Wikia

Alice: Otherlands

Developer(s)

Spicy Horse

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Release date

N/A

ESRB rating

N/A

Platform(s):

N/A

Alice: Otherlands (formerly known as Alice in Otherland) is the possible sequel to Alice: Madness Returns.

ProductionEdit

2011Edit

In May 2011, American McGee stated that a story had already been created for a potential third game, but stressed that it would only be produced if the audience desired it.

In June 2012, McGee reiterated his intention to develop a third game, now titled Alice in Otherland. McGee revealed that the game would be released episodically, and stated that it "would allow Alice to go into the minds of all these characters she encounters, and it opens up the possibility where you could play as Alice and you can enter into a player's mind, change the landscape, and then basically psychologically adjust the character in doing so. Imagine an MMO where the missions aren't locations, but they're people." However, he said that the game was unlikely to be produced soon due to a lack of interest from Electronic Arts.

2013Edit

MarchEdit

On March 14, 2013, McGee stated on his Facebook page that during GDC he would have the opportunity to discuss a third Alice game with EA. He did not state whether or not this would follow the desired plot of Alice in Otherland, but stated that the funding for the project would most possibly be done through Kickstarter (probably reusing these ideas due to the success of the Akaneiro fund). With enough interest from fans, American said he would definitely be able to discuss it with EA. His status reached over one thousand likes within the day, even though American only has three thousand followers.

AprilEdit

On April 8, McGee posted an image to his Facebook which immediately brought fan attention, stating that he knew it would probably make some fans "heads explode". The piece was said to be a possible concept for "Alice: Otherlands", which was a title he had not yet used to refer to the beta title "Alice in Otherland". The piece received around one thousand likes and two hundred shares, while also being reposted to several different pages and social networks.

On April 16, Video Games Uncovered confirmed the production of Alice: Otherlands, as a Facebook page was confirmed to be run by American McGee on the topic. There was only one post on the page, and it was a question about when a Kickstarter should be released for the game.

On April 18, American posted an unreleased image of a concept for a large packaging for Alice: Madness Returns. It included a large box with a fake head of the Cheshire Cat with the CD of the game in a slip. He suggested that it would make a very big Kickstarter reward for an Alice Kickstarter.

“

This concept image was done years ago - at the start of Alice 2 production - and depicts my idea for the retail box I thought "Alice: Madness Returns" game should have sold in. That idea obviously didn't happen. But hey, yesterday's crushed dream is today's inspiration.

Cheshire Cat head in a box with game on disc. Yes, please.

Now, if we can figure out how to get these made without spending a billion 'dollars on them... Oh yeah, and make a game to put on that disc. Minor details.

”

On April 22, American posted a concept image for Otherlands but stated that it was still not yet confirmed. Since then, American continued to post concept art to tease fans, including a piece that shows the real world transformed into a darker Wonderland that was released on April 25, 2013.

“

On that note, just had the first meeting with our Art Department to discuss style and tone for rendering the new game.

”

On April 29, American posted an image of four exclusive limited edition lithographs from Alice: Madness Returns; Queen's Castle, London Calling, The Infernal Train and finally Barrelbottom. These were exclusive mini lithographs which could be bought on Alice2Store.com before removal or currently the EA site. Many were limited edition and most were signed by both the artist and American McGee. American stated that if the facebook fan page could get 1,200 likes before his specified date, he would give away two sets of the four lithographs seen in the photo.

“

I have two four-packs of A: MR mini-lithographs. I'll give them to two random people who respond to this thread with their favorite scene in Madness Returns, IF and ONLY IF we make 1200 fans by Tuesday at 2pm PST.

”

American did not reach this goal in time, but kindly decided that he would give away the lithographs on different terms. He extended the date to Tuesday the same week and kept the same time, and to tempt more fans into spreading the work, bought an extra two sets of lithographs to give away. This time they were successful and American met his goal. By the following day, they were 100 likes past their set goal. Due to this, American posted another update.

“

I see that we've blown away my 1200-likes goal. Nice going folks.

As a reward, we'll have another art contest next week. What say you all?

”

MayEdit

On May 6, American posted on his Facebook, his Otherlands page, his forum and other places of a contest being held until May 20. It was to say that Alice cosplayers, if they could follow the guidelines, could enter a contest. The winner would travel to China for a photoshoot and would be in a promotional film as the face of Alice for the Alice: Otherlands kickstarter.

American received many joke responces from males who wished to be alice; photoshopping themselves on to previous images of cosplayers and sending them in. American posted one of the images on his Facebook page stating it was the winner of the "what the fuur...k" award and came 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd. Many of the comments agreed with American or laughed at the image.

