XaiJu
americanmcgee
americanmcgee

patreon


Snicker et Snackula

Dear Insane Children, 

We have a ton of new Inmates joining the Asylum after yesterday's big marketing and mailing list push. Join me in welcoming them to our mad family! And - everyone - please help us get the word out so we can hit that 2000 Patron Goal this month! Spread our images and creativity all around your social media channels! 

Today we've got new art, new patches, new jewelry, and the Livestream Link!

First up, Alex sends along a weapon concept...

I've created a "Broken Vorpal Blade" weapon concept, that is inspired by the "Solve Et Coagula" dissolve to reform idea. (chaos blade sounds like the obvious naming choice, but is taken by Dad of War).
The concept being, that this early in Alice's timeline and story, things are still finding their way and figuring themselves out. 
The end result of Alice: Asylum's journey being the familiar visual style we all know in the Alice Series.
I've applied this line of thought to the Vorpal blade, as a weapon that dynamically breaks apart and reforms, unsure of itself as much as Alice is, and not knowing really what form to take. 
This is expressed either by the weapon reforming as selectable modes, (knife, scythe, spear, shield etc.)
Or reforming during successive combo strikes. 

I like the idea of a multi-form weapon / shield / item. It fits nicely with the Chaos and Order theme in our narrative. And I imagine it would produce a lot of stunning and emergent visuals. He also sent along an idea for Runes  being applied to Alice's skills (via slots on her dress and necklace) along with a UI mock-up (from DOOM)...

Meanwhile Jen continues delivering The Awesome with some new and updated embroidered patch designs...

Something tells me this next Patch Set is going to be even more amazing than the last... which I wouldn't have thought possible until about 5 minutes ago! Let's hurry up and unlock the Chaos Coin Goal so we can set (a much easier) goal for the next set of patches!

These are Alchemy Keys inspired by the set of keys from Madness Returns. I put these together in AI and cut them on my handy-dandy laser cutter (in wood) as part of the process of transforming them into a set of necklaces. They've been up on Mysterious for a while (as a placeholder) so that I can judge interest before pulling the trigger on production... 

They now have a higher "email me when ready" count than anything we've ever tested - so I know there's lots of demand for them. Thing is, producing these (even the samples) is not going to be cheap. Before I start the factory on samples, a couple of questions for those of you who are interested. 

A bit of info about the necklaces first: They will be sold as a set of 5 pendants with a necklace chain. Everything will be made from stainless steel - matte or shiny dependent on answers to the survey (below). They will be 50mm tall and 3mm thick. Like we've done with the Chaos Coin, the set will come in a logo box / bag with a collector certificate. 

If you're interested in this and want to provide feedback on price and design, please do so HERE

Last but not least, here's the LINK to tomorrow's YouTube Livestream. It's at the usual time: 9AM Hong Kong Time on Thursday, August 9th. Consult International Meeting Planner to see what that translates to where you are. Also set a personal reminder as YouTube seem to ignore your subscription, reminder, and 'bell' clicks - because they know better than you what sort of content you should consume! 

We'll go through your QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS during the stream. Martin says he'll make a list of interesting ones prior to going live... so be nice to Martin and maybe he'll pick yours! :) 

From Shanghai with Snackula,

-American



Snicker et Snackula

Comments

Beautiful weapons

A multi-form weapon? Ruby Rose (RWBY) would approve. And so do I. Alice and the player would find their own styles suitable to themselves.

I think the weapon is inspired from God of War but no offense, totally fits in the fire theme!

sumblinker

The real Alice Liddel had dark brown hair. (Forget the Disney versions.) In AMA she had almost black hair but in the remastered for some reason they have changed to dark red. I AMR she had black caise she got older. Asylum is a prequel so her hair is still browny.

sumblinker

The idea of a broken Vorpal Blade is fantastic and coherent with the theme of doubleness.

Love the weapon idea! That would be so much fun in the game and look so freakin cool!

The alchemy necklaces 😯 . Must have!!

An evolving weapon that changes mid-combo would be pretty interesting and entertaining. I dig it.

