Plushie Dreadfuls Creator Pansexual Controversy – My Side of the Story

This isn’t the first time I’ve told my personal story, and it probably won’t be the last, but given the events of the last year or so, I felt it was time to dust it off and share it again. I think I’ve even gained a little more perspective on the events that have shaped me and why I do what I do. 

Once again, it’s time to clear the air.

The Story You (Probably) Already Know

I was born into a world of struggle, the child of rape (something no child should ever know), raised by a single mother in a low-income household. I faced a revolving door of stepfathers, some of whom brought physical, sexual, and psychological abuse into our home. As a kid, I was always “the weird one” at school and in social circles, relentlessly bullied for being different. How was I different? I didn’t know it at the time, but a mix of autism and the trauma that I’d already been through marked me as very othered. 

When I was in high school, my mother married a transgender woman, and I witnessed a vicious hate attack against her that left her hospitalized for two weeks and absolutely shattered my mother, me, and my family. Watching someone I loved endure that kind of bigotry cemented my hatred of prejudice in all forms. Those experiences forged in me an indelible empathy for any marginalized group and fierce anti-bullying stance.


In my teens and early twenties, I explored romantic and sexual relationships with both men and women without shame or hesitation. I simply gave myself permission to love who I loved. Going from the relatively conservative Texas to living in San Francisco in the late 1990s gave me an opportunity to find facets of myself I never could before. From 1996 to 2000, I was immersed in the vibrant house music and LGBTQIA+ scene, spending countless nights at iconic spaces like The Stud and The End Up. So, clearly, my sexual expression during that time was, frankly, pansexual. Having been willing to embrace and experience what and who I did makes the current accusations against me not just patently false but painfully ironic. 

These moments of the joy of living authentically contrasted  with the abuse and marginalization I witnessed and faced myself lit a fire in me to advocate for and uplift others who’ve been sidelined or silenced.

How My Work Supports This

As I think with all artists, my creative work has been a way to both process my own pain and to give voice to others. In my video game Alice: Madness Returns, I wove in themes of childhood sexual and physical abuse, drawing directly from my own experiences of being abused by family members and family friends as a young child.

How many people – thousands or even millions of people – never get the chance or find the channel to share their story? I know I’m not the only one that went through what I did, and it’s comforting and even healing to know you’re not the only one. So, that game wasn’t just art – it was a way to speak to the trauma so many carry in silence. 

With Plushie Dreadfuls, my team and I created entire product lines dedicated to mental health and LGBTQIA+ issues. These plush toys represent everything from anxiety and depression to queer identities like pansexuality, trans pride, and more. We hear from a lot of people that having a material object that represents something they normally can’t see – especially if that object is soft and comforting – is powerful self-acceptance.

Moreover, our entire team is a reflection of all of these identities, conditions, and illnesses: every member lives with physical or mental health challenges, and many are queer – pan, trans, gay, you name it. Our mission from Day One, has been to support organizations that advocate for mental health, physical conditions, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized groups by donating directly from our sales. These aren’t just products; they’re symbols of resilience and solidarity for people who feel unseen – and their sale directly contributes to causes that make the world a better place.

Every project I’ve touched is a piece of my story, but my story isn’t unique. The abuse I endured as a child, the bullying, the hate I saw directed at my stepmother – these aren’t just memories; they’re the fuel behind my work. I know what it’s like to feel broken, to be targeted for being different, to love in ways that don’t fit into neat boxes. That’s why Alice: Madness Returns tackled trauma head-on, giving players a way to confront those dark realities through art. With that story, we faced the gritty, horrible, dark side of coping with being violated and wronged.

But, healing isn’t just facing the darkness; there has to be something good waiting for us on the other side. With Plushie Dreadfuls, that “something good” is here when you’re still in the dark. We designed each plushie to be a tangible reminder that you’re not alone, whether you’re battling mental illness or embracing your queer identity. My team and I pour our hearts into these products because we’ve lived every one of these struggles. Our mission isn’t just to sell toys or games; it’s to create safe spaces, spark conversations, and fund causes that matter. My values – empathy, defiance against hate, and a refusal to let anyone feel “less than” – are sewn into every stitch.

I am someone who’s been shaped by pain and found my  resilience, and I have dedicated my life to fighting for marginalized communities in as many ways as I can. All of my creative work – from Alice: Madness Returns to Plushie Dreadfuls – has been a love letter to those who feel unseen. 

The smear campaign claiming I’m anti-LGBTQIA+ isn’t just a lie: it’s a cruel distortion that weaponizes the very communities I’ve spent my life supporting. The “evidence” was cherry-picked and framed deliberately to hurt me and the people who find comfort in our products. My online history shows no trace of anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment – because it doesn’t exist.

