Dear Insane Children,

This is an Automated Notification from the Cheshire Kitten Alert System. 

The Early Bird Special on the Cheshire Kitten Plush Collector Set expires at 11:59PM on August 31st, 2019. 

Look at your calendar. Is it still August 31st? Then you still have time!

To qualify and receive the Collector Set do the following:

Make sure your Tier and/or Pledge are set to $50 (or more) before September 1st.

That’s it! 

Here’s what you’ll receive… 

1x Cheshire Kitten Plush (very soft, slightly bitey)

1x Cheshire Cat Bag of Vanishing (put things in it, they vanish from sight)

1x Cheshire Cat Embroidered Patch (+5 to Scratch and +15 to Sarcasm)

1x Cheshire Cat Lair of Curiosity Early Access Code

  

All of that – mailed anywhere in the world – for a one-time pledge of $50USD. 

  

Questions?

If you still have questions… really? We’ve been explaining this for a month! Anyway, hit THIS LINK and check out the Explainer Page. 

Better yet, just act! You’re an Insane Child. Act like one!

  

This has been an Automated Notification from the Cheshire Kitten Alert System.

Dear Insane Children, 

How far would you go to assuage your anger? To punish those responsible for your pain and loss? To exact revenge upon a world of broken rules and shattered expectations? 

This isn’t about recovering what’s lost – it’s too late for that. This is about retribution. Retaliation. Payment. 

But no point raging ineptly. First you must prepare. 

Denial is a perfect playground in which Alice will learn to sneak, explore, interact, collect, fight, and overcome. Guided by her White Rabbit Plush and in a relatively “safe” setting – at least until she burns the place down and runs away – Alice is given a chance to prepare for the fight ahead. 

Denial is our training ground. What comes after is the battleground. 

Working Through Anger

So I’m working on the concept and content for The Realm of the Queen of Hearts (which represents Anger). And I’ve filled in little bits for Concept.  

Anger is the Third Stage of Grief (Chaos > Denial > Anger) Alice confronts and is represented by the Queen of Hearts who resides at the heart of The Realm.

From here, the Queen of Hearts is attempting to regain control of Wonderland through use of anger, violence, and power.

She commands The Jabberwock and uses him to terrorize and incinerate her foes.

The Queen of Hearts believes the Red Queen is responsible for the destruction of Wonderland and that Alice is one of her allies.

She agrees to spare Alice’s life on the condition Alice will help her defeat the Red Queen.

This necessitates Alice acquiring an Inner Compass (to navigate Wonderland) and meet with The Mad Hatter (who can weaponize/repair The Jabberwock).

And also filled in some outline of our Story (or perhaps better defined as missions and “story beats”). 

Alice reaches the Realm of The Queen of Hearts through the Haunted House from The Circus Realm. She travels from Denial to Anger.

Alice is filled with Anger and must direct that emotion at someone or something. Anger at the destruction of Wonderland and the loss of her sanctuary. Anger at Change (at Chaos). This realm offers Alice (and player) the first chance to really unleash Anger and violence.

Upon arrival in the Realm, Alice discovers Chess Piece Soldiers engaged in a battle against the Card Guard Soldiers of the Queen of Hearts. Chess Soldier Commander explains that the Queen’s Castle remains impenetrable and that her Card Guard Army appears to be infinite. It’s a standoff which they cannot win but must continue lest they lose.

Alice is tasked with (self assigns herself a task of) breaching the castle and confronting (killing?) the Queen. That task breaks down into discrete chunks:

• Navigate the outer realm. Sneak under/over the castle wall (mote?).
• Navigate the inner realm. Through the hedge maze and surrounding buildings.
• Breach the castle wall. Sneak through dungeon levels into the castle interior.
• Navigate to the Throne Room. Sneak, fight, and infiltrate.
• Confront the Queen of Hearts.
• Queen of Hearts Boss Battle. Alice loses.

At the end of the stage, Alice will be captured. The Queen of Hearts will keep the White Rabbit hostage until Alice completes the task she gives her. Alice must first acquire The Inner Compass, which will guide her across the wastelands to her goal (Queen of Hearts domain). The Queen of Hearts knows this item is with the Mad Hatter and sends Alice there to retrieve it. She gives Alice a gift and commands Alice give this to Hatter. Asked if it will kill him – “No, it will ensure he lives forever, even if he’s blown to bits like our Wonderland…

Add Your Voice

This is a minimum framework. We need characters, color, twists, and turns. And I’ll be working on ideas for those over the coming days and weeks. 

If you have ideas to share – please drop them into the comments below or head over to the Asylum Wiki and try out the comment system there. You can also head over to our Discord Server and chat with other Insane Children about your insane ideas. 

I always run into the Chicken and Egg Problem when sketching out design, missions, and narrative. I know the general arc of Alice’s journey but find decisions made early in crafting the narrative need adjustment based on events taking place later in the story. 

For those writers among you – is this a problem you also confront? How do you overcome it? Or is it just part of the process? 

