Channel Frederator Blog

I thoroughly enjoy my regular check-ins at American McGee’s Blog; he’s a video game designer currently living in Shanghai. I am not a gamer myself, but the artwork for American McGee’s Grimm (scheduled for release July of 2008, published by online game service, Game Tap) looks quite engaging.

The preview for his twisted take on classic fairy tales is here.

There’s an interview with McGee here. And one here, which you can choose to read in English or Polish!

The game will be comprised of 24 individual episodes, released weekly. (Oh yeah, and if you are on a Mac, you’re out of luck, because it will only be playable on PC.) Each episode re-imagines a well-known fairy tale. At the top of the episode, you will see the story in a happy, clean, and PC (the other kind of PC) version. The player’s challenge is to turn the fairy tale “dark”. The experience ends with a viewing of the new grimminized (not a real word) version.

While you’re waiting for the game release, here’s a Fractured Fairy Tale.

American McGee has been posting his artwork on the blog throughout the design process. To go directly to some stunning concept art, see his Flickr page.

—Anne D. Bernstein