This attack has been deeply painful, but not necessarily for the reasons that my detractors might think. 

I don’t know if anyone can ever say that they’ve recovered “all the way” from trauma, especially when experienced in childhood. Every one of us that has been shaped by abuse and/or neglect carry scars that still ache and triggers that take us back to that moment of pain, no matter how long ago it was.

I own that my trigger – the thing that makes me see red and behave irrationally and lash out – is when someone lies about me. Every child who ever tried to tell their “trusted adult” that they were being abused but were brushed off or ignored knows exactly what I’m talking about: lies aren’t just stories people make up, they’re betrayals of trust.

Moving forward, I’m committed to setting the record straight (pun intended), not just for myself but for everyone who relies on our work for representation, hope, and comfort. I’ll keep creating, donating, and advocating, louder than ever. 

To those behind this smear: you don’t get to rewrite my story or silence the communities we uplift. We’re stronger than that.

The History of the Smear

The misrepresentation that I’m referring to originated on August 2, 2023, within the Plushie Dreadfuls Discord community, a space intended for fans to connect and contribute to our Crowd Design process. It began during a discussion about potential redesigns, which I explained depended on sales and stock levels. When someone asked about a redesign for our Pansexual Rabbit design, I mentioned that interest in buying pansexuality-themed rabbits had been a phase, referring to a market trend driven by TikTok that Google Trends data supported. Within the same conversation, a troublemaker called out my use of the word “phase” as offensive. I immediately clarified that I meant a phase of interest, not identity, and the exchange ended in  a few minutes. 

This is the context, that the whole conversation was about online marketing trends, ignored, twisting my initial statement it into a claim that I was dismissing pansexuality itself.

The Discord troublemakers posted screenshots from the August 2, 2023, Discord conversation around a month later under the headline “Plushie Dreadfuls Creator Calls Pansexuality a Phase” (https://www.reddit.com/r/plushies/comments/1exlmuz/plushie_dreadfuls_creator_called_pansexuality_a/). This click-bait-worthy headline created a falsified scenario all on its own by ignoring my immediate clarification in the same screenshots that I mentioned a TikTok interest phase specifically. Even though the screenshots were shared in a gallery, most people didn’t look beyond the first image or even the title and reacted only to the false claim. 

The Reddit post amplified the disingenuous “callout” on the Discord server, and from there the narrative spread to other social media platforms, evolving into broader accusations of even more (unsubstantiated) prejudice.

Why didn’t I just come out as pansexual myself at the time as a response to the allegations?

There are a few reasons. The first is that I never “advertised” my sexuality prior to this point, so “suddenly” claiming that I’m pan, too, would’ve seemed feigned or shifty. I’ve never denied it or tried to hide it, but it hasn’t been a topic of conversation in a long time for me. Every person deserves the dignity of sharing their personal lives on their own terms.

The second is that my life is very different now from what it was in the late 1990s. I’m married in a heterosexual relationship and have two children, and while that doesn’t negate or erase my personal identity as a pansexual, it would have invited additional scrutiny and harassment that my family doesn’t deserve. After all, if people have been cruel enough to spread hurtful lies about me and about my community and company, there would be no guarantee for the safety or security of my loved ones.

Back to the posts: I honestly never thought that a conversation of just a few minutes – one that I thought was resolved – would be weaponized like this. Referring back to owning my reactions, my response was consistently to address the accusations with facts, pointing out my clarifications, but once this group of people decided I was a horrible person, there seemed to be nothing I could say that would change their minds. Even when members of our community – people who have been supportive of the company and of our causes – came to our defense with more logic and solid evidence, it didn’t matter and the lie was perpetuated.

In my triggered state, I said some things that weren’t kind, and I own that. It showed me that I still had work I needed to do for myself, so I issued an honest and heartfelt apology and retreated as much as I could from representing Plushie Dreadfuls. My highest priority is protecting my community, and I felt that my presence was just making things worse. So, I turned all of my social media accounts to Private and hoped that staying quiet and letting my last apology speak for me would de-escalate the situation after a short time.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work. 

In fact, it seems that the attacks on my name, my reputation, and my brand have continued and even been perpetuated to the point where we’ve had to take a closer look at just what’s been motivating this menacing discourse.

The Impact Thus Far

That first post that started the controversy was in the /r/plushies subReddit, a place that is intended to be a safe space for people of all ages to share their enthusiasm for stuffed animals. Additional threads in that subreddit have escalated the narrative, shifting from me calling pansexuality a phase to outright claims of my being “anti-LGBT,” and this escalation has occurred with zero moderation from the people who are supposed to oversee the /r/plushies community – people who are allegedly charged with safeguarding the information posted to their board as true and verifiable. 

