Dear Insane Children,

Font Lord here with a quick question for you about next month’s print.

The image above was selected in a previous poll as a popular choice.
However we have a modified contender to think about too…

What do you think about this big faced edit?

In your humble opinion, which moon image should we use for March’s print?

Please cast your vote in the poll below   🙂

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

Joey’s delivered an excellent illustration depicting Alice engaged in a battle-for-life game of Croquet Forever. As described in the scene text for this game, it doesn’t really matter if you win or lose, live or die, because this game just goes on forever and ever. 

Forever and ever… kinda what it feels like with all the organizing and unpacking we’re doing here after the move. But we’re down to the last pile of boxes… and I built a temporary storage place for them so I could clear out the Live Stream Room for its next stream. 

Did someone say LIVE STREAM?!?!?! Why, YES! Now that I can actually see the walls of the new Live Stream Room, I will start the process of getting everything ready for our next Live Stream. Martin says he’s OK to make the perilous journey to the far edge of Shanghai on Thursday, February 25th. That’s Wednesday for those of you in the US. 

We’ll have tons of new art, design, and BD updates at that time. Be sure to mark your calendar! 

In the meantime, be sure to let us know in the comments what you think of Joey’s latest!

For my part… I was expecting something a little more… Dante’s Inferno as a setting. Maybe just a bit more “battlefield” in tone and setting. But maybe this more colorful setting can work? What do you think? 

Speaking of battlefields… 

Don’t recall if I previously shared any of the new variations on this scene in which Alice runs and fights her way to the Queen’s Castle through an ongoing battle between Card Guards and Chess Pieces. There are about 1000 different renderings and alterations on this image… but I think (?) this was the latest variation from Adam. Norm and Omri are also working on it… to bring more “fight” to the scene. 

All of these are illustrations of the Asylum narrative – the story guiding the art and design going into the Design Bible. 

And regarding the Design Bible… Alex recently gave me a sneak peek at the work he’s doing on that… and, WOW. It’s looking really amazing. Part graphic novel, part art book, and part design document… If it finishes like it’s started… I think even non-fans of the Alice universe will be engaged and entertained by it. We’ll be sharing that with the Insane Children soon (within a month or so). 

Exciting times! 

From Shanghai with a Live Stream Room to Set Up, 

-American

Dear Insane Children,

I’ve just finished a review and feedback session on all the art and design content that was delivered during “The Time of The Move” and… Wow! 

Of this illustration by Norm, Omri says… 

i think we ought to add some weapons and i’m thinking like babies holding weapons, perhaps crawling or on all fours. Like toddlers and perhaps pepper mills or something that fits the concept

To which I replied… 

AMAZING, @normanfelchle

@Omri a milk bottle, rattle (sonic weapon), a dirty diaper, a sonic weapon cry/scream (baby screaming mixed with pig screaming), toxic farts, … just a few of the things I could imagine as weapons for this little guy. On a more surreal side – might be fun to let him fly?

Let us know in the comments below what ideas you have about the sorts of Weapons and Actions this little monster might employ. 

Remember, this enemy is a companion-creature of The Duchess. And we’ll find them sprinkled around The Vale of Tears and protecting The Duchess’ Manor. 

Move Update

Still unpacking and organizing things around the new house. Our warehouse area has expanded by more than double. That’s nice because it means we’re no longer packing art prints and stuff in our living room! But it’s un-nice because it means lots (and lots) of warehouse-related stuff we have to unpack, organize, and build new infrastructure around. And if we continue at this rate… by the end of 2021 we’ll be looking to move all this stuff into a proper warehouse. Yikes! 

But I am also checking tasks off the Alice3/Mysterious Studios list as we go… hopefully things will be back to normal soon. 

Chinese New Year

We’re a day away from the official start of Chinese New Year. 95% of the country is already shut down and enjoying this, the largest annual celebration in the world. So we will have a few days of rest here. And if you ordered anything from Mysterious – or are waiting on posters/stuff from our Patreon rewards, expect a bit of a delay. 

Back with more art and design updates soon. 

From Shanghai with A Pig, 

-American 

(Lucky was born in The Year of the Pig – and he shoots deadly farts). 

Dear Insane Children,

Font Lord here with your first “Lucky 5” of the year.

And again, due to busy stuff and office moves and all that, it’s a double month since I didn’t do January.
Sorry   😛

You know the drill by now, using Google’s RNG, 10 people from Patreon and also the last YouTube video’s comments are chosen to get some goodie sent to them, no matter where they are in the world.  
How great is that?

Let’s start off nice and simple in 2021 and the prize can be the Embroidered Patch Set 2, going to these lovely people right here…

* Matthew Sheridan
* Rebekka Sparrow
* Brian Smith
* Julian Sauer
* William A Steburg
* Patricia Monroig
* Réka Valaczkai
* Kassie Jefferson
* Chris Privon
* Christopher Ivan Carrillo Cervantes

Congrats to all you lucky people and we’ll get your patches sent out right after Chinese New Year finishes   🙂

And yes, there’s still going to be a Lulu to complete the Lucky 5 posts.

– Cheers

Dear Insane Children, 

Rarrrr! We’re back! And with a fantastic new illustration from Joey. If you recall from a previous post, Joey was given some feedback on how to improve the Encounter with The Duchess Scene… and this is what she came up with. Wooo faceless horror! 

While the Art Team has been cranking out tons of new illustrations for the Design Bible, me and the family moved to a new house. It only took three trucks over the course of a week… but we’re now really outside the city and living near the sea. Actually, we’re the last house at the end of the road leading to the seaside of Hangzhou Bay. Literally can’t go any further (unless you want to get wet and possibly drown). 

You can look up “Fengxian District” on Google Maps if you’re interested in the local area.

Your patience during this major life adjustment is really appreciated. 

Here’s another great illustration from Adam as he works his way through the Vale of Tears section of the game. This is the section where the entire area of Wonderland is frozen in time. This is also where Alice encounters The Duchess. Absolutely lovely!

All of this great content is going into the Design Bible. And Alex sent over a suggestion for the Cover Illustration of that book. 

Let him know in the comments what you think about it… 

Ok, here in our new “Lucky House” we still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. First up, we need to get our Warehouse/Shipping area fully functional and send out some overdue orders! 

Now we’re settled in you can expect more updates and progress on our projects. 

I’ve also got some BIG NEWS about the Oz tv-series. And I will soon be able to reveal who REDACTED 2 is (the Hollywood film/tv production company who we’ve signed on to develop/sell/produce the Oz project). 

From Shanghai with Boxes to Unpack,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

Last weekend, I went into the city with Lucky and Yan to meet friends for lunch. Some of the other kids at the get-together were sick with a cold; so Lucky and Yan got sick immediately. My immune system fought valiantly for a few days… and then I got sick. Bummer… since then, I’ve had body aches, sore throat, and … some form of brain-damage. Not really brain damage, but it certainly feels like it. I’m often confused about what I was in the middle of doing; am doing common tasks in the wrong order; placing objects in places they don’t belong… and just generally, well, brain-damaged. 

Hence my not posting much in recent days. Plus, add to that, we’re in the middle of packing house… Anyway, you get the idea. 

But work continues… 

This image is from Adam and depicts a scene in the Vale of Tears where Alice is exploring… of it Adam says: 

Here is a work-in-progress update on the Valel of Tears, I have a “Madness Returns” more colorful version and the more depressing, cold-colored variant. Omri has suggested to go with the more depressing one, but to keep the leaves on the trees.

And to which I replied: 

I really like the vibrant “Madness Returns” version… but it would make more sense for it to start in the Depressing mode… which is a great idea for a mechanic in this area…

The area starts in the Depression Mode and then slowly shifts to Vibrant Mode as Alice passes through… or as the area is healed with Tears.

This is basically just a filter on certain models/areas applied inside Unreal. We did a simliar thing with “Grimm” … so maybe supply us with a Final Version of each half? As in, deliver one image but split it into two sides. One for Depression, one for Vibrant?

And, in general, it’s a beautiful scene. Awesome!

If you’re interested in learning more about this scene and what happens in it, you can check out the relevant section in the post containing the semi-complete Alice Narrative Overview. SPOILERS in that Document so… SPOILER WARNING!

Joey turned in this beautiful piece… a depiction of an encounter between Alice and The Duchess. This also takes place in the Vale of Tears; just after Alice and the Duchess in a battle because, as the Duchess says: 

Once defeated, The Duchess invites Alice in for tea and biscuits.

Duchess: “I had to make sure you were you. Hard to tell these days; no one is what they seem anymore. I don’t even know if I am me anymore.

Though it’s a beautiful scene, and we’ll find a way to use it, it does deviate from the original request as Omri points out… 

i imagined more something like this, a skinny skeletal large hunched ugly duchess and alice drinking tea and talking on oversized chairs and table. on the line of a conversation, something closer to the copy.

And he provides this rough sketch for a new render from Joey… 

And last but not least (for this post anyway), is a collaboration illustration from Norm and Omri. This scene takes place in the Circus Realm. And it depicts Alice attempting to escape from this prison of fun with the help of a recently acquired Vorpal Blade. 

That image (above) is the cropped and color (final) version) of a larger illustration… 

Again, this scene can be found in the early pages of the Asylum Narrative document (link above). As we continue to develop and takes steps towards the writing of that document, the Art Team is following in our tracks and illustrating all the critical scenes. All of this content will be rolled into the Alice: Asylum Design Bible. And Alex has already started work on the layout and design of that document. We should have an early (style guide) draft of that to show you in a month or two. 

Feels to me like everything is turning out great. 

Let us know in the comments below what you think of these scene illustrations. Our artists love to hear your feedback and comments. 

Housekeeping (moving)

A quick reminder that my family will be moving to a new house on the 30th of January. That is only 8 days from today, so we are starting the process of packing up the Old House and prepping for a move to the New House. As you are aware (or might imagine), the packing and moving of a house that contains 3 adults, 1 child, and 1 dog, plus our Studio, Live Stream room, Warehouse (for Mysterious stuff), and two offices… is a LOT of work. So please excuse me if in the coming days leading to the 30th, and for a few days after, you don’t see many posts from me. 

The rest of the team will still be at work on the story, art, and BD during those days. And when I return, I’ll be to sure to bring with me a BIG UPDATE on all that’s gone on during that time. 

From Shanghai with Love (and tears), 

-American