Further Manipulation

Dear Insane Children, 

As you know from my last design post, we're working on concepts for a selection of Enemies who are designed to manipulate Alice's senses - Manipulators. In the last round of comments, I asked Omri to explore ideas around insect/machines that would fit in these roles. He's delivered!

Here are our comments on what's presented today. Omri says: 

I'm thinking about what you said, i don't like the idea of holograms because it's too modern. Yes there were plays with mirrors and stuff but that was more 1920. it's still too modern. but i do like the idea of illusions or hallucinations. we can go towards two directions, 

1. we can have the illusions / hallucinations horrible like a nightmare

2. we can have the illusions / hallucinations Pleasant and block out the gameplay, like the more she is "injected/sprayed" she sees more flowers and gardens and her home in spring and what not. i think for this area it's overkill right now, we need to reserve that idea for a boss. i would love to fight a boss that when i'm losing seeing the world more beautifully.

for now these two designs i think look practical for the moon AND look like enemies. i'll design some more of these, but i think they make sense and still keep with the Nature theme.

Omri goes on to add a few more concepts and continues his comments:

I'm adding to the manipulators "Lobster" I think he can fix the "floors" and the lower areas. he can melee Alice and he can electrify floor areas where the player is standing. i want the enemies to "make sense" like you can imagine that an electricity based animal can fix circuits. a Welder animal can fix holes and bumps and a flying animal can kill off fungus and whatnot.

I'm adding a very odd idea that i had that i have no idea if it works- feedback on this. I thought that if we want something that will look like it's "fake" then materials to fix the moon, copper, mercury, gold- even oil and water if we want, they can be animated into stars that will jump at Alice and explode on her. they should come in batches. just an odd thought.

To all of this I replied: 

All of this stuff is FANTASTIC. And, yeah, I should have been more careful in my choice of words. Anything hinting at advanced technology - simulator, holograms, etc - would suggest things that are very much out of place in Alice's mind. You're on the correct path with hallucinations and mechanical beasties that implement physical changes that alter Alice's perception of reality. It's more "smoke and mirrors" than "lasers and holograms." 

The Gnat and Spider designs are great. Even though I hate flying enemies - I like the idea of these things forming a "cloud" that messes with Alice's vision. For the Spiders I like the idea that they could weave webs of deception - imagine a wall of web onto which a hallucination is projected. Alice can destroy the web and the illusion with it. 

For the Fungai... The general concept and presentation is good. An element we can place in the environment to create toxic zones. Spores from it can cause hallucinations and disorientation. With regards to your comment about bringing "color to the moon" - this part I don't get. Why? The Moon interior is separate from Denial. It has a style - Hatter Industries, mechanical, etc. Please leave it at that. 

Lastly, The Lobster is fun. Regarding the idea of them all serving different functions - I would suggest we focus on The Senses and assign each of these characters control over (the ability to manipulate) specific senses. Hearing, sight, etc. 

That last idea... I have no idea. 🤷‍♂️

Let us know in the Comments below your thoughts on The Manipulators. What do you think of their function and their artistic design? We'll discuss your feedback during this week's live stream (more on that later in this post). 

Tea Time Wildlife

Jen sends along further exploration of the types of surreal creatures we might find floating around Wonderland.

I have ... er, thoughts, about that teabag design... from having watched too many CS matches. Thankfully no 12-year-old kids will have control of these enemies in-game... or will they? (Note to self: Disaster Marketing idea #342,423 - how can we give 12-year-old kids control of the Tea Bag Enemies every time Alice dies in-game?)

She also submitted this pig... which...

(Note to self: Check how much of our budget goes to supplying hallucinogenics to our artists - reduce if necessary). 

Live Stream on Twitch

We will host a Live Stream on Twitch this week - the usual time. That's 7PM PST on Wednesday. 

And we'll discuss all the latest art, design, and business development on Alice: Asylum. Plus... 

Yan and I finally took a trip to the YiWu International Trade Market to source various products for Mysterious and Patreon. Among our main goals - to find a Snow Globe (or a suitable alternative). So, we'll discuss the fruits of that search. 

If you want to see the trip to and from YiWu, I uploaded a travel vlog of it to my YouTube Channel. Hit THIS LINK if you want to watch that now. 

And hit THIS LINK if you want to head over to my Twitch Page and follow or register or whatever it is you do there. 

From Shanghai with Eeeee-wooooo,

-American