(in a low whisper)

dear insane children, 

it’s 5:40am in shanghai but i just read an email that i have to share even though i am not supposed to. it’s from someone we recently brought onto to project to help move things forward on the dealmaking side. 

he wrote this morning to relay important news. a big movement forward in a critical place. 

that’s really all i can say. but this is great news. and it means that larger gears are turning. this puts us back on the path towards our goal. 

super yay! 

now, be like lucky and pretend you didn’t hear any of this. 

more updates when i am able. i promise. 

keep your fingers crossed. and THANK YOU (oops, shhhh) for your support and trust so far. 

we’re getting there!

from shanghai with secrets, 

-american

ps: this is a patron only post and will not unlock to the public. please do keep it quiet. thanks.

Dear Insane Children

Font Lord here again, wanting to pick your brains and wrangle some information from out of the deepest, darkest depths of your mind.

When it comes to the calendar we are looking into making, do you think that ‘wall hanging’ or ‘desktop flip’ would make the best choice?
(FYI, the desktop flip calendar would be monthly, not those ‘daily’  ones you see)

Like these examples…

Please let us know by taking the poll below   🙂

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

If you’ve seen the relevant section in “The Art of Alice: Madness Returns” you’ll know that the development team really struggled to define the look and feel of Alice’s face. Ken Wong directed a multitude of studies by various concept artists and illustrators – trying on different art styles (painterly, photo-realistic, caricature) combined with various facial expressions, themes, and “modes” (asylum, London Streets, Wonderland). 

This was a protracted and frustrating process for everyone involved. Mainly because many of the people involved had very different ideas about what Alice should look like – and why she should look that way. For many, it was a chance to stamp their impression (brand, name, style) on the game’s most visible asset. For others, the issue was simple: Make her Alice. 

After months of false starts, barely any glimmers of progress, lots of weird-arts “stuff” getting made, I felt that the wider team’s frustration levels had reached a plateau. Calls for sensible exploration were being ignored. Lots of time was being wasted. And lots of processes being held up because we didn’t have a solid definition of our main character. Enough! 

I put my foot down. I seem to recall making a pretty serious ultimatum on the topic… basically a “my way or the highway” moment with one or two of our key art staff. After that, things improved. 

All of that is meant to explain the critical nature of the decisions we’re now about to make. I don’t know if it has to be difficult. But I do know that it’s important – and for good reason. 

What does Alice look like in Alice: Asylum? 

A couple of points to keep in mind before pondering this any further. 

First, we’re seeing Alice through the lens of her own mind’s eye. Everything happening in Alice: Asylum happens inside the mind of Adult Alice (the same Alice we see walking away from the train station at the end of Alice: Madness Returns). How would 24-year-old Alice view her 13-year-old self?

Second, 13-year-old Alice is the ‘avatar’ of Alice’s adventures in Asylum. This is the Alice of 1865. She’s spent a year “nearly comatose” in the hospital. And is now at Rutledge Asylum. Between 1865 and 1873, Alice will remain in a coma – shut off from the real world. This is the period in which “Asylum” takes place. (No, we will not see Alice age or grow physically during this period). 

Third, we need to define Alice now so that progress can be made on other aspects of the design and art which link to her body, face, and overall look. There’s an opportunity for us to generate a hi-res 3D model of Alice – something we could use for our sales pitch and marketing. That may even help open the door to building an actual playable demo (more on that later). 

Lastly, it might help to keep in mind the story of Asylum – especially the fact that she’s been living in a false reality of illusion and denial. When you imagine yourself, do you see an idealized version or something less than? Given her state of mind, who do you think Alice might see herself?

So, with all of that in mind… 

Think about the shape, proportions, style, and “feel” of the concept images provided by Joey. Don’t be bothered by the lack of hair – that’s just a technique for clearly defining the shape of her head. Sit with the images for a while. Maybe you’ll print them out, as I did, and hang them on the wall. Live the images for a while and form a meaningful impression. 

Once you have some thoughts, share them in the Comments below. We’ll read those during the Live Stream this week. 

Live Stream

Same routine as always. 7PM on Wednesday for those of you in PDT. 10AM on Thursday for us here in CST.