However, this lack of action appears to perhaps be part of a coordinated effort, with the moderators’ approval – or even being directly complicit. A recent post by the main moderator of that subreddit outright states that they wish another company would replace us in the space of creating plushies for the LGBT and mental health community. The bias is obvious and casts a great deal of suspicion on them as part of an ongoing and grueling attack on everything I’ve built and worked to protect.

The damage goes well beyond affecting me personally. The ongoing attacks have created constant stress and anxiety for our entire team, many of whom have the  very same mental health issues and are part of the LGBT communities we seek to represent – communities these attackers claim to protect. Seeing LGBT individuals attacked for sharing joy in our designs, a refuge we built for them, is heartbreaking.

Personally, I’ve felt incredibly depressed and demotivated, my creative energies sapped by the relentless shaming. Professionally, the impact on Plushie Dreadfuls has been significant.  The stress has undermined our team’s well-being and my confidence in my ability to lead, though we’ve seen sales resilience, which offers a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness.

In fact, it points to a pattern that suggests that this isn’t just a few people with a personal grudge. 

There are frequent, obviously astroturfed posts on /r/plushies where people prompt others to rehash the slander, evolving the narrative into darker, more hateful claims, calling me an “asshole” or “terrible human.” These posts often dredge up past company missteps, stripped of context, to harm our reputation. 

Recently, we’ve uncovered connections to individuals with financial interests, including those in the second-hand sales of our plushes, who buy directly from us to resell while discouraging direct purchases. Competing plushie companies, using sock puppet accounts, also fuel these “question and reply” threads, repeating our alleged transgressions endlessly to push us out of the LGBT and mental health plushie space.

A Vision for Justice and Community

We’ve tried the “turn the other cheek” strategy, avoiding direct engagement to let the drama die down, but the attacks have only grown more terrible. This approach failed because  those profiting financially and posing as “haters” have controlled the narrative. The advent of AI-generated summaries have allowed the lies to infiltrate info spaces on Reddit and Google, appearing in brand searches, which is itself alarming, but what’s worse is that when we reached out to these platforms in an attempt to resolve the issues, they have proven to be totally unhelpful. The challenge is immense, as misinformation outpaces our clarifications, and the lack of moderation, especially on /r/plushies, allows the hate to fester. 

Near this one-year anniversary, I’ve decided to speak out, as the constant shaming doesn’t lead to learning but instead mirrors the hate against marginalized groups. This affects not just me, my team, and our community, but everyone seeking refuge in our designs, and I feel it’s time to fight back.

The smear campaign against me and Plushie Dreadfuls has been fueled by competitors and second-hand profiteers, leaving my team and community in pain. Yet, my commitment to the LGBT and mental health causes we represent remains unshaken – and, if anything, has strengthened my resolve to fight and protect my communities even harder. 

We are launching legal action, mobilizing on social media, and pursuing every avenue to end this insidious onslaught. I ask you to see the truth behind the hate and the harm it inflicts on those we serve. Join us in this fight. Share your support, challenge the misinformation, and help us build a future where creativity thrives free from malice. 

Together, we can turn the tide and restore justice.

Post Patreon FAQ V2

Dear Insane Children, 

FontLord here again with some more info and some more answers.

The $1 Hibernation Tier is now active.
If you are interested in still accessing the Discord and/or sending messages to this Patreon page, please move over to this tier.
This will be the one and only tier in the not too distant future.

I am not 100% sure what will happen when I start deleting tiers that people are still pledged at if you do not move.  I don’t assume you’ll be booted from our Patreon, but it’s more likely that you will remain at ‘no tier’ while still paying us the last amount you were pledged at which would just be silly and unnecessary.
Please move as soon as you are able!!

Regarding the 3x$35 tier.
If you believe you are part way into completing your 3, and we killed the tiers before you could complete the 3, please send us a message.  We will likely just have to allow you to do a PayPal transfer to complete it.
Seems the most obvious way to do things.   I have no idea how many of you will write in about this, so it might take a while doing these manually.  Please bear with me…

And now more answers from American…

1) What can we do to support American right now? He has to be going through a lot, as all of you are!

I am OK. Just taking a break from the world right now. And I appreciate the concern and the offer to help. But I’ve been mentally preparing for this moment for a long time. Because I’ve known for a very long time that “Alice” isn’t mine. As attached as I am to the property, I’ve learned to keep my distance emotionally.

The timing of all this happens to coincide with China reopening after 3 years of Covid lockdowns. During that time, we were unable to travel outside. And so the first thing I did once the borders opened was travel outside. I am now sailing with friends up the eastern coast of Australia. As many of you are aware, I love sailing and use my time at sea to recharge my batteries and refresh my mind. I am where I should be right now.

