Dear Insane Children, 

Whew, somehow the recent days really got away from me… and it seems I’ve not posted anything since last Thursday-ish when we did our Twitch Livestream. There was a LOT of information covered in that stream so if you missed it, be sure to check out the recording over on YouTube. You can do that via THIS LINK. 

We are heading into the home stretch on prep work before we make our presentation to REDACTED for the investment towards a new studio and series of games. That’s taken up a bit of my time recently – along with tasks related to Alice: Asylum writing, and a ton of housekeeping tasks (read signing, packing, and shipping things). 

Still LOTS of work getting done across all of our projects… and it feels like most of the work effort is once again focused on Alice: Asylum. We’re making a big push to flesh out the complete story with the final narrative (writing) and the art to accompany all the major scenes. Out of that is flowing art like this latest Dress concept from Omri for the Slumber scene at the start of the game… 

Of which Omri says (as we discuss the design for what she’s wearing in these scenes): 

 i think it’s a balance. the world is still wonderland, so perhaps she doesn’t have powers but i don’t think she’d “imagine” herself wearing something that is plain. so Yes a “simple white gown” but still designed and still purposeful. something that is “trying” to look real instead of an outfit that looks like a cheap slip.

i made her seem like a white moth, because in some twisted way in Slumber she’s attracted to the light, she tried to run away from it’s Darkness/smoke so i think it makes sense. 

We also have a Room Design from Joey – a place where a very critical scene will play out around the 2/3rds mark of the game story. 

And there’s also a mix of level building and game design going into our efforts these days. 

Which is linked to the writing I’ve been doing lately, an excerpt related to this design idea is contained here: 

DENIAL REALM – THE GREATEST SHOW

[The following is The 1st Part of a musical sequence sung by a full cast of characters inhabiting The Circus]

Turtle: “The show is starting! We must not be late!” 

Alice opens her eyes to watch as Turtle pulls a Giant Lever ejecting her from bed and into a Circus Dress. Makeup is plastered onto her face by autonomous arms. A mechanical hand shoves her towards a Giant Slide where a White Rabbit Doll is preparing to jump.

We PLAY as a confused Alice begins her descent down the Slide after the White Rabbit. Turtle follows closely behind as we weave through turns hurtling towards the ground. All around is a surreal Circus World of tents, rides, carnivals, animals, performers… as far as the eye can see.

Turtle SINGS as The Music plays. His lyrics explain: “It’s a new day, a new show; we must not miss our mark, we can not forget our lines; the Tweedles may be half Dum but they view these things as crimes.”

Alice SINGS: “But I don’t want to play your games, I don’t want to say your lines. If being here requires those things then I’d prefer to commit the crimes.”

What follows is a sequence where Alice is alternately pushed and pulled through The Circus Realm with White Rabbit leading the way. Turtle pleads with her to hit her marks and say her lines. The sequence is split into “on track” and “off track” areas. On track – there’s full lyrical and theatrical sequence playing as we’re pushed along. Off track – the lyrics take a rest and The Music fades to a background beat allowing for moments of free exploration.

This serves as the Second Tutorial for Basic Movement – walking, running, climbing, and jumping. It also adds ledge grabs, swinging, double jumps, and dress gliding.

Key Points delivered as Exposition in the lyrics: Alice is a prisoner of The Circus. The Moon makes escape impossible. Alice should just give up and enjoy The Show. Alice hates it here.

At one point the White Rabbit hops off track and leads Alice towards a Fortune Teller’s Tent. The Music fades. Within the tent, Alice stares deeply into a crystal ball as it transforms into a Snow Globe. Hypnotized by the falling snow, Alice returns to Slumber Realm and an audience with The Caterpillar.

Turns out I’ve managed to insert a bit of Musical into the opening section of Asylum. I wrote to Chris Vrenna about this and he said he’s 100% on board to make that idea a reality and thinks it’s something that’s never been done before… should be interesting! 

Dario is working on “Key” images… 

These link into the Chaos Symbol “collect the keys” concept that Alex came up with. 

In short, we are back at Full Steam Ahead on Alice: Asylum work. And I really like the work that’s getting done. Some excellent art, creativity, and design going on here. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of everything! 

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American

Dear Insane Children

Font Lord here to let you all know that the Calendar is now for sale.
Yay!

This was all mentioned in the previous FAQ, but here’s the info again.

There’s 2 ways to get the calendar…

THE MYSTERIOUS STORE

Calendar is for sale RIGHT HERE!

Basically, if all you want is 1 calendar, getting it from Mysterious is your best method.
Just head on over there.  Pop the calendar in your basket and check-out.
Use the Patron only code INSANE2021 which is basically giving you $5 off and makes the whole transaction $34.99

BACKERKIT

Everyone should now have got an email from Backerkit.
(Check your spam/promotions folders if you don’t see it)
But if you want to get the calendar from the Mysterious store, you can just ignore the Backerkit mail and delete it.

But I suggest using this method if you want to get extra calendars or maybe a couple of other bits and bobs at a cheaper price on the Backerkit exit shop.
We have stuff in there like the Out of the Woods game, Chaos Necklace, some prints and a skull   🙂
The calendar will also be $34.99 with no shipping payment needed in Backerkit too.

