Dear Insane Children

Oof !!
Font Lord here and I left this one a bit late, it’ll almost be time to do November’s Lucky 5 soon.
It’s been a busy ole month due to rabbits and calendars.

Still, I’m here now, let’s do this    🙂

As you know, this is a monthly thing where Google’s RNG feature picks 5 lucky people to get some goodies.  Chosen from our Patrons AND the last YouTube video comments (to keep things legal)

Let’s see…
This month, the winners will get…
A set of Enamel Pins AND the 2nd Embroidered Patch set we did    🙂

The winners are

* Adelaide Persinger
* tami maslanka
* Jennifer Quinonez
* Estelle Gaston Nonell
* James R Pleasant

Congrats to you all, and expect your goodies probably by around late November   🙂

HEY!!!
What’s that pic at the top of this post for?
That’s just an amusing way to tell you about me and American having mysterious costumes for tomorrow’s Halloween Twitch stream over at…
https://www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee
10am Hong Kong time, October 29th.
There’s a countdown timer on the chat tab there, so there’s no excuse to miss it.

Seriously they’re mysterious.
Neither of us know what the other person is dressed as yet.
Will it better that last time we were John Wick and Goku?  Maaaaaaaybe?
Anyway, come join us, we’ll have the usual banter, game playing and Alice: Asylum info and SPECIAL HALLOWEEN PRIZES    🙂

And of course, finally, no Lucky 5 post is complete without a LULU!
Kinda looks like she’s in jail.

See you tomorrow!

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children,

Welcome to another session of “Let’s finalize a weapon design!” brought to you by “American got up at 4:30 AM for a phone call that doesn’t actually happen until tomorrow morning.” A product of Doh! Co. (TM)

In our last episode, we saw how Alice will acquire two weapons from the Boss Encounter with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. And we reviewed Alex’s redesign work on the Jack Bomb. 

Today we’re taking a look at the second weapon Alice will acquire from that encounter: The Whipping Top

The main image (above) is from Joey and shows a ranged weapon / whip / grapple device featuring a  red-eyed frog. The thought behind a redesign is to make the final version feel more like something that might come from The Tweedles and The Circus. 

But there were a couple of other re-designs already suggested for this weapon which includes: 

A Jabberwocky Grappler from Jennifer and… 

A Spring Chick weapon from Joey. 

These don’t exactly align with the design goals we have for the weapon Alice acquires from The Circus Realm but they are in the same family so I thought it might be interested to share them for comparison. 

So Alex spent a bit of time thinking about design and art and came up with the following: 

American, when we spoke about this, I feel the focus was more on the “mechanic of environmental traversing and obstacle navigation” for Alice. 

For the Tweedle fight, given their larger size and strength compared to Child Alice, the Tweedle Bros can use this more like a whip, in one hand.

I’m sure one of them could latch around to a limited extent, but I think the mechanism would REALLY propel a young, small girl using the same device.

See the scale comparison in the spec breakdown.

I’ve also designed this to be shaped like a Treble Clef, to tie in with the musical theme. 

The Flamingo Motif is an early exploration for a grapple / whip head, given A) their tongues are *gnarly* (see reference) and B) I personally feel the Hobby Horse is a much more iconic clobbering melee weapon, and I’d be disappointed to not see it in Asylum. (Compared to the Flamingo Melee Weapon). Actual animal usage could be easily changed for skins or upgrades, (Lion, Frog, whatever) but the mechanic stays the same.

And this weapon could talk / have objections about constantly getting buried in walls and enemies.

I’ve explored stationary Aiming Down Sights (ADS First Person Option) as well as aiming, grappling, and swinging on the fly using lock ons. 

I imagine it could be used for direct line of sight traversal, and also releasing the chain tension to “swing” Alice and use her momentum. 

In-Game Examples are:

1. Link using a Hookshot like Ocarina of Time for direct line shots.

2. And Spiderman (PS4) Swinging from place to place using multiple shots and in-air momentum. 

Mixing this up could allow for some crazy spacial navigation puzzles, as well as combat application, which I’ve not fully explored yet.

To which Omri replied: 

@Alex Crowley I LOVE THIS @American McGee i think this is perfect.

And with which I 100% agree. 

This is is a beautiful design with some excellent thinking behind it in terms of use and function. 

But we’re not here to listen to what I think! Let’s hear what YOU think! 

Let the team know in the comments below YOUR thoughts on this new design and most importantly… 

What do you CALL THIS THING? 

A Flamingo Flinger? Ha.