You can also follow all our socials and of course, buying something from Mysterious is always appreciated.
https://www.instagram.com/americanmcgee/
https://twitter.com/americanmcgee
https://mysterious.americanmcgee.com/

2) I would love to listen to a podcast from American. + keep streaming/lets plays? Twitch channel is still very Alice themed at the mo.

It’s too early for me to decide on something like this. There are parts of me that really just want distance from the online world in general. But let’s wait and see how things look once I return to land.

3) Is there any possibility of an Alice plushie getting made?

The most I can get away with at this point is art prints which I autograph. The reason is that autographed prints are sold for the autograph and not really for the art print itself. There’s a long tradition of Hollywood and the games industry allowing actors, writers, and others to engage in this sort of thing. So, I’ll sell autographed art prints… at least until someone (EA) tells me to stop.

4) I would love it if the Patreon page converted over into something that revolves around supporting Mysterious and any future creative endeavors the team might pursue.

If we do continue any sort of crowdfunding for any other projects (or Mysterious stuff) it will be via a fresh page and perhaps a different platform. And it would certainly take place after some period of cooling down from the current situation. The primary reason is that I don’t want to feed the trolls who scream at me constantly about Patreon, Alice, and related funding topics. Ideally, we do not need to engage in any sort of Crowd Funding in the future.

But if you want to support Mysterious (thank you!) you can do that simply by engaging in our Crowd Design process (via social media) and by purchasing items from the shop. Super simple!

5) Are you guys still working on Oz?

It’s “wait and see” at the moment. See the above answers about taking a break and also about creating some distance between the current situation and any future projects.

6) Maybe a stupid question but is the team happy for us to continue our art and our cosplays of the game? I just would love to see the creativity continue

You are absolutely fine to keep cosplaying Alice and using the hashtags americanmcgeesalice and similar.

7) If someone wanted to print the Bible themselves at home for personal use, is that something that you’d be okay with? 

The Design Bible and Alice stuff in general is owned by EA. If you print it for personal use (not to sell) then no one is bothered.

8) I assume anything from now on in the Alice/American series is solely fan-based creations from now on? What if we wrote a book about the story to finish it?

You are free to write any Alice fanfic you wish.

I’d really love it if people could stop asking me questions about “Alice” in general. The rights are very simple – EA owns Alice and they control it. If you want to do something with the IP, you are free to do that – just like you are with all other IPs – but you get into trouble when you start trying to sell the stuff you create. Additional questions on this stuff should be directed at EA. I really want some space from “Alice” and questions related to it.  

And a final note from American…
I just want to restate that I understand how difficult this is for many of you. I am feeling the same pain and anger as many of you. And I understand that in situations like these, we often ask ourselves “what can we do” or “what could we have done differently” in order to change the outcome. It’s tough to admit right now but ultimately, we’re going to need to accept that this decision and the situation, in general, is out of our control. We are not “giving up” any more than a person who is hit by a bus is “giving up.” We did everything we could as a team and a group of fans to convince EA to let this next chapter happen. EA decided to kill the project and the possibility of any future for Alice. That decision is on them. But we can make a decision of our own – and it’s a strong decision to make – to move on. That is what we do have in our power. And it’s often one of the most difficult decisions to be made in situations like this. But it’s what we must do. So, I would ask that you join me in moving on. If you decide to stay back and continue fighting… that’s fine. That is your decision to make. I respect that. And I ask that you also respect my decision to move on. Thank you.

So what’s next? And the Answers to your questions..

Hi Everyone,

FontLord here.
Just wanted to also give a huge amount of love and hugs to everyone that joined us on this journey.  
Not the result we wanted but boy did we have fun, made some great friends, saw some amazing art and nailed down one hell of a story   🙂  

But some of you have written in asking about “Patreon Things” so he is a basic run down of some of that and also a little bit of a FAQ, and of course should you still have some unanswered questions after finishing this post, pop them in the comments below and we’ll do a FAQ V2

So here we go, yes, if you have currently paid for a tier ($35 or $75), you WILL still get the print/plushie associated with that tier.
Plushies and art prints are still going out (even those who have unanswered Backerkit emails for the 3x$35 tier can still fill them in and choose prints)
We will be fulfilling all that going forwards, but as you know, the prints need to be signed, and American is currently away, so there’s a bit of a delay on them being shipped.

The final Patreon print (March Patrons charged in April) is the one at the top of this post.  Titled “Cannot Help”

But will we be doing more prints going forwards?
Obviously not on Patreon, but we do have quite the backlog of fantastic art we didn’t get around to doing on Patreon, so some of those WILL be going up on sale over on Mysterious in the future.  
Not sure of the timescale or which prints, but keep checking on the Mysterious Art Page for those.

