Dear Insane Children, 

As many of you are aware we’re still searching for the right design concept(s) to contain all of our dresses and their powers. I would like to lock dresses to domains because this makes the most sense from a narrative structure and delivery perspective. Many of you would like to access any dress you’ve collected at any time in the game and use it on demand. As we continue working through this topic…

A quick idea from Omri on the topic of dresses. Take it away, Omri! 

Modular Dresses

1. I (Omri) think the dresses should remain Per Realm. That’s Alice, it’s a trademark.

2. In this way that the player can take out a “part” if it’s a golden egg or something from the dress and ALL the other dresses will have the same “Socket” not necessarily same Skull at the back, just the same shaped hole. It can give an edge to the player With their favorite dress AND it’s not too complex to achieve technically. i think.

3. For the UI it’s just seeing Alice as usual standing but adding a list of “emeralds” that you can pick only One.

4. You unlock each “Power” after you got the dress. 

5. you can replace the “Power” to every design you fancy most.

6. A GENERAL THOUGHT  We need to decide which ones go in according to How many cosplayers did that look. because no one really did the Far east one or the doll one. those were a waste of looks.

Skull Power! 

Sounds to me (American) like what Omri’s suggesting might work. Dresss are locked to domains but the power (skull) you picked up with a previous dress can be carried forward to a future area and slotted into whatever dress you’re wearing at that time. 

Make sense? 

What say ye, Insane Children? 

Pirate Jam, Mateys!

Arg, ye salty scoundrels! I’ve just uploaded the 2nd Episode of Pirate Jam 2019 to my YouTube Channel. 

It would warm my piratey heart if you’d all head over, give it a watch, click Like, and perhaps share it around your social media channels. 

Pirate Jam is one of my favorite things to do each year… but it needs more eyeballs and exposure. So throw your eyeballs at it! 

Hit THIS LINK to head over to the Pirate Jam playlist on my YouTube Channel. Argg!

From Shanghai with Arrrrg, 

-American (and Captain Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

Get ready for another Crowd Design Session! We’ll do this on our Discord Channel at 6PM PST on Monday, April 15th (that’s 9AM on the 16th for those of you here in China with me). 

During this session we’re going to have a look at the crowd Suggestions for Game Play in Alice: Asylum. Hit THIS LINK to check out that section of the Wiki. 

Have questions about Discord? Hit THIS LINK and read more! 

Cheshire Kitten Design

Speaking of Crowd Design, I’d like to start talking about potential designs for our next Physical Reward here on Patreon. Lots of people asking for a Cheshire Kitten…

Compared to the White Rabbit Plush this design will be much more challenging in terms of manufacturing. But, hey, we gotta push forward to improve, right?

I think a plush version of a Cheshire Kitten would be cool. The trick will be to get the right mix of quality / price / weight / materials / and design spec. The $45 price we had for the White Rabbit Plush felt right to me… thoughts on that? I don’t think we could go lower and deliver what I have in mind for the Kitten. Could we go higher? You tell me!

Once we have some design images from our art team I’ll share those here and you can share your feedback and thoughts. 

I’ve already started a chat with Alex, Omri, and Joey on this topic. And I sent along some bag ideas to Alex… 

The idea being that we’d produce a furry Cheshire Kitten and then ship him inside a faux leather collector bag. The final design would be something unisex – so that everyone could carry their Cheshire Bag around town. Meow.

Over the years we’ve had lots of requests for faux leather bags at Mysterious… so I reckon this news should make lots of you very happy? 

Anyway, let me know in the comments below what you think of a Cheshire Kitten as our next Goal… share your ideas about how that Plush might be presented… and let me know your thoughts on a Collector Bag to go along with the Plush. 

The main question is: Do we want to pursue this as our next Goal? Meow?

Art Print for April

Omri’s “Sacrifice Your Queen” art print is ‘this month’s print’ (AKA you’re charged on/around 5th of May for the month of April and you get this art print). And you could select this as your 3/35 print at the end of April (or in the future when you’ve hit 3 months at 35). 

