Dear Insane Children, 

It’s here! The second revision of the Narrative Outline for Alice: Asylum. 

THANK YOU, to our Insane Children for making possible all the art, writing, design, and production that went into making this document possible. This is “Alice: Asylum” in script format – the document that will drive the production of the Design Bible. 

Alex will start work on the Design Bible NOW. And we expect he’ll deliver a semi-final draft around April of 2022. Lots of work going into that document… like a graphic novel play-through of the entire game. 

So, if you don’t mind MASSIVE SPOILERS, then grab the Narrative Outline PDF (link below), and join Alice on her latest adventure. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think – but keep in general. Please, do not post spoilers (elements of the story or design that would ruin any surprises for people who choose not to read this document). 

And please join me in expressing A HUGE *job well-done* to Alex. He’s done a tremendous amount of work in organizing, writing, and presenting everything you see here. Thanks, Alex. You’re full bottle, mate. 

From Shanghai with Outlines, 

-American

Dear Insane Children,

Adam finished the illustration in which we see the Shadow Self become Alice’s dominant personality. This is described in the Narrative Outline as a protective action by her psyche. And it explains how/why it is that the Alice we know (from the games) is actually Shadow Alice. The Child Self has been submerged, protected deep within the subconscious, for most of the time we see Alice in AMA and AMR. So this is an important moment – the birth of the Alice we all know and love.

And it’s important to note that The Shadow isn’t necessarily evil. But it is completely necessary. If you try to live life denying your shadow, you make yourself vulnerable to those who are completely consumed by theirs. We live in relatively “soft” times – speaking from a historical perspective – where a lot of people can get by without ever engaging their Shadow. But when chaos comes to them – and it always does – they are ill-prepared to defend themselves. 

My personal experience with this is deep and painful. I watched my sisters raised in a household where The Shadow was denied in full. An orthodox bubble where “worldly” influences were forbidden. Similar to the tale of Snow White – where her parents rejected the presence of Maleficent at her christening. Maleficent being the embodiment of nature, chaos, and shadow. 

My sisters were, as a result, completely unprepared for any interaction with reality. And what followed was, well, truly tragic. 

So… better embrace your shadow. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think. Have you embraced your Shadow? Or found yourself in situations where you wish you had (or were glad you had)? 

We’ll discuss this and more during the LIVE STREAM tomorrow. Usual time and place: 

Want to find links to my Twitch, YouTube, and other Social Media Platforms? 

https://linktr.ee/americanmcgee 

Everything together in one easy place there! 

Speaking of engaging your Inner Grrr…

Did you know we released a new Plushie Dreadful in the Mysterious Shop? 

Say “Hi!” to  Rage Rabbit! His head pops off! 

From Shanghai with Grrr, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Well… kinda. Many of you have joked in the past that Alice’s dad looks a bit like Keanu Reeves. So Omri went ahead and pasted Keanu’s face into this Christening Scene. Of it he says: 

i hate the cartoonish proportions so i’m pushing everyone into a more realistic style
?we got Priss, Bumby, Radcliff (which all 3 have the same exact glasses!) Nan and i added a kid. the toddler will be Lizzy and i need to add some random people around.
just remember this is like “18 years ago” so i imagine them younger, thinner besides Priss because people like her usually look the same for 40 years straight.?

?having radcliff like Judas/looking AT bumby while looking away both work for me.

?When you guys will see this again- Does the priest have some kind of hat?

To which I replied: 

I ?think this is FANTASTIC. Wow. So much going on – and so much fun (including Keanu, etc). With regards to the HAT – I think it’s better to have NO HAT since the connection of this character is “Hatter” ?- the bald head draws attention to that aspect of the character.

A couple of ideas:

First, the Jesus face in the stained glass in the background… it’s distracting. I think there’s already so much going on in that area of the painting, better to remove that so our eye can more properly explore the face/head area of the priest.

