知名設計師亞美利堅·麥基(American McGee)在社媒分享一段陳年往事，講述了《愛麗絲》系列的靈感來源。
麥基最初在id Software從事技術支持工作，後來成為關卡設計師，參與了《毀滅戰士》、《雷神之錘》、《雷神之錘2》等遊戲的開發。《愛麗絲》系列被譽為暗黑奇幻風格的經典cult，而這種類型最初並不怎麼受待見。
「我們在id Software開發《雷神之錘2》的時候，有一次湧進了保羅·斯蒂德的辦公室，想看看Valve公司在用我們的技術做什麽。」
「他們做了一個電影化的場景，角色在移動，吊車在操控，有多個鏡頭環繞拍攝。這才是用雷神之錘引擎打造的真正電影化敘事。」
看到這一幕，麥基說他「倒吸一口涼氣，驚呼一聲『哇』」，然後整個房間的人都轉過頭來，怒視他。
「那一刻我就知道，『好吧，我想用這項技術講故事。而這些人不想。』」 麥基寫道。
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. And there was a cinematic scene with characters moving around while a crane operating and multiple cameras panning around to convey some element of the narrative. Proper cinematic storytelling using the Quake engine! And I let out a breathless "WOW." The whole room turned around and scowled at me. Ha. That was the moment I knew, "OK, well. I want to tell stories with this tech. And these guys don't." That was why, on the day I was fired from id, I first cried... and then driving home with a box of my crap in the trunk of the car, I began smiling. Then laughing. And the first chance I was given to do something on my own with that tech? Well, I pushed it as hard as I could in relation to surreal visuals and cinematic storytelling. 26 years later and I can still say "Wow."
這件事之後，也是《雷神之錘2》發布的一年後，麥基被id Software解僱了。解僱原因至今成謎，當時的說法是遊戲沒有達到預期。幾年後，前設計師桑迪·彼得森暗示，麥基是被同事陷害的。
「我被id Software解僱的那天，先是大哭一場……然後，開車回家，後備箱裡塞滿我的雜物。我嘗試微笑面對，最後大笑。當我第一次有機會用那項技術進行獨立創作時，我盡我所能，追求超現實的視覺效果和電影化的敘事手法。」 麥基寫道。
Valve的這次演示為麥基啟發靈感，指引了後來的開發。不久他加入EA，製作了《愛麗絲夢遊魔境》，後來前往中國，創立Spicy Horse工作室，開發了續作《愛麗絲驚魂記︰瘋狂再臨》。
