HomeNews
American McGee is still trying to make Alice: Asylum a realityA 400+ design bible is available to view now
A 400+ design bible is available to view now
American McGee is still trying to turn his theoreticalAlice: Asyluminto a reality. The last game in his dark action-platformer series,Alice: Madness Returns, released more than ten years ago, and since then McGee has been funding development through a Patreon which, at the time of writing, currently has 3,192 paying members. In 2021, McGee released the first draft of ascript, and now he’s back with a 414-page design bible, the announcement of a partner studio, and an odd plea to EA.
4K Alice Asylum Design Bible V1 Launch & Developer Announcement (14 Feb 2023)Watch on YouTube
4K Alice Asylum Design Bible V1 Launch & Developer Announcement (14 Feb 2023)
The design bible is available now forPatronsand opens up to everyone else tomorrow, but you can catch glimpses of it in the recently released trailer. There’s tons of concept art, design notes, mock UI concepts, and a brief glimpse at a new “dress rune system” - seemingly a way to mix and match different abilities. The full, finished script is also here, showing Alice at her “brightest” point - which in this context means she’s just about smiling - to her “darkest” point, showing her begging on the street like I imagine all Victorian era children did.
Looking at the design bible honestly? I can’t help but be a little intrigued at another trip in this series. Sure, Madness Returns was insufferable at times. Overly edgy, weirdly bloated and definitely repetitive. But, boy, was it beautiful. That’s to be expected when you’re remixing designs from Lewis Carroll’s classic books and turning them into these trippy, fever dream set pieces - and the design bible seems like more of the same, justmore. More sharp teeth on fancy teapots, more architecture that twirls unnaturally, and more random cards floating across the sky. So, yes, I’d like another.
At the same time, McGee has been talking about a third game forliterally a decade.Maybe I’d have a better time waiting for another bad Disney film.