——

THIS BIT IS IMPORTANT !!!

Another question is about Discord access.
We do want to keep the amazing community over on Discord going so we need to keep 1 tier alive here on Patreon. However due to some reason (a bug I have currently emailed Patreon about) we have no ability to edit/change/modify/create new Patreon/Discord tiers.
The only workaround I can currently think of is for everyone to drop to the $5 tier, that’s the current lowest tier that still has Discord access.
Then in the future, when the bug is fixed, we can edit that to $1 or create a brand new $1 tier and bump you all over to that.
So to summarize, if you still would like Discord access PLEASE CHANGE YOUR TIER TO THE $5 TIER NOW.
I will be deleting all other tiers towards the end of the week.

I hope this goes smoothly as we have currently ‘hibernated’ the Alice: Asylum page to prevent any more money being taken from you.  Shout out in the comments if you are somehow having trouble changing tiers on a hibernated Patreon page.
I expect this transition to be somewhat messy and not work exactly as planned, so please bear with us…

——

And now some quick fire Q&A from American…

1) “Why not just buy the Alice license from EA?”

Because you cannot force someone to sell something they do not want to sell. EA has said “no” to any and all offers to purchase, license, or work with the “Alice” IP (intellectual property) – and as the legal owners of the property, it is their right to decide what to do with it.

2) “Why did you sell Alice to EA in the first place?”

American did not “sell” Alice to EA. EA owned it automatically from the start. American created the first “Alice” game while he was an employee of EA. As is the case with almost all such work situations, any creations or inventions made while employed by a company end up the property of that company automatically.

3) “Just create a different style of game based on Alice In Wonderland since it is public domain”

American signed an agreement with EA to never develop any new game or property based on “Alice in Wonderland” and he signed over his name in association with the version that he created while at EA. That means he’s legally barred from doing anything related to “Alice in Wonderland” outside the realm of the property he created at EA.

4) “Go find another publisher” or “just Kickstart it” and similar suggestions

This does not solve the problem and just takes the questions back the #1 – it’s EA’s property and they do not desire to see it developed, licensed, funded by others, etc.

5) Is there anything we can do?

No. We’ve done everything we can to present a vision for a new game (story and design) and plan for development. EA has reviewed what we produced and decided it’s not interested in funding or allowing others to fund more Alice development. The best thing to do now is to leave it alone. That is what American plans to do.

6) What about re-releases, updates, and other platforms for the existing games?

All questions related to the existing games should be directed at EA. American has no control over these decisions.

7) Will we continue to make plushies and other things over on Mysterious?

Yes, Mysterious will continue.

8) Will you be making a hard copy of the Design Bible?

We can’t do this because we don’t have a license for it and the people who control that aspect of the Alice stuff (print) won’t even reply to our emails. 

9) What about the Alice TV show?

To the best of our knowledge, work is still happening to get a TV show made, but we’re not involved in that work and don’t wish to be. 

And there you have it.
I hope that has answered a lot of what you were all wondering?
Again, drop us a comment below if you need to ask more.
But also, do you have any ideas about what we can do going forwards to keep our community together and potentially work on other ideas?  Again, sound off in the comments, no wrong answers   🙂

Following on from all the links to the artists that American posted in the ‘bad news post’, I don’t really do a huge amount of online social stuff, I’m old and grumpy like that.  But I do still have an Instagram I post to now and then if I see something good, so why not pop over and follow?   ?
https://www.instagram.com/f0ntl0rd/
And I can also always be found doing our online support for Mysterious too!

Once again, big ole hugs from me and I’ll see you around   ?

End of the Adventure

Dear Insane Children,

Over the past few years, your support has made possible a constant stream of creative output by a team of artists, writers, designers, modelers, and producers. That output resulted in the “Alice: Asylum” Design Bible – a 414pg PDF containing the complete vision for a 3rd Chapter in Alice’s video game adventures.

Shortly after the completion of the Design Bible, I resumed talks with Electronic Arts regarding our efforts to get a new game made. They were presented with the Design Bible and a Production Plan (produced in collaboration with Virtuos Games) outlining the schedule, budget, team, and design for the new game’s production.

After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for “Alice: Asylum”

On the question of funding, they have ultimately decided to pass on the project based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal. On the question of licensing, they replied that “Alice” is an important part of EA’s overall game catalog, and selling or licensing it isn’t something they’re prepared to do right now.

At this point, we have exhausted every option for getting a new “Alice” game made. With those answers from EA, there is no other way forward with the project. As such, we will be hibernating this Patreon page and related pre-production activities. The content will remain in place but we’ll no longer present options for funding “Alice: Asylum” efforts via this (or any other) platform.

