Alice: Asylum officially canceled, American McGee announces retirement from game development

[Man of Doom]

American McGee tried to get a third Alice game off the ground, complete with several years worth of development as seen through a Patreon page.

 

After several years, it’s officially not happening.

 

Not only that, in the same post, American McGee himself has announced he’ll also be completely retiring from game development altogether so he can spend more time with his family and his business.

 

Just…

 

…damn.

[D4NUK1]

Like i always like to say, a good game idea or saga don't need to always be 100% focus on the main studio, the main director, the main _____, etc.

Games sometimes are like art, they inspire younger devs and with the new take on indie games, more in the style of Abstract story with the style of Alice in Wonderland will come. Welp, even Alisa that make more or less the same but with Resident Evil 1 style.

Hopefully he can rest with his family and just be a laid man dev that will help others dev's in the future.

[LadyMistDragon]

I guess one could have seen it coming for a couple of years. But good luck on his future endeavors. If he doesn't have the energy for games anymore, that's perfectly fine.

[Rudolph]

That might have been for the best, as I hear Alice: Madness Returns was not too great anyway. Some games just do not need sequels.

 

Best of wishes to Mr. McGee.

[Biodegradable]

He did his best and had a solid run with over 20 years in gaming. I wish McGee all the best with his retirement. Incidentally, for those at all curious, you can download the Alice Asylum Design Bible for free over on his Patreon.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Biodegradable

[yakfak]

huh mmm "EA says I can't use my one idea so I quit dev?" come to the indie scene and make weird shit <3

 

[Azuris]

13 hours ago, D4NUK1 said:

Like i always like to say, a good game idea or saga don't need to always be 100% focus on the main studio, the main director, the main _____, etc.

Games sometimes are like art, they inspire younger devs and with the new take on indie games, more in the style of Abstract story with the style of Alice in Wonderland will come. Welp, even Alisa that make more or less the same but with Resident Evil 1 style.

Hopefully he can rest with his family and just be a laid man dev that will help others dev's in the future.

 

This looks pretty damn cool, is it hard?

Edit: Too late, i through my Money at it haha

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Azuris

[BGreener]

Wish him all the best, sincerely. He’s not had it easy, the poor guy. Madness Returns was pretty influential for me, it was very beautiful, fun, but flawed and opened me up to how weird development can get for these big games. Reading its artbook is particularly devastating, lots of missed potential.

 

Favorite level of his is probably the Factory from Quake 2.

Edited April 8, 2023 by BGreener

[Spooner5020]

Well this is unfortunate. I wouldn’t have minded a 3rd Alice game. Madness Returns even when it first came out was nothing to write home about. I tried going back and playing Returns, but there’s like almost no replay ability to it unlike the first game. I can still pop in the first one and still have fun with it. The fact that the first was made on the Quake 3 engine was pretty impressive as well. 
 

Does this mean anything for the tv show adaption they announced?

Edited April 8, 2023 by Spooner5020

[_bruce_]

I can only hope his company sells DoomII maps.

[Rudolph]

29 minutes ago, _bruce_ said:

I can only hope his company sells DoomII maps.

You can do that in 2023?

 

I thought the days of commercial map packs were long gone.

[Dragonfly]

Well that's a real fucking shame. I was quietly waiting for that game to release to go replay the first, then grab the 2nd and 3rd. The first game was, as far as I remember, fantastic.

 

A shame that the big name companies once again fuck things up for the rest of us. Three cheers for another shitty fifa release and a crappy sims cash-in I guess? Cunts. 

[Mr. Freeze]

29 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

You can do that in 2023?

 

I thought the days of commercial map packs were long gone.

 

SIGIL? 

[D4NUK1]

18 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

 

SIGIL? 

The maps are free thou, you pay for the goodies.

[Rudolph]

50 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

A shame that the big name companies once again fuck things up for the rest of us. Three cheers for another shitty fifa release and a crappy sims cash-in I guess? Cunts. 

Well, to be (sort of) fair to EA, the Dead Space Remake, however unnecessary, is reportedly phenomenal.

 

Too bad, I hear it did not sell very well, so the chances of a Dead Space 4 are slim.

 

21 minutes ago, D4NUK1 said:

The maps are free thou, you pay for the goodies.

Yeah, I cannot see third parties getting away with charging for Doom II mapsets these days: the closest thing I can think of would be Supplice - that is, if you disregard the all-new arsenal and bestiary.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Rudolph

[whirledtsar]

7 hours ago, yakfak said:

huh mmm "EA says I can't use my one idea so I quit dev?" come to the indie scene and make weird shit <3

 

You have to imagine the experience of spending a decade of work on a project only for it to end in complete failure. You cant expect him to still have a limitless well of creativity, time, and energy after that.

