Dear Insane Children, 

Just a quick note to say that I am not dead. But I am dead busy. 

If you’re waiting on Art Prints (in the mail) then I’m the reason… As I’ve been playing catch-up on getting everything sent out. Today, I finally cleared out the last of the previous month’s art prints that were in the system… except for 10 stragglers that I’m waiting on a restock of prints for. Did you know that every art print you get has to pass through my hands, get signed, packed, and sent out… all from our home in Shanghai? During a normal month, that’s 200~300 art prints. And that’s a lot of work!

Also on my task list is a ton of writing… Alice: Asylum story outline; Oz: Adventures game narrative synopsis; and Oz: Adventures TV-series questionnaire. 

That later document I’ll share with you in this post. It’s a series of questions sent to me by [REDACTED 2] (that’s the production company in Hollywood who are exploring the idea of turning Oz: Adventures into a TV series ala “Game of Thrones” or “Wheel of Time.” 

Anyway, I thought you all might like to read through the thoughts I shared in response to a series of questions meant to explore the direction that series might take. 

Aspiring writers of the film/tv variety, take note. This is a pretty typical series of questions – I’ve seen similar in the past – that you get when/if a production company takes interest in your idea. 

Here we go… 

What are some TV series analogs that you think would be comparable to this series?

Fantasy Island + Lost + Black Mirror + Twilight Zone

What TV series do you think are particularly well written? (Doesn’t have to be analogs, just what you like)

I loved the first season of Westworld. Ozark. Game of Thrones. The Mandalorian. Stranger Things. Castle Rock. Rick and Morty. 

 What directors/filmmakers do you like?

Christopher Nolan. Tim Burton, Guillermo Del Toro, Jordan Peele, Mike Flanagan, Drew Goddard, Clive Barker.

How do you see the tone? Leaning more to horror, leaning more to action/adventure?  

Different episodes (or tales told across a series of episodes) can lean towards horror or action or adventure… depends.  

A scientist who intentionally travels to Oz so he can harvest the essence of Eternal Life from the people of Oz… leans in the direction of horror. Especially as we explore the lengths to which he’ll go to collect his gruesome samples, repair his travel device, and get back to Earth.

A pirate sea captain following a treasure map to wealth and glory… feels more like an action/adventure. We then discover that he was formally a slave aboard the ship that carried him to Oz and that he seeks treasure only to buy freedom for his people back home. His dilemma increases further when he must choose between saving the people of Oz from enslavement or returning home.

 What are some preferred narrative threads (plots, arcs, storylines)? For example: are there some that are of particular interests to you, your team, and fans?

I like fairytales as an exploration of philosophy, morality, The Confrontation with Chaos, and psychological transformation. Trauma – preparing for it, encountering it, dealing with it, and using it as a means to transform oneself; these are themes that feature heavily in the stories I like to tell. Many of my fans say they are attracted to the characters I create because they ring true in relation to how they deal with trauma. 

Oz is a crucible of trauma and transformation. Dorothy’s adventure started and ended with murder… though she was too cold-blooded to recognize herself as a force for chaos. She ultimately learned nothing aside from “There’s no place like home.” Tell that to all those dead bodies you left behind! 

The people who end up in Oz do so mostly by accident. Most want to escape – to get home. Some decide they want to stay; some to rule; some for love; some because they feel they’ve found a home. Some are there to plunder the wealth and magic of Oz – to steal its resources (people, minerals, magic) and return those things to Earth. 

So we tell the story of these visitors, most of them having goals that are at odds with reality. Few are actually able to escape from Oz. Because the price of escape is to be destroyed, transformed, and reborn in a way that allows the journey. 

I think we might want to explore the notion that Oz is a place where people are sent to be tested. Its collective spirit and its people are (subconsciously?) aware of this – they live in what the books call an “uncivilized” place (which is why magic still works there). People coming into Oz from the “civilized” world aren’t there by accident – it’s like a Bermuda Triangle of Testing by Trauma. Those who pass the tests are transformed (rewarded). Those who fail the tests can look forward to being trapped in Oz for an eternity of trauma. 

