Dear Insane Children, 

Live Stream Info is down below! Don’t miss it!

All aboard! We’re taking a ride through Wonderland aboard the Looking Glass Railway. 

Pictured above is Omri’s updated render of Joey’s original Wonderland Map for Asylum. Along with this image Omri sends a series of questions which will help us define important details regarding the layout and navigation of Wonderland in Asylum. 

Let’s go through these points and provide some feedback…

 1. do we want 2 stations for each area, that is the Entrance and Exit? personally, i don’t think we need that, i think for each area we should “open” the tracks to the next area, in that way the player will go to the edge of the map and come back, very exploratory. you won’t be able to visit somewhere you didn’t visit before.

Each area can have more than one station. And these don’t need to be “entrance” and “exit” … we might have “Depression Gardens” and “Vale of Tears” as stations both located in the area of “Depression.” The order in which we access these or how we arrive at them… we’ll have to decide as we flesh out the narrative and Alice’s overarching journey. She might arrive in an area like Depression via some route other than the Railway – dropped off by Gryphon flying overhead, launched out of a circus cannon… endless possibilities. 

For now, you can place a single station in each domain and we’ll expand on these as needed. 

2. Did i forget an area? can you think of something? “Vale of tears” can appear on Depression/ but places we already “know” but we don’t have “wonderland woods” for example… where should it appear? or should it?

Yeah, we can define these but let’s get the big pieces in place first. As for the big pieces… looks like they are all there. I am a bit concerned about the idea of our “hub” being in the 6th area and not visited (presumably) until pretty far into the game. We should kick this around a bit and think about how that will feel to the player. Maybe it’s OK to leave out the hub until around the middle of the game? 

3. Overall 9 large areas not including smaller areas like: “water areas” between Bargaining and Depression, (as Vale of tears can be the opening for Depression) but that place for instance doesn’t have to have a station, but could.

9 large areas but there can be smaller stations within each area… depends on how big we make those areas. For the larger castle-type levels, perhaps there’s a simple linear progression through from point A to B… so we only need a station at the start/end. For other, more open-world type areas, we might need multiple stations. Again, large chunks first, and then we can start thinking about this aspect of the layout. 

4. Shock should have a station? do we even want people to re-visit there? Perhaps we need to conciser having Alice “Fall” from shock to Denial, like in the book. Having the Denial station at the edge of denial. I still don’t understand how the Moon merges into the storyline but she should visit there after the circus theme.

Shock is special and I don’t think we’ll revisit it. In my mind, it’s highly linear, likely to contain quite a lot of scripted/canned/cinematic moments. 

5. i don’t want the stations to be compared to Level select.

To avoid that, we’ll need to make good use of repeated travel between the areas. 

6. i think for now i have enough data to design each of the stations, as you said, they will be a building in an area, i think for each one there will be a puzzle in the theme of the area. the Hud will be grand but the rest of them will be smaller. we need a Tram pass, elements specific to opening the tracks and fixing them along the story.

Sounds about right! 

What say you, Insane Children? 

Sonny also sent over a rough draft of an interior shot of the Main Station. You can see the Mock Turtle keeping an eye on the scene. The building is constructed of books… and filled with normal humans? Hmmm… can’t have that! 

This is a good start but I think we want to capture a more cathedral-library-station type of feeling. I’ll ask Sonny to think about how to revise this. And we’ll also see Omri’s version of this soon. 

Omri also produced this exterior view of the Main Station as seen in the realm of Depression. This area contains the Toy Store (run by “Bumby” in an earlier form), the Vale of Tears, and perhaps a link to an underwater graveyard. Once the player accesses this area we’ll be able to quickly re-visit other areas of the game. But we might want to think about a ticketing system which we can use to limit travel based on where we want the player to be and when. 

As a way of prompting the player to get to the next area/mission in a timeline manner… the train station could be where we find a schedule of trains and hear announcements that certain trains are waiting for “Passenger A. Liddell” – a nice prompt to get on with it! 

