The House of Fire and Fury

That's a really cool idea!

Haha. I think my discussion with Renee got a little out of hand.

The image is stunning! great job joey. lots of very long comments, do you intend to use any of these ideas American?

I agree with you on the powers; gaining a new ability for each stage won't work. I was thinking about something like that as well, where you would get a new weapon for each stage, but that would cause some weapons to only appear near the end of the game. So what I think would be better, would be some meter as you suggested, and when it is full you can trigger some sort of super-attack that will wipe out all of the enemies. The animation for this can be changed according to the stage Alice is in. For other skills and weapons, however, I don't think they should be connected to the different stages. As for being able to 'go back'... I don't really think that would work in an Alice game, except maybe if makes sense in the context of the story.

Fight-o-meter like in Asura's Wrath. So relevant :)

Make Nine Inch Nails great again

This image is really beautiful. It does portray anger and also looks like its charred on the outside but burning hot on the inside (which could also work with the transition from denial to anger?) I am also wondering how emotion will be portrayed in the game. Is it just going to be through the environment or also with enemies and interactions, the character going through the emotions, and/or attempting to get the player to feel it now. It would be interesting if you used the concept discussed during your livestream in which Alice could hide by turning into a doll because it could have a lot of meaning. Only having meaningful impact in the denial stage (because hiding/denying but also innocence) but now breaking out of that stage. This would then mean that she is not hiding/denying any more and is leaving more of a child stage. Not being able to use this ability in the anger stage would focus on combat (which is very anger related). The ability could either still continue to stay there but be useless (to emphasize) or have it replaced by a bigger (ex: more violent or more damage) ability to match this setting. Anger could also be portrayed by Alice disrupting cut-scenes by ex: leaving, storming out, etc. This would show that everything is not calm anymore and its becoming more disorganized with her emotions. This will help bring this destruction of normality to the player and will make it seem like there is a sense of impatience that she has. It would also be interesting to see Alice turn on her own self with this anger. Maybe characters betray her here and she would have to turn on them (because her anger could be placed on those around her, herself which could manifest itself into her friends and therefore turn against her, just her anger towards her own family for them dying? which therefore turns into that, etc). I feel like this could help represent the anger that she feels about the situation and its being misplaced. This might be a bit too far though? Another thing is having her younger self turn against her, as in having younger type of toys or something similar being able to harm her. This would also show the misdirected anger. Also to help enforce the player to fight maybe enemies defeated add to some sort of meter (which can also decrease if she doesn't fight long enough) and when it fills, Alice gets really strong, some part is enhanced, etc. I think that this stage would be the one where Alice is the strongest and is mostly combative to help with the anger feel of the stage.

The house looks incredible, I imagine when the game is finished, the size and appearance of the house will be very haunting and give us a feeling of awe. In terms of the Cheshire Cat, one idea could be that he starts with fur and slowly loses his fur over the course of the game - with the intense heat of the fire environment, as well as Alice's own downfall into anger and depression (acting as a pathetic fallacy). This can then lead into the Cherise's brandings, a cruel act which makes Alice amend herself, moving into the bargaining and acceptance stages. Design-wise, I think his pupils need to be slightly larger, yet retain the cat-eye slit shape - a larger head would also suggest him being younger. He could act more cat-like, washing himself and brushing himself against Alice, when she is too blinded by rage to notice his advice, this would convey a difference when he is older as he acts more reserved and refined. Perhaps he could talk more softly and slowly, more gentle in his words towards Alice. I'm looking forward to more concept art coming our way!

It's gorgeous! I was expecting more red and didn't get to see how it may work but the ash grey works perfectly it also fits with the general idea. About the faustian character... Maybe Humpty? He's not evil per se, but is an arrogant character who loves to twist the words... Long time without reading the book but i will take a look because i remember some characters that may do the job...

I love this illustration. Especially the few bright-blue plants in contrast with the fiery colors. What if these blue flowers would be everywhere in the world, representing the safer spots (hence why you see more of them at the start of a level - it's still relatively safe), or hinting at a secret nearby. Maybe with blue butterflies around them. (like the ones that appear around Alice in MR when she runs or quick steps)

Madamka

It looks amazing, I hope Sonny will be able to join soon 😊

It might be interesting to think of the Unicorn and the Lion for bargaining - have them get political with false promises for Alice's support

Beautiful art! Its exactly right for the anger stage of wonderland!! Do you think bargaining could have anything to do with the Queen of Hearts and the red Queen becoming one being???like maybe Alice wants her pain to go away and the Queens tell Alice she has to make them morw powerful so they can stop the pain (or kill her I suppose) and they form together? Just a thought! Hope your boat is doing ok!💙

Aw man! I'm really excited! And the Hatter and Mock Turtle will be appearing as well?! I can't wait to see what your illustrators come up with for their character designs! I really like the idea that the different domains are going to be the different stages Alice is going through. Like you said, this really does capture Anger very well. Which leads me to my next question: will the Jabberwocky be making an appearance at this stage? If I recall correctly, he made an appearance in the first game, almost like a manifestation of Alice's guilt, which is why I ask.

So jazzed, it's just beautiful. Joey is so talented, really seems to capture the feeling of Alice's world in her illustrations. I love how daunting the path ahead looks for Alice standing in front of that huge castle. Everything has been shaping up so beautifully so far! Can't wait to see new stuff from Sonny, some of my favorite illustrations for madness returns were created by them.

Omg this is stunning!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Cherrie Wu