Art Prints go to special Tiers, so adjust your Tier if you want this slice of awesome…

This is certainly one of my favorite prints we’ve produced so far. Excellent chance to get your hands on it!

Lots of art in progress behind the scenes. Should have new images to share with everyone later this week – Live Stream will resume at the usual time/place. I’ll send out a reminder for that soon. 

Rawr!

Usual Housekeeping

Once again, Font Lord asks me to remind everyone that global shipping is experiencing some sort of weird slowdown. We’re seeing this with items we’ve sent for Patrons and for orders sent from Mysterious. 

Seems “5 Weeks” is the new “20 Business Days” when it comes to International Shipping.

No idea what’s going on (aside from the previously mentioned “Chicago USPS Sorting Center Problem”)… but just be aware. Things are taking longer than usual to ship around the world. 

As always, PM US if you have questions or concerns. 

See You Tomorrow!

Please join us for the Crowd Design Session! But if you can’t make it don’t fret! We’ll upload the session to YouTube so you can watch it at a later time. 

From Shanghai with Lulu,

-American

Dear Insane Children,

Many have lost sense of the meaning of sacrifice. It was once a given that we sacrificed constantly and automatically as a function of our family, culture, and religion – and that life was, in essence, an ongoing series sacrifices towards something greater than ourselves.

As a child, I remember reading the fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper, a story in which an idle grasshopper neglects to make the necessary sacrifices towards the future. As a result he faces a winter without food or shelter; a death sentence for his fun. This narrative did and still does terrify me. In those moments where I fail to plan or execute correctly I hear the ants saying, “…dance the winter away now.” 

Our modern world has effectively built itself around the reduction of sacrifice. We’re sold devices, medicines, and inventions which do things faster, easier, and cheaper. Life contains less pain, frustration and annoyance and we expect that these reductions and improvements will continue reducing and improving into the future. 

And yet we find ourselves less happy and less fulfilled; despite the shiny new things we continually shovel into that hole in our souls… making things easy isn’t making things better.

True Sacrifice

Sacrifice is hard. It means giving up the things we love, going to the places we dread, facing the monsters we fear, and confronting aspects of ourselves we loath.

And because it’s hard, we like to pretend not to know where to start, what to sacrifice, and how. But we know this to be a lie. We are, sadly, really good at lying to ourselves.

You are holding a compass. A simple way to determine what you should sacrifice:

Just ask, “What is the hardest thing I should be doing right now?”

True sacrifice is always in the answer to that question. You know it. It’s right in front of you and then…

When I need to tackle something difficult I’ll suddenly find myself washing the dishes or walking the dog. “How did I end up here?” as if some autopilot in my brain magically removed me from the difficult task at hand. 

Which is why ritual is helpful. And tackling these things in groups. Some call that religion. Some call it work. Call it what you like but identify the hard things you should be doing right now, build a system around those things… and do them!  As the saying goes, Winter is Coming.

Sacrifice Your Queen

This latest poster image from Omri is called “Sacrifice Your Queen” and depicts Alice wrestling with her Shadow Self over their efforts to save the Red Queen. The Queen, the most powerful chess piece on the board, is the most powerful sacrifice a player can make. Some interesting notes on this topic over on Wikipedia.

Sacrifice is only meaningful when we give up that which is most valuable to us. 

And the ultimate sacrifice is the one we make of our selves to the greater good.

It will be interesting to see how Alice and her Shadow Self overcome this scene. What sort of sacrifice might they make to move themselves and the story forward? 

Let’s hear your thoughts on sacrifice in the comments below!

A Few Notes

I am back from Thailand after another successful Pirate Jam. Arg! 

We will make “Sacrifice Your Queen” our next art print. If you want one via Patreon please make sure you’re at the correct tier! 

Our shipping partners tell us there are postal delays around the globe – but primarily in the US, centered on the Chicago Distribution Hub for USPS – which means our expected delivery time for items sent from China has gone from ~20 days to 30+ days. Please keep this in mind when waiting for items we ship to arrive with you! 

