Dear Insane Children, 

Has everyone got their Halloween costumes ready!? What are you going as this year? I’ve just purchased the elements required for mine and will join Font Lord during the next livestream where mine and his will be revealed. Any guesses at what we’ll be? 

Next week’s stream is on October 31st @ 6PM PST and we’ll have Roger Jackson (voice of the Cheshire Cat, Mojo-Jojo, and Scream’s Ghostface – to name a few) joining us!

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder over on YouTube. While there, make sure you’re subscribed and that you also click Like on a few of my videos – apparently that helps the YouTube algorithm collect more clicks for the click farm. Click, click, click.

During the Livestream yesterday we did an Artist Interview with Chris Vrenna. He talked with us about his experience working with Nine Inch Nails, Manson, making music for Alice, and life these days as a college professor. 

If you missed it, hit THIS LINK and give it a watch right now! 

We also reviewed new art from Joey such as the card guard image posted above. One of the ideas we discussed in relation to that picture is having the faces of the guards represent Alice’s subconscious fear of adult men. I was thinking it would be really interesting to model the faces of a collection of the “actual” men (villains) in Alice’s life and then have those placed under the fabric of the Card Guard masks. They might swap around, shout variations of snippets of dialog Alice overheard from those men, etc. 

What are your thoughts on this? 

Joey also sent along the “Dog Knight” who looks suspiciously similar to Lulu! Awww… Lulu would never assist a nightmare doll in attacking Alice. She’d chew that doll’s head right off! 

Joey’s also done a rendering of the “Jumping Fish” – pretty sure we had a different name for these guys in the games… but it’s escaping me at the moment. Anyone remember? 

We had a look at Alex’s WIP piece for the Alice poster in the “red” series. Be sure to check out the stream so you can see all 4 stages he presented. This image is going to be fantastic – and we will, of course, add it to the series we’re releasing here on Patreon. 

A few additional revisions by Joey here – suggesting that the “rat pin cushion” doesn’t have to be an actual, live rat… but perhaps some sort of rat doll. Being an actual (year of the) Rat myself, I guess I just don’t like seeing the poor guys abused. Eek! 

Rabbits

Lastly, there were a TON of comments on the White Rabbit Plush prototype. The general consensus being “that’s wrong.” And your feedback is heard loud and clear. I do hope everyone will please keep in mind that this is a constructive crowd design process – very rarely do original creative endeavors move forward without a few missteps. We’ve learned a ton already in this process. And there are two new factories working on prototypes with instructions guided by your feedback. We should see new prototypes in about 2 weeks.  

Oh! Rabbits! Forgot to mention in the last few posts, those Little White Rabbit Dolls are going out for free with each and every order over at Mysterious… 

So if you were looking to get your hands on one of these little guys, head over and grab something from the shop. You can do that via THIS LINK.

We’ll throw these in with all orders while supplies last – and I ordered ~1000 of them… so that should be for a little while? Don’t be late! 

From Shanghai with Ruff, Rabbits, and Rats, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

FINALLY! We received the first physical sample of a plush based on our drawing. To refresh your memories, here’s (one of) the concept images we were working with…

We have two other groups working on samples right now and should take delivery of those within 10~15 days. The recent holidays really messed with this process!

A couple of thoughts… 

First off, it’s always a strange feeling to hold in your hands a physical creation based on an illustration. Coming from games, I’m still not used to watching something digital (art) transform into something physical – coins, cards, books, and toys… but holding this little guy is a great feeling. No wonder Alice didn’t want to let him go!

The thing that feels most out of place is his nose. It’s molded plastic and doesn’t fit with the era from which this toy would originate. My expectation was that the nose would be made up from stitching – so we’ll have to communicate that next time. 

Proportions, weight, and size are all good. You’ll love holding this little guy!

We need to think about how clean he is… is that alright? If not, how do we pre-grunge them? I kinda like it clean – and then let people decide how grungy to make him based on their intended use. 

Lulu is *insane* about him and wants to chew him. Perhaps we could just dump box-loads into the yard and let Lulu run around and maul them into the dirt for a while. That would probably achieve the required effect. 

Let me know what you think in the comments below! 

We’ll do a live review during tomorrow’s live stream. 

LIVE STREAM tomorrow. CHRIS VRENNA will join us. DON’T MISS IT!

And be sure to leave your QUESTIONS for Chris in the comments below! 

From Shanghai with Rabbit-Eating-Lulu,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Want a Chaos Coin Shipping Update? Scroll Down! 

