Born This Way
American McGee is a now retired game designer. He is best known as the designer of American McGee’s Alice, its sequel Alice: Madness Returns, and his works on various video games from id Software. McGee was born on December 13th, 1972, in Dallas, Texas to an eccentric hippie mother who was a house painter. This was particularly rare in the largely republican state of Texas. His only interaction with his biological father was on his 13th birthday, which turned violent as McGee’s father drunkenly assaulted him.
Yes, my mother named me that. She claims a woman she knew in college, who named her daughter ‘America’, inspired the name. She also tells me that she was thinking of naming me ‘Obnard’. She was and always has been a very eccentric and creative person.”
McGee had a number of stepfathers when growing up until his mother finally settled into a relationship with a trans woman. When McGee was sixteen, he came home from school and found his house empty and abandoned; the only things left were his bed, his books, his clothes and his Commodore 64 computer. His mother had sold the house to pay for two plane tickets and the fee for her girlfriend’s gender confirmation surgery, leaving him alone.
He packed up his computer, dropped out of high school and took on a variety of odd jobs, finally settling on a Volkswagen repair shop. McGee was both an automobile and gaming enthusiast. He was also highly creative and was gifted in mathematics and science, taking an early interest in computer programming. He was eventually accepted into a magnet school for computer science. McGee also had a sister, Mercy Covington, who was reported missing on November 10th, 2015. As of January 2024, her case remains unsolved.
Judas
At 21, McGee moved to an apartment complex where he met and befriended John Carmack. Carmack offered McGee a tech support job at id Software, where he was quickly promoted to level designer and music manager. McGee, along with Kevin Cloud and Tim Willits, were part of id Software’s “second generation” of developers, working on games such as The Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Quake and Quake II.
In 1998, McGee was fired from id Software. Later, McGee would say that the day he got fired was very meaningful to him. He has stated to this day that he still has no idea why he was fired but acknowledged the fact that it was due to both “internal politics and my own failings”. McGee has previously indirectly implied that Willits was largely responsible for his firing, labelling him a “snake” for sabotaging his career with bad advice.
Probably the most meaningful day for me though [working at id Software] … was the day I was fired. I felt a mixture of terror and freedom that was so significant and powerful it combined together all the good and bad of the years I’d spent working with Carmack, Romero and the others… and kicked me out into the world to fend for myself. The opportunity to work at id during those early years was so unbelievable and the path it set me on in letting me go has been even more fantastic.”
The Edge of Glory
McGee soon joined Electronic Arts and worked as creative director on American McGee’s Alice with Rogue Entertainment, which garnered favourable reviews. The game featured a teenage version of Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a darker, twisted version of the setting which retold many events from Alice Through The Looking Glass. McGee mentions that his inspiration for the macabre tone of Alice comes from his disturbing, dysfunctional childhood.
Discussions began soon after the game’s release about making a film adaptation of the game; initially Wes Craven was attached to direct the film, and later, actress Sarah Michelle Gellar bought the film rights, but the film remained in development hell. After finishing Alice, McGee left EA “in frustration” when the company fired his creative partner R. J. Berg and shut down Rogue Entertainment.
In 2002, McGee founded the short-lived support studio Carbon6, which two years later became re-branded as The Mauretania Import Export Company. McGee also directed the 2002 music video for the song “Same Ol’ Road” by the band dredg, from their album El Cielo. Partnering with Enlight Software and MercurySteam, McGee released the games Scrapland in 2004 and Bad Day L.A. in 2006.
Applause
After shutting The Mauretania Import Export Company, American McGee flew to Asia to seek business opportunities. From there, he met a pool of talented people in China who had been working and outsourcing games for western developers for many years but did not have any creative control over the IPs. McGee saw this as a favourable circumstance and decided to form a company in Shanghai to not only provide job opportunities to local talents but to also offer a healthy work environment.
Spicy Horse was the new Shanghai-based independent video game developer started by American McGee, Anthony Jacobson, and Adam Lang in 2007. It was called a studio “leading the way” in episodic games. It was the largest independent Western developer in China. Spicy Horse employed more than 70 people at their studio in Zhabei District, Shanghai. The company’s development process utilised a “core team” methodology and 100% outsourced art asset production.
The planned American McGee’s Oz, which was to be produced in conjunction with Ronin Games, was cancelled over financial difficulties at Atari. American McGee’s Grimm, developed by Spicy Horse for the online service GameTap, was released in 23 weekly episodic segments, starting in 2007. At the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello announced that a sequel to American McGee’s Alice was in development for the PlayStation 3 and other formats, developed by Spicy Horse.
Poker Face
Spicy Horse expanded to include another brand, Spicy Pony, to produce smaller digital mobile media games for the iPhone platform. Their first title, DexIQ, was released in early December 2009, and its follow-up, Crooked House, was released in March 2010. Both games had iPad versions released in June 2010. On December 17th, 2010, McGee’s old company The Mauretania Import Export Company was finally dissolved and all intellectual property was transferred to Spicy Horse.
The sequel to American McGee’s Alice, Alice: Madness Returns, was released on June 14th, 2011 and was generally well-received by fans and critics, though sales were disappointing. In 2012, McGee was focusing on cheaper free-to-play games for mobile devices, creating BigHead Bash, Akaneiro, and Crazy Fairies. In 2013, he opened a Kickstarter for a new game, American McGee’s OZombie; however, due to lackluster funding, the project was cancelled. Another Kickstarter for a project called Alice: Otherlands, a planned series of short films was announced a few days later. This reached its goal on August 4th, 2013, and was officially confirmed.
[My mission is] to create a unified production method for storytelling across the interactive and film industries. I want to be the next Walt Disney, only a little more wicked.”
Following rumours regarding the studio’s closure after slow sales of its more ambitious projects, on March 29th, 2016, McGee acknowledged that there had been some layoffs but they will continue to operate and will look to move away from free-to-play mobile games in the future. It was announced on July 23rd, 2016, that the company is closing its doors to focus on smaller indie development. In late 2016, McGee announced the closure of Spicy Horse after 10 years. He planned to focus on indie development elsewhere using Patreon for funding.
You and I
In September 2017, McGee announced that he was working on a license proposal for Alice: Asylum, the third installment of the Alice franchise. McGee and his small team began working on a pitch book of “artwork, design outline, and financial/business model” which would be sent to EA upon completion. The pitch book was partially funded through the membership platform Patreon, and presented to EA in early 2023.
McGee announced in April 2023 that EA ultimately rejected approving Alice: Asylum for both production and licensing after receiving McGee’s pitch. Both McGee and hardcore Alice fans were devastated by the decision. Furthermore, McGee announced that even if EA were to reconsider their stance with production of the game in the future, he was not interested in being involved in future Alice projects after such rejection. He also announced his retirement from game development.
McGee continues to live in Shanghai with his wife, Yeni Zhang, and their two children. The couple co-founded Mysterious, Inc., a company that markets art, apparel, and accessories based on McGee’s works, with McGee’s wife Yeni overseeing the designs. The site is also known as ‘Plushie Dreadfuls’ after their more recent expansion into horror-themed rabbit plushies.
