Dear Insane Children, 

Adam shared the final (semi-final?) version of the illustration you all voted on last week. Turned out pretty great, yeah? I saw some notes in the margins on this image that the team are still working on facial expressions… so I don’t think they consider this final-final. 

This illustration from Omri – in which Alice and Lizzie are happily reunited – is Final. And it’s also awesome. Guessing this one could become an art print in the future. 

And this collab between Norm and Omri – in which Alice fights the Card Guard Executioner (now with Chaos Tentacles!) – is also final. And also super awesome. I love when these two work on illustrations together. 

Meanwhile, a bunch of neat stuff in the Work In Progress category… 

Like this Queen & Alice Boss Fight from Joey. Woo! 

And these Nightmare Radcliffe sketches from Adam. Scary! 

A ton of great content in the pipeline. And all of this is purpose-built to fill out sections of the Design Bible. Alex is making great progress on bringing all this content together – and says he’ll have a big Design Bible update for everyone in the coming weeks. 

We obviously did NOT have a live stream (again) this week. This time the blame was on me. I got sick … unsure exactly what it was. Food poisoning maybe? But it put me in bed for a day and had me feeling weak and yuck for several days on both sides of it. Back to feeling better now… so we’ll see if we can’t make something happen next week.

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

It’s funny we settled on “Insane Children” as a nickname for this Patreon group because it turns out… having children is kinda insane! Though I guess that would be something more like “child insane” – which is what I’m going over here!

Actually, it’s not that bad. Just typical kid stuff. But it means this week’s Live Stream is no more. Why? Well, we moved it away from Lucky’s Birthday. But then it landed on Lucky’s school start day. And Yan told me I can’t live stream when I should be taking Lucky to school for the first time in his life. Makes sense, right? 

We’ll try for next week. But it’s still a bit too early to know how that week is going to shake out. Anyway, on the bright side, we’ll have a ton of great new art to share by the time we actually do get around to the next live stream! Ha. 

Speaking of art… Font Lord asked me to remind you that this month’s Art Print is one of our favorites. Maybe one of yours too? It’s called “The Final Showdown” and it’s awesome. Be sure to adjust your tier or whatever it is you need to do in order to get this print (if you want it). 

From Shanghai with First Day of School Jitters,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

Help us pick the best angle for this scene! You have 4 images to choose from. And here’s the description of the scene from Alex: 

Art Task Briefing and Output:
?These scenes show the confrontation taking place between Alice and Radcliffe.
?Once Angela’s appearance is confirmed, render her in the background of these scenes watching the events unfold.

?Key areas to highlight from the narrative are:
?1. ?Scene of Alice confronting Radcliffe. Angela in background. Alice Unfurls the little black book. The Tables turn.

?2. ?Alice confronting Radcliffe. Radcliffe draws a fire-arm and points it at Alice.

Design Notes: This area takes place in the area that houses the Grandfather Clock and Radcliffe’s Black Book reveal. Follow the scene design from the Slumber/memory scenes prior.

And the images you have to choose from… with the POLL at the bottom!

From Shanghai with “B” is my Favorite,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Two things today… First is: *more excellent art* such as the main image above and also this one just below… 

These images are the final versions of the ones from Adam that I shared last time. Interior renders of the Queen’s Castle. But now… with color! Yay!

Very lovely stuff. And I hope it makes up for the fact that we need to push the Live Stream date out until next week… 

Life in my “castle” revolves largely around children. And we’ve got some kid-related stuff happening at the same time we’d hoped to do the Live Stream this week… the result being: NO Live Stream this week. Thanks, Lucky! 

He’s starting his first year of “school” [technically, it’s pre-school @ age 3] on Sept 1st, so there’s a bunch of health checks, student registration, and other business we need to take care of this week. 

But… 

We’re now aiming for a Live Stream next week on a slightly different day than usual. 

This time change is also necessitated by Lucky. Thanks, Lucky! It’s his birthday on September 2nd, so we don’t want a live stream day crammed right next to that. Lots of planning and prep to do! 

So, basically, this whole email is a “blame Lucky” update. Except, don’t do that because he’s only 3, and he’s super cute, and he probably just saved a bunch of you from a “Final Destination” style death sequence now that you won’t be in that deadly place at that deadly time. He’s not called “Lucky” for nothing, you know? 

Here’s a nice picture of Alice enjoying family life after the events of “Asylum” from Joey. See? Aren’t kids nice?

From Shanghai with Kids (and the 40c weather is GONE – Fuuuu, you 40c weather!),

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

A quick update with a bunch of beautiful art… 

The main image (above) is from Norm and shows Alice in a chaotic Boss Battle with the Card Guard Executioner. Expect the final render of this illustration is going to be amazing!

Up next… Adam (who is now back from vacation) sent along sketches for the interior of the Queen’s Castle.

The art request for these Castle illustrations reads as follows: 

10.1) NEW AREA – INSIDE QUEEN’S CASTLE – Castle Halls / Level Design Scenery

Art Output and ?Briefing:

Explore suspenseful and horror-themed concept art to accompany the Narrative.
?Images of inside the Queen’s Castle. Hallways. Rooms. Dining Halls Etc.

?As many pieces as required or as many as the artist is comfortable to create.
?With mind for spacial puzzles, keys, locks, ideation for gameplay elements.

And lastly… 

Alex is inserting all of this art into the Design Bible. The results are… 

Wow.

More amazing art coming soon. And… I think we’ll do a Live Stream next week? What do you think? 

Let us know in the comments below! 

From Shanghai with (STILL 40C outside FFS, ARRrrrgg!), 

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

Apologies for the recent silence. A few of you reached out to check on us. Thanks for your concerns! And, yes, we’re fine!

Our ayi (lady who helps us with the kids, cleaning, etc) was on vacation last week. That left us short on a critical pair of hands. And it turns out that taking care of a Lucky (age 3 years) and a Leeloo (age 3 months) requires ALL THE HANDS!

Image above is from Joey (the Alice illustration, not the picture of Leeloo!)

I’ll share more of the pre-production team’s excellent art in some posts this week. Promise! 

From Shanghai with Broiling 40c Love, 

-American & Family