American McGee | |
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 American McGee in 2004 | |
| Born | American James McGee December 13, 1972 (age 52) |
| Occupation | Video game designer |
| Known for | |
| Website | americanmcgee |
American James McGee (born December 13, 1972) [1] is a retired [2] American video 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.
American James McGee was born on December 13, 1972, in Dallas, Texas [1] to an eccentric mother who was a house painter. His only interaction with his biological father was on his 13th birthday, a meeting which turned violent as McGee's father drunkenly assaulted him that night. [3] McGee was highly creative and was gifted in mathematics and science, taking an early interest in computer programming. He was eventually accepted to a magnet school for computer science.
In explaining where his name came from, McGee has said that his mother was a hippie and was inspired by a woman she knew in college that named her child "America":
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.
— American McGee [4]
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 on his own. He packed up his computer, dropped out of high school and took a variety of odd jobs, finally settling on a Volkswagen repair shop. [5]
At 21, McGee, an automobile and gaming enthusiast, 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. [3] 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. [6] [7] Later, McGee would say that the day he got fired was very meaningful to him: [8]
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. I'm sitting here in Shanghai, China still drawing on many of the lessons and experiences from all those years past... it's been an incredible journey which all started with id [Software].
— American McGee, "American McGee on Quake", interview with quaddicted.com (May/June 2011)
According to former id staff Sandy Petersen, Tim Willits was the one responsible for McGee's firing (although he did not mention Willits by name; referring to him only by "Snake" and "X"). Allegedly, during the development of Quake II , Willits deliberately gave bad level design advice to McGee and when he presented his work to Carmack, it angered him and McGee was fired soon after. [9] [10] McGee has stated to this day, he still has no idea why he was fired but acknowledged the fact that it was due to "internal politics and my own failings". [11]
McGee soon joined Electronic Arts and worked as creative director on American McGee's Alice (with Rogue Entertainment), which garnered favorable reviews. [12] 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, [13] and later actress Sarah Michelle Gellar bought the film rights, but the film has 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. [14] In 2002, McGee founded the short-lived Carbon6, which two years later became known as Mauretania Import Export Company. [15]
McGee directed the 2002 music video for the song "Same Ol' Road" by the band dredg, from their album El Cielo . [16] Partnering with Enlight Software and its founder Trevor Chan, McGee released the games Scrapland in 2004 and Bad Day L.A. in 2006.
McGee backed the Nintendo Wii as the "only truly next-gen console in same year." [17] [18] [19]
The planned American McGee's Oz, which was to be produced in conjunction with Ronin Games, was canceled over financial difficulties at Atari. American McGee's Grimm , developed by his Shanghai-based game development studio 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 PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by McGee's Spicy Horse studio. [20] [21] In July 2010, at the EA Showcase in San Francisco, Spicy Horse and EA announced that sequel's title, Alice: Madness Returns , released less than one year after its announcement, on June 14, 2011.
More recently, McGee's Spicy Horse expanded to include another brand, Spicy Pony, to produce 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 had iPad versions released in June 2010). On December 17, 2010, McGee's old company The Mauretania Import Export Company was dissolved and all intellectual property was transferred to Spicy Horse. [22]
In 2012, McGee was focusing on free-to-play games for mobile devices with BigHead Bash, Akaneiro, and Crazy Fairies. [23] In 2013, he opened a Kickstarter for a new game, American McGee's OZombie; however, due to slow/lackluster funding the project was canceled. Another Kickstarter for a project called Alice: Otherlands , a planned series of short films leading to a theatrical film, was announced a few days later. This reached its goal on August 4, 2013, and was officially confirmed. [24]
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. [25] 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. [26] 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. [27]
He also announced his retirement from game development, with plans to focus on his family and their family business Mysterious. [28]
McGee has stated his mission is "to create a unified production method for story telling across the interactive and film industries" and of himself, he says, "I want to be the next Walt Disney, only a little more wicked." [29]
In 2005, McGee left the United States and resided for a time in Hong Kong before moving to Shanghai, where he has lived since 2009. [30] Once in China, he created Spicy Horse, at one point the largest independent Western game development house in the nation, [31] and helped found Blade (formerly Vykarian), a game outsourcing company. They produced American McGee's Grimm for GameTap (now owned by Metaboli) and worked on the sequel to his original Alice game, Alice: Madness Returns .
He also mentions that his inspiration for the macabre tone of Alice comes from his disturbing, dysfunctional childhood.
