americanmcgee
patreon
So what's next? And the Answers to your questions..
🕑 Added 2023-04-12 00:49:46 +0000 UTCHi Everyone,
FontLord here.
Just wanted to also give a huge amount of love and hugs to everyone that joined us on this journey.
Not the result we wanted but boy did we have fun, made some great friends, saw some amazing art and nailed down one hell of a story :)
But some of you have written in asking about "Patreon Things" so he is a basic run down of some of that and also a little bit of a FAQ, and of course should you still have some unanswered questions after finishing this post, pop them in the comments below and we'll do a FAQ V2
So here we go, yes, if you have currently paid for a tier ($35 or $75), you WILL still get the print/plushie associated with that tier.
Plushies and art prints are still going out (even those who have unanswered Backerkit emails for the 3x$35 tier can still fill them in and choose prints)
We will be fulfilling all that going forwards, but as you know, the prints need to be signed, and American is currently away, so there's a bit of a delay on them being shipped.
The final Patreon print (March Patrons charged in April) is the one at the top of this post. Titled "Cannot Help"
But will we be doing more prints going forwards?
Obviously not on Patreon, but we do have quite the backlog of fantastic art we didn't get around to doing on Patreon, so some of those WILL be going up on sale over on Mysterious in the future.
Not sure of the timescale or which prints, but keep checking on the Mysterious Art Page for those.
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THIS BIT IS IMPORTANT !!!
Another question is about Discord access.
We do want to keep the amazing community over on Discord going so we need to keep 1 tier alive here on Patreon. However due to some reason (a bug I have currently emailed Patreon about) we have no ability to edit/change/modify/create new Patreon/Discord tiers.
The only workaround I can currently think of is for everyone to drop to the $5 tier, that's the current lowest tier that still has Discord access.
Then in the future, when the bug is fixed, we can edit that to $1 or create a brand new $1 tier and bump you all over to that.
So to summarize, if you still would like Discord access PLEASE CHANGE YOUR TIER TO THE $5 TIER NOW.
I will be deleting all other tiers towards the end of the week.
I hope this goes smoothly as we have currently 'hibernated' the Alice: Asylum page to prevent any more money being taken from you. Shout out in the comments if you are somehow having trouble changing tiers on a hibernated Patreon page.
I expect this transition to be somewhat messy and not work exactly as planned, so please bear with us...
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And now some quick fire Q&A from American...
1) "Why not just buy the Alice license from EA?"
Because you cannot force someone to sell something they do not want to sell. EA has said "no" to any and all offers to purchase, license, or work with the "Alice" IP (intellectual property) - and as the legal owners of the property, it is their right to decide what to do with it.
2) "Why did you sell Alice to EA in the first place?"
American did not "sell" Alice to EA. EA owned it automatically from the start. American created the first "Alice" game while he was an employee of EA. As is the case with almost all such work situations, any creations or inventions made while employed by a company end up the property of that company automatically.
3) "Just create a different style of game based on Alice In Wonderland since it is public domain"
American signed an agreement with EA to never develop any new game or property based on "Alice in Wonderland" and he signed over his name in association with the version that he created while at EA. That means he's legally barred from doing anything related to "Alice in Wonderland" outside the realm of the property he created at EA.
4) "Go find another publisher" or "just Kickstart it" and similar suggestions
This does not solve the problem and just takes the questions back the #1 - it's EA's property and they do not desire to see it developed, licensed, funded by others, etc.
5) Is there anything we can do?
No. We've done everything we can to present a vision for a new game (story and design) and plan for development. EA has reviewed what we produced and decided it's not interested in funding or allowing others to fund more Alice development. The best thing to do now is to leave it alone. That is what American plans to do.
6) What about re-releases, updates, and other platforms for the existing games?
All questions related to the existing games should be directed at EA. American has no control over these decisions.
7) Will we continue to make plushies and other things over on Mysterious?
Yes, Mysterious will continue.
8) Will you be making a hard copy of the Design Bible?
We can't do this because we don't have a license for it and the people who control that aspect of the Alice stuff (print) won't even reply to our emails.
9) What about the Alice TV show?
To the best of our knowledge, work is still happening to get a TV show made, but we're not involved in that work and don't wish to be.
And there you have it.
I hope that has answered a lot of what you were all wondering?
Again, drop us a comment below if you need to ask more.
