Dear Insane Children, 

It was not an easy task but our mods (thanks AsteriaVisual and Magus!) managed to piece together a video for this week’s Crowd Design Session. 

If you missed it live – or just want to listen to it again – click THIS LINK to check it out over on my YouTube Channel. 

In this episode, we did a deep dive into the narrative theme of Hatter’s domain. “Bargaining” is the stage Alice is going through represented by this area. And I think it may contain a critical concept upon which our entire game narrative might revolve. 

Have a listen and share your thoughts in the comments below!

From Shanghai with Click-click-clack-clack,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

A parting shot from The Queen of Hearts as we leave her realm and move forward into the Mad Hatter’s Domain. 

Omri sends over the Throne Room illustration (main image above) which he says we should use as an Art Print. And so we’ll do that! This will be the Art Print for November… as in NOW. 

If you’re interested in this print and currently at the $75 Tier then, great, you’ll get this print next. Or if you’re at 3/$35 you can select this print when Font Lord sends out the surveys in December. 

Norm also added a bit of color to the Anger Monster he’s been working on… 

Woo boy. Don’t look forward to fighting THAT in-game! 

Speaking of Anger Monsters…

There will be NO LIVE STREAM this week. Sorry!

Behind the scenes here in Shanghai myself and Martin are in the process of canceling our old work visas and moving them to the newly formed legal entity for Mysterious in China. It’s been a somewhat frustrating, slightly scary, and very involved process… And there are some steps happening this week (mainly Thursday and Friday) which we cannot miss or mess up. So… 

We’ll push the Live Stream to next week! 

We did have an excellent Crowd Design Session over on Discord this week. But the Internet Gremlins made a mess of the recording process so it’s taking a bit longer for our mods to edit. 

Thank you, AsteriaVisual and Magus for your efforts in producing that video! We’ll post it to YouTube once it’s done. 

From Shanghai with Monsters, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

As you’re aware we’ve got Jennifer working on a collection of Enamel Pins which we’ll offer as a “Set of 4 + 1 Exclusive Pin” here on Patreon and then as just the “Set of 4” over on Mysterious. Final numbers of pins and the “exclusive” details are TBD… as are the selection of pins on offer. 

Another interesting pin design from Jen arrived last night – seen above – Hysteria Alice as seen from above. Which got me thinking… 

Yan is working on Mysterious Makeup and recently discovered that we can “stamp” designs onto the eyeshadows. Who knew? Here’s an example of what I’m talking about… 

And this got me thinking… 

Maybe our enamel pin designs can do double-duty as the “stamps” we use on the eyeshadows?! 

Here’s the list of ideas for names and symbols to go with the “Classic Dress” and “Harvest Dress” colors being worked on. 

Seems like a fun cross-over to me. What do you think?

Let us know if you have ideas for names, symbols, or anything else in the comments below!

Jen also sent over a Mad Hatter “Tea Time” pin concept: 

And I suggested that this might be sliding back towards a “cute goofy” feeling which would feel out of place with the other more sinister pins we’re creating. My thought was that the Hatter’s hat by itself is already so iconic… I wouldn’t mind simply having a pin design based on it alone. Like so… 

What do you think? Cute Hatter Hat? Or Classic Hatter Hat? 

Again, let us know in the comments below! 

We’ll be discussing Enamel Pins and Hatter’s Domain during today’s Crowd Design Session. That starts at 10AM Hong Kong Time – 6PM PST (about 25 minutes from when I am writing and posting this). See you there!

From Shanghai with Stamps, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

As we continue our exploration of the story, places, and people of Alice: Asylum, we now enter into The Mad Hatter’s Domain. This area is representative of the “Bargaining” stage in Alice’s PTSD. 

Over on the Asylum Wiki we have a few notes scribbled down including this tidbit: 

(Hatter) spends his days working on a (mad) plan to put Wonderland right again. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t … but I can!” Hatter can’t finish his work until certain (elements, emotions?) are collected. And he’s plagued by a certain gremlin – he’s convinced it was Alice he saw but now that she’s here and offering to help that theory no longer makes sense. 

Crowd Design Some Insanity

We’ll talk about Hatter’s Domain and the concept of Bargaining during this week’s Crowd Design Session over on Discord. 

Don’t know what a “Discord” is? It’s basically a super functional online text-voice chat thing… Imagine Skype but 1000x better. There’s an FAQ where you can learn more… Just CLICK THIS LINK

We’ll start the conversation at 6PM PST on Monday, November 11th. 

The Bargaining Stage

Hatter’s Domain represents Bargaining – the 3rd Stage in the Kubler-Ross Model of Grief. This stage is often characterized by an attempt at negotiation with one’s self, or a personification of the trauma (an individual perhaps), or a higher power – all as a way of regaining some notion of “control” over a situation. Of reverting to the previous state of Slumber. 