We’ll host the stream over on my TWITCH CHANNEL (hit the link to visit and subscribe). 

 https://www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee 

If you miss the stream live you can always watch the recorded show over on my YouTube Channel.

 https://www.youtube.com/americanmcgeeofficial 

NOTE TO EU PATRONS: We know we need to host a stream to fit your time zone. We’ll do that soon… it’s just difficult for me these days because I have to get up at 4:30~5AM each day to take care of Lucky. And am usually in bed (no joke) by 8PM. An hour of reading and then it’s Zzzzzzz… 

PS: This post’s title is borrowed from “The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

From Shanghai with Eyes, 

-American

Dear Insane Children

Font Lord here with a question for you all.
Which are your favorite prints that we have done?    🙂

This year, we’ve remembered early enough that we can do a calendar for 2021, so we’re looking into that now. Checking out suppliers and seeing who can make the bestest and most awesomest quality ones.

But in the meantime, we have a tricky question.
How to choose only 12 pics from ALL the amazing ones we’ve done so far?
Let us LEVERAGE THE POWAH OF OUR PATRONS !!!

Please click HERE to be taken to the survey and let us know what you think.
(Yes I know Patreon allows for polls, but there seems to be no way to allow for a specific number of choices, same with Google Forms. So I went with SurveyMonkey)

If your choice is not on that list, there is an option to write your own choice too.
Wheeee !!

Disclaimer = We still have final choice on what goes into the calendar and this poll is just to strongly point us in the right direction   😛

Webcomic Copyright Cameron Davis 2011

Dear Insane Children, 

A lot of people are unaware of the fact that Alice: Madness Returns was the first-ever AAA Western Console Game to be developed primarily in China by a mainly Chinese development team. Prior to its development, there were lots of Western games (and I mean LOTS) which relied on outsource art production in China. But to have a team of artists, programmers, animators, level designers, led by a group of producers, game designers, and creative directors – all of whom were located in Shanghai at Spicy Horse, was a first. 

As such, the game is somewhat of a legend in China and especially among the local game development scene. If you visit any development studio, outsource company, or art house, you’ll find at least one copy of the “Art of” book in every room. 

“The Art of Alice: Madness Returns” was published by Dark Horse shortly after the release of the game in 2011. It became an instant bestseller. And in Japan, the English Language version occupied the #1 Best Seller (Foreign Book) spot for weeks. Prompted by that success, Dark Horse produced a Japanese Language version which went on to become a best seller in its own right. 

The English and Japanese versions are now Out of Print and Sold Out – and there are NO PLANS for reprints (DON’T ASK). If you want to buy one, you’ll have to head over to Ebay. There, they regularly sell for anywhere between  $170USD and $700USD (depending on condition, whether they are autographed, etc). That’s a 35x increase in value in some cases! Woo.

So it’s no surprise that a local Chinese company has picked up the rights to re-publish the book in Chinese (Simplified only – there will be no Traditional Chinese version). Since its release, the Chinese language version enjoyed a period of “panic buying” and has seen steady sales since. Go Alice! 

I’ve managed to get my hands on a few copies of the Chinese Language version and put them up for sale in the Mysterious Shop. The price there includes shipping (with tracking) anywhere in the world. And I’ll autograph each and every book we send out. 

For the collectors among you, this is a rare opportunity to grab a bit of the game’s development history. And to own the “Art of” book produced in the same place where the game was developed. The signed copies of this new edition are sure to become as rare and valuable as the English and Japanese language versions did. 

You can hit THIS LINK to go to the Mysterious Shop and check out the “Art of ” book there. 

—

APOLOGIES for the straight-up advertisement of a product at Mysterious. I try to avoid doing this as much as possible. But this is one of those rare situations where I know serious collectors will be upset if they miss out. I promise not to make product placement like this a regular feature in Patreon Posts. 

More design, art, production stuff on the way this week. And a Live Stream! More on that soon!

From Shanghai In The Raaaain, 

-American

Dear Insane Children

It’s the most magical time of the month again.
When all the good karma you might have built up can hopefully sway the Gods of RNG in your favor as we choose 5 lucky people (from both Patrons and our last YouTube vid) to win… AN OMEGA NECKLACE !!!
One of the new, super awesome ones too!!

Here we go…
Rolling it…

* Nygel Manser
* Mathias Harvyl
* Guinevere Spurdens
* Vanessa Sherman
* O. Marquardt 

Congrats to all our winners and look forwards to getting an Omega Necklace in the post in the (hopefully) not too distant future.
They’ll be shipped out in July as we don’t have them from the factory yet.

I guess I can round things off with another Lulu pic as is tradition, even though I posted a Lulu yesterday   😛

– Cheers