Dear Insane Children, 

LOTS going on these days but I’ve neglected to provide you with an update! First, we had a Live Stream last week. Here’s a link to a recording of that over on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuwJxIQPO8s 

In that, we discussed the Alice TV deal, progress on the Design Bible for Asylum, and new work being done on Oz: Adventures. Check it out!

A New Adventure

I mentioned during that live stream that most of my work (related to story) is finished on Alice: Asylum (at least as it pertains to pre-production). That means I have time to start work on a new story – and so I’ve turned my attention back to Oz: Adventures. 

The main image above is from Gareth and depicts a scene where the Conquestidors survey the site of their shipwreck. This is currently outlined to be the first episode we’ll see in Adventures… with the following episodes introducing new storylines from other adventurers trying to survive the wilderness of Oz. *Note: The narrative will provide an equal-opportunity portrayal of mankind’s cruelties – it doesn’t just single out the Spanish as history’s only bad guys. Oh, no. 

And while I have a basic understanding of some of the specific tales I want to tell… Conquistadors, WW2 Pilots, modern-day tourists, etc… I’m still working on (struggling with?) finding the overarching theme linking them together – and in making Oz the place where their issues are properly investigated and challenged. All this while exploring a backdrop of Oz’s own cultures, politics, and conflict. 

Very happy to have Gareth guiding this journey through excellent visuals. 

Check out those Flying Monkeys! A lot of great details – elements of the culture, work, and lives of these characters. 

The Flying Monkeys will be the first characters that we also render in 3D. Those assets will be placed into Unreal – and we’re hoping to have a tech demo showing some ideas of how Oz: Adventures might work as a hybrid game-graphic novel (more on that later). 

But, yeah, because we are not constrained by EA ordering us NOT to turn on a game engine (as is the case with Asylum), we WILL be turning on Unreal and building some prototypes in that engine for Oz: Adventures. Yay! 

And a scene depicting the Conquestidors’ first encounter with signs they are in Flying Monkey territory. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of all this new exploration – and if you have ideas on the sorts of themes you’d like to see explored in this new narrative. 

Meanwhile, In Wonderland

Omri is working on a revision of the Insane Children / Orphans. This is an exploration of an update on the style you saw in Madness Returns. 

Of this design he says: 

i thought to make the signs into the middle part of the body for all of them
?and make the dolls into different kinds of dolls. i don’t want them all to look porcelain and “The Same”. i think each of their trauma is specific and unique so their design and materials should be as well.

So let him know in the comment below – what do you think? 

And Joey is working on a scene where Alice explores the memory of her visit to Radcliffe’s office. 

Of this Joey says: 

Exploring Redcliffe’s office. It was dark and Alice is walking around with caterpillar talking to her, then she saw her otherself standing right next to the desk, asking for the rabbit from Redcliffe(happened in AMR), the tone of the room started to change, little by little, soon to taht afternoon/or moring, when it really happened. I rendered 2 images with one lineworks, so this takes me some time:)

This room is not excately the same as in AMR, I moved the clock into the room, while in AMR, the grandfather clock was at the end of the asil, outside the room. I also played with some furnitures, hope that’s ok. We don’t have to make the room 100% like we showed in AMR right?

Let her know in the comments what you think!

That’s it for today’s update. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. And we’ll be back next week with more great art, story, and design updates. 

From Shanghai with Monkeys, 

-American

Hi everyone,
Alex here. I am the Design Lead amongst other roles for the Alice: Asylum pre-production project.

My work on the Design Bible last year was focused on delivering the best possible narrative experience for Asylum. From the feedback American and I have received, we’ve achieved that to a suitable level to proceed.

My work is now focused on presenting key gameplay concepts in the earliest chapter of the DB before the narrative experience begins. Then, I’m typesetting the remainder of the design bible content to create the expected 250+ page finished monster document this year. 

We are in the middle of creating a broad stroke chapter, that will help push and educate anyone to a sufficient level if they’ve never picked up and played an Alice Game before. 

We answer; What to expect? What is the gameplay loop? What the hell is a Bumby?

While that knowledge might be redundant to everyone who is already a Patron (we all know what a third-person game is and how wicked Alice games are), presenting this information in a concise way for potential investors is another job for the Design Bible to perform as a sales tool.