Here’s your early reminder for Part 1 of our Halloween Livestream Specials…

Chris Vrenna will join myself and Font Lord on October 24th @ 6PM (PST)

CLICK HERE to set a reminder over on YouTube. And be sure to Subscribe, Like, and all that… so the YouTube algorithm has more data to ignore. Better yet, set a reminder on your phone or microwave – probably more reliable than YouTube :/

For those who don’t know… 

Chris Vrenna, (born February 23, 1967)[1] is an American musician, Grammy-winning producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial/rock band Nine Inch Nails from 1989 until 1997, and was the keyboardist and drummer of the American rock band Marilyn Manson from 2004 until late 2011. 

I’ve worked with Chris on a number of projects including “Quake” and “American McGee’s Alice” – to both of which he contributed music and sound. He composed the entire soundtrack for “American McGee’s Alice.” 

Check out this Interview With Chris from back in 1999 where he talks about his work on Alice music.

During our livestream we’ll talk about music, games, and more. If you have a QUESTION you’d like addressed during the stream please mark it as “QUESTION:” in the comments below. SUGGESTIONS: and FEEDBACK: also work! 

This is The Depression Dress from Omri. And I think it’s wonderful! I also love the Orange Bunny. He might need to be “a thing.” 

Do you know who is currently wearing a Depression Dress? 

CHAOS COIN CHAOS

Our Fonty Lord and Savior, Font Lord is wearing a Depression Dress. Can you guess why? 

Well, it turns out that the recent Chinese National Holiday caused ~50% of the Chaos Coin shipments to go out ~2 weeks later than we’d expected. As a result, our estimated delivery times for those coins have been pushed out by 2+ weeks. 

SO, here’s a request: 

Please, STOP emailing to ask for tracking links. Give the delivery another 1+ week. 

With about 1/2 of you (1000 people) writing to say, “Um, sorry to be a bother but…” we’re getting about 2~5 such requests per hour. Poor Font Lord is answering emails in the shower, on the toilet, while sleeping, etc… and he still can’t keep up. 

Here’s the thing: Every one of the requests results in a tracking link and “it should arrive in 1~2 weeks, please be patient.” There’s nothing more to it. The coins are on the way! 

Set a new “freak out, I need a tracking link date” in your head: October 31st. 

If you still don’t have your Chaos Coin by THAT date, then email and ask for a link. 

THANK YOU! (Font Lord releases a sigh of relief). 

We do appreciate your patience and understanding with this. And apologize for not properly taking into account the disruption that would be caused by the national holiday here in China.

That’s it for now. Please be sure to join us for the special livestream with Chris. And get ready for the Halloween Special where we’ll have Roger Jackson (voice of the Cheshire Cat) with us on October 31st! 

Be sure to leave your QUESTIONS in the comments below!

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American (and Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

First up, Alex sends along an evolution of his “Scraper” concept of which he says…

 Just sending this your way, it’s another pass on the Scraper enemy concept, which has evolved into “Tick Tock”.

It could be a “Wonderland” version of the same enemy, more designed to appear alongside other enemies in Hatter’s Domain.

A wind-up key, like a wind-up toy has been added to the back, and the “blades” are now the hands of a clock.

I imagine this version runs around for a limited time, maybe allowing easy passage for Alice when he’s all ticked out and inanimate.
But best watch yourself when he’s spun up and on the prowl.

Could allow for some SPLIT second chase scenes with Alice just getting away from a mob of these guys as they chase her, and the only reason she escapes is because they run out of puff. 

Like a constant threat, but one that can be out-manoeuvred if the player allows for their “down time”.

Sounds like a nice thing to run into down a dark alley! 

And a quick reminder that tomorrow’s livestream is Euro-time stream. Hit THIS LINK to tell YouTube you want to watch this – only to hear YouTube laugh at your request and ignore it. Or set an alarm on your phone or something. 

Welcome to Rutledge

This is the latest from Omri. F’ing fantastic! 

I’m thinking this is the print we’ll send out for November. What do you think? 

From Shanghai with Countdown to Eurotime,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

First off, Chaos Coins are arriving with Patrons around the world. I know we told you to wait until the 15th before asking for a tracking link but it appears you really could wait a few more days. Literally every person who wrote to say they’d like a tracking link (now that it’s the 15th)… is about 24~48 hours away from receiving their shipment. So, wait?

