Dear Insane Children, 

Yan and I set up a mini photo studio in our workspace yesterday. We then put together a dozen+ setups featuring the Cheshire Kitten and Cheshire Cat Bag. With temperatures near 100f (40c) outside in Shanghai, we happily spent the entire day shooting, editing, adjusting, and shooting some more… All in the cozy cool underground comfort of our own little lair.

I’d love to share some of the candid shots of heavily pregnant Yan setting up the room for various shots in only her undies and a t-shirt… But I value my life too much. 

Attached here (using Patreon’s new Gallery Display!) are the results of 1x Lulu, 1x Preggers Yan, and 1x American combining their skills and efforts. Hope you like what we did!

Questions? 

Don’t post them in the comments below. First, head over and read the “Cheshire Kitten Goal Explainer” via bit.ly/CheshKitten

If you still have questions, then feel free to post them below. 

But keep in mind a really simple fact: You don’t need to do anything right now. And when you DO need to do something we’ll post a complete set of instructions which will basically consist of “Select the Special $50 Tier and then wait.” No, the $50 Tier does not exist yet. We’ll activate it when this promotion goes live… probably on August 5th. No, you don’t have to do anything if you’re staying at $75… 

So… just chill! Or try… it’s 100f again here… and let me tell you, that’s a LOT OF F’s! 

Feedback! 

What do you think of the shots we captured? This is the set we’ll use for marketing during the month of August. Anything else you wish was included? 

If you have time, also check out the Set as it’s offered on Mysterious. Love some feedback on that as well!

https://mysterious.americanmcgee.com/products/cheshire-kitten-plush

Thanks! 

From Shanghai with Fffff,

-American, Preggers, and Beggers (Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

Thank you! For all the feedback on the Cheshire Kitten Adoption Certificate. 

In this post I’ll explain why I’ve rejected all your comments! Yay! 

Er, yeah, seriously… Here goes!

First, Priscilla asked why we didn’t include the “don’t insert the earring into your orifices” warning. If you don’t understand this reference then you clearly didn’t watch last week’s Livestream. Good decision. You probably saved a few brain cells. 

This suggestion was rejected because… well, people who dictate what other people do with their orifices are Literally Hitler. So, no. Free the orifices! (But please don’t stick my products in them… or at least what until we release American McGee Brand Sex Toys). 

Second, Cornelia suggests that we “distress” the certificate in order to make it appear as if the Cheshire Kitten had tried to claw its way out of the bag. Fun idea. Nice story telling. Great imagination. But… no. 

This idea is rejected because it would require extending the effect to the entire interior of the bag. Unless you’re suggesting the Cheshire Kitten focused all his Escape Rage on the Adoption Certificate and magically avoided damaging the rest of the interior of the bag?

Also… it’s a Cheshire Kitten. He can just vanish into thin air. Which is exactly what he does whenever you’re not looking. Not only is this thematically appropriate but it also reduces shipping weight and saves on postage! 

Third, Wendy writes that we might indicate on the tag that the earring can be removed. This is true, Wendy. The earring can be removed. And I suppose we’d mention this in case people want to give the Kitten to their children as a plaything? 

This is rejected because… Cheshire Kitten Is No One’s Plaything! Rawr! Look, don’t give the Cheshire Kitten to a child dumb enough to remove and eat a metal earring. Do you really need a Magic Disappearing Cat from an M-rated game to tell you that? Really?

Fifth, Kelly suggests that we “center 3 care intructions” becawse “it’s more aesthetically pleesing.” And I total understand the sugestion, Kelly, because I too have OCD. And you’re correct that the formating changes from Center to Align Left for the List of Cautions. 

This is rejected for the same reason I intentionally skipped “Forth” and mispelled a bunch of werds in the paragraph above. Because the change in format and slight bias towards the left of center causes the List of Cautions to stand out from the other contents in the block of text. 

You tell me… doesn’t that feel a little too “on the nose” and run together? Lulu says, “That’s right hooomin.” (But she always agrees with me because I have treats in my pocket). 

F) Omri wrote emailed and said that the world no longer needs “www dot” in front of a domain name. And that “www dot mysterious.design” could be simply “mysterious.design” – which is true. We could do this because its an easy change and the domain still resolves when you use only “mysterious.design” but… 

REJECTED, Omri! Because… have you seen the comments we get on Instagram and Facebook? People writing to ask, “Hur dur. When will this be available?” on a post in which the first line of text is “This will be available on August 1st, 2019” or saying things like “The link doesn’t work!” because they have yet to figure out that they have to manually type the thing into their browser (links don’t work inside Instagram posts). 

