The Crimson Diamond Gazette #67
Welcome to the latest issue! News and fun facts inside!
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Find game bugs? feedback@thecrimsondiamond.com
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MEDIA
Indiepocalypse Radio - Episode 0143: Keenardo and Julia Minamata
Final Round -- "The Crimson Diamond: sedici colori, interfaccia testuale, è subito 1989" (Italian language)
8BITdigi -- GDC 2024 The Games We Played
Save Your Game Podcast with PushingUpRoses and Matt Aukamp
YakWaxLips video: Most Anticipated Adventure Games of 2024!
Adventure Game Hotspot's PIXEL ART Adventure Games you MUST PLAY in 2024
Adventure Game Geek's Upcoming Adventure Games 2024...And Beyond!
vicek83's "Plans for Adventure Game Developers for 2024" (guest spot)
Rock Paper Shotgun Screenshot Saturday Monday
Adventure Game Hotspot interview
FireFlower Games interview article
Hello Playdate Podcast interview
FMM Live: Discussion with Julia Minamata Dev of The Crimson Diamond
2D Game Art Tips for Solo or Small Teams -- Pre-recorded panel
Scene World Podcast #160 - The Crimson Diamond with Julia Minamata
vicek83's "Plans for Adventure Game Developers for 2023" (guest spot)
Exposing Decades-old Secrets of The Colonel's Bequest (guest spot)
Adventure Game Hotspot Streaming Event Guest Spot #1
Adventure Game Hotspot Streaming Event Guest Spot #2
Current "The Crimson Diamond Demo" Speedrun World Records
The Crimson Diamond on Speedruns.com
Disaster SquadCast episode
"Talking To Women About Videogames" podcast episode part 2 of 2
"Talking To Women About Videogames" podcast episode part 1 of 2
Joystick interview (in English)
Joystick interview (in Greek)
Plans of Adventure Game Devs in 2022 (timestamped link)
IGDA Twin Cities Talk: "The Practical Magic of Pixel Art"
Steam Next Fest (Oct 2021) Developer's Let's Play of The Crimson Diamond Demo
Interviews from the Multiverse: Julia Minamata
Lockdown Con II "The Indie Games Revolution" Panel (first panel of the day)
WIRED.com's Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
Pixelles BIPOC Creator Program grant recipient
usesthis interview (interview about my hardware and software set-up)
8-bit Ninja interview about The Crimson Diamond (in German)
CAAD52 magazine article about The Crimson Diamond (in Spanish)
Cabel Sasser's Photoshop Revelation clip
HomeTeam GameDev Podcast -- Guest Julia Minamata
CityNews - Canada Showcased Through Video Games
CBC Thunder Bay - Superior Morning Radio Interview
PAX East 2020 "What's Next for Adventure Games" Panel
Adventure Games Podcast episode
Classic Adventurer, Issue 07 -- Featured
Adventure Gamers AdventureX Round-up, part II
Adventure Gamers Announcement Article
Adventure Corner Article (German)
The CGG Podcast: # 44 Third appearance, updates since April 2019!
The CGG Podcast: #20 The Crimson Diamond updates & The Colonel's Bequest
The CGG Podcast: #1 Episode featuring me discussing The Crimson Diamond
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CLASSIC GAMER? JOIN CLASSIC GAMERS!
I part of a thriving classic gaming community called the Classic Gamers Guild on Facebook. We host plenty of events during the week, as well as contests and a bunch of other great stuff. We even have a podcast and I was the first guest!
To view this issue in browser, click here
Click here for the entire DevBlog
Editor: Julia Minamata - julia@thecrimsondiamond.com
April 2024
Hello, dear readers! Happy April! More sun, more warm weather, and more crocuses! A good start to Spring!
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Developer update: THREE more art backgrounds to complete! The game will be 100% finished after that (besides adding a few little graphics inside some of some closets and cupboards, or at least a written explanation of contents / lack of contents!). Of course I need to do a lot more testing, but it does feel like a major milestone is imminent. I recently achieved another major milestone, and got myself a little treat. But I'm saving that for the mineral trivia section of the gazette!
(Please wishlist The Crimson Diamond on Steam, it really helps me out!)
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GDC was an amazing experience. It was my first time attending the event, and my first time in San Francisco! I had a few meetings, including one with journalist Andrea Maderna -- He wrote this article for Final Round, an Italian lanugage games site. I was able to use Google Translate to get the gist of the article, check it out here!
