American McGee facts for kids

Quick facts for kids American McGee
McGee in 2004
Born	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Video game designer
Known for	Doom II The Ultimate Doom Quake Quake II American McGee's Alice Bad Day L.A. Alice: Madness Returns

American McGee is a talented American video game designer who has now retired. He is most famous for designing the games American McGee's Alice and its sequel Alice: Madness Returns. He also worked on many other popular video games from a company called id Software.

Early Life and Inspiration

American McGee was born in Dallas, Texas. His mother was a creative house painter. When he was 13, he had a difficult meeting with his biological father. McGee was very creative and good at math and science. He became interested in computer programming early on. He even got into a special school for computer science.

When asked about his unique name, McGee explained that his mother was inspired by someone she knew in college. She even thought about naming him 'Obnard'! This shows how creative and unique his mother was.

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

McGee had several stepfathers while growing up. When he was 16, he came home from school to find his house empty. Only his bed, books, clothes, and his Commodore 64 computer were left. His mother had sold the house to pay for plane tickets and a medical procedure for her partner, leaving him to live on his own. He packed up his computer, left high school, and took different jobs. He eventually worked at a Volkswagen repair shop.

Career in Gaming

Starting at id Software

When American McGee was 21, he loved cars and video games. He moved into an apartment building where he met John Carmack, a famous game developer. Carmack offered McGee a job helping with tech support at id Software. McGee quickly moved up and became a level designer and music manager. He worked on classic games like The Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Quake, and Quake II.

McGee at id Software (October 6, 1995)

In 1998, McGee left id Software. He later said that leaving the company was a very important day for him. It felt scary but also freeing. He learned a lot from working with the team at id Software, and those experiences helped him on his amazing journey in the game world.

Working with Electronic Arts

After leaving id Software, McGee joined Electronic Arts (EA). He became the creative director for American McGee's Alice, which was made with Rogue Entertainment. This game got great reviews! There were even talks about making a movie based on the game. Famous director Wes Craven and actress Sarah Michelle Gellar were involved at different times, but the movie never got made.

After Alice, McGee left EA because he was frustrated. His creative partner was let go, and Rogue Entertainment closed down. In 2002, McGee started his own company called Carbon6, which later became Mauretania Import Export Company.

New Projects and Studios

McGee directed a music video for the band dredg in 2002. He also worked with Enlight Software to release games like Scrapland (2004) and Bad Day L.A. (2006).

He then founded a game development studio in Shanghai, China, called Spicy Horse. One of their first big projects was American McGee's Grimm. This game was released in 23 weekly parts starting in 2007.

In 2009, EA announced that a sequel to American McGee's Alice was being made by Spicy Horse. This game, called Alice: Madness Returns, was released on June 14, 2011.

Spicy Horse also created a new brand called Spicy Pony to make mobile games for the iPhone. Their first mobile games were DexIQ and Crooked House. In 2012, McGee started focusing on "free-to-play" games for mobile devices. These are games you can download and play for free, but they might have in-game purchases.

In 2013, he tried to get funding for a new game called American McGee's OZombie through Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a website where people can donate money to help creative projects get started. However, this project didn't get enough funding and was canceled. He then started another Kickstarter for Alice: Otherlands, which was a series of short films. This project successfully reached its goal.

Alice: Asylum and Retirement

In September 2017, McGee announced he was working on an idea for Alice: Asylum. This was planned to be the third game in the Alice series. He and his team created a detailed plan with artwork and business ideas to show to EA. This plan was partly funded by fans through a website called Patreon. The proposal was given to EA in early 2023.

However, in April 2023, McGee announced that EA decided not to approve Alice: Asylum. They also wouldn't let him license the game. McGee then shared that he was no longer interested in working on future Alice projects, even if EA changed their mind. He also announced that he was retiring from making video games. He plans to focus on his family and their family business, Mysterious.

Personal Life

American McGee's goal has been to create a way to tell stories that works for both interactive games and movies. He once said he wanted to be "the next Walt Disney, only a little more wicked."

In 2005, McGee left the United States. He lived in Hong Kong for a while before moving to Shanghai, China, in 2009. In China, he started Spicy Horse, which became one of the biggest independent Western game development companies there. He also helped start Blade, a company that helps other game companies with their projects.

McGee has mentioned that his early life experiences influenced the unique and sometimes dark style of his Alice games.

Today, McGee lives in Shanghai with his wife, Yeni Zhang. They started a company called Mysterious, Inc., which sells art, clothes, and accessories based on McGee's creative works. Yeni oversees the designs for the company.

The couple has two children.

One of McGee's favorite books is Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Games Developed

Images for kids

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  McGee in 2006

See also

In Spanish: American McGee para niños