Second, If you really want to do something with the stained glass as a background, I ?would recommend shifting it so that the priest ends up with a bit of halo around the priest’s head. If you select the elements correctly, it could be a halo that has Hatter-like properties (suggestive of gears, snow globe, teacup/tea pot, etc).

Third, try to hide a couple of “death notes” inside the image… Since this scene is the submersion – it’s a Little Death. It’s the dissolution/death at required at the start of the journey… from which she’ll later be reborn. So, his a couple of hints at “death” in the scene – I’ve done some lazy skull pasting as examples.

And attached this slightly edited variation: 

Meanwhile, Gareth is working on the other side of the portal so to speak… 

The scene where Alice escapes from The Snow Globe and emerges into Real Wonderland. She’s met by Hatter in a scene that echoes the elements we see in the Christening Scene. That’s because the two are connected – submersion (death) and emergence (rebirth). 

To which I replied: 

I love the visual symmetry going on here! And I don’t know that it needs to be flipped… it makes sense that Hatter is now on the other side… because they are on the other side of the Look Glass… the flip side of the submersion. I think he should stay where he is!

As I suggested in the edits for Omri’s scene, maybe consider including a couple of elements of “life” ?in this scene? ?Could be something growing (plants), could be alchemical symbols related to life and rebirth, etc. How about an ?Ouroboros in the stained glass behind them? ?Some crescent moon symbols in the glass.

Here in Shanghai, we survived Thanksgiving. I hope you did too! And we’re back to a Normal Week – where we will have a Live Stream at the usual time/place. More on that soon. 

From Shanghai with Hidden Skulls, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Feast your eyes on the final form of the 2022 calendar print we have been talking about recently.

A pretty good image for the calendar I’m sure you’ll agree, as all the action takes place at the top of the image.

First an important note for all the coming options you need to keep in mind…
THE CALENDAR WILL NOT BE SIGNED!

Now here are the instructions on how it can be obtained.

1) If you’re a $75 Tier Patron before December hits, then you will simply get the calendar print AND the normal print of the month (essentially think of it as another ‘double print’ month)
By the way, the normal print for November Patrons charged in December will be this one…
VOPRAL GLASS

And of course, the usual rule also applies that if this is your first ever time at $75, you will also get the Hysteria Rabbit+Tote Bag combo too.  WOW!

2) If you’re a 3x$35 Tier Patron, we’re also going to treat you as if this is a double month, but ONLY for those of you who complete your Backerkit survey between Dec 1st and Dec 31st. So simply choose a print as normal from our huge selection and we will bundle the calendar print in with it. And yes, the above Vorpal Glass print will be a choice in December.

3) We will also be putting the calendar for sale in the Mysterious Shop, but due to the ‘unsigned’ nature of the item, it will be cheaper than most other prints we sell there.
Likely to be at $35

As ever, any questions about what you just read, pop ’em into the comments and we’ll take a look.

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children,

Joey and Omri finished “Turkey in the Oven” (kidding, kidding… I think the official title is “Fire House”) and it turned out great. And just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Speaking of that holiday… while we don’t exactly celebrate it here in China, it is a tradition to cook lots of food and invite over some of our friends. And, yes, Yan will cook a turkey. Yay!

That being the case, this week will NOT have a live stream. But I will continue to send updates related to art, design, and story.

Speaking of STORY… sad news! Alex’s computer died. It’s in the shop now (it’s a Mac) and should be back in service within a week. Apparently, it needs a new control board. Don’t know about you… but every Mac I’ve owned since 2000 has died at least once from this issue. Crazy. Anyway, that puts the typesetting work for the latest version of the narrative outline on hold.

I told Alex he might as well enjoy some time off. Maybe he can have an Australian Thanksgiving? (I almost made a joke about their indigenous people in relation to the same in the US, etc… Dark humor. I’m sure you can guess).

These are reference images I attached to a response I sent Omri in relation to a christening scene that takes place in the game…

the section we’re discussing reads:

“At the pulpit, the priest holds a screaming newborn baby in the air, then lowers it into a bath of water. This is a memory of Alice’s christening. She is reborn, as the baby touches the water its screaming stops and the scene goes black.”