Confronted by Chaos, we find ourselves in an upsidedown world where things no longer make sense. The ground has gone out from under our feet. Our compass no longer points north. And nothing – especially other people – can be trusted. Reality is shattered. 

We are dissolved. 

Bargaining contains a lot of “If only…” statements. As in, “If only I had treated her better.” or “If only I had gotten a second opinion.” or “If only I promise to be better, will you give me…”

These represent an attempt at the impossible – to travel back in time and start over at some moment before the arrival of Chaos. 

The problem is that there is no moment which procedes Chaos. Chaos is transformation. It is inevitable. It is everywhere and always.

Bargaining is an attempt to resist The Inevitability of Transformation. About as useful as trying to resist time.

If we do manage to reach some sort of bargain – it only delays our transformation.

When we give up on Bargaining we abandon the hope of returning to the pre-Chaos state of being. We give up on clinging to our former self. We abandon our ego. 

And Then We Transform

What follows is Depression – a natural function of Ego Death. Depression is the state in which we’ve lost our Reason To Be. Makes sense… our Ego is Dead. There is literally NO POINT to anything anymore… and we need a new reason to be.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

Hatter and Alchemy

In Wonderland there’s no such thing as “Chemistry” as we know it. But there is the strange art of Alchemy. This melds together the physical (chemical) world with the psychological (mental) world – and links them together around the concept of Transformation. 

Hatter is Wonderland’s resident Alchemy Expert and has been hard at work on… 

What? 

Could be that he’s trying to piece Wonderland together again after the explosion (Chaos) that recently ripped it apart. He might even think he’s responsible for that explosion. This would be a sort of Bargaining with the nature of Wonderland’s reality. “Let’s put Wonderland back together again…”

And in order to do that he needs Alice’s help in collecting certain Elements. 

Whatever the case, Hatter’s Domain is wrecked…

Share Your Ideas!

I have quite a few ideas around this domain, what it represents, what Hatter is exploring, and more… but I want to hear what YOU think!

Let me know in the comments below. And join us for the Crowd Design Session tomorrow!

Let’s flesh out this Domain and make it surreal! 

Enamel Pins and Troubled Dreams

One more topic for Crowd Design tomorrow – Jen continues her efforts of designs for a set of Enamel Pins. Here’s an interesting design based on The Queen and Tentacles (my favorite)… 

She also did a revision of the Cheshire Cat pin based on a bit of feedback from me… Am I really the only one who saw “balls” between his eyes? Talk about bad dreams!

And a Teapot Cannon… 

Jen wants to know if the pins should all be Silver & Black or if there might be a few (like the Teapot) with a bit of color. 

What do you think? 

Let us know in the comments below!

Notes from Font Lord

He wants me to let everyone know that shipping times are (once again) longer than expected. This appears to be a global phenomenon and we have no idea what causes this or when it might get better. Basically, things are taking longer to ship around the world than usual… so if you are waiting on something (and have a tracking number in hand) you might see it “stuck” in transit for longer than usual. That includes tracking which does not appear to update for 5+ weeks! Yikes! 

3×35 and Chaos Necklace people – you’ll see your Survey Emails THIS WEEK. Yay! 

From Shanghai with Chaos,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

Alex sent along an exploration of a Boss Fight based on The Queen + Judgment. I thought you all might like a peek into the creative process back-and-forth and so share our exchange here…

Of this he writes: 

A while ago I was asked to look into exploring game mechanics and attack patterns for the Final boss battle in Asylum by Omri.

This was an idea I’ve had floating in my head for a while, and wanted to put pen to paper as a warm up. It’s rough, but I hope it communicates the idea.

The puppeteered queen and broken throne room from Omri’s work can still be applied to this concept.

The boss is based on the theme of “Judgement”, using a macabre Scale for symbolism and order. I’ve written some design and encounter notes on the artwork.

As the boss is battled, the weights of the scale would be thrown off balance and detatched, and the force of them falling would rip the boss in half as pictured.

Descending the fight from order, into chaos.

Phase 1 and 2 are pictured, with phase 3 being the big reveal as the character devolves in the tentacle mess monster from AMA. 

To which I replied: 

The images look great. A bit confused by something though… is this meant to be the Queen (in Anger) boss fight? Or you say “Final boss battle in Asylum” … ?? The Final Boss? 

If this is meant to be a battle against the Queen (or the Judge in Judgement) in the area representing Anger, then I could see how we might make that work. 

If this is meant to be the final boss for the entire game… I am not in a headspace to think about what that might look like. But if I were pressed to consider this concept as going into that slot … I’d say this (at this point) does not feel at all appropriate. Why? Well… the overall theme of the game is not “Judgement” therefore I don’t think it would make sense for the final boss to carry that theme. I also don’t think the Queen is representative of Alice’s struggle in our story.