Now imagine what happens when those same people see “mysterious.design” at the bottom of this certificate. Do you think they’ll realize that’s a domain name? Noooooo…

So it’s staying “www dot mysterious.design” even though, I agree, it looks R-worded. 

So… what you see is what you get!

Seriously: I love you all and your feedback is super wonderful. I’ve said it before… this process of working together with the Insane Children to design and create all this fun stuff is literally the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life. So, Thank You! 

We’ll send along pictures of the revised bag in around week. Which happens to coincide (roughly) with the date on which the Cheshire Kitten Promotion will start in earnest (August 1st, hur dur). 

From Shanghai Where it’s So Hot My Brain Has Melted, 

-Amirecan

Dear Insane Children, 

Above I’ve shared a draft of what the Cheshire Kitten Adoption Certificate tag might look like. And I would like your feedback on the design, contents, and placement. Here’s the idea so far… 

• This tag will measure 10x10cm 
• It will be placed inside the Cheshire Cat Nylon Bag below the snap-pocket.
• It will be made from a white nylon material with black print… similar to this: 

I believe this design and text as written does everything we need… but let me know in the comments below if there’s any improvement we might make, if anything is missing or unclear… or if your initials are PN that you just don’t like it because reasons 😉 

Because this tag is associated with the Cheshire Kitten but sewn into the bag in which he’ll arrive… we need to keep in mind that these two products will never be offered separately. If you want a bag, you’ll have to get a kitten – and vice-versa. 

For those of you who want just-the-bag — fear not! We do intend to produce more of these types of bags with varying designs (give us your ideas) in the future. 

Live Bag Stream

The bag sample we have in hand was featured heavily in yesterday’s Livestream on YouTube. If you’d like to see me put the bag over my head and provide other demonstrations of its use and qualities… hit THIS LINK. 

From Shanghai with Bag Brains,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

We’re set for another YouTube Livestream and hope you’ll join us for the fun!

We’ll review the latest art, story, and design for Alice: Asylum and (if we have time) continue our play-through of “Sea of Solitude.” It’s (roughly) the same time as usual… 

Thursday at 10AM (Hong Kong Time) or 7PM on Wednesday for those of you in the US. 

Hit THIS LINK (or the video above?) to head over to YouTube and set a reminder.

Crowd Design Session #15

For those of you who missed it – or those of you who joined but just want to hear the sultry sound of Connor’s voice – we’ve uploaded this week’s Crowd Design Session to YouTube. 

Hit THIS LINK to check it out!

As always, a huge THANKS to our Insane Children and Mods for helping organize and contribute to these sessions. And a special Thanks to Asteria Visual for helping capture and edit the AV for these uploads.

The Show Must Go On

Have you ever listened to or watched Pink Floyd’s “The Wall?” If not, do. It’s a masterpiece. 

And when I see these images from Norm… especially that Giant Queen Head lording over the circus ring…

So ya
Thought ya
Might like to go to the show
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow
Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine?
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes

You’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise

Lights, turn on the sound effects, action
Drop it, drop it on ’em, drop it on them

When I think about turning Alice into a sort of musical-rock-opera… it’s The Wall that always comes to mind first and most vividly.

I listened to this album so many times when I was a kid and growing up. It’s probably subliminally infused in every creative thing I’ve ever done since.

Pretty sure Norm’s been mainlining Floyd for a while as well 😉

Any other fans in the audience? 

As always – Feedback and Suggestions in the Comments below!

We’ll see everyone tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Another Brick in the Wall,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

A recent concept image from Jennifer for a Croquet Coaster found in the Circus Domain got me thinking about Escher-esque design concepts. There are a number of game developers implementing non-euclidean geometry in game engines and this is work I think we can continue when we start dev work on Alice: Asylum. 

Posted above is a video which illustrates the implementation of this sort of thinking within a 3D-engine. Can you imagine the sort of fun we might have in Wonderland with this sort of tech?

Joey also sends along her efforts on a “Tear Maze” where I can imagine we would use these concepts in order to extend and expand the maze beyond what appears physically possible. 

Now imagine for a moment that we take the fractal pattern-within-pattern visual concept and apply it to several critical elements of the game and narrative. How might the story of adult Alice fold into child Alice who then folds into adult Alice… on and on ad infinitum. Can you recall a fractal narrative? 

Definitely a theme worth exploring. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below!

Crowd Design Session

We’ll host a fresh new Crowd Design Session over on Discord tomorrow. 

What is Discord? Click THIS LINK. 