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GDC was also a great opportunity to introduce new people to The Crimson Diamond! I met Stan Rezaee of 8Bit/Digi at one of the GDC-adjacent events I was showing at, and he was kind enough to include me in his round-up of games he played during GDC! You can read that here.
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I'm on episode 0143 of Indiepocalypse Radio! I got to chat about game development, retro games, The Crimson Diamond, and my favourite Tohou character (I chose one on the spot!). Andrew is an amazing host, and fellow guest Keenardo was really cool to get to know! Andrew produces a zine of indie games every month, both physical and digital editions, and cassette tapes! Check out all of his many awesome projects here.
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The Adventure Game Hotspot Fan Fair is happening soon! July 26-29 in Tacoma, Washington. I'll be there, as well as Francisco González, Dave Gilbert, and many other adventure game devs!
Find out more about the event here.
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Speaking of zines, Xania Lasagna has has been putting out the gorgeous Uncrank'd Playdate zine, and I was interviewed for issue #02! There's both a physical and digital edition. It's full of great long-form interviews with lots of game devs. Xania has an itch.io page for the zine here.
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I'll be sharing some photos of my GDC/San Francisco trip below, but if you want to see more photos and hear me talk about the trip in greater detail, check out this VOD!
I met Frank Cifaldi, of the Video Game History Foundation, on the GDC floor! He curated and hosted a showcase of some amazing retro games, including...
Alter Ego (1986), by psychologist Peter J. Favaro!
And the ultra-rare Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego?!
If you can, please support the Video Game History Foundation. They do amazing work preserving, archving, researching, and educating.
Frank gave The Crimson Diamond the "80s/90s computer gaming magazine screenshot" treatment, courtesy of some medical imaging equipment he's acquired! It's amazing to see my modern pixel art adventure game through an analog lens. I find the soft fuzziness to be very cozy!
I was so happy to run into Xalavier Nelson Jr. after his GDC talk! I've worked with Xalavier on Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, Witch Strandings, and Recommendation Dog!! He gave me some of the infamous Life Eater "suspicious tape"! Life Eater launched TODAY (April 16, 2024) !
Here's a selfie showing The Crimson Diamond on a projector, at the Indie BYOG event I tabled at! In the background is Damien Crawford, who was showing "Damien Crawford's Golf Experience 2024". I'd previously met Damien online, for this panel I co-hosted with Chris DeLeon!
And here's the other event I showed at! My set-up was the game on my Microsoft Surface Pro 2, a looping video of the trailer on my iPad, a QR code the links to the Steam page, postcards, and stickers!
I managed to squeeze in a bit of sightseeing, including a brief visit to City Hall, on my way to the Asian Art Museum for an event: "How (not) to get hit by a self-driving car".
San Francisco's famously steep inclines!
An overcast day at Pier 39. Saw sea lions and this majestic seagull, and Alcatraz!
Sourdough crab chowder bowl! Very touristy and delicious.
The Musée Mécanique was recommended to me by lots of people. I'm so glad I went, it was by far the best touristy thing I did in San Francisco! It's been family-owned and operated since 1933. It is chock full of vintage, antique, retro gaming machines, pinball machines, fortune tellers, animatronics, and more. And they are playable!
I love shiny things. I was thrilled with this necklace I got from the above machine. I think I got the best one! :)
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I was thrilled to interview Marnanel Thurman, developer of Denarius Avaricius Sextus, live on Twitch! Here is some supplemental material that Marnanel mentions over the course of the wonderful conversation:
Roman Comedies stock characters
Brian Blessed Palm Pilot feelings
Marnanel will be joining me again in the future, to further discuss DAS and also the sequel, Lord Avalot d'Argent!
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If you'd like some awesome The Crimson Diamond stickers, hats, t-shirts and more, I have some fun stuff on my Fourthwall store!
And if you're interested in setting up a Fourthwall store of your own, here's my referral link (I'd get $15 credit :D).
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We had a Dan on-stream, and he composed a brand new track for The Crimson Diamond! What a treat! Check it out here. See the other cool stuff Dan does here!
Livestream VOD round-up! All the streams since last gazette are here!
Mar 26th GDC/art stream, Apr 2nd art/music stream, Apr 9th Marnanel Thurman / art stream
Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch! