Category Archives: Alice

Alice

Return of Alice (Video Madness)

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Alice - Snail Fight

Snail Fight!

Here’s the official statement regarding the “Return of Alice” video which was being presented at www.returnofalice.com

Yesterday, a few sites picked up a video of Alice made by one of our fans and confused it as an official trailer of Alice 2. I wanted to clear up any confusion – as I mentioned in my post it was unofficial, and does not represent any of the final art direction or story elements in Alice 2. We look forward to sharing information on the game in the future.

The content has since been removed from returnofalice.com, but it still lives in its original location – on the website of its creator, Troy Morgan. You if you missed it, you can see it here.

Alice, Asides

Pity the “Other” Wonderland

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Saw mention of another Alice game going into production – here’s a link to the story at “Wii Land”

The article opines:

“At first we were very excited to learn about an upcoming video game adaptation of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film. But then, our hearts quickly sank when we realized that the game will have nothing in common with American McGee’s amazing and gothic Alice PC game.”

Hey Wii Land people – don’t be sad. Have you not heard the good news? We’re making another “amazing and gothic” Alice game! Sadly, it won’t come to Wii. Unless someone wants to get us a WiiHD with a compatible version of UE3… hint, hint.

Alice, Shanghai

Hiring – Three for Art

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Swimming Pond

Alice in the Swimming Pond

Spicy Horse internal headcount broke the 50 mark a few weeks back. As we approach 60 we’re looking for three very special people to fill three very special roles at the studio. These openings are at our Shanghai-based studio – so being hired means living/working in China. Read on if you’re an experienced game artist, like the idea of working in Shanghai, and want to be involved with some of our cool projects (like Alice 2).

Interested parties should drop a line: jobs (@) spicyhorse (dot) com
You can see all our current openings on the Spicy Horse website.

Here are the job descriptions:

ART DIRECTOR
Your job is to direct and manage the creation of next-gen 3d art assets for our games. You must be experienced in modeling software and game engines, but also in leading a team and documenting procedures and specifications. You will interface with outsource partners and also communicate with producers and other departments. You will work with other art directors and art leads. Overall, your goal is to increase the technical and aesthetic quality of our in-game art, while also keeping our team and workflow as efficient as possible.
– Experience working with Unreal Engine 3 or similar
– Proficient in Max, Photoshop and Zbrush. Maya expertise is a plus.
– Experience working at or with an outsource vendor
– Ability to create new techniques and optimizations, and document them for other artists and art teams
– Good attention to detail
– Experience leading a team
– Good communication skills
– Must be either fluent in Mandarin with basic English skills, or fluent in English.

ART PRODUCER
Your job is to manage both the internal art pipeline and the use of external art outsource partners. You should be an expert at keeping dozens of creative people organized, scheduled, and in communication. You must be able to improve the pipelines and adapt to problems, and have great attention to detail. You will work with producers, the Art Director and other creative leads and help make sure their visions and ideas are put into practice on schedule and at the expected quality. In particular, you will be the point of contact with multiple outsource partners, making sure their output meets our expectations.
– Must be experienced in people management and scheduling
– Experience at either a games developer or outsource studio required
– Must have initiative and a keen sense for organization
– Experience as a 3d artist is a big plus
– Must be fluent in Mandarin and have good English skills.

3D ARTIST
You are an experienced 3d artist. You are able to create high poly, low poly and texture work for both characters and props. You have a high attention to detail, but can you also work fast when required. You are interested in creating high quality work in a variety of art styles, and are able to learn new techniques.

– Proficient in Max, Photoshop and Zbrush. Maya expertise is a plus.
– Minimum 1 year experience in the games industry.
– Experience with Unreal Engine 3 or similar a big plus
– Creative and interested in new techniques and art styles
– Good team work and communication skills

Alice, Grimm, Shanghai, Spicy Horse

An American Interview

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Three Firecracking Amigos

Firecrackers!

Long-time press friend John Gaudiosi has presented a nice interview with me over on geek.com. In it we discuss Grimm, the new Alice game, and making games in China.

A bit from the article:
“What’s the game talent like there and what do they bring to the table?

There’s a lot of existing talent and more being trained at the schools every year. We’re seeing the edge of the boom here in Shanghai. Studios cutting their teeth on next gen online experiences for PC, others now in their second or third generation of development on 360 and PS3. Overall, there’s a tremendous amount of passion and dedication combined with serious production skills and a wonderful work ethic.”

Read the full article HERE.

Alice

Teargas and Plateglass

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Teargas and Plateglass Logo

Teargas and Plateglass

While working on the Alice sequel during pre-production I’ve been listening to a wide range of music. NiN and Manson can still evoke a proper degree of harshness and anger. While Vrenna’s original “Alice” soundtrack serves to remind me of the important movements and discoveries in the first game. When writing I try to avoid lyrical music – mainly turning on classical composers like Tcaikovsky and Saint Saens (both of who were debuting new works during the time Alice Liddel was alive).

But one group that has an especially “Alice” tone about them (at least in relation to what I’m thinking about for the new game) is “Teargas and Plateglass”. Aside from the fact that they’re rep’ed by Waxploitation, the same label Chris was on when he created music for Alice, it seems not much is known about this group. From Waxploitation, this bit of “info”:

In many
ways, what’s not known about the band says more about them than what is known. We don’t know who they are or where they come from or where they reside. But we know they are fond of the works of Godfrey Reggio and Sebastaio Salgado, David Sylvian, Jennifer Charles, and David Hykes. We know the last interview the band did was five years ago. What others have said about the band, from time to time, has helped fill in some of the details. The American Film Institute, which exhibited their music videos, called them “a bold experimental vision”. URB says the band “pave the way so the dark side can take its rightful place at the forefront of the genre”. XLR8R described their sound as “darkness mixed thick like a pool of blood” and advised listeners to “take with a stiff glass of Absinthe”. Danger Mouse likened their music to “the end of the world” and King Britt noted that “their music restores my faith that deep, dark music still moves the masses”.

You don’t have to take my (or their) word for it though… because you can download their latest album completely free from Waxploitation’s website. Check it out here: “Black Triage”

And be sure to head over to the official Teargas and Plateglass website. There you can access more of their music and see some really beautiful music videos they’ve created.

Alice, Spicy Horse

New Office – First Day

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Concept, Design, and Me

Flour Mill

Today Spicy Horse begins its first day in the new office. The old Flour Mill on Suzhou Creek is the 5th location Spicy has called home since it was started over 2 years ago. Back at the start, myself and Ken Wong made a “office” from our base of operations on Lamma Island – just off the main island of Hong Kong. We then moved to Shanghai – sharing space with other companies inside an “incubation center” on YuYuan Lu. Then to a bigger shared space on Wuyi Lu, and then to our first “solo” space on YanAn Lu.

The new office is inside a cool old warehouse complex in the heart of Shanghai. The buildings here have seen a tremendous amount of history. They were built around 1900 and have housed everything from flour milling operations (hence the name), to resistance fighters, and pirate/smugglers!

Our team will be focusing its efforts not on flour or piracy (although the latter sounds fun!) but on development of games. This move, our recent growth, and the new Alice project, will help to establish Spicy as one of the biggest foreign, independent game development studios in China.

I’ll post some more news from the new studio – lots of big milestones on the way…