So, that’s what’s cooking currently. And we’ll have more to share soon.

For now, as an extension of this foundational work in the DB, the video at the top of the post shows some of the early work I’ve just completed.

A first pass, early days, but I feel these designs communicate the information needed.

A few early HUD concepts for; Health, Rage/Hysteria special states, A New “One-Hit Shield” Mechanic, (represented by the rose), and a very early Weapon Wheel.

So we’re sharing them here as they’re fresh out of the oven.
Have a look, watch the video, (volume on please), and drop your thoughts in the comments. 

The visual style draws inspiration from some classic games that came before and some remixed elements of Madness Returns.

I wanted it all presented in a legible, concise, and very “Alice” way for Asylum.

Much more progress is being made in other areas in the DB.
I’ll be dropping more updates shortly with more new design-orientated Alice stuff as soon as they’re ready.

See you in the threads!
Cheers,

Alex

Dear Insane Children, 

Wow! We’re off to a great start. Roaring into the Year of the Tiger!

Alice TV Series Deal

First, for those who missed it: Radar Pictures has brought on board David Hayter to write and develop a TV series for “Alice” – you can read more about that via a Google Search. Tons of articles out there to choose from. 

David has already started work on his vision for the TV series and is aiming to finish his pitch presentation around the end of March. He’ll then take it to the usual list of streaming services to find a home (funding, etc). He’s signed on for a year to make all of this happen – so I have high hopes we’re going to see something get done this time. 

I mentioned this before but it needs repeating: This deal happened because of you. When Radar approached me last year to talk about “Oz: Adventures” and our other projects – it was because of the work we’re doing here on Patreon and the live streams where we share our progress via YouTube and Twitch. The Radar team saw our work and reached out – after which we signed a deal for “Oz” and they picked up the rights to “Alice” (for film and television).

None of that would have happened if you weren’t supporting us here on Patreon. 

You have solidly proven the power of the crowd and what happens when fans get behind something they love. So, again, THANK YOU. Job well done!

Top Three Most Ask Questions Re: the Alice TV Deal

1. Will it be live-action or animated? A: I believe David is aiming to make this a live-action show. He worked on “Warrior Nun” most recently (co-writing and producing) – so check out the TRAILER for that to get a sense of his magical action-drama abilities. 

2. Will American (that’s me!) be involved? A: I can’t talk about the specifics of the deal just yet (always with those pesky NDAs and whatnot) – but I can say that I’ve already been involved and have also been offered official involvement with a credit/title on the TV show. So, yes. It looks like I’ll be involved. 

3. Where’s the GAME?! A: No news just yet on how this impacts the development of a new game. But I have always said that once we pitch this to Netflix, Amazon, HBO (etc, etc – long list of potential homes for this project) – that we’ll likely see movement on a game deal. Either one of those companies (all of which have game development aspirations and funds) or EA will step in and make something happen. And, as I’ve also said before, we’re in a great position to define what the next game will be based on the work we’ve done here on Patreon. 

Alice Design Bible Work

Our pre-production team (made possible by your support) continues their work on the Design Bible under the guidance of Alex. He’s mapped out all of the elements required to push towards a final Design Bible being delivered by the end of 2022. Still a TON of work to be done but it’s in good hands. 

There will be another giant post on this topic shared later this week where Alex will outline everything he has in store… Suffice to say he’s working on some awesome stuff: 

And as you can see from the Main Image Above – beautiful artwork is still being produced to illustrate the pages of the Design Bible. That image is of Alice witnessing the murder of The Knave at the hands of Shadow Alice. Another incredible illustration by Adam. Ouch! 

OZ: Adventures

And while the Alice: Asylum team continues forward on their mission – I am starting a Side Quest to deliver a pitch to Radar for “OZ: Adventures” as a TV series and game. 

That’s a Flying Monkey Castle… illustrated by Gareth. I’ve kidnapped him to work with me for a while on Oz art and he’s creating some really inspiring work. 

These are sketches of the Winkies – inhabitants of Oz that we’ll meet early in the first episode. 

That first episode is “Conquistadors In Oz” – and finds a band of Spanish explorers landing in Oz thinking they’ve discovered Rico de Oro (Rich in Gold) Island or some other mythical land. But when they try subjugating and murdering the local population (per their usual MO) they quickly find they are no longer in Kansas… and all that implies. Let there be blood!

