2021 Recap & 2022 Planning

Dear Insane Children, 

I think it's fair to say we're all happy to see 2021 quickly vanishing in the rearview mirror. And we're hopeful (perhaps a bit anxious) about what's in store for 2022. 

To kick things off, we've compiled a recap of Alice: Asylum Major Events for 2021. And a roadmap for 2022. 

But before you dive into that, I want to say THANK YOU! All of this - our team of artists; the collaborative design process; the biz dev conversations being spawned - all of it is a direct result of YOUR support. It's an odd adventure we're on. One filled with uncertainty and peril... but it's already produced a ton of experience and treasure. Fingers crossed we'll reach some interesting destinations in the year ahead.

Hi everyone,
Alex Crowley here (Project Manager, Co-Writer, Lead Designer for Asylum) with a 2021 re-cap, and a glimpse into what to expect for Alice (and Oz) for 2022.

2021. The Year that Was.

Here it is in bite-size chunks.

1. ON-GOING ARTWORK CREATION:

The team created a ton of beautiful artwork. This captures key-narrative beats and compliments the experience in the Alice: Asylum Design Bible.  Here are some of the greatest 2021 hits from the art team:

2. STORY COMPLETION:

With your help and input, American and I completed the massive 183 Page Alice: Asylum Story Outline. (Read it here).  

This is a HUGE piece of the puzzle locked into place that dictates the rest of the work to follow for the Design Bible. Your feedback on the narrative was overwhelmingly positive, and we thank you for your input if you weighed in on the story in any way.  Here’s what some of you had to say;

Insane Children Reaction Quotes Video at YouTube 

3. DESIGN BIBLE WORKING PROTOTYPE - V1 + V2 (WIP)

Earlier in the year, we prepared and released working prototypes for how the finished design document for Alice: Asylum could look. This is the foundation for the document we call the Design Bible.

It is a complete catch-all of the narrative, core game-play, and design concepts that read from start to finish as if you were playing the game of Alice: Asylum.

For the latest update, you can see it here. You’ll be seeing a LOT more in 2022.

As a reminder, the key objectives the Design Bible needs to perform are;

1. A slick sales document that is considered our best tool towards getting the potential game concept for Asylum funded by investors.

2. An enjoyable media document that will be presented and released for free for the fans.

3. An accurate technical document that acts as an initial scope of works for any potential development partner.

To date, all of the progress for the Design Bible has been received VERY positively by all potential investors and media companies it’s been read by.  From what we can see, Alice’s fans, patrons, and supporters are also keen to read the finished document.

So, we’re now going to finish it. That’s going to happen in 2022.  That’s the team's priority to finish moving forward.
More on that later.

4. UPDATES ON DEALS AND ONGOING TALKS:

Our team’s efforts this year on Alice: Asylum is currently being actively reviewed by some of the biggest entertainment companies in the world.

You already know who they are. You’re probably a paying subscriber to at least two of them.

This is a LARGE discussion point, (American, Marc, and Adam can elaborate more than I can) but the short version is; these talks have led to something VERY exciting.

So, what is it?

5. ?????

We can’t say much YET, but, an announcement is looming that I’m sure will delight any fan of Alice. (All of us on the team know what it is… but we can’t say anything JUST yet in a public forum. ARGH!)

The year of our combined efforts has seen gears turning towards positive and exciting things. Those efforts have now borne fruit. We’re all just waiting for the final pieces to slot into place to make the final announcement.

2022 looks to be kicking off to a solid start. Stay tuned.

THANK YOU.
Thank you to all of our Patrons for helping us through an amazing 2021.

We literally couldn’t have done it without you. This leads us all up to staring down the barrel of 2022.

So, what’s next?

2022 - Alice: Asylum / Main Priority = Completion of the Design Bible.

Let’s get it done.

From the completion of the story, we now have a complete roadmap of key visuals we’d like to see in the DB. We’ve attached (scroll down) a PDF workflow snapshot taken directly from our Project Management software. This is the full list of art tasks for the team to capture the narrative. You’ll see this artwork (and potentially more) come to life in 2022. 112 art tasks now sit within that flow, and some have multiple outputs and images within the briefs. Spoilers (obviously) if you dive into that list.

The game plan is; while I am working on the layout and design work for the DB itself, the rest of the Art Team will be working on completing the key conceptual artwork and visual exploration deemed essential to accompany the Asylum Narrative.

Judging by the Art Team’s projected pace and output delivery so far, this will continue for at least another 9-12 months from this point onwards.

At this stage, for the DB itself, I also estimate the finished document will be at least 250+ pages of content.  That’s containing all story, design work, game-play ideas, and concept art for Asylum in one beautiful home.

In other words, the finished DB will be huge, and very detailed.
That’s lots of Alice for you all to enjoy in one place.

And, we’ll release it digitally for free when it’s done.

The finished DB will also be going straight to the desks of all the SUPER MEGA CORPS we’re engaged with to try and get these deals for Alice done.

I expect there’ll also be some time spent in 2022 to polish and refine the DB after some more progress has been made. As before, we’ll be taking into account your input and including you all in the design process in the discussions here, on the Discord, social media platforms, and on the live streams.

There’ll be plenty of updated WIP snapshots of the DB as it is completed. Expect the next DB WIP update in the early months of 2022, with a steady stream of updates until completion.

Earlier in 2021, and before the story work was completed, we’d mentioned that we wanted to wrap all of this pre-production up around March-April 2022. This soft ETA is now looking very unrealistic to suit the quality we want to create for Alice: Asylum, and the amount of work that is now evident upon the completion of the narrative last month. The bottom line is, in order to make this all as good as it can be, we’re going to take a bit more time to get this right.

We’re a small team with big hurdles to jump over, but we will continue to do the best we can. And we want you to be with us every step of the way on that journey.

Lots of wonderful new artwork and new designs will be incoming for 2022. And, we’re now in the final stretch of pre-production.

Also, the green glimmer of Oz is shining on the horizon. More on that later. Prepare to get spooky.

Have a wonderful and safe New Year everyone. Thank you for all your support and involvement in the Alice pre-production project throughout 2021.

Some of us on the team will be here chipping away over the End of Year break, then we’re all hitting the ground running with a vengeance in the New Year.

If you come all the way to the bottom here, thank you for reading.

I’ll see you in the DB posts!

Cheers,

Alex