 What core or interesting characters will be explored? Any familiar characters (Scarecrow, Tin-Man, Cowardly Lion), less familiar Baum characters (Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok, Nome King), and original created characters?

First, the timeline question: I think (?) it’s best if this series takes place after Dorothy and the familiar tales. The reason is that it avoids retconning classic characters – and pissing off Oz fans. But it’s important to note that life is eternal in Oz – everyone lives forever unless they are actively killed or murdered. That means we can have many of the classic characters make appearances in the new stories. So, yeah, Nome King, Tik-Tok, Pumpkinhead are all still around. 

There’s also an opportunity to create new variations on well-known characters. The Tin Man is a good example. The way in which he originally came into being can be reused to bring new “Tin Man” type characters into the world. Imagine our Pirate Captain (from above); he arrives in Oz with all his limbs intact but subsequently loses them one by one. Fortunately for him, losing limbs in Oz ins’t a big deal so long as you can have someone craft you new parts. So we could watch him transform over a series of stories into a Pirate Tin Man… but with Mad Max-style improvements… a sword arm, a gun hand, etc.

In describing your take on the Oz world: how is American McGee’s “Oz world” different than all previous Oz takes and incarnations?

I don’t know because I tend not to consume media related to the fairy tales I’m turning into new stories. I’ve only ever watched the original MGM Oz movie (years ago) and read the books. I know there are other variations on the stories out there but I’ve not consumed them. I do this because I don’t want to be influenced by or (writing) blocked by knowledge from those other variations on the stories. 

But I don’t think (?) that anyone has ever leveraged Oz as a place where a series of adventures take place as a result of all the “visitors” who arrive and interact with the world and its characters? 

Similarly, where does your story take place on the Oz timeline? Does it take place pre/post-Wizard and Dorothy, etc.?

Answered in #6. 

—

As usual, let me know in the comments below what you think of the outline for Oz: Adventures as presented here.

From Shanghai with Keyboards for Hands,

-American

Dear Insane Children,

Font Lord here.
How are you?
I hope you’re all doing well   🙂  

I have a little bit of info for you and also some questions.

We are thinking about making a commemorative coin for the start of the new year.
A sort of ‘good riddance’ to 2020 and ‘good luck’ to 2021 kind of thing.

What do you think of that idea?
We have experience of making these types of coin before as you might have seen the Chaos Coin we did…

And also the Pirate Jam doubloons from the beginning of this year turned out particularly awesome too.

Obviously at this stage, we have no designs or ideas about what each side of the coin would look like yet, but we just wanted to put the feelers out and see if that might be something you would be interested in?

Sound off in the comments if you have any ideas about the coin design, but as for the poll, we are curious if we made the coin, how would you prefer to obtain it?
There are basically 2 ways…

1) Be at the correct tier at the correct month and we will send you one.
2) Put the coin into the Mysterious shop for everyone to buy, but Patrons get a discount code (like we just did with the calendar)

There are ups and downs about each option, but here are some negatives you might consider…
For point 1, this does require that Patrons ‘pay attention’ to the rules and if they are at a lower tier, they need to remember to change their tiers for the month of the promotion.
For point 2 this might make the coin feel less special somehow if it’s available for everyone to purchase?

Again, if you have any feelings or opinions about this, pop them in the comments below.

I look forwards to getting all your feedback   🙂

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

Biz Dev is one of the constant processes that happen in the background on an almost daily basis – emails, phone calls, quick messages, strategy chats, spreadsheet building, document editing… that isn’t very interesting to record, share, or talk about. But it is critical to our success – because all the amazing art and story in the world will not self-fund its way to a published game. 

I do try to provide some insights into what goes on in the Biz Dev space… it’s not special, magical, or difficult to understand. Though there are tons of little things you learn over the years about how the process works – it’s a constant negotiation. Every bit of info you reveal during BD talks can and will be used against you later – to bargain down some aspect of a deal, or to force some concession among a list of contested issues. 

