Dear Insane Children, 

It’s my last few hours in Thailand before heading back to Shanghai. Been super busy getting everything organized for Pirate Jam 2019. 

In the meantime we’re working on a Studio Pitch to put in front of potential finance/publishing partners. This outlines our vision of the opportunity for starting a studio in Thailand and developing Alice: Asylum into something amazing. 

Speaking of… 

What is Your Primary Gaming Platform?

Hit THIS LINK and let me know. If you only write your response in the comments it doesn’t really help – please hit that link and make a selection! 

For me… I split my time between Playstation and Switch these days… with a little bit of time on PC games (when we’re able to get to it while streaming). 

Just curious if our audience results line up with the general industry results or there’s a meaningful difference in the way you all play games. 

Personally, I would LOVE to have Alice in my pocket on the Switch. Better yet, to have all three games bundled together and available there. One of the questions is whether or not we’re going for a AAAA+++ super-duper graphics and crazy high poly count next-next-gen game … or might apply our development resources more strategically on a really solid game that doesn’t try to compete in that arena. 

Several of the publishers we’re talking to have brought up this point and all of them agree that the constant push for MOAR PIXELS is yielding diminishing returns. 

What are your thoughts on this? 

The Queen

Omri sends along a wonderful take on The Queen of Hearts. Lots of inspiration taken from Norm Flechle, the illustrator who worked on the original Alice and defined many of the key characters in terms of look and feel (Hatter, Cat, Alice, etc). 

Omri says… 

Just a thought, perhaps you should conciser joining in to our army Norman Flechle? He’s the reason everything looks awesome (:

anyway, i think one of his versions of the queen can work well! he had several but this is my most liked.

having her fat and disgusting and yelling and having chopped heads everywhere can be a distorted great way to see her like “evolving” from the original character. YES with cogwheels here and there, like the hatter.

this concept is a bit off, i think i can improve it a lot. i didn’t actually design the throne and i didn’t design her dress separately, which i need to do both. but i want just general feedback on what the Patrons and you like. i see SO MANY options in my head for the Queen but i think i need direction to know pull towards to.

And Omri’s right! We should invite Norm to join our Asylum. I’ve sent him a note to see what’s up these days. Last time I asked he was busy on another gig but perhaps he’s got time these days? Fingers crossed!

And please give him some feedback on the Queen. Yay? Nay? Slay?

Back to Reality

I am back in Shanghai soon… and then normal life resumes. We’ll have a Crowd Design session on Tuesday of next week. And a livestream on Thursday. (Hong Kong times – the usual schedule). 

Martin and I have a TON of Mysterious orders to process and Patreon rewards to sign, pack, and ship. My wrists are filled with dread! 

Final Reminder from Font Lord

He says “make sure you remove your custom pledge amount and set yourself to an actual tier” that way you are certain to collect all the benefits and rewards for a particular tier. Remember, if you want Discord access, you need to be set at the $5 or higher tiers. If you’re aiming for the 3x$35 Art Print then you want to be set at the $35 Tier. And so on… 

Still looking for your survey email? Use the SEARCH function – especially if you are using Gmail. Search for “backerkit” and it’ll likely show up.

If you have questions about the Rabbit Plush promotion, tiers, shipping, etc – PLEASE PM US so that we can easily view your account details. 

Oh, Meow… 

Lots of people on Facebook and Instagram lobbying for a Cheshire Kitten Plush. Should that be our next Goal? Who wants? How soon? What might we attach to it in-game so it serves a dual purpose? Early brainstorming… 

– – –

Much love to you all. I hope everyone knows how important you are to what we’re doing to develop a new chapter in Alice’s story. And to all of my projects and expressions in general. What we’re doing here is impossible stuff. Life isn’t easy. Falling down, getting stuck, defeating ourselves, frustrating others, being critical, or criticising… life makes all that easy. 

Being persistent, engaged, excited, and just DOING in the face of obstacles… 

You are bringing light into the world. Showing what can be done. It’s fantastic!

Thank you 🙂 

From Thailand with Love, 

-American

Ahoy Pirates!

I’ve arrived back in the relative comfort of Krabi Boat Lagoon after 10+ days at sea. Pirate Jam is wrapping up today with a final award ceremony and BBQ dinner poolside. It’s been really hectic during the event, hence my lack of posting… 

Now that I once again have semi-decent Internet and things are calming down a bit, here’s another video update from the jam. 

Our pirates had a blast making games and competing in the beach events. 

Who out there wants to join a future Pirate Jam? What do you think of this year’s event? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments below!

From Krabi with Arrrrg, 

-Captain Chaos (American)

Ahoy Mateys!

We pirates are floating around the beautiful seas of Thailand swimming, sailing, playing and making games. Check out the first episode from the event to see all the fun. 

Let us know your favorite games, pirates, and teams in the comments below!

From Thailand with Sand Everywhere,

-Captain Chaos (American)

Ahoy Mateys! 

While all you Insane Children worked to reach out last Patreon Goal (yay!) I’ve been roaming the high seas with my pirate hat on. Pirate Jam 2018 started yesterday (April 1st) in Thailand. 

This year we have 20 developers and 10 support crew aboard 6 sailing vessels. Pirates have come from all over the world – South Africa, China, America, and Europe – to code, sail, swim, and explore. 

So far we’ve survived storms, sun, and sand fleas. This is our second day at the Take It Easy Bar on Khlong Chak (Chak Beach) at the south end of Lanta Island. Tomorrow, we sail north to Long Beach and more adventure. 

Many thanks to our sponsors from Epic Games, Unity3D, Devolver Digital, Kennel.nl, Trash Hero, Freelives Games, and Mysterious! Without their support and encouragement we never could have set sail. 

Over the coming days I’ll post video, picture and text updates of our travels. Be sure to check out the Pirate Jam Facebook page for more details. 

Have a message for our pirates? Share in the comments below. 

From Thailand with Arrrrrg, 

-Captain Chaos (American)

Dear Patrons

Hi there, it’s Martin here, not American.

As many of you know, American is currently off doing PIRATE JAM which kicked off yesterday, so be sure to subscribe and/or keep an eye out on our YOUTUBE channel for when the vlogs start to get posted up   🙂

However, I wanted to pop along and tell all you lovely people who pushed us past 1000 Patrons what happens now in regards to the embroidered patches.

The patch designs you will have seen are now currently at the factory and we are awaiting a prototype so we can make sure everything is up to scratch in terms of quality.

We’re also looking into different materials for some of the patches and seeing if any make sense (furry, rubberised, etc..)

Not only that but we also have our guy, Alex working on the actual design of the packaging card inlay too.

Here’s a first draft/mock-up. What do you think?
(inlay with and without patches attached)

Then once we’re happy with what we see in terms of patch quality and packet design, we can finally give the thumbs up to the factory to mass produce them and, in short order after that, they’ll be ready to be shipped out. Yay!

We’ll probably be finalising the shipping list in 2 to 3 weeks, so please make sure your addresses are up to date and your accounts were successfully charged this month   🙂

—–

So what’s the next goal?

Well, we haven’t crunched the numbers yet to find out what the next number target should be, but I can tell you that we’re very keen on doing a set of enamel pins (this seems to be a very popular request across our channels).

So, be sure to keep an eye out for details on that soon.

—–

And finally, before I go, I thought you all might like to see these initial sketches from Joey. These could either be stand-alone models, or indeed part of the collectors versions of the retail game box. Would any of these take your fancy? Or perhaps you’d prefer a different character?

Alex will also be turning his hand towards these in the not too distant future too, for fully realising them in their boxes complete with packaging designs.

From Shanghai, looking after Lulu

– Martin