American McGee's Alice wasn't a big hit, but it has proven to be one of those enduring cult classics: 26 years after its release, there's still demand for a new one. In a recent post on X, McGee shared some insights into one of the inspirations for that game—which was also his first real signal that his days at id Software were numbered.
McGee got his start at id, first in tech support and then as a level designer for games including Doom, Quake, and Quake 2. "There was this one time at id Software when we were working on Quake 2 and everyone piled into Paul Steed's office to check out what Valve was doing was our tech," McGee wrote in response to a post featuring a gameplay clip of American McGee's Alice.
