Dear Insane Children, 

Font Lord here with a simple question.
Transparent or not?

As some of you may know, we are going to do a 2022 Calendar Print, and as you can see from the above image, we’re wondering if the date box at the bottom should be solid as shown on the left, or should you be able to see through it as you can on the right?

Sound off in the comments with what you think is most visually appealing to you.

Also the actual print we will use is not set in stone yet either, so do any of you have a favorite print in mind we could use?
It could be one we already released or maybe a print we did not use yet but you’ve seen posted here on Patreon.
Let us know!

Sound off in the comments with your thoughts and suggestions.

Once we know all the information around the calendar, we will post here again before the end of the month to let you all know the details of how it will be obtainable.

Big hugs from sunny Shanghai.

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

A quick one this morning. Just sharing these two images to show how our artists go back and forth to sketch out an action sequence and the relevant static illustrations. Norm is really good at this – as you’d expect from someone who works professionally on comics and graphic novels. 

These images are based on some critical scenes in the Narrative Outline where Alice encounters Carpenter and ends up in an epic Boss Battle with him and Walrus. 

C) Closing Scene / Resolution: ?Show the Shadow versions of Carpenter & Walrus drifting into the Void. Alice will mourn them, knowing this Carpenter was someone trying to help her, only to be corrupted and forced to be killed for her own survival. This is all a result of pieces of Alice’s mind being consumed by the Shadow. Communicate the loss of this in the image.

?——–

?This encounter takes place immediately after “Slumber Encounter #8 – He Knew”.
Narrative Excerpt below;?

?Narrative Excerpt:  

??The scene dissolves back into Wonderland…

Alice returns to The Carpenter to report her success. But it’s too late. The Walrus and The Carpenter are there – both consumed by Chaos and made super-large. What follows is an epic Boss Battle in which Alice must defeat the crafty duo while hopping between the flooded-burning ruins of East London. As the buildings are destroyed, there’s nothing left for anyone to stand on; and the Walrus and Carpenter are left drifting in empty space.

We PLAY as Alice hops and floats back to the Hall of Doors…

In the final image (above) you can see Norm’s added a few details to make clear that Carpenter is falling into the Chaos, being consumed for eternity. 

Hope You’re Avoiding Chaos Today,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

Joey’s working on an illustration from the Alice: Asylum script in which we see child Alice fleeing her family’s burning home. The idea is that she’s supposed to make it out alive – otherwise, there would be no first game, no second game… hell, we wouldn’t be here talking about all of this today! 

But the way Joey’s rendered this scene… I don’t think Alice is getting out of there alive. And if she is alive… she’s going to be melted, cooked, burnt, etc. Not fine.

Omri jumped in and suggested some edits that might help improve Alice’s chances of getting out alive (and not burnt to a crisp): 

We’ll see if things look better for poor Alice in the next revision from Joey. 

Fingers crossed! 

Gareth has started work on a critical scene – the moment where Alice escape the Snow Globe and first meets (real) Hatter. That scene reads like this (spoilers): 

LEVEL 8 – ACT 1

UMBRA LAND

[Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight” in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 III. Presto agitato]

Silence. Darkness.

Then the haphazard rattles of a precariously balancing porcelain tea set.

THE MAD Hatter watches as a Snow Globe shakes itself from his table, and crashes to the floor. Alice emerges quickly from within the shattered glass clutching her white rabbit.

Her eyes are closed, like she is sleeping. Tears are salted dry on her cheeks.

THE MAD Hatter

Oh, there you are. Finally, I’ve been expecting you two. TEA?

His familiar, jittery voice awakens Alice. The Hatter shoves a filthy overflowing cup of Darjeeling into the Child’s face. He is no longer his calm, measured self. This Hatter is very clearly, quite mad.

Alice and her Rabbit find themselves on the floor in Hatter’s Workshop, but it is grimier and filthier. Where there was once pristine equipment, now sit jagged edges, rusted springs and derelict machinery. Chaos is seeping into this workshop everywhere. Shards of the shattered snowglobe are strewn about on the floor besides Alice.

Endless vortexes swirl in the air through the windows outside. Darkness reigns.

Speaking of scripts and spoilers… 

We finished our back-and-forth editing on the Narrative Outline yesterday. 

Alex is now typesetting the document so we can share another PDF Outline here on Patreon. Lots of improvements, changes, and additions (many at your request) are included. Excited to share that with everyone soon!

We’ll also have news about an interesting year-end idea… a Calendar Poster! Woo.

From Shanghai with Love,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Did you miss the Live Stream last week? Fret not… there’s a recording of it over on my YouTube Channel. You can view it via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCxphrHTcg 

Who Is Shadow Alice? 

Did you know… the Alice you know and love from the first two games (AMA and AMR) is the aspect of Alice’s psyche we refer to as The Shadow? It’s the Shadow aspect of her personality that helped Alice survive those years of insanity in the asylum and conflict in Wonderland. 

And we’ve created a scene in Asylum where, early in Alice’s days in the asylum, The Shadow takes control of Alice’s psyche. She does this to protect the Inner Child. That area of the script reads as follows… 

Narrative Excerpt ?Below:

The scene ends as Alice is taken away crying, and in shock, from her smoldering ruined home. Final flashes of Alice being taken away in a straight jacket play out in a cut scene.

