Dear Insane Children,

Over the course of pre-production on Alice: Asylum we’ve frequently made reference to Shadow Alice, the arch-nemesis of Child Alice and the force of darkness threatening to destroy Wonderland. And we’ve also seen a variety of interpretations of this aspect of Alice’s character. A few of those are shared below… 

This burnt-face interpretation came from Joey (image above). 

As did this child-like version (image above). 

Harvest Dress images from Omri – not exactly Shadow Alice but… (two images above). 

These variations on the Harvest Dress (and visuals effects) could certainly scare you into thinking you’re looking at Shadow Alice (two images above). 

The main image (top of page) was sent by Alex today. He’s asking the art team to help establish a clear and consistent look-feel for Shadow Alice throughout the game. So he’s showing a potential progression from start to finish (going from left to right across the image). The left-most version is what we’d see reflected in the Dark Lookingglass at the start of the game. 

Crowd Design Time!

Which version is your favorite? Or do you have something else in mind. 

Things to remember about Shadow Alice:

First off, she’s the Alice you know best. Because she’s the Alice who you traveled with through “American McGee’s Alice” and “Alice: Madness Returns” – she’s the fighter, survivor, adventurer who made her way past all those obstacles, enemies, and boss encounters. 

Next, she’s the Shadow Self. But she’s also the dominant personality within Alice’s psyche.

Also, at this stage in the game, she’s in a form (age, size) closely resembling Adult Alice. Because she’s grown up alongside Alice and been through (guided?) everything Alice has been through. 

Lastly, she’s a little bit Rock & Roll, knives out, stilettoed boots, black mascara, … and for fun, she pushes guys under moving trains. 

Personally, of the images presented here, I like the floaty-hair, white-eyed, devil lady from Omri’s Harvest Dress sketches. But maybe we use those as a starting point for a new round of exploration? 

Let us know in the comments what YOU think!

From Shanghai with Black Goo,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

What is your favorite piece of dark or moody classical music?

As I am writing the end of the Alice: Asylum narrative, I am listening to a mix of Chopin and Beethoven – Nocturne No. 20 and Moonlight Sonata specifically. And I’m thinking about how music from these artists – and others of the era – might influence the soundtrack, theme, and mood of Alice: Asylum.

Let me know in the comments what pieces spring to mind when you think of the Alice series – keep in mind our story takes place in 1876 and Alice can online imagine music that she might have heard in the years prior.

We had an emphasis on cello music in Madness Returns – partly because it’s one of my favorite musical “voices,” partly because I myself play cello – but I think maybe we’ll focus on piano music for Asylum? There’s something more “mature” about the cello as a voice. And piano can, I think, better convey a child-like tone. Our main character in Asylum, young Alice, is only 13. Maybe piano is more her sound?

And here’s a new piece from Joey – I don’t think I’ve posted this before? – where we see Young Alice exploring the Memory Mines. 

Also, anyone else think Trent Reznor kinda looks like Frederic Chopin? Or is that just me?

Anyway, let us know in the comments what you think!

PS: This question DOES NOT mean we’re doing anything crazy with the direction of the music in Alice: Asylum nor that Chris Vrenna can’t be involved or anything like that. Influence for things like music comes from many places. Liking one thing does not mean we can’t have other things. 

From Shanghai with Grrr Face, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Normally we’d have a Live Stream tomorrow at the usual time – we try to host them every other week. But I’d like to request that we skip this one. Why? Well, Yan is taking Lucky and Grandma on a short trip to nearby Suzhou. Martin is apartment hunting. And I am deep in Umbraland, sorting out the ending of the story for Alice: Asylum. If we skip the Live Stream tomorrow it means I can have a day on my own (alone!) to focus on writing. And Martin can continue his search for the next Font Manor. 

So… no live stream tomorrow! 

But we will be back next week on the 24th (23rd in the USA). 

In the meantime, our art team continues to crank out beautiful illustrations for the scenes we’re writing. The latest from Omri (main image, above) shows The Vale of Tears under the influence of Shadow Alice (Umbraland). 

Adam is working on an illustration capturing the moment Alice pushes Bumby under the train. This will be relived in the Memory Mines by Child Alice. It’s obviously a critical scene so there was a bit of discussion about which variation might be best… 

Let us know in the comments which is your favorite – A? B? C? or D?

And Joey is working on The Memory Tree – an important location in the Vale of Tears where all of Alice’s imagination springs forth. 

We can review all of this stuff – and maybe even have a narrative overview for review – when we do the next live stream. Yay! 