On the same date, May 6, only six days after the previous giveaway, American announced that he would only give away two Vorpal Blade posters away in exchange for 1,000 new likes on Facebook; bringing their total to around 2,500, and that the contest would end two ("and a bit") days later (1,000 likes in around 60 hours). They had almost reached the 2,000 goal in the first twelve hours; looking hopeful for the posters to be given away. By half nine (GMT) the same day, they had reached 2,415 likes due to American sharing the proposed Kickstarter tiers which were posted on the page. If fans could make it to 3,500 they would also get lithographs. Although the target was not met by around 100 likes, they still gave away both the posters and the lithographs.

American posted hours after the cosplay image, the contest and the giveaway that he, along with many others at Spicy Horse, had developed a set of tiers (levels) of donation amounts for their Kickstarter along with the possible awards that they produce. With each higher tier, the person who donates would get a larger, better and more quality set of gifts from Spicy Horse. He also stated that the tiers were nested, meaning that the higher the tier the doner buys, the more items they will receive (as they would receive all the previous items from the other reward tiers). There were also "early bird" tiers which mean tiers which have counterparts exactly the same, but more expensive. The first few thousand on each tier would get the tier slightly cheaper with everything included.

Price	Item	Early Bird?*
$5	Permission to Access to the closed forums during development and beta with unique avatar	No
$10	Backer Kit of wallpapers, avatars, etc.	No
$12	Digital backer-only Alice dress	Yes (15,000)
$15	Full copy of Single Player Game, Digital backer-only Alice dress	No
$25	Digital Soundtrack, Digital backer-only Mad Hatter's Hat, $10 currency	No
$35	Poster (no larger than 8 x 12), Digital backer-only Omega Necklace	No
$50	Digital art book, $25 currency, Access to Beta - entitles you to an invitation to beta; this is a progressive process and not every player will receive an invitation at the same time.	Yes (25,000)
$55	Digital art book, $25 currency, Access to Beta - entitles you to an invitation to beta; this is a progressive process and not every player will receive an invitation at the same time	No
$75	T-shirt, Digital backer-only Queen of Hearts Crown	Yes (10,000)
$80	T-shirt, Digital backer-only Queen of Hearts Crown	No
$100	Unique in-game weapon, $50 currency	No
$135	Canvas Poster	Yes (5,000)
$150	Canvas Poster	No
$225	Limited Edition Box with physical game	No
$300	Physical Art Book	No
$475	Omega Necklace	Yes (1,000)
$500	Omega Necklace	No
$600	Design an ally for Alice (Not required to be human)	No
$750	Physical Vorpal Blade	No
$850	Design an Alice "Personality" (Ex. I'm Alice's Sticky Red Anger of Tuesday Morning; I'm Alice's Masculine Blue Happiness of Winter Night (male))	No
$1,500	Skinned Tablet	No
$5,000	Dinner for one in San-Fransisco (With American) (Each additional person is an add-on of $500)	No
$10,000	Trip to Shanghai	No

Add Ons (items that you can add on to your original donation which may be of higher tier) included;

Price	Item
$75	Physical Art Book
$75	Limited Edition Physical Game
$200	Omega Necklace

The Kickstarter was an unconfirmed draft and was not finalised, however, many people did agree with it and were extremely excited.

Hours later, still, on the same day, a concept image was posted of a multiplayer server. It received mass criticism as fans did not want Alice to become an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online), however, some were kind over it. The image was an edited piece on concept art which contained a chat box, a quest reminder, a set of tools and options, a clock, a health bar, an Alice icon, username, "VIP" status and finally a loading bay.

On May 8 and 9, American McGee posted a collage of several historical figures; several who would be in London during the set year and several artists from France. American suggested that Alice could possibly cross the channel during her time in Otherlands in order to meet many French artists such as Van Gogh, Seurat, Cassatt, Monet, Degas and Signat.

On the same day, he also asked fans their opinion of Oz Vs. Alice. If the Alice project failed, American would possibly start a new project titled "OZombies". They were debating continuing the Alice series all together from this.

After several days without confirmation of information, more cosplay images were posted. American also revealed a 3D model for a Cheshire Cat statue which they had planned to be a Kickstarter reward. He stated they were sending this design to a manufacturer in China.

Throughout late May, imagery and updates continued including confirmation on ten runners up of the cosplay contest (all of which received a signed Alchemy poster). The winner, however, was not announced until later. Entrants continued to have their imagery uploaded and were to be featured in a large feature of all the Alice's. The entrant total became around 170.

It also seemed that OZombies looked more promising for work as it received far more concept art and updates than Alice. It was apparent that American did not want to create Alice: Otherlands as much. He also uploaded a similar set of Kickstarter Tier examples for Oz.