PS: A SCYTHE AS A WEAPON would be absoloutly mind-blowing and could fit very well to a chaos mode ^^

The idea of the TRANSFORMING WEAPONS is AWESOME!!! I agree, it fits very well with the chaos Setting and you also gain new strategies and possibilities in Combat. KEEP ON! It's a great way to improve the Gameplay and to support the game design <3

Excited about the goal as well!!! This all is looking so great so far! very very excited, LOVE the idea of the transforming weapon/items for combat and platforming both!!! Keep up the awesome work, gets better with every update! <3

Hahnt9009

Maybe you could use an anagram of Chaos for the blade's name? Socha or something like? (Dissolving and reforming the letters?)

We are so close to the goal!!! So excited! Loving the idea of a morphing weapon! Brilliant!

I have a question about Alice I've been wanting to ask for ages. How come Alice's hair gets darker the farther into the series she progresses? The first game she was a dark red head, the 2nd game it was almost black, and this prequel it looks like she may be a proper ginger. Why is that?

Very 💀

Awesome!!💀

QUESTION: So since this how it all began, Will Alice be hesitant to use weapons when they appear? And see the vorpal blade for the first time and be surprised or nervous? How will she react when she has to kill in her wonderland? I'm really curious.

Complementary QUESTION: How many patrons are eligible so far?

Make Nine Inch Nails great again

I freaked a bit when I thought you were going to try to incorporate runes into the game, as well as astrological symbols, alchemy and tarot, as this would be a whole new system of language / oracle, but then I realised that by runes you meant symbols or sigils

QUESTION: Don't know if it was asked already, but: what will you do if there will be at least 1000 chaos coin patrons? Will you really put 1000 coins in the game? This would be really boring experience to collect them all. You can make a packages of coins to ease that, but still...

ooh! as much as i love the idea of the transforming weapon, what if it has a durability bar? if you get this relatively early on (as i think would make sense considering the ember-like design) the chaos wouldn't be serving her well yet. mayhaps it could hit pretty hard, but break too easily (and then recharge?) to be a mainstay. as you progress you could spend some chaos coins or taro's (or both?) to make it's flexibility an advantage instead of a hindrance. i see it as a weapon that you initially only use on stronger enemies/ bosses, but would evolve, as others have mentioned, into the reliable vorpal blade we know... forging the chaos of the blade as Alice forges the chaos within herself!

Haxxton VonWham

The weapons might also be able to change in combination with the various tarot cards one might finde in the game? That could be one of the possible boni.

SUGGESTION: How about that this is your initial blade in the game and, while you go through the game, you gather more pices and make it more powerful. Finally at the last levels of the games this complete blade could transform into the Vorpal Blade we all know and love.

This is really cool!

Wow! That "Broken Vorpal Blade" concept look really good! I love it! SUGGESTION: We could call the blade "Vorpal Blade of Chaos". I really like the patches too!

The flamingo either needs to just be bloody or just spitting fire. Both is too much in my opinion

*Disorder (synonym for Chaos). I fact-checked myself, but I still think it could work.

I really like the idea of the Vorpal Blade transforming into different weapons. I also really like the piece that's used as the banner for this post. Art print/poster maybe? SUGGESTION: Maybe it could be called the Eris Blade (named after the Greek Goddess of Discord) or the Havoc Blade? Discord and havoc are synomyms for chaos, so that could avoid any confusion with the Chaos Blades (and possibly any legal action against you). Let's not get you sued by the guys behind Dad of Boy.

Love the idea of a scythe but you got a point 🤔

FLAMEINGO WINS! Thank you :D

QUESTION! Should the blade not be only dark or at least something related to the asylum she lives in? I feel as if the blade looks more like it was made from magma, it's still burning which would be a weird item to hold. SIDE NOTE! Kids can't hold scythes. Scythes are very heavy and very annoying to hold, especially for kids. Would it not be better to give her smaller weapons? She got no muscles (nor nutrition as it seems).

Saleh Abu-Rashid

The vorpal blade idea is awesome!! all the weapons are absolutely perfect! SUGGESTION: I do think the patches would be better as pins! A lot of people already have all the other patches and there is already that option, maybe this time make something different, or maybe the two of them

I love the idea that Alice's vorpal blade weapon takes its true form at the end based on that saying. Totally love the new patches, especially lulu and the card guards. Like the hedge hog ball being added with the flamingo X3. The keys are lovely happy to hear there is some movement on that, the option to switch them out etc is cool.