From Shanghai where Lucky is Awake Now,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

It’s the week of Halloween! YAYAYAYA!!! The best week of the year! 

And what better way to kick off this week than with an exploration of themes and styles for the re-imagined Jack Bomb weapon in Alice: Asylum?

The team is working through a variety of ideas led by Alex’s concepts for a redesign. At the top of this page (main image) is the “original” redesign idea done by Joey a while back. 

Alex did an initial redesign which took the weapon in a much more sinister direction. This was prompted by the fact that the Jack Bomb will be introduced to Alice through a Boss Battle with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. This is also where she acquires the Jack Bomb for her own use. 

Of his redesign Alex says: 

 I’m unsure if this concept I’ve created is better suited for use ONLY in the Tweedles Boss Fight. Perhaps when Alice collects it after the Tweedles are defeated, it changes into a more child-like version, like Joey’s original design?

Food for thought also; it’s pretty common place to have unlockable aesthetic skins for weapons. 

Could we have a “default” skin for each weapon, and some other variants that can be unlocked or achieved via in-game objectives?

I see this a lot in other games, and I think those levels of player customisation are welcome additions to any title. 

And though I like the design for its own sake, I asked Alex for some adjustments…

The design concept and art look good, @Alex Crowley but they also feel like they come from the game Twisted Metal more than from the Alice series. The issue is they are “pure dark” without much in the way of whimsy, madness, or “twist.” To be twisted they have to feel like they still retain some elements of the original underlying design that Alice’s mind would have started with. 

Yes, these could be some sort of End Stage skin or Rage Box Version. In that context, they’d be perfect. As the starting point of the weapon – and one of the first weapons she’s given… a bit too dark. And that’s coming from someone who likes it dark! 

The result is something I think fits a lot better in the Alice universe and within the scene we’ll find this weapon. 

Alex also suggested another twist… 

Of which he said… 

I’d like each weapon to have secondary fire modes, so primary is remote detonation of AOE effect explosion damage. (Like Rabbit Bomb in Madness). Secondary is a perimeter guard, or stationary turret deploy. Get too close, tentacles lash / whip and do damage, or constrict / restrain foes, and once a damage threshold is hit, the death scene is getting consumed by the box. Maybe with a tasteful burp and blood spray from the box. In the pile for consideration.

And who can say no to tentacles? It’s like my all-time favorite movie monster the Face Hugger from Aliens. Woo. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of our Devil In a Box. 

There will be a special Halloween Live Stream later this week (usual time/place) over on Twitch. Details on that in another post later this week. 

Any guesses as to what costume I am going to wear? What about Font Lord… I have no idea what he has in store but knowing Martin, I’d say it is another Anime character. What do you think? 

Anyway, should be a fun stream. Hope to see you all there! 

From Shanghai with Boo!

-American 

Dear Insane Children

Font Lord here AGAIN.

As you can see from the various pics and the video we have on this here post, the calendars are made and shipped to the warehouse.

This time, a little unusually, we purchased the packing materials ourselves to send to the warehouse and have also given the people there super specific instructions on how to pack the calendars as seen in the video.
I think you’ll agree that they look as snug as a bug in a rug when all bundled up?
And most importantly, protected as heck!

ALSO…

As many of our long term Patrons might remember, every October we do a spooky Halloween ‘Double Print Month’ special for the people at the $75 and above tiers.

Sorry we’re only just mentioning this now, but we’ve been really busy with rabbits and stuff  🙂

So, to reiterate, if you’re at the $75 and above tiers before November hits, you will get TWO prints sent out to you after being charged at the beginning of November.
AND if it’s your first ever month at $75, you get a Chaos necklace too. WOW!

You might also notice we are deviating a little from what we said would be the next print, but based on how awesome these two are, I don’t think many people will mind.

BEHOLD

Both of them pretty darn incredible.

So there you have it.
Lots of great info and news, direct from Font Manor   😉

– Cheers

Helloooooo

Font Lord here with a reminder about how the previous $75 tier print+rabbit promotion works.

It actually says this in the FAQ I wrote, but here it is again as I’ve had a handful of people asking about this.

There will be no email of any kind sent to you in regards to the rabbit or print.
There’s no need.
We already have your address.

The only email you will get is if it’s your first ever month at $75, and then you will get a mail asking about the Chaos necklace size you want.
These mails are already sent   🙂
Check your spam or promotions folders if you’re missing it.

And that’s about it.
Rabbits are already on the way, as of Oct 11th.
Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery before you message us worrying that it’s not coming or has got lost   😉

Prints are currently in the process of being sent right now!

– Cheers

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