Shaping the World

This is an exciting step in the process of developing the structure and design of Asylum. It comes as a result of Omri organizing tasks and deliverables for our art and design team. With Omri, Alex, Joey, Norm, Sonny, and other artists contributing towards the Asylum Design Bible, it’s important that tasks be properly distributed and scheduled. I’ve been doing my best to manage this process but find myself falling behind more and more – so it’s great to have Omri on board helping with this! 

Celebrating Our Insanity – Patron Reward!

A while back we sent out Inmate Certificates to our first ~500 Patrons. Now with over 3000 Patrons, I was thinking we should do something special to celebrate our little Asylum full of Insane Children. 

We could do another Inmate Certificate… but I feel like “been there done that,” plus we saw some of those cards get really bent up in the mail. So I had this idea…

We can produce individually numbered Patient Tags and mail them around the world to all of our Insane Children. The tags themselves don’t cost much to manufacture but shipping, taxes, and fees make it so we can only offer these at the $15 Tier and above. ($14 is our COST on manufacturing, taxes, fees, and shipping (to the US) so this is as close to “free” as we can get!)

If you’re already at $15 (or above) you’d get this automatically, without having to change a thing, BTW. Those of you at a tier lower than $15 could bump up for the month if you were interested. Anyway…

Do you all want to make this happen? We can do it this month if you’re interested. 

Let me know in the comments below! Yay!? Nay?!

Btw, I would love to have individual names on each tag – and that is technically possible – but it creates the nightmare of sorting through thousands of tags to find a name and attach it to a shipping label for that person. Based on experience we know this sort of thing would result in great sadness and possibly death. You don’t want to kill me and Font Lord, do you?

Live Stream Fun Time With Font Lord and Stick Boy

Another week, another live stream! Join us at the regular time over on my YouTube Channel.

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder and join the fun. 

There will be prizes, Font Lord, Lulu, and more!

Be sure to get all your SUGGESTIONS and QUESTIONS into the comments below!

See you there!

From Shanghai with Choo Choo, 

-American (and Loolooooo!)

Dear Insane Children, 

Our Crowd Design process on the new Cheshire Kitten Plush Toy moves forward! Omri’s sent over a Spec Sheet (version 4) with updates based on YOUR comments and feedback. Lots of great ideas contained in this update – many thanks to YOU!

This version is now with the factory (same group who made the White Rabbit Plush) and will be turned into a production sample within a few weeks. 

Compared to the White Rabbit Plush, the Cheshire Kitten contains a lot more embroidery and custom design. It will also require the production of custom eyes. The result of all this extra detail should be a plush toy of excellent quality and character – but these elements won’t come free. 

It will be interesting to see how all of this impacts the production costs. Within a small %, those increases can be hidden within the retail cost. If there’s a large increase in costs… then we’ll have to discuss compromises. 

But let’s wait a little while and see what the factory sends back! Might be another Cheeto Monster! Might be a ready-to-produce masterpiece. My guess is that it’ll be somewhere in the middle.

At this point, I think we can all reserve design feedback on the design sheet and wait for the production model to be delivered. Once we have that in hand I’ll share pictures and we can resume the design feedback. 

Btw, I really love this process! It’s so much fun to design things in a group. I look forward not only to the updates from our design team but also to the feedback from you, the Insane Children in our Crowd Design Team. Thank you, for being a fun part of the process! 

Alex sends over an updated version of the Cheshire Nylon Bag in which we’ll send out the Cheshire Kittens. His design also reflects changes made based on your comments. 

This version is, in my opinion, closer to a design we might call “final.” What do you think? 

The only thing I am not a fan of… is the AMG “American McGee Official Merchandise” element. 

Several reasons for this. First, I am not one to wear other people’s brands. Most of my t-shirts are plain, single color, and devoid of external brand markings. The exception I’ll make is for “bold” art/symbol designs – but those also can’t be too closely related to a brand or brand logo. 

