Dear Insane Children, 

Omri sends along early concept sketches for a “Knave of Hearts” character we might find (and fight) in the Queen of Hearts domain. Of this idea he says, 

 Knave of hearts in the original Alice in wonderland story stole the tarts and Alice was blamed for doing it.

i think he can be a cool mini-boss. in hebrew he is called “the prince” i actually have no clue what is a “Knave” besides being a dishonest character.

i imagine him like the School’s bully, the principal’s son, in other words, the Queen’s son. “she told me to stop you” kind of character.

we just explored this concept so these are super early development ideas. can you please post them on Patreon and tell me your opinion?

i like him as a huge dumb character, he feels like the third sibling of the Tweedles.

Works for me! What do YOU think? 

Let us know in the comments below! 

And one of Jennifer’s friends tried out the carving templates on an actual pumpkin. The result is pretty impressive! 

You can grab the templates from THIS POST.

If you carve your own, let us know! Share it on social media with #americanmcgee or email it to us at support (at) mysterious (dot) design

From In-Transit with Love, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Fall officially arrived in Shanghai with “Qiu Feng” (autumn wind) which we felt strongly yesterday. It blew away the last remnants of summer’s warmth and put us on our way towards winter. Brrrr. 

I am not a fan of winter in Shanghai. It’s a cold damp affair with very little else to offer. Another reason why I’m thankful that the tropical shores of Thailand are only a few hours away. 

November to April are roughly the months of the Northwest Monsoon Season – during which cool dry air blows from the northwest (hence the name) over Thailand. This makes it an ideal time for sailing!

That’s why tonight I am heading to Thailand to begin prep work on “Chaos” my 36′ sailboat so she’s ready for the sailing season and for Pirate Jam 2020. During this time I’ll get her back into the water and start mapping out potential routes for our game developer pirates. Arrrg, matey! 

You can learn more about Pirate Jam HERE. 

Don’t Panic

I’m only away a few days and will still have Internet so that I can stay on top of the usual work stuff. And Font Lord is in Shanghai keeping an eye on support tickets, PMs and your other requests/needs. 

Our art team will continue their efforts on art and design for Anger/Queen’s Domain… 

Omri’s put final touches on the Queen’s Throne Room (main image above). He says he doesn’t know if this is art print worthy. What do you think? 

We’ve also seen some updates to the trains and stations for the Looking Glass Line. I like this more baroque look. And the Looking Glass sculpture on top of the train… well… 

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

These efforts are bringing us close to the end of this pass on the Queen’s Domain. When I get back we’ll start work on the next area – Bargaining! 

Mysterious Makeup

At that time we’ll also review the progress Yan is making on packaging and design for Mysterious Makeup. 

If you’d like to see the previous big update on her efforts you can check out the Livestream we did on YouTube HERE and HERE.

Your feedback on this work is really important – and we’ve got some great comments and questions from the community thus far. Keep it coming! 

Yan says that we should have some physical production samples to look at by early November. WOo! Progress! 

Font Lord Notes

Please note that there’s still a bit of a delay on sending out Chaos Necklaces and Art Prints from last month. Again, we had a bit of a slowdown because of the Chinese National Holiday and the arrival of Lucky. 

A lot of that slowdown has been with me (American) personally as I’ve struggled to balance all the work tasks and finding time to sign all those posters and cards. My apologies! 

On that note, all of the “Alice Come Back” art prints are now in various states of transit towards you. I signed and packed the last batch of those yesterday. But there are still 140 items (art prints) in the shipping system which I need to sign and pack – when I get back from this trip. 

Your patience and understanding are appreciated! 

Questions? Concerns? You can email us at support @ mysterious (dot) design

Yay!

Lucky & Lulu!

Here’s a little Lulu toe-licking Lucky to brighten your day! Awwww!

Going to miss them both! 

From Shanghai with Trip Prep,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

In this Halloween month of tricking and treating we have a special treat just for you… 

Pumpkin Carving Templates!

These were inspired by the Cheshire Cat pumpkin in Omri’s “Hallowed Alice” illustration. 

And our Insane Children INSISTED INSANELY during a recent live stream that this Become. A. Thing.

So – Insist and You Shall Receive! 

