Enter The Moon Through His Mouth
Added 2020-05-20 00:27:04 +0000 UTCDear Insane Children,
I'm surprised that no one (not our Insane Children nor our artists) has pointed out the odd fact that our Moon is a man. But as I was going through the design notes and illustrations being created by the team this morning I realized that the wrongness of this is a good thing. Why?
Well, this moon is manufactured. Dare I say... man-ufactured? Har. Puns. I kill me.
Anyway, it's a mechanical construction of Hatter Industries. And we presume its lead architect/designer to be Hatter himself. And Hatter never struck me as particularly feminine. Nor have any of his creations ever looked like anything other than big, clunky, masses of nuts, bolts, pipes, and gears... massively masculine.
So it makes sense that if he were tasked to "build the moon" - he'd get the gender of the thing wrong. Hence our Male Moon.
What's good about this is that it should be an immediate sign to anyone paying attention - and who isn't reading all these spoilers - that The Moon is not all he seems.
While Omri is sketching The Moon (main image, above), Dario is working on Alice's method of flying to The Moon... in the form of a hot air balloon. She finds this balloon while trying to escape The Circus and cuts it free from its earthly tethers using her Vorpal Blade.
Once inside The Moon she'll fight her way to the Control Room (pictured above - thanks, Dario!) and steer her way towards The Queen's Castle.
A number of interesting design topics flowing from what's presented here.
Let us know your feedback and questions in the comment below.
We'll address those during the Live Stream tomorrow on Twitch.
https://www.twitch.tv/americanmcgee
Remember that if you miss the Live Stream on Twitch - don't cry!
We'll record the whole thing and post it to my YouTube Channel so you can watch it later at your convenience.
From Shanghai with Hot Air,
-American
Comments
I’m hoping for a reference to A Trip to the Moon. I want to see Alice get in a rocket and crash into the robot moon’s eye
LittleInkSheep
2020-05-23 23:12:04 +0000 UTCIt would be neat to have the moon 'consume' the hot air balloon. I think it would be a neat animation. Alice would find it rude of course to be eaten.
2020-05-23 00:21:43 +0000 UTCLove it, I love how much the story and ideas are coming to life and are easy to visualize as so complete the more things have been developing.
2020-05-22 19:20:09 +0000 UTCLove the moon!
Sarah McKeegan
2020-05-22 18:12:27 +0000 UTCThanks for answering my questions during the stream! I was doing something while watching so I couldn’t respond. The Hatter Industries question was because of the gameplay mechanics that could be integrated with a Hatter twist. I was thinking of a mailbox so Alice can receive letters, rewards for side-quests and other accomplishments. Maybe Alice meets a sort of Wonderland Historian who sends Alice mail on the history of Wonderland, character bios, and the latest Wonderland drama. (Ex. The Red Queen goes red, followed by an “off with his head!” The one who lost his head wan ex-boyfriend to the Queen who released her embarrassing love letters right before his beheading.) I was also wondering if Hatter would still have a “gang” like he did in AMR. For my other question, so is Alice intentionally heading to the Moon to stop it from lullabying her? Or does she accidentally drift towards it during her escape?
2020-05-21 19:22:54 +0000 UTCI didn't actually think of the moon having a gender at all. But the phrase 'man in the moon' makes sense for this.
2020-05-21 11:31:36 +0000 UTCI really like this idea and love the moon sketches. Thinking on the balloon idea (which I also think is magical), could part of Alice being trapped in the circus involve her having to complete the balloon? That she stumbles across an incomplete version and in her notes to herself she needs to highlight aspects that she needs (maybe a panel of material, gas canister...). However, each day she has forgotten that the balloon exists and just has the item she needs to search for with no idea of why? Once she finds the item, installs it on the balloon, there is a trigger for the Moon to see her activity and return her back to the tent where she has just enough time to note the next item needed? When the balloon is fully operational, maybe there is a way to hide it from the Moon (like a switch to turn on invisibility/perception filter/cloaking) and that's how Alice can escape and travel to the Moon? The path to the Moon could be treacherous due to a security system not visible from the ground... traps & attackers hidden in clouds, blending into the sky? Just some rambling thoughts which came to me there while having a cup of tea 😄
2020-05-20 14:47:21 +0000 UTCI don’t know if any of you have been in a hot air balloon before, but I found it to be the most magical, freeing experience so I think it’s perfect for Alice’s escape from the circus! I’m so excited to see how this translates in the game!
2020-05-20 14:03:34 +0000 UTCI, too, was following the Man in the Moon concept though it is true that Luna is the female counterpart to Sol. Most of the images of the face on the moon are male, with a few female exceptions - maybe because no one wants to put such an ugly face on a woman? Who knows! Interesting concept to play on the fact that Alice could notice the incorrect attributed gender to the moon. However, it also seems like it takes her a bit to figure it out as well since that wasn't something (at least from what I recall) that was pointed out in the Design Bible. I'm sure there are or will be plenty of subtle hints to point out that something is wrong with the moon. I can't wait to see some more visuals of the control room! That looks exciting!
2020-05-20 12:11:17 +0000 UTCAmazing concepts! Again, I really like the story arc progression from Circus to Queen's Land via moon!
Hex
2020-05-20 11:15:41 +0000 UTCI always thought you were going with "the man on the moon" motif, so it didn't strike me as odd (even though I guess it would make more sense for it to be female like it was in Madness Returns and indicated by the feminine "Luna", but what kind of sense is there in Wonderland to begin with?) Non-sense, that's what! *insert groans of everyone reading that horrible joke here*
2020-05-20 03:41:11 +0000 UTCNice thinking with the moon's gender. I also like the idea of an organ being a sort of control panel. Although, should there be some sort of Hatter explanation for this? And/or you could sneak an organ into slumber or some other flashback. I have two questions that will probably be answered in the stream, if they haven't already. One is how much does Alice know about the moon as she's heading towards it? And two is how much influence does Hatter Industries have over Wonderland? Anyway, looking forward to seeing Font Lord again! Missed him last week.
2020-05-20 01:08:43 +0000 UTCWait, have I been misgingering the moon this whole time?
2020-05-20 00:47:46 +0000 UTCSo this is what's replacing the haunted house idea? Massively dig it- is the haunted house still going to be involved?
Sarah Heist
2020-05-20 00:37:09 +0000 UTC