Live Stream This Week 

There WILL BE a Live Stream this week. As you can see, we have a TON to catch up on!

Usual time and place. That’s Thursday @ 6PM PST if you are in the USA.

You can find links to my Twitch and YouTube Channels via linktr.ee/americanmcgee 

Be sure to post your QUESTIONS and feedback in the comments below. Bonus points if you use the QUESTION: format to highlight when you are asking a question – Martin will thank you for that! 

Housekeeping

Speaking of Martin… he asked me to remind everyone that there will be a DELAY in all things related to Three-for-35, Surveys, and Art Print shipping. This is a result of us just coming out of an extended holiday for the Chinese New Year. Please allow for a bit of extra time before you start to worry about or send questions related to surveys, shipping, etc. 

If you do have questions or concerns related to those things, be sure to send them to us on Patreon via PM – don’t post them in the Comments or Community section, please. 

That’s it for today’s post… but more on the way! 

From Shanghai with Love and Appreciation, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

First off – an apology for not sharing the news here first on Patreon. When the story came out, it was already nearly midnight here in Shanghai and we were snuggled on the bed with Lucky. But better late and all that… 

The Big News!

As the image above proclaims – David Hayter has signed on to bring “Alice” to TV!!!! Wooo! 

You can read the full announcement over on The Hollywood Reporter. 

As Wikipedia says, “David is a Canadian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor for Solid Snake and Naked Snake in the Metal Gear video game series. He wrote the film X-Men, co-wrote X2, and Watchmen, and was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Writing in 2000 for his work on X-Men.

In short – a video game character is adapting a video game into a TV series 😉 

But seriously… this puts “Alice” in great hands. David has a ton of experience in television and film as a writer, director, and showrunner. And it’s his name, experience, and creative vision that will help bring this project to life on the small screen. 

I am very honored to have him on board and very excited to see where he takes Alice on her next adventure. 

How’d We Get Here?

I first want to point out that this development is a direct result of the support and work we’ve done here on Patreon. This would NOT have happened if it were not for YOU – our Insane Children – and the support and trust you’ve provided to our team of artists, designers, and writers.

The Alice: Asylum pre-production effort is what attracted the attention of Radar Pictures. And it’s Radar who has hired David to work on the TV project. 

A Giant THANK YOU and WELL DONE to our Insane Children!!!

You are amazing!

What’s Next? 

This means we can expect a lot more attention on the Alice franchise in general. There will be more eyeballs on the “Asylum” work – and more interest in the development of new game content (plus the re-master/something) of the older games. 

For our pre-production team – We’re going to continue pushing to get the Design Bible done for “Alice: Asylum” and Alex just sent over some beautiful new layouts that he’s working on to define the style for the overall presentation: 

And I’ve already had creative chats with David to discuss ideas for the show – which means there’s a good chance we’ll be involved in and have visibility into the development of the TV show. I will do my best to keep the fans involved with the project via Patreon. 

What About A Game? 

It’s my sense that a successful TV development will result in a new game. If “Alice” gets picked up by, say, Netflix or HBO, there’s a good chance those companies will want to see game content developed alongside the TV show. Or it may be that EA finally decides to make a move – they do have a record of letting others move first before they make big decisions. 

Whatever comes next… the great news is that we have a TON of material prepared to clearly show our vision for the 3rd game in the series. And, again, that is entirely a result of YOU and your support. With that material in hand, the job of explaining what comes next in the series is made much, much easier.

Live Stream and More Questions

We are now smack in the middle of the Chinese New Year holiday here in China. Fortuitous timing for the announcement of this project – and a great way to start the Year of The Tiger – but kinda crappy for trying to host a normal live stream. 

I think we’ll try to do a Zoom Stream of some sort – where Martin and I connect over the internet (as opposed to him being in the same room with me). That way, we can discuss this news in more detail and we can answer some of your questions. I’ll post the timing for that soon… 

Got Questions? Leave them in the comments below. We’ll address them during that stream. 

More More!

There’s so much buzzing around inside my head at the moment. This is a big event and I feel it’s going to lead to even bigger things in the coming years… 

Let us know in the comments below what you think! 