Sharing this stuff publicly while it’s still an ongoing process, therefore, presents some unique challenges that we don’t have with, say, sharing concept artwork. 

One thing you’ve no doubt noticed is that I am unable or unwilling to share the names of the parties with whom we’re negotiating. This is sometimes because I am not allowed – as a function of an MNDA (mutual non-disclosure agreement). NDAs exist for many reasons but one simple one to think about is…. in the case of a publicly trading company (say, EA for example), conversations about potential investments into new products need to be kept confidential because they can have a dramatic effect on stock prices – and someone could use that sort of info to manipulate prices for an (illegal) gain. 

In other cases, you might have someone try to “poach” your deal – as in, “Oh, hey, American is pitching to [REDACTED], which means that publisher/investor is looking for new titles, let’s go over there and talk shit about American and his team while also pitching our concept for a new game!” That’s not nice. And it happens all the time! 

Anyway, all of this is a long way of saying… 

Attached to this post is a Document containing some of the back and forth that we’re having with [REDACTED]. They read and liked our PDF we previously sent. And our chats have continued mostly online, using WeChat, since delivery of that document. But as they bring more people into the conversation, they’ve asked us to re-present most of the info contained in the “pretty” documents we’ve sent… in simple text format. Hence the document I’ve attached here. 

That document will be at the center of a conversation we have scheduled for This Morning – about 3 hours from when I am typing this. Cross your fingers that it goes well! 

And in the document, you can see the sort of “drilling down” that a potential investor/publisher does in the process of exploring and vetting a deal. 

So, have a look. You might learn a few things about how we position ourselves and our pitch. And about the sort of information that publishers ask for when reviewing a team, game concept, and overall deal. 

On The Road Again

A quick note that I will be away from my desk from this afternoon through Wednesday evening. We’re going back to Yan’s hometown for the wedding of her cousin. I’ll probably post a few pictures of that trip over on my Instagram if you’re interested. 

While I am away I’ll find time to make at least one more design/narrative post – because I am sitting on a couple of beautiful concept images. Woo! 

Speaking of concept images, the two you see attached to this post are from Dario. He’s exploring the scene where Alice flies the balloon trying to escape from The Circus. High in the clouds, she’s confronted by The Moon. And in response to his images, I wrote: 

…we never said if this happened during the day or night. But now that I am thinking about it…. it would be really cool to see the Big Top Fight Scene happen during the day – and Alice and the White Rabbit rise up into the sky above the Circus during the day… Then as they pass through the clouds, rising higher, it quickly transitions to dark skies and night time! Then the moon comes out and… fight time! 

So, I like the night scene. 

We need to remember that The Moon is coming to “attack” Alice and put her to sleep. So there need to be some frames where The Moon is facing Alice and trying to sing her to sleep. In all the images you’ve rendered… The Moon appears to be running away. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of Biz Dev. And what you think of the concept art of The Moon. 

PS: Thank you, Lucky Dragon for providing a quick source for Oz “stuff” that could be pasted into the BD answers. Saved me a bit of typing there 🙂 

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

We hosted an excellent Live Stream over on my Twitch Channel yesterday. 

Not subscribed to my Twitch Channel?! Sign up here: 

www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee 

And if you missed the Live Stream when it was live… don’t worry! You can watch it over on my YouTube Channel via THIS LINK. 

Lots of great art, design, and story stuff was discussed! Including these wonderful illustrations from Adam for the Judgement/Courthouse section in the Queen’s Domain. And Joey’s work on The Pieces of The Champion – elements that will form the backbone of Alice’s quest through Asylum. 

And there was a portion of SPOILERS related to the narrative that many of you might find interesting. If you are worried about spoilers, then rest assured that we did call it out and warn everyone before we started that discussion. 

Hope you enjoyed the latest updates!

