Dear Insane Children, 

We’re set for another YouTube Livestream and hope you’ll join us for the fun!

We’ll review the latest art, story, and design for Alice: Asylum and (if we have time) continue our play-through of “Sea of Solitude.” It’s (roughly) the same time as usual… 

Thursday at 10AM (Hong Kong Time) or 7PM on Wednesday for those of you in the US. 

Hit THIS LINK (or the video above?) to head over to YouTube and set a reminder.

Crowd Design Session #15

For those of you who missed it – or those of you who joined but just want to hear the sultry sound of Connor’s voice – we’ve uploaded this week’s Crowd Design Session to YouTube. 

Hit THIS LINK to check it out!

As always, a huge THANKS to our Insane Children and Mods for helping organize and contribute to these sessions. And a special Thanks to Asteria Visual for helping capture and edit the AV for these uploads.

The Show Must Go On

Have you ever listened to or watched Pink Floyd’s “The Wall?” If not, do. It’s a masterpiece. 

And when I see these images from Norm… especially that Giant Queen Head lording over the circus ring…

So ya
Thought ya
Might like to go to the show
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow
Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine?
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes

You’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise

Lights, turn on the sound effects, action
Drop it, drop it on ’em, drop it on them

When I think about turning Alice into a sort of musical-rock-opera… it’s The Wall that always comes to mind first and most vividly.

I listened to this album so many times when I was a kid and growing up. It’s probably subliminally infused in every creative thing I’ve ever done since.

Pretty sure Norm’s been mainlining Floyd for a while as well 😉

Any other fans in the audience? 

As always – Feedback and Suggestions in the Comments below!

We’ll see everyone tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Another Brick in the Wall,

-American 

Dear Insane Children, 

A recent concept image from Jennifer for a Croquet Coaster found in the Circus Domain got me thinking about Escher-esque design concepts. There are a number of game developers implementing non-euclidean geometry in game engines and this is work I think we can continue when we start dev work on Alice: Asylum. 

Posted above is a video which illustrates the implementation of this sort of thinking within a 3D-engine. Can you imagine the sort of fun we might have in Wonderland with this sort of tech?

Joey also sends along her efforts on a “Tear Maze” where I can imagine we would use these concepts in order to extend and expand the maze beyond what appears physically possible. 

Now imagine for a moment that we take the fractal pattern-within-pattern visual concept and apply it to several critical elements of the game and narrative. How might the story of adult Alice fold into child Alice who then folds into adult Alice… on and on ad infinitum. Can you recall a fractal narrative? 

Definitely a theme worth exploring. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below!

Crowd Design Session

We’ll host a fresh new Crowd Design Session over on Discord tomorrow. 

What is Discord? Click THIS LINK. 

Pirate Jam 2020 

A few of us (me, Alex, Jen) have spent some recent cycles developing a Marketing Pitch which we’re sending to Unity. This idea is called “DOTS Ahoy” and turns Pirate Jam and related activities into a year-long effort which starts with a 3-month online game jam.

STOP – The following information is for Patrons only! – STOP 

Please DO NOT share the following link. What’s contained there is Work in Progress and it’s not yet published to the public. It’s for YOUR EYES ONLY.  

I’ve published the DOTS Ahoy Jam details over on itch.io – hit THIS LINK to check it out.

We’re looking for feedback on what’s presented there. Here’s a couple of questions to consider while reading through the page: 

• Do you understand what’s on offer? 
• Do you want to participate?
• Is there anything unclear or in need of improvement?

Again, leave your feedback in the comments below. We’re hoping to make what’s presented as informative and compelling as possible. Thanks! 

See you all on Discord tomorrow!

From Shanghai with Love, 

-American (and Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

Got TONS done during this Stream-Free week. Really appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience while we took a break from YouTube/Discord stuff and focused on business development tasks related to Alice: Asylum, Pirate Jam 2020, and Mysterious. Yay!

Still lots going on behind the scenes – new art, design work, and more… All will be shared next week.

But I wanted to quickly share an update related to the Cheshire Kitten Collector Set. 

Cheshire Kitten Collector Set Update

The revised Cheshire Cat Nylon Bag arrived. And it looks great!