That being said, I don’t mind a subtle “tag” here and there on my clothing or shoes. I just don’t want to be a walking billboard. And I don’t expect the people who carry or wear my stuff to be one either. 

Second, it’s confusing to have both the Mysterious brand and this new “AMG” brand on the same bag and on the same side of the bag. Reminds me of these shoes I see at the knockoff markets here in China… 

So, Alex, this is a big “nope.” Let’s just keep the paw clean and free of branding! I’d suggest we remove the AMG branding as well as the Mysterious branding. For the Mysterious brand, we’ll print tags and sew those into the bag on the inside. (Same comment for the Mysterious branding on both sides of the bag). 

What do you think, Insane Children? Let us know your feedback in the comments below.

We look forward to hearing from you! 

From Shanghai in a Plain T-shirt,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

I hope everyone had a wonderful May Day Holiday – or at least a wonderful time in life while everyone in China was enjoying their May Day Holiday. We spent many of our days gardening, researching baby strollers, and catching up on all the latest developments in car seats. Now I understand why dogs get jealous of babies! Lulu’s never had such cool toys! 

We also spent a bit of time in the workshop playing around with ideas for original pieces of art based on The Dollmaker from Alice: Madness Returns.

These are physical art pieces inspired by the types of “creations” you saw populating the Dollhouse Area in A:MR. Assembled from doll parts, wood bits, skulls, string, and insect bits (yes, literal bits of insects!). We’re crafting these by hand and will share our progress with you here and on my social media channels. I’m thinking we might auction some of these off at Mysterious. 

And a few of them… we might figure out a way to mass produce them so they can be sold in larger quantities at lower prices. Who wants one?

Right now, Yan is painting a set of “Skull Boxes” (seen above) and I am assembling the shell and mechanism for the Baby Head Clock. 

Which of these is your favorite? And what do you think about this effort in general? 

Let us know in the comments below!

Art Release Calendar

I put together this handy reference guide for the art we’re planning to release in the coming months. Where it’s marked “TBD” means we’ve not yet decided – that will be an image from the pile currently in production. 

For October, we’ll do the same as we did last year – two art prints for everyone at the $75 Tier (one will be the Cheshire Head poster you see pictured – the other is TBD). 

We’ll include you all in the discussion around the TBD images. 

As usual, if you missed any of these in the past, they are all made available over at Mysterious in the Art Print Section.

The OmriNorm Unicorn

Norm and Omri have recently teamed up on some really stunning designs – with Norm sketching the character art and Omri filling in the background and color. The results, like the Queen, Throne, and Throne Room images above – are why we’re here. This sort of design work is GOLD – and is what gives me confidence that we’ve got the right team building the foundation for Asylum. 

A little reminder that we wouldn’t be here without YOU. Thank You! 

Up next, Norm is working on character designs for the Unicorn. Looks like he’d give the Card Guard Executioner a challenge for the “most painful death in Wonderland” award. 

This work in progress image shows Norm refining the design to make the Unicorn a little more surreal and Wonderland-y. I do prefer the wilder look. 

Based on this design, I feel we’ll need to craft a really memorable narrative, location, and encounter for Alice’s meeting with The Unicorn.

What do you think?

Crowd Design

Speaking of having your say at the design table… I’ve just uploaded Crowd Design Episode #9 to YouTube. This was a special EU broadcast of the weekly design sessions where we continued working our way through gameplay suggestions. 

Want to give it a listen? Hit THIS LINK. 

A big shout out to our community and mods for getting up early (in the US) to record and manage this session. Asteria Visual, Magus, and Taylor – we couldn’t do it without you! Well, we could but then there’d be no recording or air conditioning noises 😉

Pleading From Font Lord

Omri sends along the re-work of the Pleading Dress. He says (and I agree) that the previous designs were just too clean and neat. At this stage in the game, Alice should be really low in terms of mental state and confidence. Her clothes should reflect that fact. What do you think? 

