Dear Insane Children, 

For those of you who missed it, there’s a Scruffy Bumps Theme Song posted over on my YouTube Channel. And it’s awesome. 

Scruffy Bumps is a murderous revenge cat possessed by an evil Egyptian death goddess who kills those who abuse animals. Rawr. 

Everyone I explain this idea to says, “Wow, yeah!” Because everyone wants to get revenge on people who treat animals badly. 

No telling how far this concept will go… but we’re working on a plush toy, film/tv concept, and more… 

Including an animation to accompany the theme song. 

Presented here are a couple of frames from the storyboard for that animation. There’s a link below to a PDF containing the full storyboard. 

This project is being put together by Tom Resnick and his brother Ben. Seems the creative force is strong in that family! 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of the concept for this animation. And also share any thoughts or ideas you might have in relation to Scruffy Bumps! 

From Shanghai with Darkened Places, 

-American

 

Dear Insane Children, 

The Alice: Asylum art team continues to crank through images for the Design Bible. And today we have art from Adam depicting a game play sequence Alice will encounter under a dreamlike representation of The Home for Wayward Children – inspired by the Dollhouse sequence in Madness Returns. 

The art brief for this area reads: 

Art Task ?Briefing: ?Render a scene that showcases Alice encountering the “Drowning Spectral Hands” and the mechanic of turning off the Valves in gameplay.

?This scene will also showcase the level design for this particular section of gameplay.

As far as drama and character, in the scene; either show Alice in the process of being drowned by these hands; and/or interacting with or turning a valve.

?Show the threat she faces here, and the level design/exploration in a single key scene.

?Art Task Output: ?Render a scene that captures the “lower half of the building” as described in the narrative excerpt below.

?Design and explore how the “Spectral Hands” look and work in the water gameplay scenes.

?DESIGN NOTES: ?American envisions this scene drawing heavily from the “Dollhouse” sections of Alice Madness Returns. Splintered wood. Nails. Darkness. A description he used, was like a “London ?grimy sewer, but every 8th brick or so was child’s “alphabet block”. Parts of dolls, and toys are blended architecturally into an otherwise grimy and scary Realistic London Sewer scene”.

?We do NOT want this section vibrant and brightly colored. Be careful not to let the toy and childish aspects of the level design override the grim and aesthetic.

?American envisioned the “Spectral hands” like Doll Hands.

Narrative Excerpt:
?We PLAY as Alice jump-floats from building to building, finally arriving at the Home for Wayward Children. The building sits upon its own floating island with the wrecked remains of the nearby neighborhood dangling and floating in the surrounding air.

?The lower levels of the building are flooded while the upper level is on fire. Ghostly visages of children continue to sing, dance, and play inside the area – oblivious to the chaos around them.

he building design forces Alice to enter through a sub-basement area and fight her way up. This section is flooded and the pools of water contain spectral hands that reach out to drown Alice at every turn.

?Here she finds the Valve and turns it – causing the water to drain away. This blocks her ability to exit via the way she came so she continues upward.

Into the main floors of the building, Alice passes orphans, caretakers, and adults in scenes from the past – attempted adoptions; children playing games; etc.

?The second floor of the building, leading to Bumby’s office, is on fire. Alice navigates and fights her way through this to arrive at the door of Bumby’s office.

Entering Bumby’s Office triggers a flashback.

And for this section, Adam produced the following sketches… 

Of which he says… 

Here are my sketches for the flooded basement visual, showing the process of turning the valves and of Alice fending off or dodging the spectral hands coming from the bubbling water. These are compositional sketches, the final version can have more creepy toy details embedded in these surroundings. The metal bars in the corridor are inspired by the similar bars in the old London sewers, and they’re my idea for a gateway that closes behind Alice, forcing her to go up the stairs to the next location.

To which Alex replied: 

Looks awesome Adam.
Love the gate portcullis designs. A & ?C are the ones for me. Super dynamic angles, love the level design too. Only thing, I’m wondering if we can see Alice’s face in one of them, like she’s turning to see the hands coming towards her like in D Either way, incredible, looking forward to seeing it take shape however it needs to.

And Omri added: 

i agree with Alex, A is the best one. personally i don’t need the face, but i would like if the hands would look more like Bumby’s like hinting the place is still under his control. i think you can start working on it, it’s pretty great.

Let us know in the comments what YOU think! 

PS: Due to travel and schedule conflicts, there will be NO live stream this week. But we will be back the following week with lots of art, design, and other great progress. 

From Shanghai with Dolls Heads, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Font Lord here with the results of the poll to what the next 6 art prints should be.
Around half of you sent in your votes and based on some of the comments on that post, it was very difficult to choose just 6    🙂

You’ll also notice that in this post I’m going to use 2 methods to describe when/who will get the prints, and we need to ask you about this at the end.