Oh… 

Shy Rabbit was launched over in the Mysterious Shop for those of you interested in her. 

You can check her out HERE. 

Jen and Yan are doing some really fun stuff for the upcoming Plushie Dreadfuls. Will share their design ideas soon. 

From Shanghai with Quiet Days Ahead, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

A new image from Omri showing the Umbraland version of Hatter’s Domain! 

The Alice: Asylum pre-production team continues to explore ideas related to what we’re calling “Umbraland” – the result of Shadow Alice taking over Wonderland. Child Alice arrives in this place after years “under glass” – kept in stasis inside Snow Globe Wonderland. The final chapter of the game will pit these two characters against one another to decide the fate of Wonderland…

BUT!

How do you imagine we might resolve a battle between the Shadow and Child Self? Should the Shadow win? What if the Child wins? What impact would that have on Wonderland? On Alice’s psyche?

And when you think about PTSD and potential outcomes as they related to our internal “selves” – what direction do you think would be preferable? Do you know people who, after suffering through PTSD, allowed the Shadow to consume them? Or perhaps they reverted to their Child selves?

And what if neither side “wins” this fight? (This is the direction we’re going in the writing, BTW).

What’s the best way to communicate this sort of resolution where the Shadow and the Child both win and both lose?

Let me know in the comments below what you think!

From Shanghai with A Shadow Child, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

Font Lord here.

It has come to my attention that there has been some confusion about how to get the Memento Mori Coin.

I figured the previous instructions/rules were pretty clear, but let’s take a look…

I said…

“…make sure your Patreon tier is set to be at $35 or above before June.
Then when you are charged in June, we’ll send you out the coin + bag + stand”

Seems pretty clear with no wiggle room error, but to answer those of you who are confused about whether you are getting the coin set or not, let’s break it down.

1) Did you set your tier to $35 or above before June?
2) Did you get charged, i.e.. did money come out of your bank account to pay for your Patreon subscription in June?

If you answered yes to both those questions, then congratulations, you’re getting the Memento Mori Coin Set. Yay!

There ARE some people who tend to get charged later in the month, but point 2 still applies to you as long as it happens in June, no matter the date.

There we go.  Simple   🙂

Can’t imagine there are any more questions to be asked, but if you do have any, pop ’em in the comments below.

Editor’s (American) Note: Don’t mind Font Lord. He gets cranky when people don’t understand his Fonterly Fonting (writing). One other thing to note is that whenever you pledge at $35 – at any time, during any promotion – it does count towards a Free Art Print. It does not matter if time passes between those $35 payments. For example, you could pledge $35 every 3 months, and on the third payment – Free Art Print! Yay! 

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

Joey has turned in another beautiful illustration from the world of Alice’s imagination. This image captures some of the ideas we’ve discussed for the Memory Mines “maw” section – a place where recycled memories are pulled up into the roots of a tree… The Tree of Imagination perhaps. And those memories are used to fertilize Alice’s imaginings. 

The image Joey provided does not properly capture the notion of this area I was aiming for. But I’ve let her and Omri know that this is good enough for now. It does manage to contain several of the key ingredients that make this area unique… so it’ll do for now. 

Meanwhile Jen is working on a new Plushie Dreadful design based on the idea of Depression / Numbness. The idea here is that this flat, lifeless bunny will contain a notebook into which you can scribble your thoughts and feelings… 

This continues our efforts in exploring bunnies with emotional/psychological themes. Let Jen know in the comments below what you think of this idea! 

And Adam continues to crank out stunning imagery from the memories of Adult Alice as they explored by Child Alice. In this latest image we see a scene of mixed elements from the Home from Wayward Children alongside the Infernal Train. Wonderful! 

On the Biz Dev front… we’ve had some good movement this week. Mysterious officially brought on a CFO to help guide the process of fundraising alongside the project we’re putting together with Redacted 1 (Chinese Publisher). And Redacted 1 now has the latest Oz: Adventures / Mysterious Studios planning and budget stuff in hand… so we’re hoping to see movement towards getting that deal done in the coming weeks/months. Fingers crossed! 

In a few hours, I’ll drive west for 3 hours to an area called Moganshan for a 2-day man-cation retreat. Hoping to enjoy some hiking, swimming, and relaxing away from the constant (but lovable) “da! da! daaaaaa!” of Lucky 😉 Might post a few pictures to my Instagram account in case you’re interested to see what that area looks like. 

From Shanghai with Da Da Daaaa,

-American