Font Lord would like me to remind you: If you receive an item from us in damaged condition, fear not! Simply PM US, provide images of said damage, and we’ll ship you a replacement for free. Easy! 

Now that I am back in Shanghai, I’ll catch up with our artists, follow up on our business development, and basically, you know, get back to work! Can’t be a pirate forever, matey! 

If you’ve not yet seen it, do take a moment to check out Episode 1 of Pirate Jam 2019. There are more episodes on the way but I think this one is pretty arrre-some!

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American (and LULU!)

Dear Insane Children,

The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Hate implies a strong emotional attachment between the subjects and in many cases is a component of love or at least a sort of caring. Hate cannot be related to something or someone for whom you don’t care.

Indifference is the rejection of the value of an individual or object. It is the death of care and concern. And when directed at someone who we once cared for results in resentment, disrespect, pain, and death.

No one deserves your indifference. That is a blade reserved for only the most brutal of enemies. For there is very often no coming back from the damage caused by indifference. The destruction of trust, the violence against an individual’s value.

Everyone and everything has value. Even if that value is to teach you that even Chaos has a purpose.

Omri is working on a beautiful new poster image for Alice: Asylum featuring the Red Queen and King. This preview is only a small sample of the larger image which I’ll reveal to you here exclusively on Patreon. We’ll also make this new poster image available as an art print for those of you at the art print tiers.

Heading Home Soon

Yan and I are wrapping up everything here in Thailand. Chaos (the sailboat) comes out of the water today – heading for the boat yard where she’ll get some summertime R&R. I won’t be back to see her until the next sailing season (October? November? Hard to say just yet). 

We have a busy summer ahead of us! Lots of story, art, design to tackle. And, fingers crossed, we’ll get some positive movement on the business development side of things as well!

My brain is also filling with story ideas for a collection of modern day fairytales. Look forward to sharing those ideas with you all soon. 

How are you? Is it getting warmer where you are? What’s in store for the summer? 

I’ll write again once we’re back home in Shanghai. 

From Tai-?-Land,

-American & Yan & Lili the Littlest Pirate

Dear Insane Children, 

AHOY, ye scurvy scoundrels! We be sailing, coding, swimming, and exploring! Pirate Jam 2019 is in full swing and heading into Day 7 as we make our way around Phang Nga Bay on course for Krabi Boat Lagoon. This year’s event has been absolutely fantastic! We’ve had beautiful weather, great sailing, and are hosting a really awesome group of development pirates from around the world. 

That’s the view from where we’re camped out on shore today. Our pirates are jamming on a nice collection of little games. And later today we’ll upload the first video episode of our adventures. 

Meanwhile our artists continue making progress on Alice: Asylum concepts. Norm sent along a big batch of Hatter sketches where he’s exploring various ideas for hats, hair, and …

Hourglasses? Hey! It’s Wonderland! Anything goes, even timepieces on your head!

Spider Hat, Spider Hat! I’d ride around on a Spider Hat! How about you? 

Speaking of Mechanical Monsters, Joey sends along an updated render of the Jabberwock. Rawr!

Let us know what you think of these concepts in the comments below!

Notes from Font Lord

While I am in Thailand being a Sea Pirate Captain, Font Lord is back in Shanghai taking care of Lulu and holding down the fort. He sends along these notes: 

1. Shipping seems to be taking longer than usual – with reports of people seeing their tracking going without an update for 1+ month, then suddenly updating and being delivered. So… let’s all give those shipments a little more time than usual. If your tracking link isn’t updating, don’t worry! That means it’s in transit. It will eventually update and then you’ll get your delivery. 

2. Waiting for a Survey for your 3x$35 or Chaos Necklace? Font Lord says, “please be patient – those surveys will be sent out soon!” 

Thank you, Font Lord, for the update and for taking care of Lulu while we’re away!

Arg, mateys! It’s a pirate’s life for me… now back to jamming! 

From Thailand with Scurvy,

-Captain American