Above you’ll see Lulu posing with the bag and final Cheshire Kitten prototype. She says they’re both, “Grrrreat!” (You might notice the little scar on her chest near her left leg – she’s all healed and better now – tough little doggy). 

Here you can see front and back of the bag. 

And Omri sends along the final version of the Cheshire Cat’s “Lair of Curiosity” concept image. Who knows what secrets are locked away behind that door?

All I know is that our Insane Children (who grab this collector set) will be the first to find out.  Meow! (Someone on the Internet said, “A cardboard box.” Cat owners will understand and laugh). 

These updates mean we’re in possession of the complete set – Cheshire Kitten, Cheshire Cat Nylon Bag, Cheshire Cat Embroidered Patch, and the concept image for the Cheshire Cat’s Lair of Curiosity. Purrrrrfect!

There are a couple of items to note on the Cheshire Cat Bag before it’s considered final. 

First, the “reflective” idea just isn’t going to work. The factory tried, and failed, on two different samples to deliver something we’d approve. In both cases the paint-material was too thick, too easily damaged, and not at all reflective.

Next, the position and size of the print on both sides needs a bit of adjustment. I don’t know exactly how much can be done to improve what we see here, but an effort will be made to either increase the size of the bag or reduce the size of the printed area so that less clipping occurs around the edges. 

Aside from those two issues… do you see anything else we need to address? 

OH! The bag is fully reversible and that the reverse side is the red material you see around the top. It looks great reversed-legs or regular-legs. 

There’s also a little button-closed pocket on the inside. Neat!

It’s a REALLY NICE bag. You’re getting a really solid collector set with all this stuff. You’re spoiled, you know? 😛 

What’s Next?

First – DON’T DO ANYTHING with your pledge or Tiers right now! 

The promotion for the Cheshire Kitten Plush Collector Set will start August 2019.

The month we’re currently in is July 2019. We’re on Earth. A planet in… 

On or about August 5th we’ll create a Specific Tier for the Collector Set and we’ll lower the Goal Target amount to something more reasonable. THAT is when you can select that Tier (or stay at the $75 Tier) in order to capture this Reward. 

If you have additional questions… 

Check out THIS LINK to the Cheshire Kitten Plush Goal Explainer. 

Or if you see others struggling with questions, give them this link:
http://bit.ly/CheshKitten (that goes to the Goal Explainer page)

If you’re still super confused, then send us a Private Message. 

Or if you see others struggling with how to PM us, give them this link:
http://bit.ly/PMHOOMIN  (that goes to Lulu explaining how to PM us).

Other Ideas? Ways to Improve? 

One more request for feedback from those of you who were with us for the White Rabbit Collector Set promotion and fulfillment process. 

What might we improve? 

I was thinking that we should include a card with the Cheshire Kitten set which contains a bit of info. Such as “The Cheshire Cat Lair of Curiosity Code will be emailed to you prior to the launch of Alice: Asylum.” (That was a FAQ, whew boy).

What else? Let me know in the comments below. 

I want to make this set as complete and rewarding as possible. 

Looking forward to your feedback! 

From Shanghai in a Typhoon, 

-American (and Lulu)

Dear Insane Children, 

Last week I took multiple people + Lulu to the hospital (multiple times) (different hospitals) plus tried to stay on top of the usual business of updates, design work, streaming, etc. All of which meant a pretty insane week with not a lot of time left for all the things on my to-do list. 

This week I’d like to devote some time to catching up on everything so… 

No Design Session and No Live Stream this week! 

That will give me a chance to provide full attention to a number of key to-do items related to moving things forward on our Alice efforts. 

Sadly all of this Business Development work is currently under numerous NDAs so you’ll just have to wait patiently… No juicy updates or interesting tidbits to share when all is said and done. But…

Fear Not! At Least Not for Long!

We’ll be back to our usual schedule the week of the 22nd. 

Expect a Crowd Design Session at the regular time (9AM on Tuesday – Shanghai time). 

And a YouTube Live Stream at the usual time (9AM on Thursday – Shanghai time). 

Links and info on those will go out this time next week.

That is the Final Version of “Surprise Guest” and the one we’ll convert into an art print. 

What do you think?

And a nifty “head in sand” design concept from Jen (who also provided the pixel art of Alice seen above). 