Really like this version of Vorpal Blade, as a gameplay element, a visual, and a storytelling tool. I could see an elegant combo system where successive hits change the weapon's form, and/or you could customize what each hit does and select the forms it cycles through (for example, you could choose to set it so that on the third hit the weapon turns into a hammer and creates a stagger effect, or a different set makes it so on the third hit it turns into a shield and knocks the enemy back, etc). Would allow for a lot of player variance and sets up for an awesome moment when the Vorpal Blade finally takes its iconic form.

Totally agree about the patches, they are soooooo cute and adorable and awesome! I like the idea of runes/symbols to customize both her look and individual player style + it can add another puzzling level to the platforming part of the gameplay, where you might need to use certain skills/runes to reach certain places. SUGGESTION: Maybe enemies drop shards or in some way increases the power of the weapon you are able to create. Maybe a hit streak thing like in Shadow of Mordor (a lot can be said about that game, but it really has some cool combat and stealth elements that make it fun to play (and distracts from its shortcomings and failures). QUESTION: 1) How's it going with your travel anxiety, Martin? Found any good ways to manage it, you might want to share? (: 2) Who are the two shitbirds that thought Martins' accent was below average!?

I LOVE the idea of a blade that reforms. The idea of it changing with each successive strike is an especially cool idea. You guys keep outdoing yourselves! I'm also interested to see what comes out of the runes idea! Seeing as you've got five Alchemy Keys and we've only got one neck (I think I'd struggle to decide on which to wear...), have you considered making a charm bracelet design with all five keys...? :-)

hahaha! I need to make a pixel art gif of these two. Shame he squishes them they make a cute team.

Love the blade idea and all the artwork as usual! QUESTION: Is there a possibility for pins with these (or the earlier) patch designs? Would die for them!

Love the blade concept as well as the new patches. I also think the Alchemy Keys could be a reward of some high tear Patreon/crowd fundraising goal. They are absolutely stunning!

Yes, Alex wrote to tell me that but I wasn't able to edit the text until just now. It's noted.

American McGee

Just a heads up, the "rune mock up" is just a screenshot from Doom.

Vrod302

Yes I love the reforming blade idea please let that be in the game!!! My favorite weapon idea so far!!! It would be so cool to see this paired with all,the new dresses!!!!❤💜 I love the new patches too!

I’d love if all these patches could be stickers or pins as well. Oh and I really like the idea of the blade being able to reform into different things.

Justin Cole

Inter-species love hurts a little more than conventional love I guess. (Sad that "taming the Walrus" didn't make it. <a href="https://scontent-cdt1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/32482795_1880437975585344_5078840497292705792_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&amp;efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&amp;oh=b79668fc316457a2733d3cba18fc45e1&amp;oe=5BFBE146" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://scontent-cdt1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/32482795_1880437975585344_5078840497292705792_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&amp;efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&amp;oh=b79668fc316457a2733d3cba18fc45e1&amp;oe=5BFBE146</a> But I understand both of them already had their own patch.)

Make Nine Inch Nails great again

thx for the quizzes, they help a lot. I find weapon transformation idea amazing. Not sure about the Runes, maybe Tarot Cards/alchemy symbols instead...

I love the idea that the iconic Vorpal Blade from the other two games is actually being created/stabilized here. It absolutely needs to be recognizable though; it is her signature weapon, and it would be disappointing to NOT see it here.

Rosuav

Thank you! I fixed it :)

American McGee

I think the idea of the Broken coral balde is genius, I need to get that Lulu patch I still got to stitch my other patches onto something. QUESTION if you found yourself Martin, and lulu sucked into Wonderland together, and you all have to fight aganist twisted versions of all the people who support youi and have been twisted by wonderland, do you think you 3 could survive?

Lucas Severin

I think the quiz may need a fix. The form says for questions two $75 - $200. I was going to put $150, but the slider only gave me $0 - $100. Maybe it’s just rendering that way on mobile devices, but heads up before everyone takes it if it’s a real problem. Thanks!

I’m mindblown by this dissolve to reform weapon idea!!! It would be so cool to play!!!

Cherrie Wu


More Creators