on in previous design/narrative explorations. And I think it’s neat to see it represented here in a unique and functional manner. I think this is an idea we need to further explore. The collection and bottling of emotions – alongside the collection and use of alchemical elements. 

The Alchemy Dress represents Hatter’s domain as a place where alchemy is explored and made visible. 

We’ll see alchemy symbols hanging in the air – along with all the blown apart areas that once made up Hatter’s Domain. It seems that Hatter’s experiments into the nature of Wonderland have ripped a hole into their version of space and time. As if the physics of Wonderland wasn’t already mad enough! 

Hatter also joins the fashion show with updates to his wardrobe courtesy of Norm…

The idea for Hatter in Asylum is to show him pre-mechanization. When we first meet him he’s presented as a Victorian Gentleman Scientist-Scholar. When not drinking overly strong tea he’s in his library or laboratory poking at the elemental building blocks under the surreal skin of Wonderland. 

I imagine that when we encounter him he’s less mad than in the books and more comprehensible than in AMA and AMR. Why? Well, let’s say for now that he decided to “sober up” in order to pursue his experiments into the mysteries of Wonderland. 

Maybe there was a point when he realized that all the madness he saw in the world around him could not be explained purely as a function of all the (mushroom) tea he was consuming. Maybe he had a psychedelic epiphany that required serious exploration in an un-addled mental state? 

In any case, we’re casting him as a Wonderland version of Einstien. 

As for his workshop, Joey provides a glimpse into some of the mad machinery Hatter’s constructed to probe the “smallest of small” things our minds can comprehend. Think of these machines as his steam-punk version of the Large Hadron Collider. 

Joey has begun using 3D rendering to help realize some of these more complex geometries. And the results are fantastic. Can’t wait to jump and float around these environments!

Pirate Jam Planning

I’ve blocked out several days this week (including today) for planning and organizing Pirate Jam 2020. We’ve secured all the sponsors required to float the event – which is amazing. 

A big THANK YOU to Unity, Free Lives, Landfall Games, and a handful of as-yet-unnamed sponsors! Without the financial support these companies provide, Pirate Jam would be nothing more than a pirate’s crazy rum dream.

I was supposed to fly to Thailand this week and sail the proposed route for 2020 but I’m stuck in Chinese visa renewal process… and not going anywhere until I get my passport back!

Font Lord Says

Survey emails should arrive with you this week. That’s for 3-35 Art and Chaos Necklace selection. 

1000 “Lost” Insane Children are only a monthly payment away from selecting an Art Print.  Those are Insane Children (Patrons) who left the Asylum (halted their Patreon support) with 2x of the required 3x $35 payments made. With just another payment at $35 an Art Print can be selected and mailed anywhere in the world. 

Font Lord says he’ll send out some reminder emails and do some other marketing around this fact on Thursday, 12th of December – so keep an eye on your mailbox if you’re NOT a current Patron but were previously. 

Remember that the print we’re adding this month is the amazing “Blade Face” 

Arg, mateys! I’ve got to shiver some planning timbers and hoist the organizational charts for Pirate Jam 2020. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely day. You are all Very Much Appreciated! 

From Shanghai with Seaweed,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

It’s been an “insane” day for me… I had planned to spend most of the day signing art prints with the world’s cutest signing assistant… 

But ended up fending off a flood of copyright claims against my “Alice: Madness Returns” Let’s Play videos over on YouTube. Arrrrrg! 

No idea what’s going on with YouTube but we still managed to get 100s of posters signed and prepped for mailing. 

Btw, babies are terrible workers. Lucky pooped his pants and then fell asleep on the job. You’re Fired! 

Speaking of YouTube

We’ve uploaded the latest Crowd Design Session. Check that out via THIS LINK. 

In that, we discuss Hatter’s Domain and LOTS OF SPOILERS. Plus there’s a discussion about where things are at the end of 2019. So if you’d like a semi-concise close to the year… there you go! 

Live Stream

And I just scheduled our Live Stream for tomorrow. 6pm PST. 10AM here in Shanghai. You know the drill…

Hit THIS LINK to head over and set a reminder for that event! 

Feels like it’s been AGES since the last time we did one of these. Alignment of holidays, travel, etc… 

Anyway, we’re back! 

Leave your questions and feedback in the comments below and we’ll address those tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Grrr at YouTube,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

A reminder that Crowd Design Session #22 will start at 6PM PST TODAY. 

Join us over on the Discord Server!

Don’t be late!

From Shanghai with Discord,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

There’s so much going on, I don’t even know where to start!

New Artist Joins The Asylum

Dario Marzadori is a freelance concept artist from Italy who produces lovely illustrations with an emphasis on locations, architecture, and “things.” 

His test sketches were focused on the Queen’s Castle and turned out great (main images above). These contain the kind of detail I like to see when we start thinking about the actual 3D assets used to build our worlds. 

We’ll task him with illustrating the various environments, buildings, dungeons, and castles of Wonderland. And I think you’ll agree his style is quite fitting…

Everyone, please give an Insane Welcome to Dario! 

Your support is what makes his involvement possible. Yay! 

Enamel Pins – Final Selection

We’re going with the following pin selections based on your feedback: 

And…

We need to send these designs to the factory so they can tell us what sort of adjustments might be needed (size/complexity of design) in order to produce samples. 

We’ll update you on that process as it moves forward. 

Crowd Design Session

We’ll have another session tomorrow at 6PM PST (Monday, December 2nd).

As usual, this takes place on our Super Secret Discord Server. 

Did you know that just by being on our Discord Server you’re automatically 57% more interesting than anyone not on our Discord Server? It’s true. 

Want to become 57% more Interesting? Follow THIS LINK to learn how!

During this session we’ll discuss the following topics: 

1) Year-end review and Q&A. Where are we? Where are we going? 

2) Latest narrative update review – check out THIS post and THIS post to get caught up on everything. 

And even if you can’t make it – leave your Questions and Feedback in the comments below. We’ll address those during the Sessions – and you can hear the answers when we post the Design Session to YouTube (after the fact). 

Font Lord Says

We’re sending out 500+ Art Prints in December! And because it’s near the holidays we need to remind you of the Dangers of December! During this special month, there’s a higher chance of the following: 

• Parcels getting lost in transit. 
• Parcels getting damaged in transit. 
• Parcels being stolen by Porch Pirates upon delivery. 

There’s not much you can do about the first two – but if you suspect something we’ve sent you has gotten lost – PM US 

Did you get a damaged package from us? We’ll replace it if you PM US 

About the Porch Pirates – try to make sure you check your tracking, make sure there’s someone home to take delivery, ensure your delivery area is monitored, etc. And if you suspect something was stolen – PM US 

Just a reminder, this is the Art Print going out for those of you who were at $75 in November (charged on ~Dec 5th) – behold! “Throne Room”

And also… the Art Print for December (charged on ~Jan 5th) is “Blade Face” AKA “Looking Into The Shadows” – one of my favorites! 

Lastly, Font Lord says that, as usual, “Surveys are coming!” 

Live Stream is BACK 

FINALLY, we’ll have another YouTube Live Stream this week. 

If you have Questions or Feedback you’d like addressed during that, please leave them in the comments below (and try to mark them as such). 

I’ll send out a link for the Live Stream in a post tomorrow or the next day. 

See you tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Stuff,

-American