So, as you see above, the header image for this post is THE CAGING.
This will be the next print for July Patrons (Meaning those charged in August)

And here are the next 5 months…

August Patrons, charged in September
UNIVERSAL TRINITY

September Patrons, charged in October
BIRTH OF JABBERWOCK

October Patrons, charged in November
BATTLE OF JUDGEMENT AND HATTER’S QUEST.
(yes it’s 2 prints this month)

November Patrons, charged in December
VORPAL GLASS

December Patrons, charged in January
ALICE MEETS CHESH

There we go, YOU have spoken!
Some great ones there, but alas, some other great ones didn’t make the cut (this time).
Maybe when we do this again for 2022 they will?  😉

————–

Now, help us out please.

When we describe what month a print is for, we have 2 schools of thought here.
The Caging print for example.
Do we…
1) Say it’s for July Patrons
2) Say its for those Patrons charged in August

Those 2 choices are for the exact same people, so you can see there’s a bit of confusion here. It’s a like a utility bill. You use electric in one month, but actually get charged for your usage in the next.

But here’s the problem, if we say that a print is for July Patrons, would you be confused?
Not knowing if that meant you had to be joined in July or charged in July?

So, thoughts?
What’s clearer and more understandable to you?
How about a 3rd option just like in this very post, that we always use this format, “July Patrons, charged in August” etc etc…

Let us know.
But we will also endeavor to state the art print for the coming month at the start of each new month too   😉

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

I was anxiously awaiting the color render of this Bill The Lizard as Boss Fight image from Norm. And Omri delivered this morning. And I just had to rush over and post it ASAP. 

IT IS AWESOME. 

For the record, here’s the briefing from Monday that drove the creation of this image. It provides a bit of background on what you’re looking at here and where it will fit into the game. 

Art Task Briefing & Background Information:
This is the boss version of Bill McGill while he is in possession of the Brain of the champion.

Explore the boss encounter aesthetic and mechanics.
As this area is BRAIN themed, the idea is that Bill McGill is using the Brain to create massive, distorted and terrifying hallucinations for Alice.

Show Alice encountering one, or all of the following potential encounters:
1. Alice VS a Colossal Ruin from Madness Returns.

2. Alice VS SOMETHING THAT SCARES HER. (what could it be? Radcliffe Representation Subconscious Encounter? Orderlies, Doctors or Asylum themed?

An amalgamation of a Beast Made with Failed Taxidermy Parts? (Her Dad Sucked At Taxidermy? Alice walks in on her dad preparing the family dog or cat for taxidermy. Guts strewn about the table. It scares her? This is what she encounters her after Bill dives into her fears?…. American, let’s choose or build on this.)

This encounter will take place in the center of the Workshop, in the Vale of Tears.
Bill and this combat encounter is the last thing standing between Alice and the Brain of the champion.

——–

Additional Background Information:

The payoff and build-up for this entire encounter, is that at the center of this threatening, and hellish area, is dumb, tiny ol’ Bill.

The theme of this section of the game is “Brains” and intelligence and wit.
Bill has none of these naturally, but while in possession of the brain, he has these qualities.

The humorous side of this, is that in fact, Bill is an idiot.
And a completely unassuming and less threatening character in his own right.

Once Bill’s illusion and command over the Brain is disconnected, his hallucinations fail, and he resumes his placid stance.

——-

Art Task Output:
• First, explore and establish Character Designs of Bill the Lizard

• Once Bill’s Character Design is established, render a NARRATIVE scene of him atop a throne in the Serpent Temple. Either “wired-in” to the Brain of the Champion, (in a vat behind him, or simply with a massive, oversized brain in a crudely-made cradle).

• Show Bill commanding a TERRIFYING HALLUCINATION against Alice atop his throne.

• Show Alice and Cheshire Cat in Combat against this Hallucination or bracing herself against an incoming attack from it. She is scared.

The boss encounter is the fight against a Hallucination, with Bill commanding it.
Render this scene for the Design Bible.

—–

Gameplay & Closing Narrative Notes:

To complete the encounter, the player needs to sever Bill’s connection to the brain.

Once this is done, he will immediately become an idiot again, and call off the attack on Alice.
He acts like he doesn’t know what’s going on, and is completely unaware of the carnage he’s caused.

He is a sympathetic, friendly character towards Alice, and is not killed. As soon as he loses connection to the brain, he just assumes his dumb ol’ Bill guise.

Bill hands over the brain to Alice without any hesitation, and leads them out of the temple once Alice has the brain. He then waves goodbye to Alice and Cheshire cat as if they’ve just left a tea-party at his house. He wishes them well and thanks them for stopping by.

As he does this, he realizes he doesn’t really know what to do next with his life. Oh well.

—

Oh well indeed! What now? 

Lots more amazing art and design on the way. That’s what! 