“Alice: Asylum” is at an end.

As this announcement is certain to draw significant attention, I would like to focus some visibility on the amazing artists and designers who were funded through Patreon during this project:

Alex Crowley – Project Manager & Designer

https://www.instagram.com/alexceeart/

Omri Koresh – Illustrator & Art Director

https://www.instagram.com/omrikoreshart/

https://shop.omrikoresh.com/

Norm Felchle – Illustrator

https://www.instagram.com/ndfelchle/

Joey Zeng – Illustrator

https://www.artstation.com/joey_1999

https://www.instagram.com/joeyzeng_1999

Adam Narozanski – Illustrator

https://www.instagram.com/vitaj_art/

Gareth Keenan – Illustrator

https://www.instagram.com/garethkeenanart/

For my part, I have also reached an endpoint with “Alice” and with game production in general. I have no other ideas or energy left to apply toward getting a new Alice game made. Nor do I have any interest in pursuing new game ideas within the context of the current environment for game development.

This brings us full circle to the statement I made years ago which initiated EA reaching out to me to ask if I wanted to explore making a new Alice game…

I have no control over the Alice IP and no ability to make a new game happen. That control and ability rest entirely with EA.

If someone does manage to convince EA to make “Asylum,” I would like to make clear that, from this point forward, I have no desire to be involved with that or any other Alice-related development.

My involvement with “Alice” is also at an end.

Going forward, I will focus on my family and our family business at Mysterious.

Lastly, I want to extend a bittersweet Thank You to our Insane Children (Patreon supporters). I know this is not the outcome we hoped for. And I feel a mix of emotions that leaves me sick at the idea of all the money, hope, ideas, and love you’ve poured into this effort over the years. 

We knew going into this adventure that failure was a possibility. But we wanted to believe impossible things – and we had fun doing that up to the moment when reality forced itself into our Wonderland.

It’s often said that when one door closes, another opens. Trite but true. And I hope that for all of you, this closure will bring life to other adventures and dreams.

-American McGee

April 8th, 2023

Queensland, Australia

Alice: Asylum Design Bible v1.0 PDF • FREE DOWNLOAD • Development Partner Announcement

Legal Notice Electronic Arts require us to display regarding Alice: Asylum and our efforts towards this project: The Design Bible v1.0 PDF Document, the Patreon, and the Alice: Asylum project are not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts (EA).

Hello to our Insane Children, Patreon Supporters, and fans of American McGee’s Alice worldwide.

The culmination of our team’s efforts on the first pre-production phase of Alice: Asylum, (Alice’s potential third video game adventure) is now contained within the completed Alice: Asylum Design Bible PDF, V1.0 released FOR FREE as of the 14th of February, 2023 (US TIME).

Happy Valentine’s Day! <3

Download the (270mb) Design Bible V1.0 PDF file via this link:

https://bit.ly/asylumdesignbible

We are also extremely pleased to announce a potential development partner for Alice: Asylum:  Virtuos Games

Before we talk about the Design Bible, (I hope you’re already downloading it!) there is so much we can talk about regarding our early discussions with the Virtuos Team.

American summed it up nicely on a recent call;

We simply could not ask for a better AAA development team to build this game if this all goes ahead.”

The team at Virtuos have provided a development budget, schedule and pitch outline, for developing Alice: Asylum, based on the content contained within the Design Bible.

But it is important to note that all proposed terms of collaboration are based on early discussions with Virtuos and remain ‘subject to contract’ – what’s presented here is a sneak peek at the very early stages of the process required to get a new Alice game into development. All very much Work in Progress!

From talking with the Virtuos Team, we feel they are excited, capable and willing to make Alice: Asylum.

Virtuos also share our desire to stay true to Alice’s core.

They understand what makes the series so special.

The potential overlapping creative process, (of creative direction supplied via Mysterious Studios, and technical game wizardry performed via Virtuos), sounds exactly like how we want to do this.

We’ll keep you posted as Virtuos’ involvement takes shape, alongside the ongoing work our current team is undertaking with Virtuos later this year. More on that later in this post.

Alice: Asylum’s Funding Situation Explained:

Alice: Asylum requires approximately 50 million USD to secure a full development budget.

This estimated projection is not accounting for marketing, or additional licensing and miscellaneous costs to fully release and publish the game.

The Alice video game IP (intellectual property) rights are owned by Electronic Arts.

We are the only team of creatives in the world, actively investing our time, resource and skills towards making a new Alice 3 game a reality.

The result of the first phase of our work towards achieving that goal is the Alice: Asylum Design Bible.

So, what is the Design Bible?