Still, if you are super nervous and dying for info, go ahead and send us a PM… Font Lord loves looking up your tracking info! 😛 

Meanwhile those of you who have received a Chaos Coin are busy posting photos all over the interwebs. Looks like everyone is happy with the quality and content of the package. Yay! So glad we could achieve this unique goal and deliver a quality product to everyone who supported. Wonderful! Thank you! 

If you have any quality issues please just PM us – we’re happy to send you a replacement if anything is damaged or contains a manufacturing issue. That also goes for anything else you receive from us – art prints, etc. 

Uncertain how to get in touch … just PM US! 

Oh, and if you missed out on the Chaos Coin promotion here on Patreon, no worries… just head over to Mysterious and grab one there! 

Livestreaming in the EU and Halloween Craziness

This week’s livestream will be an EU special. That means all of our E-ewwww friends can join in without having to stay up all night! 7PM Hong Kong Time on 18th, October.

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder over on YouTube. 

While you’re there, do me a favor, make sure you Subscribe to the channel, hit the Bell Icon thingy, and also, be sure to LIKE some of our recent livestreams. Apparently this sort of activity helps YouTube decide whether or not you receive a notification when you set a reminder. The “reminder” button doesn’t actually do that! Go figure! 

Speaking of livestreams… 

THAT is a Badge of some-sort which is part of a set our good friend Jennifer D’aww is working on. There’s a series of them, each denoting a different amount of time you’ve been a Member(?) of our YouTube community… or something? She’s also done a HypnoBunny you can use to confuse and influence NightBot into giving you more prizes… 

All kinds of crazy stuff going on! Did I say CRAAAAZY?!?!?!?! Get ready… 

Chris Vrenna Livestream!!!

Our good friend and composer of the soundtrack for “American McGee’s Alice” will join us on the next-next livestream. That’s the one scheduled for 24th of October, 2018 (PST). 

Get your QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS into the comments starting NOW so that Font Lord can collect those and prepare them for this special guest appearance. 

Roger L. Jackson Livestream!!!

31st of October, 2018 (PST) – that’s Halloween! – brings the man himself, the voice of the Cheshire Cat (and many of your other favorite Wonderland crazies) to the livestream.

Again,  get your QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS into the comments starting NOW so that Font Lord can collect those and prepare them for this special guest appearance. 

Hey, it’s Halloween, of course I’m going to bring you some TREATS! 🙂 

Treats? 

Ka! Leggings!

If you’ve tuned into our livestreams where we’re reviewing artwork from Joey, you’ll know how much I love the onomatopoeia she draws into her illustrations. 

Well, for those of you, like me, who can’t get enough WA KA PA! We proudly present…

The WA! KA! PA! Leggings – these Jennifer-designed leggings feature the WA KA PA artwork of Joey and will give you a perfect belly button*. Impress your friends, confuse your parents! WA KA PA TODAY!

I think we should make it so when we hit 3000 Patrons, Martin has to wear this (and nothing else) on the live stream. Maybe a bunny hat too 😉

Little Nightmares

Meanwhile lots of new art rolling in… I can hardly keep up!

This image from Joey illustrates the concept of these doll enemies self-assembling based on whatever parts happen to be laying around. We discussed this idea in detail during the livestream last week. Hit THIS LINK if you missed that stream and want to watch it now.

Once again we discussed the idea (option?) of actually displaying these sound effect words in the game. I really like the idea. Some in the chat thought it would be annoying. What do you think? 

Surprise, m’er f’er… Gonna FORK YOU UP! 

These images led to much laughter and lots of brainstorming. Jennifer was even inspired to turn some of these characters into various t-shirts and apparel items (hence the leggings). Keep on eye on the Mysterious Shop for those things to start appearing. 

And we talked a bit about levels and puzzles. Which brings me to… 

The Asylum Wiki

With help from our community and specifically Magus and AsteriaVisual (go say Thank You! to them over on Discord) we’re seeing a ton of functionality and content updates. The goal being worked towards now will soon enable us to have weekly design-specific Discord group chats where we can work through details on specific areas of the game design. This will truly bring our Crowd Design efforts to life. Exciting times! 

Go CHECK IT OUT! 

Patch Madness

The newest set of Embroidered Patches is nearly finished and will be delivered to our shipping partner next week on Tuesday. So, hey! We need to get those Patron number up in order to unlock that goal!

Spread the word among your friends, family, and pets! 

Hmmm… Petreon… Woof?

Alright, see you all soon on the next livestream (or in the next post). 

Let me know what you think of all this insane progress in the comments below! 

From Shanghai with Woof, 

-American (and Lulu)

*Perfect belly button not guaranteed. Not responsible for WA KA PA injuries.