Cheshire Cat

Angry Alice

The Mad Hatter

The White Rabbit

And LULU!

Please be sure to carve responsibly. Return your knives to (NOT IN) the Orderlies when finished. 

If you want to share your creations with everyone be sure to tag with #insaneolantern – we’ll pull some examples and share them on the livestream! Look forward to your creative efforts 🙂 

From Shanghai with WoowooooowoOOooo,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Do you know what fills me with RAGE? The YouTube creator interface – specifically the part dedicated to setting up live stream events. ARG! Frustration! 

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.  

I’ve worked through the kinks and set up a Live Stream event for tomorrow at 9AM Hong Kong Time – 6PM PST on Wednesday, 10/8. 

Uncertain what time that is for you? No worries… hit THIS LINK and set a reminder over on YouTube.

During this stream, we’ll discuss all the latest thinking on Dr. Bumby’s place in Alice: Asylum, The Queen of Hearts, and progress being made over on the Asylum Design Wiki.

Crowd Design – Enemies

On the topic of Dr. Bumby and enemies, we had a fruitful conversation with the Insane Children via Discord earlier this week. You can tune in to that discussion – also over on YouTube – via THIS LINK.

Have a listen. Collect your notes. And share your thoughts in the comments below! 

Have questions, suggestions, or other topics you’d like to see discussed during the live stream tomorrow? 

Be sure to leave those in the comments below!

Note from Font Lord

There’s a delay with sending out rewards due to the recent giant National Holiday in China and the arrival of a baby. 

Don’t get hysterical!

We’re working to get things back on schedule but in the meantime do ask for your patience and understanding as we get your art prints and other rewards mailed out. 

Have a problem or a question? You can PM us here on Patreon or send an email to support (at) mysterious (dot) design 

From Shanghai with Rage, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Our favorite month is here! It’s Halloween! Woowooowowowoooo!

Among all the spooky things we love about Halloween there’s a special tradition here in The Asylum… 2 for 1 Art Print Month! Yay!

How’s it work? Glad you asked! 

Everyone at $75 for the month of October will recieve two pre-selected art prints. Those are “Hallowed Alice” (the main image above) and “Cheshire Grin” (shown below). 

Font Lord has asked me to pass along a couple of Rules and Restrictions. Those are as follows: 

• Pledge $75 for October 2019 (pledge now; processed on or around November 5th). 
• If this is your first month at $75 you’ll also receive a Chaos Necklace (you can choose small or large size – survey sent later). 
• This offer is NOT available at the 3/$35 level.
• But if you’re doing 3/$35 it’s important to note you can jump in and out of that tier. You DO NOT have to have 3 consecutive months. 
• You can select these prints later with 3/$35 but you’ll select the prints individually, not as a set. If you want the set you’ll have to do that via this offer.

Spooky Crowd Design

We’ll host a Crowd Design session over on our Discord Server tomorrow at 10AM Hong Kong Time – that’s 7PM PST (Los Angeles, etc). 

During this session, we’ll take a look at your suggestions over on the Asylum Wiki. 

In keeping with the spooky theme let’s take a look at Enemy Suggestions!

Need more info on our Discord Server and how to join it? 

There’s a FAQ POST for that. 

Cheshire Kitten Followup

Lots of Insane Children around the world receiving their Cheshire Kitten Collector Sets and sharing their excitement on social media. Here’s Insane Child mooncrisismakeup over on Instagram with some excellent images… 

If you have any questions or problems with your Cheshire Kitten Set please be sure to PM US. If that’s too much of a bother then try emailing us: 

support (at) mysterious (dot) design

A few Insane Children have written to ask about the Chesh’s Tail… 

Please note that we intentionally left the rough edge down the tail in order to simulate the “boney” feel of his tail. I thought we discussed this in one of the design updates or livestreams? Anyway, he’s supposed to have a gnarly tail! 🙂 

Now… if you get a kitten with an arm sewn on backward or other sorts of “birth defects” – then you can write to us for a replacement. 

Want to share your Cheshire Kitten on social media for us to see? Be sure to include hashtag #cheshirekitten and/or #americanmcgee – We’ll check those out on the next live stream!

Maps of Meaning

Lots of new art coming in! Will post more of that tomorrow along with links to this week’s live stream on YouTube. 

