Hatter Inc.
Added 2017-11-11 01:11:37 +0000 UTC
Dear Patrons,
Another round of images from Joey just arrived! She continues her work on Hatter's domain and sketches for Hatter's attire. These images are inspiring all sorts of story and drama in my mind. I can't wait to explore these areas and re-visit these characters in-game!
October 11, 2017
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American,
I did some quick design of Hatter's place exterior, also did another version of hatter himself, with a coat like the original fairy tale.
For his place, the structure on the huge teapot is stone/brick castle instead of machine, but there should still be some gears, outside of the building and inside the teapot. I have 2 outshape of this one, one normal, the other tilt one, I feel it's more intresting. The rendering is also one more normal, porcelain teapot and maybe the building on top is also made of china; the other is quite old, nasty, burnt style. Maybe his place used to be fine china, then something happend, Hatter got mad and burnt his place...
How do you think? Also which stage of emotion are we going to link to hatter's place?
Cheers,
Joey

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Joey,
These look really cool. I have a couple of ideas...
For the Hatter's domain and castle... What you've done is really nice. I'd like to see you add a couple of smaller floating islands around the main island. Include a lot of green and beautiful garden areas as little floating islands connected to the main island - places where we might find Hatter having tea with his friends during the daytime. Since tea is coming from China you can also include a feeling of China - like you said, the castle is made from a clean and beautiful China and the area around can look like the mountains from Guilin in China.
This idea and theme was hinted at in the trailer we did for Madness Returns. You can see from these screen grabs...


This will be how we first see Hatter's domain - he might even be included in the Denial phase of the game. Then there'll be some sort of accident or disaster which ruins his area of the game, destroys the beauty of this place, and disfigures Hatter.
If we go with that story then I think it makes sense that we first see hatter in a nice coat like you've shown him. When Alice meets him we might also introduce his Alchemy Hat for the first time - some new creation he's just finished. We'll also see that he's at work trying to master alchemy - turning things into gold or other precious elements. So you might think about an area which is clearly Hatter's laboratory.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Cheers,
-American
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Also, our friend Jennifer D'aww sent along an image we'll use to create test samples of acrylic pins for Alice: Asylum. Check out this cool little Mock Turtle! We'll create a whole line of these featuring all your favorite characters - then we can add them to the Mysterious shop and turn them into Patron rewards! What do you think?