From Shanghai with Awesome Illusions,

-American

Dear Insane Children,

Font Lord here, asking for your input on what the next 6 art prints should be to finish off 2021.

Below, you will find a whole host of images and I would like you to choose your favorite 6 in the poll.

Only Choose 6!

We will then take the most popular ones and make them the next 6 prints. Simple   🙂

As usual, we reserve the right to make changes on what you choose if something awesome or amazing happens.

Also, the pictures you see below might not be 100% final and could change a bit.

Finally, there’s no way to limit the number of responses you can give, so please be honest and only choose 6 or we’ll send Lulu around to bite your face!

Ok, go go go.
CHOOSE (only 6)AWAY!!

We will list the 6 winners likely by around Thurs/Fri.

– Cheers (ONLY CHOOSE 6!)

THE UNIVERSAL TRINITY

QUEENSLAND BATTLE

BATTLE OF JUDGEMENT

ALICE MEETS CHESH

THE CAGING

BIRTH OF JABBERWOCK

THE ASYLUM FLOOR

VORPAL GLASS

BUMBY SNATCH ALICE

EXPELLED

PSYCHO STUDY

PUPPET MASTER

HATTER’S QUEST

Dear Insane Children, 

We’re recently working on a new Plushie Dreadfuls design based on the notion of “OCD” – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and “OCPD” – Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. This effort is being made due to frequent and vocal requests by fans to create such a product. It’s also an interesting project for me – American – because I too suffer from various symptoms related to OCD. 

My concern about “stepping on cracks” continues to this day. When using Photoshop, I am weary to click on “stroke” (to create an outline around a font) for fear that, like stepping on a crack, it might cause me to have an actual stroke. I often need to repeat actions (tapping on things, etc) – and absolutely cannot work, sleep, or function properly when there’s a mess anywhere near me. It’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be – when I was a kid if I looked at something (say a dog) once, then I had to look away and then look at it again 3 more times (to equal 4 or another even number). As you might imagine this wasted a lot of time and caused a ton of frustration and tension. 

Anyway… I don’t want to go on about my personal connection to this issue… but I feel some amount of explanation is necessary due to the surprising amount of negative feedback this plush design generated. It wasn’t “heaps” but it was noticeable. With the most common complaint being that “stereotyping OCD and cleaning is **ACTUALLY HARMFUL**” – whereupon OP literally died and we never heard from them again. 

So in an effort to reduce the number of deaths caused by my online posts, I’m including a bit more explanation about what’s going on with this design and the thinking behind it. 

The issue of focusing on “cleaning” has nothing to do with stereotypes. It has everything to do with implementing symptoms of OCD within the constraints of a plush toy. There’s only so much we can do with fabric, stuffing, and embroidery. With my own issue of counting, even numbers, and looking at or tapping things – how exactly do you represent that in a plush toy? I have no idea. And our ACTUALLY HARMFUL commentators died before they could share any design ideas to address this question. RIP, OP. 

Still, we’ve collected what ideas there were and put them into the revised design images you see above. 

The first (main image above) is from Jen and it incorporates several ideas we pulled from online comments plus a few of our own. First, it’s got “crinkly material” inside a removable brain to represent uncontrollable thoughts and a brain gone haywire. The removable squishable brain might also provide some degree of tactile stress relief? 

Jen also added lines around the eyes to indicate lack of sleep from obsessive thoughts or repetitive behaviors. There’s also red stitching around the face, hands, and legs to represent damage from cleaning and/or skin picking. 

We’re also thinking we might include a little mask (double duty for Covid protection and general germaphobia?). Seems double-appropriate given everything going on in the world these days. 

And Alex sent over a design sketch that tries to capture the idea of “control and order.” Of this he says:

You could trim little velcro adhesive shapes, that could be stuck all over him randomly before transit.

Once you get him, Reposition the pieces to make a perfect geometric shape, (heart) or remove them. You allow the owner to have a level of control and expression through their rabbit. Which might be nice in this case.

That seems like an interesting idea. Depending on the type of fur we use it might not function as desired. But we can give it a test. 

Crowd Design Time!

Do YOU have any other ideas for ways we can represent lesser-known symptoms of OCD or OCPD inside the constraints of a plush toy? 

Let us know in the comments below. We’ll do one more round of design sketches before sending this off to the workshop. 

Meanwhile Over in Wonderland

Still lots of amazing art flowing from the Asylum team. 

Of this image (London in Umbraland) Omri says: 

i wanted to make London so dark that the darkening portals will look even more like they are sucking the light out of everything. the world not only dark but even dimming. FYI the portals are not lighter or darker then the rest of the pictures it’s just that the image is so “burnt” that they look so glowing.

To which I said something like, “It’s images like these that make me want to MAKE THIS GAME ASAP!” Wow. Love it. 

More art and updates on the way later this week. 

From Shanghai with 1, 2, 3, 4,

-American