Got comments and suggestions you want discussed during the stream? 

Leave them in the comments below!

From Shanghai with a Scruffy Tail,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Golden Week 2019 is coming to an end here in Shanghai. While China celebrated “70 Years of Communism in the PRC” we hid out at home and played with the baby. Lucky did give us an excuse to venture outside during the holiday – he had a one-month checkup with the doctor. They weighed and measured him, recorded his movements, and gave him a stamp of approval. He’s growing FAST. Good boy! 

Another Year!

We also hit another milestone in recent days. This time of year roughly marks the start of my focused efforts in using Patreon to fund and promote efforts towards getting Alice: Asylum into development.

Through the support of our Insane Children, we’ve built a team of artists, designers, and support staff to enable the creation of concept artwork, story, design, and physical rewards which we’ve leveraged towards getting a new game made.

Alex created an “Art & Design Team” overview (shared above) to provide a clear picture of the team our Insane Children have made possible.

And let’s not forget the Insane Children themselves! You can see here our growth in terms of Insane Children since October 2017.

This puts our Patreon Community at 8th in the “Games” section on Patreon and in the Top 100 overall for most months. 

The result of all this is a breathtaking collection of artwork, narrative, and design which you can view over on the Asylum Wiki. Just a quick sample of images through the months. Remember these milestones?

Early on we talked a lot about the design of 13-year-old Alice’s face… 

And we had our first peek into Wonderland…

We’ve explored a variety of dress designs…

And cat designs…

We’ve talked about puzzles…

And enemies…

And we’ve produced and shipped a ton of physical goodies…

It’s been a wonderful process – one that I can easily say is the most engaging and rewarding that I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking part in. 

Are We There Yet? 

We’re still on the road! I wish I could say, “We’re almost there!” but the reality is that only EA can answer this question. 

And where are we with EA? 

As you know, I am bound by multiple NDAs to not reveal the contents of my ongoing discussions with them… but I’ll recap with those bits you already know.

• Late 2017 there was a request for an overview in terms of design, plans, etc -for a new Alice game.
• Early 2018 we delivered the License Proposal Book. 
• Months of discussions. A basic outline of the license deal is achieved. 
• Early 2019 we’re assigned a new Biz Dev guy.
• Months of discussions. A “final” outline fo the deal is achieved. 
• Mid-2019 we delivered the “Ashen Rabbit” Studio/Project Proposal Book. 
• Discussions take a meaningful turn.
• Late 2019 we delivered an updated pitch based on a new request.

If you’ve not seen the latest pitch, you can find it in a Patreon post back on August 7th called “Madness Bacons” – mmmm bacon.

We are now waiting on a response to that latest pitch – something we crafted in Crowd Design with our Insane Children. 

What Comes Next?

We keep creating! Our team is currently detailing the narrative and design for the Realm of the Queen of Hearts – an area that represents Alice’s anger. 

Ater Anger we’re heading into Bargaining – a realm where we’ll encounter the Mad Hatter and learn of his involvement with the current state of affairs in Wonderland. 

This process of mapping out the locations, characters, and story will continue through Bargaining, Depression, Testing, and Acceptance. Along the way, we’ll loop back to previously visited areas to improve on and incorporate the ideas we’ve established there. 

We can then start writing dialog, building level layouts, storyboarding cinematic sequences… and more!

These tasks are usually handled by teams of dozens of artists, designers, and writers but where we do not have a massive team – we do have loads of time!

When we’re finished we’ll have a lovingly crafted Design Bible which our development team can follow through the production of the game. 

 Slow but steady wins the race. 

Questions and Comments?

Your feedback in this process is critical. “Crowd Design” is what makes our efforts here different. It’s pre-production funded and guided by the fans – the Insane Children! I believe that makes it pretty unique – especially in terms of the size and scope of the product we plan to make. 

Let us know in the comments below how we’re doing!

What more would you like to see from the project, from the team, and from me? 

We’ll address your feedback during the live stream this week (another post coming on that later today). 

Thank You!

As always, THANK YOU! We could not do this without you. The Asylum pre-production team is 100% powered by the fans. All of the art, story, and design we’re creating are a direct result of your trust, patience, and contributions. 

From Shanghai with Love,

-American