And that’s about it really    🙂
Get ’em while they’re hot.  Don’t miss out. 

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

Alright! We are back from the National Holiday here in China! Lots of new art, story, and business development stuff going on. Tons to share with you. 

We’ll host a Live Stream on Twitch later this week over on my Twitch Channel: 

https://www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee 

Hit that link and click Subscribe in order to receive a notification when we go live. It’ll be the usual Insane Time and Day – Thursday morning, 10 AM Hong Kong Time. 

During this week’s stream, we’ll talk about the progress being made on the Design Bible for Alice: Asylum – lots of great art (like the Main Image Above)  geared towards the narrative outline I’m working on with Alex. 

Run, Alice! Run! 

And…

We’ll talk about the progress being made towards the delivery of the Mysterious Studios Pitch for REDACTED (publisher/financier). We’re aiming to have a finished First Draft by the 15th of this month, so that means we might even be able to look at the whole document (with REDACTED’s name REDACTED, of course). 

Space Oz! Hehe. And there’s more Oz Adventures art to review. 

Plus we’ve got some Plushie Dreadfuls news – new plush toys launching soon and some great prototype stuff to look at. Woo. 

I am very happy to be back to a normal work day today… lots to catch up on. And I feel there’s a lot to be thankful for. Especially for the support of our Insane Children – without whom none of this art, story, design, and overall progress would be possible. 2020 has been a rough ride but I have high hopes that we’re going to start 2021 off on a track towards great adventures (down rabbit holes and into through tornados). Very excited to have you all along for the ride!

From Shanghai with Sunshine,

-American

Dear Insane Children

Font Lord here with a little bit of info about the awesome 2021 calendar you know we’re making.

Firstly, the factory has been sent all the files and such and will go ahead and make them and they will apparently be ready for us to ship at the beginning of November.
Which should be fine for if you want to get one (or more) as a Christmas Prezzie   🙂

The main thing I want to discuss is how to get the calendar.

This time, we have 2 options.

1) The Mysterious Store
2) Backerkit

THE MYSTERIOUS STORE

Calendar is for sale RIGHT HERE! 

Basically, if all you want is 1 calendar, getting it from Mysterious is your best and simplest method.
Just head on over there.  Pop the calendar in your basket and check-out.
Use the Patron only code INSANE2021 which is basically giving you $5 off and makes the whole transaction $34.99

BACKERKIT

Everyone is going to get an email from Backerkit.
So if you want to get the calendar from the Mysterious store, you can just ignore the Backerkit mail and delete it once it arrives.

But I suggest using this method if you want to get extra calendars or maybe a couple of other bits and bobs at a cheaper price on the Backerkit exit shop.
We have stuff in there like the Out of the Woods game, Chaos Necklace, some prints and a skull   🙂
The calendar will also be $34.99 with no shipping payment needed in Backerkit too.

Getting things via Backerkit is super easy.
Just click the link in the mail and follow the instructions about what you want, fill in your address + payment details and boom !! Done !!

So when does all this happen?

I expect that at some point next week, between Mon-Wed we will make the calendar go live on Mysterious and also tell the lovely folk over on Backerkit to pull the trigger on email sending.

Any questions? Something I missed?
Pop them into the comments below.

May the fonts be ever in your favor.

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children,

We’re in the final days of the 2nd Largest National Holiday in China with everyone scheduled to return to work on Saturday, 10th of October. In case you’re wondering about the title to this post, it’s in reference to THIS scene from Monty Python. Anyway, despite the holiday, I and the team have been busy with a variety of creative, business, and other tasks behind the scenes and we have lots to update you on in the coming days and weeks. 

The image above is from Omri and represents a scene from the opening section of “Alice: Asylum” where Alice finds herself trapped in a recurring nightmare. This is among about a dozen key scenes we’re going to illustrate from the game narrative – spanning from the start to the end – which will help to fill out the Design Bible. 

We also continue to produce images to fill out the “Oz Adventures” pitch deck for REDACTED. 

This image is taken from a collection that was generated for the “Pirates in Oz” storyline (episode). Looking great! 

Normal Next Week 

We’ll be getting back to our regular schedule of updates, live streams, and more… next week (technically starting on Saturday for those of us here in Shanghai). And we’re planning for a Live Stream next week on Thursday, 15th of October (Shanghai time). 

For now… I am heading back to a final day of spending time with Lucky. He’s growing up so fast… it’s crazy!

From Shanghai with Love and Mooncakes, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

We’ve started the 2nd Largest Chinese National Holiday here in Shanghai but I wanted to share a quick update. 

Attached to this post is a PDF that outlines our (work in progress) thoughts for Oz Adventures. The main image (above) is from Adam and Omri and illustrates a pair of adventurers making their way through Oz… perhaps after a plane crash, shipwreck or ??? – some other method of landing in Oz. What mysteries will they uncover, challenges will they overcome, and… will they make it out alive? 

Have a read of the document and let us know what you think. 

This document will go out alongside the Studio Pitch we’re sending to [REDACTED] around mid-October. I think that the combo of our Team, plans for a new studio, design ideas, art, and support of our Insane Children… will make the pitch a success. 

What do you think? 

From Shanghai with Holiday Love, 

-American