And, one more time: Thank You!

And, finally, let’s all welcome David to our Wonderland! 

From Shanghai with Joy, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Usually, it’s the VPN that gives our Live Streams trouble… but this week it’s Covid! 

You can see in the local Shanghai news that there are several cases in the city – and that one case is directly north of where I live in Fengxian District. Looking at that map… Where you see the red circle for Bailian Nanqiao Shopping Mall… I live about 15 minutes south of there. 

China – unlike almost everywhere else in the world (? maybe aside from New Zealand and parts of Australia ?) still maintains a strict Zero Covid Policy.

What this means is that it’s not a good time for my family to go outside of our xiaoqu (housing compound) – and it is really not a good idea for Martin to travel over here. 

In other news… I got word that the Big Announcement we’ve been waiting on… has been pushed to next week. But it sounds like it’s really going to happen next week so… fingers are crossed for that. And if it does… then we’ll do some sort of mini Live Stream via Zoom. 

That’s it for now… I’ll be back soon with some new art and other fun stuff!

From Shanghai with Zero Tolerance, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

The schedule suggested we might have a Live Stream this morning but that (obviously) did not happen. Lots going on in Shanghai at the moment – visits to the maternity hospital for regular checks of Baby #2, preparation for Chinese New Year, and lots of behind-the-scenes work at Mysterious. So we’ll try to have our next Live Stream on the 27th. Try not to go mad in the meantime!

These two new images come from Joey and depict Alice in her Asylum room in close proximity to her reflected Shadow Self. The original brief for this image suggested it contain action related to the moment of separation between Alice and her Shadow. 

Leaving aside the fact that these images might not properly convey that idea… there’s another set of problems that I made note of in my response to Joey: 

I love the image. But I ?am unsure about the details. This is supposed to be in her asylum room? ?Very unlikely that she’d have such a big window – too much glass she could use to harm herself or others. Also unlikely she’d have any sort of “nice” ?furniture (or any at all) ?in that room. The same goes for the lantern, snow globe, sheets, etc. All of those would pose a risk – she could use them to harm herself or others. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

If we really want this to be set in her asylum room (cell)… then the reflection could be in a smaller window. It could be reflected in a puddle of water. Or in her drinking mug (water). I ?dunno… kinda difficult to find a reflective surface in this sort of location.

This was in response to the 2nd image on the page. Her reply was the main image (top image above). So the technical issues have been largely solved – like why would there be a giant mirror in a cell at an asylum. This illustration still doesn’t do the work I think was originally requested of it… but that’s OK. It’s a beautiful concept and Alex says there’s enough text/imagery in this section of the Design Bible to cover for it not being 100% accurate to the scene. 

Omri decided that we needed a new London Dress for the scenes in which we see (adult) Alice adventuring around the streets of London. Not only did she get a new dress here but she’s also got some new CRAZY EYES. 

Of this new image, Omri says: 

we need our own London dress, we can’t show off art from Madness as our own so i’m making our own version of that dress and general look- this is WIP.

?i think when she goes to kill Radcliff she’s really off her nut and lost EVERYTHING. so i want to make sure that she does look insane and that the outfit is even more tattered than before with longer hair- as time passed??, but same hairdo/texture

?she IS holding a knife to his throat right? not an envelope opener? i want to incoporate that weapon in the design. this london Alice should be similar but not the same as the one in AMR.??

Not sure what he’s talking about with “art from Madness” but I’m never going to complain about new dresses. And I also like the idea that The Shadow is taking over completely as Alice heads to murder-stab Radcliffe. 

If I saw her stalking down a London street with that knife in hand, I would get the eff out of the way! 

And we have a new render of the pocket watch in which The Dollmaker has trapped Lizzie. 

Of this design, Adam says: 

Here is a rendered update of the “Lizzie Pocket Watch”!

?I imagined the clasp would cover her during the battle and the dirty, boney fangs would emerge from the holes around it, turning the watch into a weapon.

?After the battle the fangs can hide back into the clasp which would open and show Lizzie again so that Alice can talk to her.

?Please do share your feedback and ideas regarding this design, I personally really like how it turned out:

So let him know in the comments what you think! 

From Shanghai with Love,

-American