Topic: American McGee's "Grimm" Project

[MysterD]

McGee is working on a project currently known as "Grimm."

American McGee Grinding Away at 'Grimm' Project
And the artwork being produced is absolutely stunning.
By Patrick Klepek, 02/23/2007
So, American McGee Presents: Bad Day L.A. didn't turn out so well. In fact, Matt Peckham more or less took a cleveland steamer on the game during his review. McGee's take on the Alice stories was an enjoyable twist on the action platformer, however, so just because his attempt to politicize gaming didn't work out, maybe he has another one in him.

And that project may be what's so far dubbed "Grimm." We don't know much about it, but McGee's been working on the project for some time now at his newly formed Spicy House studio. No, McGee hasn't made any announcements about that, either - all we have to go on is a stream of artwork on his Flickr account, as discovered by Wonderland.

Thankfully, the artwork's really, really worth taking a look at. Dark, strange, inventive takes on traditional fairy tales is the name of the game for Spicy House artist Lin Ran, and if this is at all indicative of the style they're aiming for in-game, we are most definitely ready to let McGee take another shot in the gaming chair.

[Pugnate]

Screw American McGee, his ego, and his continuous crappola of games. It's been a sad slide downhill from him since the genius of Alice.

Speaking of Alice, that was one of the most unique games I've ever played. I still have the music in my head. It was gorgeous to look at, but it wasn't only a fine technical achievement as it was really lovely artistically as well. On gameplay alone it was really singular, yet it continued to delight me every level with its unique and artful design.

"Don't dawdle Alice..."

But I do have issue with directors and game designers sticking their names on their products as if it is a big deal. Sure some of them are worthy, like Sid Meier. I don't even have a issue with Tom Clancy doing it, even though the Clancy brand has started to rot. Double Agent has game ruining bugs, while until Vegas the Rainbow Six series had been going downhill alarmingly fast. But at least the Clancy branding serves a purpose. You know what to expect in a Clancy game, and Tom Clancy has had tremendous success before the games to make him a very well known name.

But American McGee? He has made one decent game, Alice. Scrapland should have been called Crapland, while Bad day in LA was total garbage. 

I don't even see how his ego even got that big. Who is next? Peter Molyneux?

[idolminds]

To be fair Scrapland wasn't that bad of a game, and they just sorta tossed his name on the box. From what I remember reading he didn't really have that much to do with the game.

You do have a point about BDLA though. Disappointing is an understatement.

[Pugnate]

Whoops. I didn't know that. You'd think he'd have some control over his name being used.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, Scrapland really wasn't his project.  He started producing toward the end of it, I think.  Besides, I liked that game.  Nothing amazing, but it was fun and had a great art design.  I heard Bad Day LA was amazingly horrible, but... eh.  Oh well.  I hope it comes out of it.  I always thought he was kind of a cool guy.

[MysterD]

Yeah, Scrapland really wasn't his project.  He started producing toward the end of it, I think.  Besides, I liked that game.  Nothing amazing, but it was fun and had a great art design.  I heard Bad Day LA was amazingly horrible, but... eh.  Oh well.  I hope it comes out of it.  I always thought he was kind of a cool guy.

EB sells BD LA for like a penny.
Seriously.

[Cobra951]

Yeah, Scrapland really wasn't his project.  He started producing toward the end of it, I think.  Besides, I liked that game.  Nothing amazing, but it was fun and had a great art design.  I heard Bad Day LA was amazingly horrible, but... eh.  Oh well.  I hope it comes out of it.  I always thought he was kind of a cool guy.

I really liked Scrapland.  I'm sorry it didn't sell better, because Enlight really impressed me with their potential.  I still have a folder full of screen pics I shared with you all back then.

[gpw11]

I liked Scrapland as well.

But what the hell ever happened to Oz?

[Quemaqua]

I was wondering that myself.  Canceled?  The artwork for this game looks pretty stellar so far.  Could be coolness.

[Xessive]

Wasn't there supposed to be an "American McGee's Wizard of Oz" ??

I was really looking forward to that!

[MysterD]

Wasn't there supposed to be an "American McGee's Wizard of Oz" ??

I was really looking forward to that!

Yes, there was.

I think production was stopped on that.

[Jedi]

Yes, there was.

I think production was stopped on that.

Stopped finished or stopped cancelled? I'm thinking Cancelled.
I was never a big fan of McGee's I saw him as a tim burton of gaming - taking other peoples themes and stories and twisting them it's a gimmick that I knew would fail soon enough.

