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AusGamers: Okay guys, we’re here with a special treat - American McGee who is an industry veteran and I’d say an industry legend. American... that is your actual name right? American?

American McGee: yep, that is my name, yeah. My mum has told me many different stories why this ended up being my name; one of them was that it either American or Obnard (sp?), and I gotta say that if I were named Obnard, I probably would not be sitting here speaking with you right now...

AG: Funnily enough though, they’re both still memorable names so no matter what you would still stand out.

American: (laughs) Yeah, but Obnard probably would stand out in the same way (still laughing).



AG: Now obviously you’re showing off Alice; why did it take you so long to come back and what have you learnt in the time since the first game, and how have you implemented that into the new game?

American: In terms of why did it take 10 years, we finished the first game and it was immediately a huge success and so myself and RJ Burton, my creative partner, he was both the producer and the writer on the first game, we both split out of EA and both of us just sort of travelled around, worked on other games and I eventually ended up in Asia, and started a studio in Shanghai and once we’d built the studio up into a point where we felt we could hit the level of quality [that we wanted], RJ and I came back together and said hey, let’s go back to EA and tell them we want to build this thing; so it was really an issue of just being in the right place at the right time.

I mean all of these events had to take place before we could get there, but I think for your next question, “what have we learned?”, you know first of all I could write a book on the general topic of what I’ve learnt in the last 10 years and moving around the world and things that we’ve done, but in relation to the game, one of the great things about waiting 10 years is that we’ve been listening to the audience for the last 10 years; you know we read all the reviews and talk with all the fans and we know all the things that loved and all the things that they hated and we’ve been able to take that knowledge and really boil that down in to “why” and what it is and how to use it in the new game. Then on top of that, we’ve been able to see what the industry’s doing both in terms of new innovations in gameplay but then also when they’re bringing old-school mechanics back into newer games and we’re actually doing a lot of that. So listening to the original audience, 10 years worth of data coming back into the game, plus all the types of games [in the same genre] as we’re building and seeing where they’re going... and then taking a lot of the cues from old-school gaming and tapping those in to Wonderland, so it’s been a pretty adventurous 10 years for us as well and I think that’s going to come out in the game when people see it.



AG: So EA put out the first game right?

American: Yeah that’s right.

AG: So do they own the property, or do you guys own it?

American: No they own it - I was working as an employee at EA when I built the first Alice with them. They own in. Not a problem. We love working with them, they’re awesome partners and they know better than anyone how to take something like this out there - this is a truly global property - it’s what they call a four-quadrant IP which means its young and old, male and female, so when it comes to something like that you really want a powerhouse behind it like EA to get it global to all those different demographics.

AG: You’re talking about the goal being to get in there and putting in some old-school gaming mechanics, and get up to speed as well, was that always the key thing... I mean the game has come out pretty much after the last movie - did you want to come in and say “you know what, my stamp was there first”?

American: Well you’re asking two different questions there, but we had an idea for the story for a sequel back when we made the first game. I mean we knew that this was a character who could endure and continue to go on and use this tool, this mental landscape as a tool to take on new challenges and to deal with new threats and so that was always there. What we thought we might do with that for gameplay has always sort of moved and updated as we’ve moved through time and seen where the world is going. With the old-school stuff it’s just a neat side-effect - technology has gotten to a point now where it’s very easy to take all of our assets and re-present moments that happen in the game in a flash and everything sort of turns on its head and suddenly you’re playing a different type of game - it’s just a nice thing about where technology is at these days; you can make a game inside a game inside a game, and not freak the production out too much.

But yeah, for the Burton film - we started production on the sequel before the game was announced so seeing the film announced we were like, okay, we’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing and I think for me, one of the things I was worried about was that he was gonna come out and do something quite dark that would make us look like we were biting in [to his product], but what we saw was, in my opinion, something diluted; it was trying to address too many people, there was really no clear main character; lots of really great pieces in terms of art and the characters, and the costume design - all perfect, but it was all spread out in such a way it didn’t really focus in on any one character or one thing, so... I don’t know, you can’t fault them, they went off and made a billion dollars - that’s testament to the strength of the IP, and I think we have our vision of it, so hopefully we can go off and make a billion dollars of our own.



AG: Speaking of vision, the first game had such an iconic... landmark in games at the time, twsited dark look at the world, but has that changed for you guys now? The games industry and even just consumers in general are accepting darker, more mature stuff more and more...

American: Yeah that’s true...

AG: Yeah ratings have changed and what have you...

American: Well it’s a great question. I think if you were to re-rate the original game now, it’d get a Teen rating. I mean it wouldn’t even have to try, it would just be a Teen rated game and you’re right, gaming in general tends to push more towards harder and harder core, in terms of the visuals that are being presented and the levels of gore and maturity of it all, but you know what, our goal with the first game was never to be over the top and it was never to even be an M rated game, we made something that was true to the IP of Alice and true to the world, and so we’re taking a similar approach this time around, I’m sure we’re going to get an M because we’re dealing with very adult themes but at the same time, like with the first, we’re not trying to squirt blood and gore into people’s faces just for the sake of doing it - the marketing trailer notwithstanding, I know; there’s marketing and then there’s the game, I know - the game itself, again, will remain very true to her as a character and the stories we’re trying to tell and not try to push that blood on-screen or over the top just for the sake of it.

AG: So for the younger guys, who’ve maybe never played the original game, I know it’s still quite popular, but are thinking about bringing it back in any capacity? Maybe via Steam or Xbox Live?

American: Yeah, I mean it’s a question that comes up a lot. But I don’t know if there’s going to be a re-release; it’s something we’re going to think about but nothing we can talk about just yet.

AG: And are you planning on carrying this on? I mean, 10 years... will it be another 10 years before we see Alice again or are you hoping to move on to something else and get right back into the swing of things?

American: Yeah, well that’s another great question. I think there’s plenty of room for us to carry [Alice] on, if it takes another 10 years before we realise that we should do it again, then fine, but if we can do it sooner then that’s cool too - I’m very easy. We already have ideas about where we could take it next so yeah, we’ll see what happens.

AG: Okay great, well we’ll leave it there but thanks so much for your time American... man, that still feels weird to me...

American: (laughs) Okay ‘Aussie’.