But also, do you have any ideas about what we can do going forwards to keep our community together and potentially work on other ideas? Again, sound off in the comments, no wrong answers :)
Following on from all the links to the artists that American posted in the 'bad news post', I don't really do a huge amount of online social stuff, I'm old and grumpy like that. But I do still have an Instagram I post to now and then if I see something good, so why not pop over and follow? 😁
https://www.instagram.com/f0ntl0rd/
And I can also always be found doing our online support for Mysterious too!
Once again, big ole hugs from me and I'll see you around 😉
Comments
Ed H
This breaks my hearts guys. I'm so sorry to discover this is the end of the journey. I personally want to thank you all for your hard work, beautiful and often terrifying creativity that brought us enjoyment through the franchise, and also for willingly releasing your masterpiece to everyone for free through the Alice Asylum Design Bible. I do have one final question, is there anything that would prevent a game like this to be made if fans released it based on your design bible? Let's say if me and some fellow friends in industry decided to take this on as a personal project?
Felisa Weiss
I know i’m late in this discussion. I believe I’m in the $! tier monthly. Do you know what I should do at this point? Thanks.
Lucas Severin
it can't be helped. a prefect print to end the adventure on. strangely fitting if you ask me.
Fontlord-- I'm so excited that the prints will still be available for sale, it's awe-inspiring the amount of incredible art that came out of this project. I will continue to support Mysterious and American in whatever way I can.
Sobela
I guess changing the story, what universe it's in and changing how things look in the Alice asylum game so it can be made under a new name is a no go..Well I'm sad to see this game never get made b/c of how petty EA is..really I get it i had a friend that nearly die b/c of how hard EA worked them so ja...I'll still be staying just to see what madness there is to come..I'd not say no if u all made a digital not official story book of the Alice asylum game but I get it and anyways I have the design bible which I very much enjoy so yay. ^_^ I just hope things can be left up here on Patreon and else where. ^_^ <3
Mr Mcgee or fontlord since I won’t be able to see more about this is there a way I can read the story again I can’t find the link
Hello FontLord, thanks for the update, I would really love it if you could still do live streams about the Mysterious projects, plushies, and other related fluf. Other than that, everything seems clear.
Karma Chameleon
Also, if I want to change tiers, do I just select the $5 tier and click join tier? And then it should be correct, as the other tiers will be deleted at the end of the week? Is that correct?
Karma Chameleon
Not sure if my other comment made it here or not, it's a bit of a blur since I found out this morning the state of things. My heart is broken. My soul, crushed among the others that wanted to see this come to light so badly. All the love and support to American and the wonderful team behind this fantastic vision. I wish I could help in some way. But I also look forward to the next project, whatever it may be. I love the style and creative process of this project and would love to see more, not Alice related I know American must be.. I can't even imagine the pain of ... EA has made a mockery of storytelling and I will never forgive them for this.
Karma Chameleon
Could we write this as a Dungeons and Dragons homebrew story? That would be amazing. I mean, I guess I could do whatever I wanted personally. Just thinking of various routes to tell the story. It is too good not to be shared!
Karma Chameleon
All my love an support to American and everyone who poured their souls into this wonderful project. I am so blessed to have seen the journey, I only wish I would have joined sooner to see it all from the start. I assume anything from now on in the Alice/American series is solely fan-based creations from now on? What if we wrote a book about the story to finish it? Could we change everything and still save the story itself? It would be hard, but I have had to do similar things in my own stories. I think I will keep the $5 tier, or was it the $1? to keep on discord, I really enjoyed seeing other Alice fan stuff and talking to others. If we can keep it alive through fan-based art/stories, I would be happy still. I mean either way I shall survive. I know I started a fan-fiction based on the series, and I love reading others.
Karma Chameleon
This... is a bit soul crushing. (EA is now my nemesis for all eternity) No, but really. It is the one media thing I truly cared about. I love this game series. I play the first and second all the time. Over and over. My soul is crushed by the fact a corporate monster is killing the most beautiful story I have ever heard. I am glad for the art prints, at least. And the Design Bible thus far will always have a place in my heart.
Mike Webster
I have some questions that may or may not have answered. I was about to go up to the $35 tier for the prints, is that unavailable/pointless now? Will there be anymore worthwhile updates? American seemed to be broken by the news. Why not develop an unrelated game? A new IP? Maybe the same game but without "Alice" characters and references, renaming them.
I can't believe he can't even make anything else Alice based! As if EA has the right to tell him what he can do with a property They Don't Even Own! Follow up question, what ever happened about Oz? Best of luck for both of yall in the future <3
Luna “Luniibo” Mata
If someone wanted to print the Bible themselves at home for personal use, is that something that you’d be okay with?
Fuck EA!
