American McGee stated that, “After 20 days and much nail-biting, the Alice: Otherlands campaign has reached a successful conclusion. Coming in at over $222K, the funding will allow us to create a series of animated short films, pursue larger animated series possibilities, begin development work on a feature film and access larger funding options for a possible feature film production in the future. All thanks to the kind support of our backers on Kickstarter. You rock!”

Of course, half of that amount will go into securing the rights for 12 months in order to produce the animated shorts, with the remaining amount paying for animation. The film rights will require a lot more – roughly $500,000 – but following the completion of the short films, it wouldn’t be hard for Spicy Horse to bring in funding from executives interested in financing the project.

McGee also noted that, “Spicy Horse doesn’t take a profit from any of this. Money comes in, part goes out to pay for the rights, other part goes out to fund animation production (with an external team). In this since, we’re being pure producers, but not taking a fee of any sort.”

According to McGee on Kickstarter, “With the acquisition of the film rights to the ‘Alice’ property, we will begin work on animated short films inspired by the ‘Alice: Otherlands’ concept. Our long term goal will be the development and production of a feature length film version of Alice’s story.

“If this campaign is successful you will receive, at a minimum, an animated adventure into Otherlands. Beyond that, the success of this campaign will bring us one step closer to seeing Alice on the big screen.”

McGee also assured that, “For feature film (either live action or animation) we’re already being approached by well-known producers, writers and directors – and would strive to work only with the best possible partners in order to reduce risk and achieve the highest quality.”

As of this writing, the project currently has 504 backs who have pledged $28,152 of the $200,000.

It’s finally been decided that Spicy Horse will go with OZombie and it has launched a Kickstarter which has already garnered $41,693 of its $950,000 goal from 511 backers with 41 days still to go.

On the decision to go with OZombie, American McGee stated that, “We’re still having meaningful and productive conversations with EA regarding Alice. Truth is, it’s an important bit of IP for them and for us (and for you!) which means that negotiating a deal is going to take time. This is normal. Think about it this way – it took over 12 months (yes, 12 months!) to negotiate and close a deal for Alice: Madness Returns.

“This time around, we started talking with EA about a new Alice during GDC 2013 and those talks are still ongoing. Everyone involved in the talks knew about the upcoming Kickstarter campaign and has worked towards getting something in place that would could link with the campaign. Who knows? We might still get there before this campaign ends, but past experience has taught me not to bet on things like this.”

OZombie looks pretty enticing though. Check out the Kickstarter page for more info.

Currently positions are for those willing to work and live in Shanghai, but as the post states, “Relocation is available in special cases. Better if you’re already in Shanghai or China.”

There has been enough hype for American McGee’s works since Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, Spicy Horse’s last title, was successfully funded through Kickstarter. McGee has been hyping up Alice: Otherlands for some title now, with the IP staying with Electronic Arts. Despite the difficulties in getting a deal to happen, there’s an extremely good chance we may see Alice return.

On other hand is OZombie, which looks to combine the Wizard of Oz with zombies and steam-punk gameplay. Check out the official Facebook page for American McGee for regular updates on both titles, including art work and concept designs.

As the page states, “So, to the 6 of you following so far, what say you to a Kickstarter in say… July of this year to fund the third Alice game? Thoughts?”

McGee previously talked about licensing the game from Electronic Arts, if they were interested, and then funding the game via Kickstarter in a way similar to Akaneiro. It’d be interesting to see the response, given how Alice: Madness Returns didn’t exactly rub gamers the right way when it released in 2011.

Though there other factors at hand there, it would be great if Otherlands returned to the original’s fantasy horror bent of mind.