Oh, and [REDACTED] came through with a document that moves forward our process with them. Arrived in my inbox last night… and I’ll be working with the team on a reply and scheduling a meeting with [REDACTED] for next week. Yay! 

From Shanghai with [REDACTED], 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Work on writing and illustrating the narrative outline for Alice: Asylum continues – with the team fully engaged on a large number of art tasks we’re pulling from the game story. The idea is to present a Design Bible – something like an illustrated novel – that you can read through from start to finish to get a full understanding of the game in its final form. 

There’s a section where Alice first enters The Queen’s Domain and must pass through Judgement (a physical “courthouse” building filled with obstacles and dangers). The story for that part of the game reads: 

ANGER/JUDGEMENT REALM – THE COURTHOUSE

Arriving at The Courthouse steps Alice is warned by The Knave that this place is A Cruel Machine that answers to no one – not even The Queen. Once Alice enters the only way out is through The Trials and Judgement. If Alice is found Innocent, she will be allowed to continue on her journey to The Queen. If she’s found guilty, she’ll be sentenced to Croak for eternity. The Knave again implores Alice to return to The Circus. 

[NOTE: Alice won’t be convinced to turn around so The Knave gifts her a New Weapon – American Requested – Card Association / Valued Queen’s Possession / Grenade Launcher High Damage / Artillery Weapon]

We PLAY as Alice enters the halls of The Courthouse and begins to make her way through The Trials towards Judgement. What follows is a sequence of Challenge Spaces (Trials) that contain Puzzles, Combat Arenas, and Navigation Challenges. These lead to a Kafkaesque Main Hall, a surreal embodiment of bureaucracy and brutal judgment where the combat and navigation puzzles continue while Alice’s sins and crimes are read aloud by a stadium full of judges. 

Alice successfully completes The Trials and arrives at Judgment only to be told that, despite passing her trials, she’s been found guilty and will be sentenced to Croak for eternity. Alice is FURIOUS. So furious that she bursts into flames as she screams her rage at the mechanical face of judgment. But all her fury is in vain as the floor opens beneath Alice’s feet and she’s dropped screaming into the darkness. 

From there, Alice finds herself engaged in a life or death game of Croquet… but more on that later. 

As terrifying and challenging as this section of the game might be… Adam’s illustrations make me want to jump in and explore RIGHT NOW. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of Judgement. And put your Crowd Design Hat on… I’m looking for your thoughts on challenges or other elements that would fit into this area! Share them in the comments below. Keep in mind that the theme of this area is the link between PTSD-Anger-Judgement. 

The idea is that when we suffer a trauma we experience a lot of anger – at ourselves and at others. That anger usually contains a lot of negative projection or introspection – judgment and blaming of ourselves and others for the calamity that’s befallen us. As an example, it would not be out of place to hear whispers (sometimes shouts) of “It’s Your Fault!” blaming Alice as she moves through this space. 

What other kinds of dialog, challenges, and ideas might support the concept of Anger/Judgement here? Let me know in the comments below!

Housekeeping

Font Lord wants to me let you know that due to some delays at the Backerkit office, the surveys for this month’s Art Prints and Chaos Necklaces have not yet been sent out. He expects them to go out within the next week though. Your patience is appreciated! 

Calendar Feedback?

I’m seeing a number of people posting online that they’ve received their calendars. And everyone seems to be happy with the quality of the calendar – as we should expect from our Crowd Design efforts! But also lots of people commenting on the sturdy box these were shipped in. 

Did you get your calendar yet? Happy with it and the shipping container? 

Live Stream This Week

Ah, jeeze Rick, it’s already Wednesday!?! Woo, this week got away from me. Busy, busy!

Anyway, we’re hosting a live stream over on my Twitch channel tomorrow. 

Head over to www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee and subscribe for notification when we go live. It’ll be the usual time – 10AM Hong Kong Time and … 6PM PST (an hour earlier due to daylight savings!)