Dear Insane Children,

(Livestream tomorrow – scroll down for details)

Yesterday I wrote a blurb on Instagram regarding Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery to incorporate breakage and repair as part of the history of an object. This topic sprang to mind as I reviewed the latest batch of enemy illustrations from Joey.

This concept also intersects with a the idea of Antifragile as presented in the book of the same name by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

As Taleb describes it…

“Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better”.[1] 

Wikipedia continues…

The phenomenon is well studied in medicine, where for example Wolff’s law describes how bones grow stronger due to external load. Hormesis is an example of mild antifragility, where the stressor is a poisonous substance and the antifragile becomes better overall from a small dose of the stressor. This is different from robustness or resilience in that the antifragile system improves with, not withstands, stressors, where the stressors are neither too large or small. The larger point, according to Taleb, is that depriving systems of vital stressors is not necessarily a good thing and can be downright harmful.”

In my view there’s a lot of overlap between the ideas described here and an approach to the origin of and treatment of PTSD. 

Severe traumatic shock often arises from fragility. Like a vase dropped from a shelf, we break when subjected to unexpected and violent changes in our environment or existence. 

Critically, our brains engage two different systems depending on whether or not we anticipate an event. Knowing we’ll face a severe storm aboard a boat is cognitively different  than being caught out unexpectedly. One is something to prepare for and fight through and uses the problem solving part of our brains. The other is something we simply try to survive and engages the more instinctual fight-or-flight mechanisms. One feels like a challenge to overcome. The other feels terrifying. 

The aftermath of a storm or confrontation with chaos in our lives can be devastating and long lasting. And there’s no shortcut to minimizing or avoiding the pain we experience emotionally, physically, and psychologically. But there is a way of shifting your perspective to make the experience more productive…

Instead of asking “why” a thing happened… look at the shattered bits and pieces which remain and accept them for what’s left to work with. Over time those pieces need to be adapted into a new and functioning whole. Like using a bed-sheet for a sail … or insect legs for arms. 

We should expect and anticipate a life filled with chaos and ultimately ending in death. We need not be blindsided by the unexpected. People will fail us, relationships will crash and burn, we’ll fall ill, the dog will vomit on the bed, and there will be hair in your salad. The path through this with dignity and acceptance has been captured in many philosophies such as stoicism.  

Arm yourself with the tools (and insect arms) for the coming chaos. Better now than when it’s too late. And when the storm has passed, pick up the pieces, glue them back together, and keep going.

Omri sent along an update to his Alice in the Asylum image. He’s looking for feedback from YOU so please be sure to leave your SUGGESTIONS and QUESTIONS in the comments below!

Alex has entered the arena! He’s sent along an idea for an enemy character he calls a “Scraper” and says… 

 The idea being they are Alice’s twisted imaginings of straight jacket bound asylum patients, bandaged, strapped and blind, limping through the dark halls.
Before they are moving, the Scrapers would be bound in their straight jackets. Secured but struggling, gasping and moaning tortured gurgles and strangled breaths.
When alerted or engaged, rusted, massive scalpel blades protrude or explode from their limbs, destroying their restraints and enabling them limited, but steady movement.
The blades would scrape along the tiles and marble of the ground, making a tell-tale, disjointed screeching sound.
In darkness you could just see the sparks flicker from the blades to give off their location.
I imagine they’d be at a point in the game where Alice is defenseless. 

Yikes!

Lots more art, design, and story stuff to discuss. And for that, tomorrow we have a… 

LIVE STREAM!! 

Hit THIS LINK to set a reminder over on YouTube. We’re doing our usual time:

09:00AM Hong Kong Time, Thursday morning (11-10-18)

Tomorrow I’ve got special prizes lined up… 

If you want to know what this Moving Ears Rabbit Hat is all about and watch a video of a Chinese girl giving a Level-1000-Cuteness example of them in use head over to Mysterious and check it out!

Chaos Coin & Necklace Update

Chaos Coins are arriving with Patrons around the world. If you’ve not yet received yours – don’t sweat it. Should be there soon! 

If, by the 15th of October, you still don’t see your coin then PM us. Not sooner! 

If you are waiting on a Chaos Necklace please note there was a delay in getting replacements to our shipping partner resulting from the recent Chinese Golden Week Holiday. Replacements should arrive in Shenzhen this week and will ship out soon. Expect delivery in ~20 days. 

That’s it for today… See you all on the livestream tomorrow! 

From Shanghai with Rabbit Ears, 

-American