McGee continues to live in Shanghai with his wife, Yeni Zhang. 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. [32]
The couple has two children. [33] [34]
One of McGee's favorite books is Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft . [35]
McGee had a sister, Mercy Covington, who was reported missing on November 10, 2015. As of January 2024, her case remains unsolved. [36] [37] [38]
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(March 2013) |
| Year | Title [a] | Role | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Wolfenstein 3D | Software support | Id Software |
| 1993 | Doom | Design, level design and technical support. Simplified the level design and textures for the Atari Jaguar/32X version(s) in 1994 | |
| 1994 | Doom II | Design and technical support | |
| 1995 | The Ultimate Doom | Testing, technical support and special thanks | |
| Hexen: Beyond Heretic | Design | Raven Software | |
| 1996 | Final Doom | Design, level design and technical support | Id Software |
| Quake | Level design | ||
| 1997 | Doom 64 | Design | Midway Games |
| Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon | Design | Id Software | |
| Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity | Design | ||
| Quake II | Level design | ||
| 1998 | Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 | Sound design | Ion Storm/7th Level |
| 2000 | American McGee's Alice | Original concept, director, cinematic script design | Rogue Entertainment |
| 2004 | American McGee's Scrapland | Executive producer | MercurySteam |
| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent | Multiplayer director | Electronic Arts | |
| 2006 | American McGee presents: Bad Day L.A. | Creative director | Enlight Software/TMIEC |
| 2008 | American McGee's Grimm | Creative director | Spicy Horse |
| 2011 | Alice: Madness Returns | Original concept, director, writer | |
| Cancelled [39] | Alice: Asylum [40] | ||
| Cancelled | Oz: Adventures [41] |
id Software LLC is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack.
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American McGee's Alice is a 2000 third-person action-adventure video game developed by Rogue Entertainment under the direction of designer American McGee and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Games banner. The game was originally released for Windows and Mac OS. Although a planned PlayStation 2 port was cancelled, the game was later released digitally for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, via downloadable content for its sequel.
Adrian Carmack is an American video game artist and one of four co-founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John Carmack. The founders met while working at Softdisk's Gamer's Edge division and started id in 1991. Adrian Carmack's primary role at the company was as an artist, including work on Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Quake, Quake II and Quake III Arena. He is credited as the creator of Doom's grotesque, gory art style as well as the term "gibs". During the development of Doom, Adrian built clay models of the baron of hell, the Doomguy, and the cyberdemon before Gregor Punchatz was hired.
Katherine Anna Kang is an American video game designer.
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Rogue Entertainment was an American computer game developer based in Dallas, Texas, which was active in the late 1990s. It was founded by Rich Fleider, Steve Maines, and Jim Molinets in 1994. Rogue Entertainment's office was in the same building as id Software, all of their games used game engines created by id Software, and two of their games were expansions for id Software's Quake series of games. The company's first game, Strife: Quest for the Sigil, was released as shareware on February 23, 1996, with the retail version later being released on May 31, 1996. Many former Rogue Entertainment employees moved to Nerve Software after Rogue Entertainment shut down.
Tim Willits is the former studio director, co-owner, and level designer of id Software. As of August 2019, Willits is the chief creative officer at Saber Interactive. He became a Director of 3D Realms with Saber Interactive’s acquisition of the company.
Kevin Cloud is an American video game artist. He graduated from LSU-Shreveport in 1987 with a degree in political science. Cloud acquired his first full-time job as a computer artist at Softdisk in 1985. He was hired by id Software on March 10, 1992 to work as an assistant artist to lead artist Adrian Carmack, where he remained to work on popular computer games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, climbing the ranks of the company. Prior to his career at id, he was employed by Softdisk as an editorial director, where several other id founders worked. During that time he also worked as an illustrator for Softdisk's Commodore 64 disk magazine Loadstar. Cloud was an artist and co-owner of id until the ZeniMax Media merger in 2009, where he now serves as a senior producer.
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R. J. Berg is a writer and executive producer of video games. Berg wrote and produced several titles at Electronic Arts, including American McGee's Alice. In 2001, he was named the Creative Director at LucasArts. In 2008, he worked as a consultant for Spicy Horse Software, an entertainment development studio in Shanghai. There, he was the lead writer of American McGee's Grimm and Alice: Madness Returns. He was the Chief Operations Officer at Spicy Horse.
Spicy Horse was a Shanghai-based independent video game developer started by American McGee, Anthony Jacobson, and Adam Lang in 2007. It was announced on July 23, 2016, that the company is closing its doors to focus on smaller indie development. The studio is best known for Alice: Madness Returns, the sequel to American McGee's Alice.
Doom is an American media franchise created by John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, and Tom Hall. The series usually focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine operating under the auspices of the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), who fights hordes of demons and the undead to save Earth from an apocalyptic invasion.
id Tech 6 is a multiplatform game engine developed by id Software. It is the successor to id Tech 5 and was first used to create the 2016 video game Doom. Internally, the development team also used the codename id Tech 666 to refer to the engine. The PC version of the engine is based on Vulkan API and OpenGL API.
Alice: Madness Returns is a 2011 action-adventure game developed by Spicy Horse and released by Electronic Arts for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is the sequel to American McGee's Alice (2000) and was directed by series creator American McGee.
Akaneiro: Demon Hunters is a dark fantasy, free-to-play video game that was developed by American McGee's company Spicy Horse. It was originally announced for release in 2012. Whereas McGee's earlier games, American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns, draw heavily from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Akaneiro: Demon Hunters adapts the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, throwing her into the setting of feudal Japan. It was successfully crowd-funded through Kickstarter and was released as browser game.
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