The final showdown – the boss, location, mechanic – has yet to emerge from the story we’re working on… but if you pressed me (again) to take a stab at it today… I might suggest that we start with the theme of “adult Alice going back into her mind to find and rescue child Alice” – a journey to save the inner child. 

And that during this journey we explore the concept of mental prisons – how we construct them and how we destroy them. I think where we’re going with Hatter in this next chapter will illuminate more of this… There’s an idea that his tinkering with the nature of reality (of the elements and properties of Wonderland) causes a dissonance that rips apart the seams of Wonderland. 

That explosion does something to reveal the nature of Wonderland’s reality – and gives Alice a glimpse into the truth of her situation (trapped in a mental prison). 

Alice is in a prison of her own mind. She’s essentially kept herself trapped in this place. So our final boss encounter needs to represent that concept. 

That’s where we’ve toyed with the idea of “Shadow Alice” – the figure representing “adult Alice” – the one who returns hoping to free young Alice from the mental prison… only to find that she’s stuck, unable to free herself, etc. 

Anyway… we’re not there yet. 

I’d like to suggest that we use this Judgment Boss for just that… a boss encounter to wrap up the sequence of events which starts with Alice entering the Courthouse. It could be that we make our way through the entire section (including the deadly croquet game) only to come face to face with this thing. 

Thoughts on that? 

Alright, Insane Children! 

Let us know what YOU think! Is this Final Boss (for the entire game) material? Or might it be better placed as the (mini? doesn’t look “mini”) boss for the end of the Judgement Area in the Queen’s Domain? 

Personally I like the idea of placing this encounter after the Courthouse/Croquet section.

Let us know what YOU think in the comments below!

We’ll discuss your feedback during the YouTube Livestream this week (link to that coming later!). 

From Shanghai with Tentacles,

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

One of the themes I discussed while at the recent Patreon Assembly in Los Angeles was the idea of Missteps as Content. And how this is a radical notion in a world of glitzy product launches, review embargos, and Rotten Tomato’s faked freshness. 

My premise is one you’ve heard before: Embrace your failures. Also known as “if you aren’t failing regularly, you aren’t trying hard enough.” 

A lot of creators I spoke with shared a feeling I know very well… that we shouldn’t go public with a thing until it’s 110% final. We don’t want the world to see our ideas before they’re fully formed – because we fear ridicule and rejection. But that fear excludes our audience from the creation process. 

Sharing is scary. Sharing our mistakes? Yikes!

What Are Patrons?

When I think of “patrons” of ye olde times, I imagine them peering over the shoulder of the musicians, painters, sculptors, and sailors they financed. They witnessed as plans were made, ideas sketched, and marble chiseled. They heard and saw the mistakes – and that made their appreciation of the final product that much richer.

Part of the benefit of being a Patron is a behind-the-scenes view of a work in progress and a chance for creative involvement – something the general public will never see.

Well… maybe the general public never should see…

This is a Cheshire Cat “cake” I was reminded of when Jen sent over the Cheshire Face Enamel Pin concept image (main image, above). This is actually the second-worst thing I’ve ever seen done with the Cheshire’s face. 

(If you want to see the first-worst thing (you don’t) then there’s a pr0n tattoo (NSFW) someone did (why?!) which you can see HERE. I’m telling you NOT to click on that link. If you do, it’s your own fault if you can never see Cheshire the same again.)

Ahem… 

Where Were We? 

So I am not a fan of the first-round version of the Cheshire Cat Head enamel pin. But that’s OK. It gives us a starting place for heading towards the final destination. And in this revival of the Patron-Artist-Relationship, it gives us The Creation Process as Content.

Here’s the note I wrote to Jen with my thoughts on her original version (top image) vs. the sinister version I shared with her as an example (image above).

Where I prefer this (sinister) version: 

1) removes the pupils so that you don’t get the “eyes rolled up into the head” look 

2) flattens the proportions and moves the center of the face down – looks more sinister, less goofy

3) reduces the amount of teeth shown – again, less goofy, more sinister 

4) brings the ears down a bit so he looks more angry, ready to pounce

5) slants the eyes down – same effect as #4

Maybe I should just state this style direction from the start… 

Let’s make this set of pins to be like the Specter Ring from the Bond films. Dark, sinister, belonging to a secret group of mysterious Insane Children. When viewed by people outside the group (cult) raises questions about relationship to magic, the occult, and S&M sex dungeons. Keep them simple… black, silver, and a touch of (single) color when/if needed. The cat? Black, silver, and a single color (yellow looks nice above) for the eyes. 

Our Final Destination(?)

Now it’s your turn. Jen’s turned in a new variation… 

Let us know in the comments below what YOU think! Join the process! Give us your feedback! 

From Shanghai with I Told You So,

-American