Pirate Jam 2020 

A few of us (me, Alex, Jen) have spent some recent cycles developing a Marketing Pitch which we’re sending to Unity. This idea is called “DOTS Ahoy” and turns Pirate Jam and related activities into a year-long effort which starts with a 3-month online game jam.

STOP – The following information is for Patrons only! – STOP 

Please DO NOT share the following link. What’s contained there is Work in Progress and it’s not yet published to the public. It’s for YOUR EYES ONLY.  

I’ve published the DOTS Ahoy Jam details over on itch.io – hit THIS LINK to check it out.

We’re looking for feedback on what’s presented there. Here’s a couple of questions to consider while reading through the page: 

• Do you understand what’s on offer? 
• Do you want to participate?
• Is there anything unclear or in need of improvement?

Again, leave your feedback in the comments below. We’re hoping to make what’s presented as informative and compelling as possible. Thanks! 

See you all on Discord tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American (and Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

Got TONS done during this Stream-Free week. Really appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience while we took a break from YouTube/Discord stuff and focused on business development tasks related to Alice: Asylum, Pirate Jam 2020, and Mysterious. Yay!

Still lots going on behind the scenes – new art, design work, and more… All will be shared next week.

But I wanted to quickly share an update related to the Cheshire Kitten Collector Set. 

Cheshire Kitten Collector Set Update

The revised Cheshire Cat Nylon Bag arrived. And it looks great!

Above you’ll see Lulu posing with the bag and final Cheshire Kitten prototype. She says they’re both, “Grrrreat!” (You might notice the little scar on her chest near her left leg – she’s all healed and better now – tough little doggy). 

Here you can see front and back of the bag. 

And Omri sends along the final version of the Cheshire Cat’s “Lair of Curiosity” concept image. Who knows what secrets are locked away behind that door?

All I know is that our Insane Children (who grab this collector set) will be the first to find out.  Meow! (Someone on the Internet said, “A cardboard box.” Cat owners will understand and laugh). 

These updates mean we’re in possession of the complete set – Cheshire Kitten, Cheshire Cat Nylon Bag, Cheshire Cat Embroidered Patch, and the concept image for the Cheshire Cat’s Lair of Curiosity. Purrrrrfect!

There are a couple of items to note on the Cheshire Cat Bag before it’s considered final. 

First, the “reflective” idea just isn’t going to work. The factory tried, and failed, on two different samples to deliver something we’d approve. In both cases the paint-material was too thick, too easily damaged, and not at all reflective.

Next, the position and size of the print on both sides needs a bit of adjustment. I don’t know exactly how much can be done to improve what we see here, but an effort will be made to either increase the size of the bag or reduce the size of the printed area so that less clipping occurs around the edges. 

Aside from those two issues… do you see anything else we need to address? 

OH! The bag is fully reversible and that the reverse side is the red material you see around the top. It looks great reversed-legs or regular-legs. 

There’s also a little button-closed pocket on the inside. Neat!

It’s a REALLY NICE bag. You’re getting a really solid collector set with all this stuff. You’re spoiled, you know? 😛 

What’s Next?

First – DON’T DO ANYTHING with your pledge or Tiers right now! 

The promotion for the Cheshire Kitten Plush Collector Set will start August 2019.

The month we’re currently in is July 2019. We’re on Earth. A planet in… 

On or about August 5th we’ll create a Specific Tier for the Collector Set and we’ll lower the Goal Target amount to something more reasonable. THAT is when you can select that Tier (or stay at the $75 Tier) in order to capture this Reward. 

If you have additional questions… 

Check out THIS LINK to the Cheshire Kitten Plush Goal Explainer. 

Or if you see others struggling with questions, give them this link:
http://bit.ly/CheshKitten (that goes to the Goal Explainer page)

If you’re still super confused, then send us a Private Message. 

Or if you see others struggling with how to PM us, give them this link:
http://bit.ly/PMHOOMIN  (that goes to Lulu explaining how to PM us).

Other Ideas? Ways to Improve? 

One more request for feedback from those of you who were with us for the White Rabbit Collector Set promotion and fulfillment process. 

What might we improve? 

I was thinking that we should include a card with the Cheshire Kitten set which contains a bit of info. Such as “The Cheshire Cat Lair of Curiosity Code will be emailed to you prior to the launch of Alice: Asylum.” (That was a FAQ, whew boy).

What else? Let me know in the comments below. 

I want to make this set as complete and rewarding as possible. 

Looking forward to your feedback! 

From Shanghai in a Typhoon, 

-American (and Lulu)