First, I ?want to suggest a change: ?The christening does ?NOT have to happen at “the pulpit” – a location where we normally see the priest addressing the congregation. See the attached images for reference – create a new space similar to these… dedicated to the christening. It can be a room or an alcove… I like the room scene.

Second, the christening process… can involve pouring water over the head OR the complete submerging of a child/person into the water. I ?want to see this as a complete submersion.

This usually happens with the priest standing in a large pool of water with the person, supporting them as they are lowered on their back into the water until their head is submerged.

https://youtu.be/9_dr9njVzKM?t=121

And why this scene matters…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVVPtoAE0kk

This is a rebirth scene. A doing away with of “old life” ?and start of something new.

I ?think we could see baby Alice in a gown (reference below) ?float down from “above” ?in the scene, land in the arms of the priest, and then be submerged all in one smooth action.

We should NOT see her brought out of the water. Because she must still travel the road ahead in order to be reborn. This is the submersion. The lifting out of the water happens (metaphorically) ?later in the game.

In-game we’ll probably have the water turn black (to represent Chaos) but I do not think you need to worry about trying to capture that detail in this illustration.

Will be interesting to see the final illustration that comes out of this.

And it links to…

Which is the start of a new illustration from Gareth. In response to this image, I wrote:

Looks good to me… Couple of things: ?The tea being poured looks odd. Hard to distinguish if that’s coming out of his face or what is going on. Maybe it’ll resolve with color… but the framing is a bit odd.

The snow globe is meant to crash to the floor… so we should see broken bits of it on the floor (along with water) ?around Alice on the floor.

(Note related to the Christening Scene I ?just sent comments on: ?This is one of those places where Alice is being born out of water… the other side of the christening. We should think about linking this scene with the christening scene in some way… could be lighting, framing, the way Hatter touches/holds Alice, Alice’s clothing, etc. Something to think about).

Tying all those threads together… fun stuff.

I hope everyone is has a wonderful week wherever you are. And stay out of the oven!

From Shanghai with Cranberry Sauce,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Answer: You do. You need a new Desktop Background!

And Omri’s delivered a final version of “The Funeral” just for you! 

This scene is taken from the Narrative Outline in a section where Alice imagines the scene of her parent’s funeral… an event that she wasn’t allowed to attend. The narrative reads: 

Narrative Excerpt:

?The walls of the Liddell Household dissolve into ash, and reform into the arched heights of a Church Cathedral (modeled on St. Augustine’s, London). Row after row of pews are filled with black-clad mourners. Sounds of crying and wailing fill the air alongside an Organ Dirge. This is the funeral of her family.

We PLAY as Alice floats down the center aisle towards the pulpit – Caterpillar’s mushroom fills the space where the choir would normally sit. Whispers of; “It’s your fault!” “Where were you?” “They say she’s got the devil in her!” rise to a fever pitch as Alice glides towards the caskets at the front of the church.

The caskets burst into flames, and we hear the screams of Lizzie, and Alice’s Parents. The screams and accusations reach a cacophony. The walls, ceilings, and fixtures of the church burst apart like pieces of a puzzle, leaving Alice floating before The Caterpillar on his mushroom.

Alice

I could have saved them. I just saved my friend, but I could never save them. Everyone else I love was… lost.

Caterpillar

You still have yourself. And, that is more than enough to begin with. Start there, Alice.

The Church flies back together, the air filled with sunbeams, parishioners dressed in white.

At the pulpit, the priest holds a screaming newborn baby in the air, then lowers it into a bath of water. This is a memory of Alice’s christening. She is reborn, as the baby touches the water its screaming stops and the scene goes black.

?<Chapter Ends>

And the resulting image is one of my favorites produced by the pre-production process so far. Such a great mix of London reality, Wonderland, imagination, and dread. Perfect!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

From Shanghai with Accusitory Finger,

-American