The Design Bible document is a sales tool, created by American McGee and a small team of artists, designers and writers, to encourage official greenlighting of the development of a new AAA Alice 3 video game, by key stakeholders at Electronic Arts (EA).

The document was also created to;

  1. Tantalise and excite potential financiers into funding the project.
  2. Allow developers a scope of work insight to build the actual game concept in-engine.
  3. Give Alice’s fans worldwide a chance to participate in the creation of and enjoy her potential third adventure, in digital book format, for free.

As of right now, we’ve achieved two of these things.

Securing Alice’s financial backing and funding remains.

Why create a Design Bible, and not a game?

Electronic Arts first approached American in 2018, to discuss creating materials for a potential Alice 3 game concept.

American and his team were explicitly barred from booting up a game engine, due to legal requirements and generating potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Alice game IP.

Another route needed to be taken. That spawned the Design Bible idea.

So, who are we, and what have we achieved?

Rather than go down the legally blocked “create-a-game” route, the pre-production team instead decided to focus on the following;

  1. Creating high-quality concept art,
  2. Establishing the core game design concepts & ethos,
  3. Writing a satisfying narrative & story resolution for Alice 3.

And present this all in a Design Bible Document.

This DB document has been shared publicly as “Work In Progress” iterations.

But now, the freshly completed v1.0 Design Bible contains all the initial art, story and game design concepts we’ve created during pre-production.

(And some secret extras at the end. Shhhh.)

All this has taken shape with open, transparent public sharing of milestones achieved via Patreon. Alice’s fans have also actively provided input towards design discussions via “Crowd Design,” helping us understand what the community believes is best for Asylum.

To date, the Alice: Asylum Pre-Production Design, Art, Writing and Community Management team is:

American McGee

Alex Crowley

Omri Koresh

Joey Zeng

Norman Felchle

Adam Narozanski

Dario Marzadori

Gareth Keenan

Jennifer Dawe

Martin Berridge

In seeking funding and development opportunities, the work the pre-production team has created has already sat at the desks of; Amazon, Netflix, Tencent and Netease.

These are the largest entertainment businesses in the world.

Virtuos sits among these ranks as one of the largest videogame outsourcing production houses in the world.

And now Virtuos wants to help us make this game.

Right now, we’re looking good, and we’ve made real progress.

With the completion of the first pass of the Design Bible, we hope you can see the vision and potential in the Alice: Asylum game concept.

It’s fascinating to think about what a small team of independent freelancers have achieved by banding and working together.

Please join us in thanking the pre-production team for their tremendous work toward making Alice a reality.

We have put in everything we have to reach this stage, but we’re not done yet.

So, what now? And what’s next?

A closing note from Alex:

We’ve been focussing so much on creating the DB, and working hard to make it as special as possible.

We hope the work, love and effort we’ve all put into Asylum speaks for itself.

Right now, we’d love it if you simply download the Design Bible, and read it.

Share it with your friends!

Review it on your streams!

Enjoy the art. Enjoy the story.

Make some positive noise for Alice: Asylum in the online space, and hope the powers that be hear us.

When American and I sat down to create the DB concept, we wanted to catch that feeling of riding home in the back seat as a kid, deep-diving into reading a new game manual before you could boot it up, and play it at home.

Something that you’d happily bring to the dinner table, or read under torchlight in bed when you weren’t playing.

We wanted to create a little magic for you.
And, we aimed to give the Alice series the respect and care it deserves.

I hope you feel we’ve achieved that.

Looking immediately ahead, the team and I will likely have a few weeks off to catch our breath before diving back into the Alice project.

For the rest of 2023, (or until we secure funding or get a flat-out refusal to proceed) we plan to ensure our future design work lines up with assisting Virtuos with their potential future development work if we are greenlit.

If we secure funding and are greenlit tomorrow, production on Alice 3 would not start until early 2024 at the earliest.

Next up on our to-do list, I understand that we will burrow down on design specifics in-game.

We will translate our concept art and design work directly into assisting Virtuos in potentially building Alice 3 from the ground up.

Level structure. Puzzles. Traps. Full encounter mapping. Pacing.

Overall creative direction to make this all work.

We’ve already done a lot of that, but there is more we can do.

Anything we can create, explore and approve now in tandem with the other facets of the game design, will benefit the development process of creating the asset-rich Wonderland we envision for Asylum.

American, the pre-production team and I will assess, confirm and share our exact course of action once all the specific pieces in play are lined up.

We hope you’ll stay with us, as we continue our journey.

Additional work we undertake henceforth may equal a V1.1 or V2.0 Design Bible, but, we’ll share as we go.

A closing note from American:

I am truly humbled by the support we’ve received from our Insane Children (Patrons) over on Patreon. And I’m in awe of the creative expression this team and our community have poured into the Design Bible.