Please join us for Alice: Madness Returns, art review, Plushie Dreadful Crowd Design, business development updates, and all your questions/comments answered (if Martin can stay focused)! 

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American

(Note: This post is for promotional purposes and we want to give a HUGE thank-you to all current Patrons)

This is your one-stop destination for ALL things Alice: Asylum and other projects too such as Pirate Jam, Mysterious and Oz: Adventures.

We hope you will join us and the rest of The Insane Children in The Asylum and get your voice heard in the creation of the world’s first ever crowd-designed triple-A games.

By joining us, there are a multitude of perks and bonuses you could be receiving.
So let’s take a look at some of the most popular aspects of our Patreon…

1) Tiers

As you can see, we have 8 different tier levels.
Starting all the way down at the minimum of $1 a month which gets you access to all our posts and discussion about game design, and also the incredible art that our artists are frequently producing (more on that later).

$5 also gets you Discord access and your name displayed in our live-streams we do bi-monthly over on Twitch.

If you want to adorn your walls with our art, we have 2 tiers for that.
$35 for 3 months gets you a choice of ANY print that we have released over the last 2 years, and the mighty $75 tier gets you a print every month AND a one time Chaos Necklace.
We also frequently offer extra goodies and bonuses at these two tiers.

2) Artists

We now have SEVEN artists working on Alice: Asylum and Oz.
They are Joey, Jen, Alex, Omri, Norm, Dario, and Adam.
No doubt you have already seen (and been impressed by) some of their art around our various social media channels, but here’s another closer look for you.

Without artists, there is no art.
Without art, there is no business development.
Without business development, there is no Alice: Asylum.
And all this starts with the incredible support of our Patrons that allows us to hire this world class team.

3) Crowd Design

We always strive to ‘do right’ by our fans and supporters and want to be the very best at what we do while being as inclusive as possible.
This mindset is what gave birth to “Crowd Design”.

This not only encompasses the design of Alice: Asylum and Oz: Adventures in terms of creature design, weapon functionality, location aesthetics, overarching story and much more, but we also make sure that the products we bring to life are of the highest quality.

Recent examples of product Crowd Design are…
1) Enamel Pin Set
2) 2021 Calendar
3) Plushie dreadfuls
4) Embroided Patches 

And that’s just a small sample of the creativity that our Insane Children bring to the table.
We have lots more to create going forwards and can’t wait to see where the collective insane hive-mind takes us.

In terms of Crowd Design on the games, it’s hard to know where to start.
We have SO MANY posts, that are now unlocked and available to read even if you’re not a Patron.
We advise just going to the front page of this Patreon and diving headfirst into everything we’ve written in the past couple of months.  There’s lots of up-to-date info there about Alice, Oz and business development in general.  It’s all truly fascinating!

4) Alice & Oz

The main goal we are all working towards is the creation of the 3rd Alice game.
A prequel to American McGee’s Alice and Madness Returns, called Alice: Asylum.

This game will take place in the mind of adult Alice remembering back to her 13 year old self as she attempts to unify her younger and older self and prevent…. (SPOILERS  😉

As of writing this post (November 2020), we are currently in major talks with [REDACTED] to secure the funding and rights that will allow us to make this a reality.
Sorry, we can’t say who that is just yet.  All will be revealed in time.

Part of these talks with [REDACTED] also includes us diversifying our portfolio and creating more new ideas, which is where the tentatively named “Oz: Adventures” comes in.
An episodic delve into the history and mythos surrounding Oz and all the people (other than Dorothy) who have inadvertently found their way to that mysterious land.
Here’s some concept art for that from our newest artist, Adam Narozanski…

I know this was mentioned earlier, but it really is because of the support given to us by our Patrons that incredible art like this exists and allows us to show off our ideas and concepts when doing business development.
We are truly thankful for all the support and belief that our Insane Children continue to show us.

So what are you waiting for?
Join the Asylum today.
You’re mad if you don’t, but insane if you do…