'Alice: Madness Returns': Why an American icon is now made in China

For video game fanatics, the name “American McGee” is synonymous with titles such as “Doom,” “Quake” and “American McGee's Alice.” 

The rest of us hear the name and do something of a double take. American McGee? Seriously?

Yes, the name is for real, and so is the reputation. After building a near two-decade career with major game developers in the United States, American McGee left his life behind in search of travel and adventure in Asia, eventually landing in Shanghai.

"I moved to Asia, where I felt there were more opportunities to innovate," says American McGee.

American McGee’s Alice

American McGee rose to fame among international video game fans for directing and designing "American McGee’s Alice,” which came out when he was working with EA 11 years ago.

Unlike Lewis Carroll's heroine, McGee’s Alice lives in a more macabre world shortly after her second adventure, “Through the Looking-Glass,” when her parents are killed in an accidental fire and the traumatized Alice is institutionalized in an asylum.

Set up in a completely twisted wonderland within Alice’s broken mind, the game aims to help Alice save this wonderland in order to restore her sanity. 

After the game’s release, "American McGee’s Alice” received high praise for its imaginative artwork.

“He’s built a unique niche for himself in the gaming world by adopting a gritty, subversive tone that’s resonates as much with gamers as comic book and graphic novel fans,” says Scott Steinberg, CEO of video game consulting firm TechSavvy.

After 11 years' expectation, the Alice fans can finally put their hands on the game's long-awaited sequel, “Alice: Madness Returns.” Ironically, the iconic American game is completely made in China this time around.  

A made-in-China game

“I moved to Asia where I felt there were more opportunities to innovate, I wanted to find a place where I could try something new,” McGee says.

With his five-year-old venture, Spicy Horse, the 38-year-old game designer has built the largest independent game development house in China.

Sitting in his office in a renovated building in Shanghai's Zhabei district -- the office buzzes with a sea of shiny white Macs and busy Spicy Horse game development bees -- McGee talks about his latest creation, “Alice: Madness Returns,” the first AAA console title built from start to finish in China.

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“It is absolutely historic,” McGee says. “Other companies have offices here and they do produce games here, but they mix the productions so that some of it takes place in foreign studios and some of it here.

"Whereas this game was 100 percent produced here in Shanghai.”

Alice fever

A lot of people appreciated that Alice was trying to heal herself through these actions inside of her own mind.— American McGee, 38, game designer

The original Alice title spawned a generation of passionate fans who not only played the game, but also got Alice tattoos, dressed up as Alice for Halloween and wrote Alice fan fiction.

“For a lot of people, [Alice] was very empathetic," says McGee. "You could identify with her, you could understand her and she wasn't just going into the world with machine guns to take out bad guys. In fact, what she was doing was traveling into her own psyche.

“A lot of people appreciated this character who was really trying to heal herself through these actions inside of her own mind.”

The years of waiting between the release of the games were valuable for McGee and the Spicy Horse team, as it allowed them to absorb feedback from players and ensure that everything they loved so much about the first game could be reproduced in the sequel.

“The sequel feels very similar to that first game, except it's bigger and grander and obviously has a few more technology tricks contained within it,” McGee adds.

On Shanghai

With Spicy Horse recently securing a US$3 million boost from investment house Vickers Venture Partners and online gaming company PopCap Game, the future is looking bright. McGee is in no doubt that his move to Shanghai was the right one.

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“For us, it's a really optimistic place to be," he says. "There's a lack of preconceived notions, though there's not a lot of blue skies, there's a blue-sky mentality.

“Things are happening so fast here. No one dares stand still because so much is happening and someone else is going to pounce on the next idea any minute. It's a great time to be here.”

Casey is a city/lifestyle journalist from Melbourne, Australia, who has been based in Shanghai since 2007.

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