[Quemaqua]

Which is entirely baseless given that he's only made two games, one of which is generally considered a success (and which was quite original despite being based on something else).  Whether or not Oz was stopped or canceled doesn't make a great deal of difference either, and saying that his "gimmick" has "failed" is also ridiculous given the fact that there has only been one actual game in said gimmick, and the only game of his to actually fail was one not based on said gimmick in the first place.

[MysterD]

Stopped finished or stopped cancelled? I'm thinking Cancelled.
I was never a big fan of McGee's I saw him as a tim burton of gaming - taking other peoples themes and stories and twisting them it's a gimmick that I knew would fail soon enough.

Oz was never officially cancelled, like I thought...
The game and the movie are currently "on hold...."

Films

Production of the Oz game has been put on hold, which McGee attributes to a lack of interest at game publishing houses in new ideas and products without established market names. In order to get a publisher, McGee has decided to sell the game as a film before actually finishing it. He was recently set to write the script for the Oz films, which is said to be a trilogy that will be produced by Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. Oz is only in the development stage and no official announcements have been made regarding the films.

McGee spearheaded an attempt to launch a film adaptation of his Alice game, but the project collapsed and fell into obscurity for several years. It was finally picked up by Universal Pictures and is set to be released as Alice in 2007. While McGee has had no control of Alice and only limited control of Oz, he expects to exercise more control over Grimm, which is still in the conceptual stages of development.

I've noticed a lot of resemblance to 3D Realms and American McGee.

3DRealms and McGee's companies have one major hit they've created -- McGee w/ Alice, 3DRealms w/ Duke 3D.

Oz is like Prey -- both were put on hold. Though, Prey wound up created by someone else (Human Head), some numerous years later. I think that'll occur w/ Oz, as well.

Though, on another hand, McGee's Oz is also like DNF -- who the hell knows if we'll actually see the final product EVER.

[Jedi]

Which is entirely baseless given that he's only made two games, one of which is generally considered a success (and which was quite original despite being based on something else).  Whether or not Oz was stopped or canceled doesn't make a great deal of difference either, and saying that his "gimmick" has "failed" is also ridiculous given the fact that there has only been one actual game in said gimmick, and the only game of his to actually fail was one not based on said gimmick in the first place.

I don't feel that my opinion is "baseless" but I have nothing further to add to this other than to say I would reword - "...twisting them it's a gimmick that I knew would fail soon enough." to something along the lines of '...twisting them it's a gimmick that would lose its mystique with the fans etc.' As the first statement was spat out in a rush to go do my job.

Well... I do feel compelled to add that Looking at how one game was cancelled and another wasn’t well received – and seeing how he was pretty popular for his Alice game, I don’t think my opinion is “baseless” at all. If you don't agree that's fine.

[MysterD]

I bet it ain't easy to find copies of McGee's Alice, these days and age....

[Quemaqua]

I don't mean any offense to you personally, Jedi, I just think what you said is really subjective and just sort of mean for no reason.  I honestly see no reason for making those statements.  I'm not even McGee's biggest fan or anything, I just think what you said is unfair.

And D, I also think comparing Oz to DNF is also entirely unfair.  DNF has been in the works for a billion fucking years.  Oz hasn't been, and apparently the guy already stated that it's on hiatus for a specific reason.  In no way does that sound like DNF, which the developers continue to insist is being worked on, etc. etc., and which has been in development for a hell of a lot longer.

All I really see here is a producer with one cult hit, one lousy game, and an early idea that's been shelved for the time being.  I don't think it's fair to make any harsh judgments on the guy yet.  If he learns no lessons from BDLA, we'll have every right to cut him down.  If his next project manages to get him going back in the right direction, I see no issue, and I don't think anybody is going to judge it based on whether or not it's got ties to pre-existing fiction.  I know plenty of people that would have enjoyed another along the lines of Alice.  I see no reason to believe anything that's happened to McGee has anything to do with any gimmick whatsoever.

Also, D, of course it would be hard to find Alice now.  The game wasn't a huge commercial success, it was a cult classic.  That said, you can still find it if you look.  I even saw it in a store not too long ago.

[Jedi]

I don't mean any offense to you personally, Jedi, I just think what you said is really subjective and just sort of mean for no reason.  I honestly see no reason for making those statements.  I'm not even McGee's biggest fan or anything, I just think what you said is unfair.

Fair enough Q