ALICE

At that time, I was the monster. I felt responsible… I couldn’t control my anguish, and I was caged for it.

A scene of Alice vactantly looking at her own reflection. The Shadow flickers across the child’s face. She tells her reflection;

ALICE

…all your… fault…

She screams as she cries. Scenes of Alice lashing out, she is biting and clamoring at the orderlies who hold her down. We hear the roar of the angry monster. She is in a wild, uncontrollable hysteria, as flashes of the Shadow merge with the face of the child.

The scene dissolves back to Alice’s audience with the Caterpillar.

Alice

That monster from the mirror is… me?

Caterpillar

Only a part of you. The monster lives within us all, Alice. But only a few can face it, much less embrace it.

Remove the mask, Alice. See the truth in who you are. See who you become. There is a darkness in you, in us all, that must be faced…

And Adam is working on an illustration for this scene – the first of which (C) you can see above (Main Image Above). 

Let us know in the comments below which of these variations you like best. 

My thoughts on this scene and the provided illustrations… I had pictured a scene in the Asylum where young is Alice is being held down by orderlies. The Shadow appears like a spirit possessing Alice – a stormy face superimposed over that of the young girl. It would be the sort of thing that would work on film – a close-up of Alice’s face with this flickering “other” taking over. This sort of fine detail is difficult to capture in illustrations – so I think we’ll go with one of these illustrations at the same time we admit that this probably won’t be anything like what we see in the final in-game version. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think! And which of these illustrations do you think works best? 

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

There WILL BE a Live Stream this week at the usual time (plus/minus some sort of daylight savings nonsense for those of you living where that’s a thing). 

Note that for those of you in Freedom Land – the start time is 6PM PST. 

We’ll do the usual – review new art, talk about Biz Dev stuff, and give away prizes. 

I did just finish a final pass on the Narrative with Alex… and he’s going to start work on prepping the Narrative Overview (Version 2!) for release here on Patreon… but I do not think that work will be done in time for the Live Stream. Still… we might talk a bit about what work was done. 

Got questions, feedback, or other things you’d like discussed on the stream? Let us know in the comments below!

Today’s illustration is from Joey… see that sneak Bumby hiding under the stairs?

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

I had a nice time in the wilderness mountains above DeQing, China. It’s an area I’ve visited almost annually for the past 15 years. And the amount of change in the region is (like everywhere else in China) mindblowing. Every road, street lamp, rest stop, garbage can, sidewalk, guard rail, etc, etc – everything is new, clean, and beautifully designed. Walking around the little villages and towns, you feel like you’re on a freshly built film set. It reminds me very much of Japan when I would first visit there 20 years ago. And it is still being developed and improved. China in another 10~15 years is very likely to be the most modern, safe, and clean country on the planet. Crazy. 

Oh, the temple in that picture… was built in the year 1181.

Speaking of things that happened a long time ago… 

We have another set of sketches from Adam depicting Alice’s childhood memories. 

This is the “4th family memory with Arthur Liddell talking to his daughters,”

Have a look and let us know what you think. 

From the Art Brief: Image 4:
?13.1D) Show a scene of Alice and Lizzie being spoken to by their Father (Arthur Liddell.)
?Eye-level, eye-to-eye connection between Alice and her Father. Alice’s Father kneeling down to speak to Alice.

ALICE’S FATHER

There’s something to learn here for yourself, Alice. Your Mother might be harsh at times, but she only wants the best for you.

Run along girls, do as your Mother says. There’s a time and a place for games, and that time may be cut short as you grow. You’ll know when the time is right.

Alice watches her younger self and sister hold hands as they wander up the stairs to their room. Alice reaches out to the memory of her Father, he fades and crumbles to ash at her touch.

Let us know in the comments below which is your favorite. I like C or D. Lizzie in the other two images is holding an odd pose that doesn’t seem to fit with the mood or the era. 

We also have a new artist on the pre-production team!

Gareth Keenan is an illustrator based in New Zealand. And his first assigned task is the image you see above. Here’s the brief for that one…

38.2) Narrative Task // Alice Restores Hatter’s Mind

Page 125 Line 1, to Page 126, Line 11

Art Task Briefing and Output:
?At least 1x Image of Alice helping Hatter by Restoring his Mind.
?The gift given to her from her Mother in the chapter previous.

?This is a scene of Alice showing kindness, and helping and healing parts of her psyche herself.

—–?

?Narrative Excerpt:

Examining the tiny broken snow globe shards on the floor, Alice then wipes her tears, and addresses Hatter.

Alice

Hatter? What are you doing here? I saw you…

THE MAD HATTER

Die? Be consumed? YES REMARKABLE.

Hatter yells excitedly.

Alice places a hand on Hatter’s forehead. He is clearly mad, and not his calm self. He jitters as his facial expression tightens into a grimace of pain. Alice reaches into her pockets and produces Hatter’s mind, given to her by her mother.

Wonderful! 

A quick reminder there will be NO live stream this week as I must travel to Yan’s hometown for some family business. But we’ll be back the week after with lots of great new art, design, and other updates. 

Happy Halloween, Insane Children! 

From Shanghai with Boo,

-American