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Things You Learn Via Tumblr
Jul. 24th, 2012 11:51 pmSo someone posted something to the effect of "American McGee's gonna make a third Alice game!" to the Lewis Carroll tumblr (as you might imagine, it's a tumblr of all things Alice-related). This confused me badly, as I hadn't heard a thing about this, and I regularly stalk the McGee Forums, where such a development would definitely be announced. So, I put my Google hat on and did some research. The results of that trial: this article, which, near the end, does have something to say about a third Alice. Specifically, this:
"We have ideas and I have a whole story written up on Alice 3, and how to turn that into episodic online. It's called Alice in Otherland and basically 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 players 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.
"But then you go and you pitch that to EA they just kind of shrug. That's the thing, a lot of the Western publishers won't lead in terms of innovation. They wait for someone to prove the model and then they jump on it. I think it's just going to be a matter of time before some of the game companies like Riot that are proving the online space, they come up, they show everybody how it's done, and then EA will follow on."
So yeah, he's got an idea for an Alice 3, just EA isn't all that into it, and they're the ones who own the IP. So there's really nothing to say it's going to be made anytime in the near future.
Also -- when I first read about this story, I was -- bothered. Which puzzled me -- I like that idea. Hell, I use variations in my RP all the time! Forgotten Vows and his Alice even fought the last of Bumby's influence over him via going into his head! So what was bugging me?
And then it hit me.
"Alice in Otherland" sounds an awful lot like "Psychonauts."
Hmmm. Granted, American could probably do his own take on this well, but I think I'd actually have to see how he'd do it before I could shake the "You're copying someone else's game" vibe.
"We have ideas and I have a whole story written up on Alice 3, and how to turn that into episodic online. It's called Alice in Otherland and basically 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 players 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.
"But then you go and you pitch that to EA they just kind of shrug. That's the thing, a lot of the Western publishers won't lead in terms of innovation. They wait for someone to prove the model and then they jump on it. I think it's just going to be a matter of time before some of the game companies like Riot that are proving the online space, they come up, they show everybody how it's done, and then EA will follow on."
So yeah, he's got an idea for an Alice 3, just EA isn't all that into it, and they're the ones who own the IP. So there's really nothing to say it's going to be made anytime in the near future.
Also -- when I first read about this story, I was -- bothered. Which puzzled me -- I like that idea. Hell, I use variations in my RP all the time! Forgotten Vows and his Alice even fought the last of Bumby's influence over him via going into his head! So what was bugging me?
And then it hit me.
"Alice in Otherland" sounds an awful lot like "Psychonauts."
Hmmm. Granted, American could probably do his own take on this well, but I think I'd actually have to see how he'd do it before I could shake the "You're copying someone else's game" vibe.