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, whirledtsar said:

You have to imagine the experience of spending a decade of work on a project only for it to end in complete failure. You cant expect him to still have a limitless well of creativity, time, and energy after that.

But could he not have just tried repackaging it as a new IP, i.e. making it a spiritual successor and calling it "CELIA" instead of ALICE?

 

After all, that is basically what Koji Igarashi did with Bloodstained and Ken Levine with BioShock.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Rudolph

[LadyMistDragon]

6 hours ago, Rudolph said:

But could he not have just tried repackaging it as a new IP, i.e. making it a spiritual successor and calling it "CELIA" instead of ALICE?

 

After all, that is basically what Koji Igarashi did with Bloodstained and Ken Levine with BioShock.

.....I somehow doubt it would be that easy. In the interview with Nirvana, he sounded kind of like he was done with the whole Alice thing. While true, it's probably not inaccurate to say he doesn't believe it to be worth it anymore. Whether that's true is a matter of opinion.

[Biodegradable]

8 hours ago, Rudolph said:

But could he not have just tried repackaging it as a new IP, i.e. making it a spiritual successor and calling it "CELIA" instead of ALICE?

After all, that is basically what Koji Igarashi did with Bloodstained and Ken Levine with BioShock.

 

In McGee's own words from this post on Patreon:

"For my part, I have also reached an endpoint with "Alice" and with game production in general. I have no other ideas or energy left to apply toward getting a new Alice game made. Nor do I have any interest in pursuing new game ideas within the context of the current environment for game development."

 

From the sound of it, he's had his fill and wants to hang his hat over his gaming oeuvre and move on.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Biodegradable

[Bucket]

The year is 2023 and you still think EA are good people to do business with.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Bucket

[Ludi]

I wish American the best. Dude made some of the best Doom maps, and definitely the best Quake maps. Alice is sick too. Let us not forget to cherish what we have, rather than what could have been. 

[_bruce_]

23 hours ago, Rudolph said:

You can do that in 2023?

 

I thought the days of commercial map packs were long gone.

 

It was a pun as in "if he happen's to be selling DoomII maps then I'm (definitely) buying".

[Rudolph]

Just now, _bruce_ said:

It was a pun as in "if he happen's to be selling DoomII maps then I'm (definitely) buying".

Maybe John Romero could get in touch with him for SIGIL II! :P

[Mr. Freeze]

9 hours ago, Bucket said:

The year is 2023 and you still think EA are good people to do business with.

 

Dead Space Remake tho 

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

20 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

 

Dead Space Remake tho 

Is not enough to absolve them of all the shady shit and monumental fuckups of their past.

 

Mark my words they will get back to their old ways eventualy. The remake was just an expensive PR stunt.

[Rudolph]

19 minutes ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

The remake was just an expensive PR stunt.

Yeah, and as I pointed out, it did not do well commercially, so I do not expect Dead Space 4 any time soon... Then again, Resident Evil 4 Remake was a smashing success, so who knows? Maybe that will be enough to convince EA to give Dead Space another shot.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Rudolph

[Midway64]

Well, that's... okay.

People get tired doing the same shit over and over again, and that's fine!

I loved American's maps in Doom and Quake II, and my brother loved McGee's Alice!

I wish him the best with his family, it's okay to take a deep breath, and rest.

[VanaheimRanger]

On 4/8/2023 at 9:20 AM, _bruce_ said:

I can only hope his company sells DoomII maps.

His company makes mental illness themed plush animals and raises money for mental illness awareness organizations. It's actually pretty cool and I wish him the best with it.

 

Editing to add link to his storefront if anyone is interested:

https://mysterious.americanmcgee.com/

Edited April 9, 2023 by VanaheimRanger

[Ludi]

That's actually really wholesome. Appears he's not resting on his laurels after all!

[TheDanMarine]

I have a feeling he'll come back in a couple years with some smaller project after the light trauma of all that wears off, and we'll end up with some kind of "american mcgee's sigil"- except it probably won't be a doom map. maybe he will make some tiny indie game that takes inspiration from alice but doesn't use the name, who knows? he just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would give up creating forever, to me. 

as for asylum, to be honest I really saw this coming and am more surprised it took so long. literally everything after madness returns that he tried to get off the ground ran into production trouble and either got shortened or scrapped entirely. on top of that, reading about the plans for alice 3 made me think "this is far too ambitious and if it happens I'll be shocked."