As always, be sure to leave your feedback and questions in the comments below. We'll respond during the next live stream on YouTube. Yay!
Hello McGee, I'm not a patreon unfortunately, but I've been following your work for a while and would like to say your work is so wonderful! I've been a fan of Alice ever since I first saw it as a child. How I discovered it was kind of an accident involving a downloaded video. Anyways, I'm so excited that you're adding more into Alice's story. And about the pins coming soon, earlier I just saw someone I watch on Tumblr drew their own version of an Alice pin.
LittleInkSheep
2017-11-15 00:53:33 +0000 UTC
I really love the Hatters coat and his domain is so beautiful! I'm looking forward to seeing that get destroyed π so it can be rebuilt into the messed up realm from the first game!
2017-11-14 02:22:52 +0000 UTC
First of all everything looks amazing! I'd definitely buy a set of pins from the store. A question: Would Hatter's domain in Asylum culminate in a more traditional boss fight similar to how it did in the first game? That question would apply to all domains I guess, actually! I hope so; I'd love to see those kinds of fights again. I'm actually replaying Madness Returns right now and while I love it, I do miss the boss fights from the first game. Looking forward to more updates!!
2017-11-13 22:06:53 +0000 UTC
Oh~ the Hatter is looking rather dapper in his new threads. I like the look for the teapot castle, would love to see how that turns out in a larger more detailed piece of artwork which which I'm sure is coming along down the way. I like idea of it being an accident that causes the Hatter to start rebuilding himself and others around him with mechanical equipment. Definitly goes with the theme of the new game, makes more sense than he himself burning his own area down to ruins. Oh my God the pins, so perfect. I would wear those at work and have yet another reason to bring up the new game to anyone who will listen haha. Jennifer's cute art is just perfect for the pins t-shirts and stuff. I still think she could make some really cool mugs too. Everything looks great, you guys are all doing awesome work and are definitly keeping the enthusiasm alive for me personally.
2017-11-13 02:13:10 +0000 UTC
Tea-fall rainbows may be brownish...
Make Nine Inch Nails great again
2017-11-12 11:43:06 +0000 UTC
Loving the good news! I just had an idea that may be interesting... The comment about the Hatter turning things into gold, i thought "such an mundane goal" then i realised that turning metals into gold just was one of the philosopher's stones ability. What if the Hatter is helping Alice with the stone? After all, Alice ends giving up wonderland to him and the red queen... The Hatters domain may be like an hub that changes with each step taken, as characters do...
2017-11-12 09:41:45 +0000 UTC
Liking the new Hatter and his domain. Building on Daycarn's idea of waterfalls and lakes made of tea, we could have Alice travel across/through them on teacups as boats.
Also building on the idea of Hatter mastering alchemy, we could tell a story about Hatter becoming more and more obsessed with alchemy and experimenting with so many things to see the results but not quite satisfied and continues to do more experiments. Then one experiment causes a huge explosion that ruins the whole area and it becomes a shamble. Which the Hatter, now known as the Mad Hatter, uses machinery to repair most of his domain and at the same time uses machinery in his new experiments.
2017-11-12 04:08:06 +0000 UTC
I like the jacket on the Hatter. I also think it could be good that in the more normal version of Wonderland the Hatter could look more like a normal person and as he gets madder and more corrupted his face becomes more contorted, or his skin gets stretched tight on his skull giving him kind of a ghoulish look, rather than a cartoony gnome look.
Just watched the 11/8 stream, couple comments: getting Vrenna back for the soundtrack would be incredible, even more so if in collaboration with Manson. I would love to see the story worked out in more detail as well, than it was in the previous games. Perhaps also more story driven gameplay. Lastly, I completely agree with American that it would be great to give the Cheshire cat a larger role in both story and gameplay.
2017-11-11 14:39:35 +0000 UTC
I loooove these illustrations! All of them! The normal Teapot world looks so beautiful, and as Daycarn mentioned, lakes and and waterfalls of tea would be PERFECT for this! I also really, really like the Hatter in the coat. He looks all dressed up for a tea party.
And the Mockturtle pin is just adorable <3
2017-11-11 12:09:11 +0000 UTC
I love the idea of tea lakes and waterfalls! It goes really well with the shape of his world being a teapot.
2017-11-11 12:05:05 +0000 UTC
I really love the idea of having these little spots of beauty present before Wonderland changed for the horrific. The Vale of Tears in Madness Returns was always a favorite area of mine because of its beauty and peacefulness...a perfect mix of music and visual detail to really give a glimpse at Alice's unperverted Wonderland. Then it slowly transitions into something darker as you progress in the level. Love it. I think having more beautiful areas like this (though the scary Wonderland has its own kinda beauty as well, of course) will make Alice's denial even more tragic, and when the scary, dark and melancholy Wonderland seeps in, it has that peacefulness to to contrast with. Really cool stuff! Can't wait for more updates!!!
The Fabs
2017-11-11 06:29:54 +0000 UTC
I prefer the hatter with the coat, it makes him look a bit more normal, like before he'd gone completely insane. The idea for the hatter's domain also looks great and i loved Daycarn idea for the waterfall of tea. And the acrylic pins are a great idea, i would definitely buy one of those. Can't begin to say how excited I am with every new thing.
Priscila Nosoma
2017-11-11 05:17:41 +0000 UTC
That pin is adorable! gladly grab a set of them. The ideas for the hatter domain looks great, I would love to see waterfalls or lakes of tea. I mean unlimited tea supply for tea parties.
2017-11-11 02:07:18 +0000 UTC
These look really good! Iβm really hyped now for this pitch! And IοΈ am all over the idea of pins for the different characters. Iβm willing to purchase it off the store.
2017-11-11 01:24:56 +0000 UTC
I loved the Hatter's domain, and the idea of little islands floating around, with the tea gardens and the China theme, it's just great!
2017-11-11 01:24:38 +0000 UTC