americanmcgee
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13 Years a Shadow
🕑 Added 2018-11-24 04:11:19 +0000 UTC Dear Insane Children,I've been thinking more and more about the end-game of Alice: Asylum and of the perspective from which the narrative is being told. As was (I think) mentioned in the most recent Livestream (godawful audio, sorry. we've fixed the technical issues now) - we're looking at having the Asylum story told from the perspective of post-Madness Returns Alice. That is, shortly after Alice pushes Bumby onto the train tracks, she goes somewhere to integrate everything that's happened.
During this process she discovers something's missing. She's finished the obvious journey but she does not feel complete or whole. The Infernal Train ravaged her mind and a lot of her past is missing. So, through some as-yet-unknown mechanism or plot device - she journeys back to her time in the asylum. She witnesses the journey of her 13-year old self through those early days of a Shattered Wonderland.
We've talked a bit about the relationship to the Shadow Self... and the image you see above is, I think, the best representation of this idea we've seen so far. Young Alice adventures through Wonderland trying to repair her PTSD but finds herself in constant opposition to or competition with her Shadow Self. I'd thought previously she might need to integrate the Shadow Self in order to form the complete self required to move forward and reorganize her mental landscape then defeat Bumby. But...
Spoiler Alert
Now, I'm thinking... what if, at the end of Asylum, Alice confronts her Shadow Self, maybe even defeats her or reaches a stalemate... then decides to allow Shadow Alice to move forward into battle.
Child Alice, the one we've been playing as in Asylum, stays behind in a sort of limbo.
Shadow Alice is who we've known from AMA and AMR... she's all we've ever known. And Child Alice has remained trapped in the Wonderland post-Asylum.
So... at the end of Madness Returns it's Shadow Alice who is reaching back to find her Inner Child, not even aware that she was/is the Shadow. That memory of who she was and her promise to return and save Child Alice was destroyed by the Infernal Train.
I like the layering and discovery available to us in this narrative. What do you think?
I don't think, until this latest Shadow Alice image (the one up top) that we'd properly captured the Child Alice facial features or body proportions. What's presented here is really close to what I had in mind.
What do you think? Have we found "our Alice?"
Joey also sends along a new level / environment illustration. This time depicting a scene similar to a level in AMA - The Hatter's Tea Party with Alice in miniature. I *love* settings like this one and cannot wait to see these rendered in-game.
We're also exploring ideas for future physical items - here's a Cheshire Cat Head 3D model. Something like this might become part of a physical game box or other type of collectible. Perhaps a full-blown chess set?
Meow?
I just posted a big update regarding Out of the Woods over on the Kickstarter Page. If you're a backer, be sure to check that out. Everything is still on track for the factory to finish / ship the games by the 27th of November. That means we can start shipping rewards and pre-orders to everyone be the 1st or 2nd week of December. Yay!
Goal / Reward Adjustment
Since the latest Embroidered Patch Set doesn't seem to be attracting much attention to Patreon, I'm going to remove it as the next Goal and just focus on the White Rabbit Plush. The Plush is currently set to unlock at 3222 Patrons.
I'll still provide the Embroidered Patch Set #2 to you for $10USD via Mysterious. You'll need this code: EMPATCH2
IMPORTANT: Enter that code at checkout and the item total will drop to $10USD. Please DO NOT add more stuff to your cart in order to unlock the Mini White Rabbit - these two offers are mutually exclusive. The EMPATCH2 code is only good for a single purchase of the Embroidered Patch Set 2 and won't combine with the Mini White Rabbit offer.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Yan's in Japan so Lulu and I worked non-stop through the holidays alone... but are hoping to take a break tomorrow (Sunday) to cook a turkey and entertain some American guests for a Thanksgiving dinner. Yay.
I am truly thankful and grateful and all the ful's to everyone of you for your support and love and trust.
From Shanghai with Love,
-American
Comments
The concept of Shadow Alice has been playing on my mind (excuse the pun, but it serves a purpose) • SPOILER ALERT (conceivably, because it does point towards a potential twist) • the person playing the game is in fact stepping into the role of Shadow Alice, as do all game players and lovers of horror and gore; the role of executioner is not one we would gladly assume on a daily basis, but it is one we service when we play such games (or when we 'gun for' the hero of a movie). It is a vestige of the kind of resource we would need to draw upon if we were militia, or worked in an abattoir, or even as a dentist or surgeon (though that's more of a penumbra than a shadow); likewise, if we ever sought to exact revenge. This probably isn't anything very new and analysts of horror as a genre may have been saying something like it for years. It was triggered by a short definition of Jung's idea of the Shadow from a source too obscure to quote, in that "the shadow is seen as the repressed aspects of a personality, those aspects of ourselves that we dislike. When one's personal shadow is thoroughly discarded, it projects itself into the world around. It becomes those people whom we most dislike, those cultures which must be oppressed or exterminated. Like the criminal, for example, who allows the cop to be an upright citizen, the shadow is the 'other' who nonetheless allows the self to have definition." The shadow, to my mind, therefore represents the 'reigning in' of chaos.
If this game is being viewed through the eyes of the older, post-Madness Returns Alice, the older version could somehow enter the action at the end, either in a cutscene or as part of the gameplay, and coalesce with her younger self, thereby recovering that missing part of her. I guess the story is meant to be set before the 2 episodes of Alice:Otherlands, since Alice seems to be quite "together" (i.e. "no longer fearing the fire") by then!