Going hand in hand with that… it’s the start of a new month!

That means Font Lord has a massive task ahead to compile all the eligible Patrons and send out surveys for art prints and necklaces.

He pleads, “Give me some time to collect all the info and sort it. Then I’ll send out surveys and we’ll start shipping your stuff. Please?”

Poor Font Lord… Please do allow him a little time for the monthly sorting effort. Patreon’s back-end does NOT make this an easy task. Sad. 

That’s it for now… it’s actually Sunday afternoon here in China but it’s been designated a “work day” so here we are! 

More art and updates later this week along with a reminder for the Crowd Design Session and upcoming Livestream. 

You are all very much loved and appreciated for the contributions and support you provide to us and our project(s). I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂

From Shanghai with Skulls,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Here in China we’re heading into the annual Labor Day Holiday (AKA May Day AKA International Workers Day), a holiday celebrating the working class and laborers around the world. It’s linked to the 8-hour work day, socialist/communist politics, and events like Haymarket Affair in Chicago. 

In China this year, the holiday has been “extended” to four days – though it’s a sort of fake extension as two of those four days have to be recouped by working on Sundays prior to and after the holiday. All I know for sure is that the event is causing all sorts of trouble for VPN providers and those of us who use their services to get over The Great Firewall. 

Anyway, Happy Labor Day! 

Cheshire Kitten Update

While the Internet censors are hard at work trying to block our bytes, our team of artists continue their work on a plush that bites! Meow! 

Above you’ll see the latest update to the Cheshire Kitten design. Omri’s taken your feedback (most of it anyway) and incorporated it into this new design. 

Have a look and let us know what you think! 

Here’s the feedback I sent him…

 1) The lower body is now black? That’s odd. Looks like he’s wearing black chaps and underwear. Why? Suggest you remove that unless you’ve got a solid reason why it’s like that.

2) Don’t think they’ll be able to do the claws – the detail will be too small. Best to just have rounded arm-ends… maybe black paw pads.

3) Similar issue with the shoulder “bumps” – I think this sort of detail will be lost in the small scale. 

4) Need to draw or not draw where exactly we want the embroidery. Makes sense to think about how the seamstress has to use an embroidery machine to go over the areas where we want black sewn into the body. It’s either there or not – so draw it like you’d sew it.

I think it might make sense for you to start fresh on a blank page. Make your goal: “Design Spec Sheet” and try to think about what you’re drawing from the perspective of the person who has to cut these elements out of fabric and stitch them into the shapes you want. That will mean simplifying things greatly. Work with basic geometries and reduce complexity. Show a clear path where you want the tattoos stitched in.

What would you add to that? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll continue to refine and adjust. At the same time, I’m pushing the factory to start on a physical sample… it’s always easier to push the design in the right direction when referring to a physical model. And I expect we’ll have several models created over the course of this process. 

 A quick reminder that these are production sample illustrations intended to guide the factory in piecing together this plush toy. And that everything you see is Work In Progress. We still have many weeks and lots of changes in front of us… so keep that in mind when commenting! 

Crowd Design Session #9 (EU Version)

Speaking of Insane Children Crowd Designing stuff, we’re hosting a Crowd Design Session for our Insane Children in the EU! The timing looks like…

12PM (Noon) on April 30th, London Time. 

We host these on our Discord Server, which you can learn about HERE. 

Please join us! We’ll continue our discussion of Game Play concepts from the Community Ideas section of the Asylum Wiki. 

You can check out the last Crowd Design session over on my YouTube Channel.

No Live Stream This Week

As the heading suggests… there will be NO Live Stream on YouTube this week. If this upsets you then please kindly shake your fist at the Labor Day Holiday. /shakes fist… grrrrr. We’ll be back to our normal schedule the following week. Might even do an EU Stream… Yeah?