The End of Denial

It’s looking like we’re nearing the end of the tunnel on initial design work for Denial. Next up, we’re moving into Anger. Rawr!

Can’t wait to see what our team (including YOU) come up with for the story, design, and art contained in the Kingdom of the Queen of Hearts. 

Harmony in Discord 

Hey, just because I am taking a week to focus on BD tasks doesn’t mean the Insane Children have to take a rest from Crowd Design efforts. 

Check out our Discord Server and feel free to organize a meeting of the Insane Children to discuss final elements you’d like to see in Denial before we head into the next domain. 

One of the key concepts we still need to nail down is the narrative and nature of the Enemy Characters we’ll deal with in Denial. 

Here are some guidance points… 

It’s probably a good idea that this character be one that makes sense for Denial but can also be used as we continue to progress into later stages of the game. 

One thing to think about in terms of the psychological reality of PTSD is that these phases are rarely divided along perfectly crisp borders. You can suffer Denial and move into Anger only to return to Denial or maintain hints of Denial while also being fully embroiled in Anger. 

From that perspective it would be natural that an enemy we primarily associate with the concept of Denial might continue to follow us through the game – all the way until the end. Of course once we’ve beat “Denial” as a stage we might also have (mostly) mastered the art of overcoming Denial as an enemy NPC when we encounter it in later stages of the game. 

So… a character based on Denial who: 

• Is initially quite difficult to fight and defeat.
• Neatly represents the nature of Denial in shape, sound, and function.
• Is (more) easily defeated once we progress past the Denial stage.
• Feels at home in the later stages of the game as a fodder enemy.
• Establishes a logical arch of enemy design/development as a model we can copy to enemies designed around future stages of trauma. 

Take a stab at that over on Discord and in the Comments below. 

I look forward to catching up with everyone to see what sort of Insane ideas you’ve come up with … next week!

From Shanghai with BD on the Brain, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

For those of you who missed it, here’s THE LINK to yesterday’s Crowd Design Session. 

We had a great discussion around the general topic of the Circus Realm, Denial, The Nile, and more. Many of our Insane Children came up with really interesting, useful, and fun ideas which have a high likelihood of making their way into the game. Yay!

I really enjoy these sessions and hope you do too! It’s great to hear so many creative ideas flow from people who have a clear passion for Alice and her story. 

These sessions are held weekly (at least that’s the goal) and you can join them via our Discord Server. 

For more info on our Discord Server and how to access it hit THIS LINK. 

From Shanghai with Inspiration, 

-American

Dear Insane Children, 

A quick heads-up for all of you who receive Art Prints from us – either via the 3/$35 Tier, the $75 Tier, or when you order directly from Mysterious. 

As you are aware, these prints are individually signed (by American), quality inspected by Lulu, hand-packed, and then shipped from Shanghai to Insane Children around the world. 

Previously, we rolled the art and then secured it with “individually unique, hand-crafted fastening devices” (AKA white masking tape torn into little bits). These bits of tape tended to come loose during shipping, leaving the art prints semi-stuck in the shipping tube. 

Going forward, we’ll start using Mr. Fancy Pants(tm) Metallic Logo Labels to secure the tubes. Not only do these look better, but they stick like crazy. No more premature print unfurling during transit! 

They’re also an Indicator of Authenticity – along with American’s signature – proving that your art print came through official channels. 

BUT! WAIT!

You’ll need to take care when opening your art prints since these labels are designed to STICK and STAY. 

Don’t peel them off! Slice them in half! Use a knife, razor blade, or best of all a razor-knife… and slice through the label along the edge of the print. 

Like so…

Easy peasy. 

The Greatest Show…

And another quick heads-up regarding the next art print… 

This is the print we’re sending out next (the print for the month of July, for which you’ll be charged in August – don’t get me started on the confusion of Patreon’s current month vs. charge month nonsense!). 

As you can see from the photos, we’re currently prepping all the “Perfectly Unbalanced” prints for shipping this week. Those prints turned out beautifully. And will feature the fancy new sticker-label-authenticity-fasteners. Hence this post. 

PS: The label contains the Chinese character ? (ao – sounds like “oww, I stubbed my paw)  for “mysterious” and “obscure” which, in Chinese, usually carries more than a hint of darkness. 

From Shanghai with Grrrr, 

Quality Inspector Lulu