Shanghai Update

For those of you curious about the pending arrival of Lilium or Lucky McGee… 

Yan’s mother is here. We’ve finished (I hope) all the pre-arrival prep – baby room, hospital “grab bag,” paperwork, name selection, and more. Yan has another appointment with the doctor Saturday morning but it’s looking like she’s still on track for a natural birth and a due date of the 2nd of September. So… there’s a betting pool going on here. 24 hours? 48? 72? 

What do you think? Any guesses on when the baby arrives? 

From Shanghai with Money on 72,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Did you know? Tentacles make everything better. Just take the latest concept image from Jen as example. It’s a tent. Made of tentacles. And within? You’ll find Priscilla gazing into her crystal ball and reading tarot cards. 

We discussed this and more during yesterday’s Live Stream over on YouTube. Did you miss it? That might have been because I didn’t announce it. Or maybe I set the time/date wrong on the reminder? Or both? Who knows? 

Click THIS LINK if you want to catch up on all the madness. 

One eyedskull watched it and had this to say, “In this episode we talk of tea, howls burning castle, flying enemies, anger, insane children on drugs, Martin not being good at improve, and how YouTube reminders are broken.”

FAQ’ing FAQ

And I’ve uploaded another of our quick FAQ videos. This one deals with a question I’ve been asked so many times that if I had a nickle for each time I’d have 1,000,765 nickles. Which is only about $50kUSD. Damnit, I should have said “a dollar for” instead. 

Anyway, hit THIS LINK if you’d like to hear the story. 

It involves cars, music, crystal meth(od), and tripping.

Heads Up on Paternity Leave

As many are aware, my wife is expecting (a baby). We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl – Thanks, Obamao. But we do know it’s set to arrive around September 2nd. I guess we’ll find out then! 

Yan has a checkup on Monday (26th) which will likely result in an appointment for a C-section since the baby is probably already too big for a natural birth. Yan and I both have enormous heads… go figure! 

So! There’s a very good chance I’m going to semi-vanish a bit for the next ~2 weeks. No Live Streams and a lighter update schedule here on Patreon. 

But our team (Omri, Joey, Jen, Alex, Norm, Martin, Alexandr, Mods, etc) will continue cranking out artwork and taking care of other efforts. 

Got a question or support issue? PM US! Hit THIS LINK to learn how to do that. 

Or just email us: mysterious@americanmcgee.com

I appreciate your patience, understanding, and support during this brief hiatus. 

And when I am back I hope we’ll have some meaningful updates on the Business Development front. Things have been Super Quiet(tm) of late since it seems 99% of the world (at least the part we’re dealing with) is on vacation. 

From Shanghai with Tentacles, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Omri sends along a new concept image which continues our exploration of Tarot elements infused with a collection of enemies in Asylum. 

Do you remember the Phantasmagoria and Boojum from AMA? I do! And BOY HOWDY do I hate those two! 

If you watched my Let’s Play of AMA and AMR you’ll recall my repeated statements of disdain for flying enemies – especially when found in console game titles. In an FPS on PC with mouse-keyboard… OK, I can deal with it. But when you throw flying enemies at me in a console game with free-look type controls (little or no lock-on)… bleh! 

SO I want to preface my response to Omri with this: I like the art/story concept of these characters and how they fit into the lore that we’re crafting for Asylum. But I hope that if we do bring them back we do it in a way which addresses my never dying disdain for flying enemies. 

Omri says, 

“So my thought about the Swords suit / Air Element

was had the Boojum and the Phantasomething in AMA and it never made any sense to me that they were so singular, i think it can be fun to have these specific enemies or something similar to them in this concept.

 i think it’s an interesting way to see flying enemies, BUT i also fear that maybe it’s not original enough. “

To which I responded, 

“I really like this idea. There are certainly plenty of elements in AMA which seem to exist on their own – outside of the Wonderland books – and which are never carried over into AMR. Could be fun to provide context for them – origin stories and anchor points. 

During this week’s Crowd Design Session we touched on a similar topic/issue – that of The Dollmaker (who will be referred to as the Toy Maker in Asylum) and the how-why of his appearance and disappearance. If he’s in Asylum why is he not in AMA? It’s a good question which leads to answers which can increase the mystery and engagement of the narrative.”

But WHO CARES what we think?! Let’s hear what YOU think!

Flying enemies? Phantasmawatchathingies? Boojums? 

Let us know in the comments below!

Music To Inspire

I previously shared an album from Max Richter when talking about music which inspires me. That was “Four Seasons Recomposed by Max Richter” and I often work with that in the background. 

Lately I’ve found a new “put it on and listen all day while working” album and it also happens to be from Mr. Richter. 

It’s the soundtrack to the TV series “Taboo” and you can listen to it on YouTube via THIS LINK. 

While we’re on the topic of “Taboo” – definitely worth a watch. The sets, design, characters, dialog, actors… all Spot On. And in many ways relevant to the era and mood of Asylum (London, c1814). It’s perfectly dark, magical, and unforgiving. 

Tell me you don’t see the Circus in Denial when listening to THIS.

Or see Alice alone in the Asylum lamenting the loss of her family with THIS. 