Thank you, to our team and to our supporters. It’s been incredible.

Thank you for allowing us the chance to make this game come to life for you.

We could not have got Alice this far without your support, and we will continue the good fight until we arrive at a result.

We will stay the course.

Please let us know what you think of the Design Bible v1.0 and the Virtuos pitch where we can see your comments.

We made all of this for you.

Take care of yourselves, and each other out there!

Much love,

Alex Crowley + American McGee + The Asylum Pre-production Team

February 14th, 2023

Design Bible Update v1.0 (We’re ALMOST ready!)

Hi everyone, 
Alex here with what I believe will be our last big update on the Alice: Asylum Design Bible before we pull the trigger on it for a public release in the coming weeks.

This will come alongside what I expect is some big news we can finally share with you.

But before we do, we’ll need permission to share it in the public space.

Stay tuned. And fingers crossed.

1) Design Bible version 1.0 Updates – Final Stretch:
Concerning the Design Bible, American and I had a close to 2-hour zoom call this morning reviewing the entire document over screen share.

We discussed locking the last pieces into place and what needs to be done to get it over the line. That’s what I’m working on now. We’re almost there.

After that, it’ll be onto proofreading an expected 406+ page document.
That’s 203 double-page spreads. No small task.

Our initial projections were 250+ pages, at approx ~125 spreads.
So… there’s a bit more to review and double-check.

The sheer amount of work, story, art, and design that has gone into this project over the years is incredible. And we’ve tried to catch it all in the Design Bible format.

In our next release on Patreon for the DB, there will be no blank spots.
All narrative. All current game design outlines. All current pitch material.
And some special extras at the end.

There is still room for detailed design specifics and knuckling down on the rest of the game design this year, and that will be our focus with our potential development partner after the DB v1.0 is released.

All of this will be happening alongside seeking funding. On which there is movement. 

The art team is currently working on promotional material for the launch, and I will soon be too.

In the meantime, before I jump back into it, here are some DB updates;

2) Health Pickups (Final Design – For now)

I’ve recently completed the near-final version of the health pickups for Asylum.

From our crowd-design discussions, we felt the right spot to land was a fresh take on the Meta Essence pickups from AMA (2000). We’re also using roses from AMR (2011) as “armor” and 1-hit shields, in Asylum, so we’re balancing the best of both worlds from both games here.

We’ll land here for now unless a better solution comes along.

This artwork was made by me combining meta-essence artwork by Omri, and bottle artwork by Joey to form some new item designs.

Speaking of items;

Here’s a freshly completed new page from the DB.

3) Resources & Items (Final Designs & Lineup – For now)

We’ll let the item work speak for itself, but the approach is to balance the old and new in ways that complement the modern gameplay approach and ethos of Alice: Asylum.

The gameplay concept for adapting the runes/symbols that appear on Alice’s dresses have been established in the Design Bible. Some classics making a return, as well as new faces and twists on the oldies.
Let us know if you feel this is the right mix.

4) Alice’s Dress Runes (Passive Buffs & Modifier Concepts)

12x Runes to uncover and collect.

12x Unique Abilities to mix & match to play your way.

We expect some tweaks, adjustments, and balancing in potential development, but for now, this is where we’re landing initially for the concept.

A sneak peek at the system and some of the abilities that could be at your disposal;

Besides unlocking the new abilities, what is the incentive for collecting all 12 runes you may ask?

A pretty big incentive.

5) Alice’s BFG9000 • The Astral Gateway (Secret Unlockable Weapon)

In rewarding the core gameplay ethos of “Curiosity & Discovery” collecting all hidden 12x runes will unlock a secret room-clearing super weapon.

Which is detailed below;

Something akin to the Jabberwock’s Eye Staff from AMA (2000), but with more versatility and danger. The weapon is an application in the arcane alchemy that ties in closely with Alice’s Wonderland.

I wish I may, I wish I might, burn you all in searing light.

6) A Full Inventory Screen (All of the pieces are coming together…)

And lastly, here is a full inventory screen in the Design Bible.

Shown for the first time with everything in its right place.

This sums up exactly where we are right now on this project.

This is right before we leap into the fray for the unknown ahead.

We’re as well equipped as we’re going to be.

Wish us luck as we try to secure that elusive Alice funding.

The work continues.

Launch material and new pitches/corporate documents to come.

And some very exciting news is incoming once we’re ready to share.

American’s words on our call this morning…
“Once we announce this, there’s no turning back.”

We’ll keep you all in the loop as things happen.

MUCH more to come very soon.

Thank you as always for your continued support of this project.

YOU have helped us get Alice this far.

-Alex

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