Alice Cosplay Book

Font Lord came up with a cool idea which we’re now kicking around… a collector quality book featuring a bunch of our favorite cos-players. 

Alex mocked up cover artwork for this book which would be a collection of some of really amazing cos-play designs from around the world. We’re considering this as our next big Kickstarter Campaign. Right now, we’re weighing options… Should we do “Out of the Woods 2” or a collection of new, original fairy tales (illustrated), or this cos-play book, or ??? 

Let us know what you think! Do you like the clean, white treatment for the cover of this book? Would you support the creation of a book like this? 

Tell us what you think in the comments below! 

More On The Way!

Even though it’s a holiday, I’ll still post updates this week – and there’s lots of cool new art from Joey, Sonny, Omri, Alex, and Norm on the way! Yay! 

From Shanghai (not yet) in Labor,

-American (and Yan)

Dear Insane Children, 

Have you ever encountered chaos? I mean Capital “C”  Chaos. The kind that obliterates the nature of reality and strips meaning from the bones of your life? An encounter which eventually leads to an understanding of the religious “Hell” as a frame of existence waiting for us, inside us, right here on earth?

I know it’s become fashionable in some circles to wear victim-hood like a literal hood so people see our scars as who we are. But when you’ve experienced true Chaos you realize that scars don’t really change you. They can’t reshape who are you are. They are, like tattoos, surface reflections of an idea of event. 

Chaos doesn’t leave scars. It leaves nothing. It dissolves the semblance of order and leaves in its place a void, a vacuum. A scar is something you can see and touch. On your arm, where the oil splashed and burnt you to the bone. Chaos removes your arm.

When it’s done there’s nothing left but to rebuild. From scratch and with only one arm. Blinded by confusion, rage, pain, and crushed from within by a big gaping hole which uselessly swallows everything you throw into it. 

But you can and must rebuild. That’s who we are. Agents of change bringing order to the Chaos. 

Off With Her Head

Omri sends along a visage from the depths of Chaos. Who knew… something good could come out of those terrible Star Wars movies!

And a suitable environment in which she can live. 

I really love the detail of Alice’s White Rabbit Plush being held hostage in a cage. This will form a critical plot point in Asylum and provide the leverage necessary for the Queen to order Alice to do her bidding. 

Let’s hear your thoughts on Chaos, Queens, and Hostages in the comments below!

Live Stream

Seems I’ve stabilized the VPN connection (for now). Sadly, I received news that the recent turbulence being experienced across China is related to the upcoming May holidays (Labor Day) and is expected to last 2+ months. Rumor has it the PRC government is anxious about unrest and taking steps to keep people calm and orderly. That includes extending the May holiday while encouraging people to take nice vacations, plus clamping down on Internet communications. Arg!

Anyway, let’s do this thing! 9AM Hong Kong Time, 6PM PST… the usual:

Hit THIS LINK to head over to YouTube and set a reminder. 

Got QUESTIONS or SUGGESTIONS you’d like addressed? Drop them into the comments below so that Font Lord can print them out and bring them to the stream! 

Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow! 

From Shanghai with Lulu, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Just a quick note to remind you that we have another Crowd Design Session on the schedule for tomorrow at the usual time. That’s 9AM Hong Kong Time on Tuesday. 6PM PST on Monday 22/4/19.

Join us as we continue to discuss Ideas and Suggestions for Alice: Asylum under the topic of “Game Play.” The discuss we had last week covered a lot of suggestions under this topic and a lot of fun was had along the way. 

Our crowd design sessions are done via our Discord Server. If you’d like more info on how to join and use Discord, please check out THIS LINK. 

Pirate Jam Episode #3

Also a quick note that I just uploaded Episode #3 from Pirate Jam 2019. 

Please check that out over on YouTube. Give it a Like and leave a comment! 

This episode features one of the pirate games that had me laughing the hardest – synchronized swimming! 

Hit THIS LINK to shiver your timbers, matey. 

From Shanghai with Arg,

-American