“If the dead don’t sing, then how do I hear them?” 

From Shanghai with Singing,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

There are nearly 900 of you at the $1 “Unlock The Rewards” Tier. And many of you have recently joined that Tier – we assume because you want the Cheshire Kitten Set. 

Warm Reminder: The $1 Tier is there to help Unlock Goals and Rewards. Now that the current Reward – Cheshire Kitten Collector Set – is unlocked… you must adjust your pledge to the $50 Tier if you wish to receive that Reward.

Once more, more simpler:

Do you want the Cheshire Kitten? Are you at the $1 Tier? Then you must adjust your Tier.

Same goes for those of you at $2, $5, $10, etc. 

— —

Regardless of what Tier you select and whether or not you want a Cheshire Floof – your support is sincerely appreciated. You make possible the constant flow of artwork from Norm, Omri, Joey, Jen, Alex; the design/production stuff from Martin and American; and the technical/community efforts from Alexandr, and our Insane Children Mods. 

Thank you!

— — 

PS: All this Cheshire Kitten nonsense will cease in 10 days. Until then we appreciate your patience while we herd cats. 

From Shanghai with Meow,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Here at The Asylum we’re heading into another week filled with online madness. We’ll start things off with a Crowd Design Session over on Discord. Here’s the start time… 

And here’s a LINK to info on our Discord Server. 

We host Crowd Design Sessions there every-other-week. If this is your first month with us on Patreon then you’ll need to wait until next month for Discord access to activate. But you can check out previous sessions after we upload them to YouTube. 

 Goblet Goblins

Omri sent along a render of some enemy designs based on “Cups” from the Tarot Minor Arcana. He was a bit concerned about how similar these are to an image we previously shared (a set of cup sculpture with mouths and legs) – and asked if we might want to get permission from that artist. Here’s my feedback to him… 

I love these Cups. As for whether or not you need to ask permission… I don’t know. The idea of cups with legs isn’t original. We had a teapot with legs in A:MR. And if you Google Image Search for “cups with legs” you’ll get back tons.

Anyway, I like the cups as enemies ideas. And I like how this is connected to Tarot but also stands (pun, har) on its own … not being restricted by literal “card form.” More of this!

Maybe the tarot theme can be contained by Tarot Cards which are dropped (and collected) when you kill these enemies? Cups drop “cups cards” ?

Into Anger

From this week we’ll start our journey into the area of Wonderland defined by “Anger” as a phase in Alice’s PTSD. This is a realm ruled by the Queen of Hearts and patrolled by her Card Guard Army. 

Our story for this area – so far – is that Alice will fight her way through to a confrontation with The Queen. Alice is captured and The Queen threatens to decapitate White Rabbit unless Alice joins her battle against The Red Queen. 

It’s at this stage that our narrative will deepen to include the majority of the characters and themes we’re wrestling with through to the end of the game. This is where we’re set on our path to Mad Hatter and our confrontation with The Red Queen.

On the topic of Cups and Anger – it’s been said that “holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” 

Anger is also a messenger because it always has something to tell us. We only become angry in relation to things about which we truly care. That’s why it’s been said that apathy – not anger – is he opposite of love. Anger is, in many ways, an extension to strong emotions such as love. It contains an energy to act. 

We need to explore that energy and what it represents in Alice’s journey. 

Where is Alice’s anger directed? How does it wish to resolve? 

We might suggest her anger is directed at the perceived source of her loss. In AMA, Alice directed her anger at herself (along with her guilt) in relation to the fire, her loss, and her inability to save her family. 

“Save yourself, Alice!” transformed from a sacrificial plea by a loving parent to a burning scar branded across a child’s tender soul. 

But anger at oneself contains a mature admission of the role we always play in our own misfortunes. We won’t go there again (yet?).  She’s not yet ready for any of that. 

Instead, I suggest we tinker with a more general “anger against the world” theme. 

It’s no one’s fault and it’s everybody’s fault! The entire system is to blame it all needs to burn. This will play well within the institutional setting of the asylum. And allows us to frame the orderlies, doctors, processes, foundations, society, and world at large as The Enemy. 

Even if a fire had not burned down her family we’re still dealing with a 13-year-old girl trying to come to grips with the nature of the world – with Order vs. Chaos. 

These tantrums aren’t subtle or bizarre. Quite common – mundane even… but not to those who suffer them as all children must. 

Is that enough for us to pin our story on? A big enough enemy to defeat? We’ll see…

Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. 

Cheshire Kitten Plush Collector Set – Reminder

Lots of you have joined recently to capture the Early Bird Special on the Cheshire Kitten Collector Set. Welcome! 

Just a reminder that you must Set Your Tier to the $50 Tier before the end of August 2019. Lots of you (100’s) are joining at the $1 Tier. If you leave your Tier at $1 through August it WILL NOT result in you being sent a Cheshire Kitten Set. 

If you want the Set – please select the $50 or $75 Tier before the end of August. 

If instructions are still unclear then hit THIS LINK to go over and read the explainer.

Meow!

See you all tomorrow!

From Shanghai with (not) Anger,

-American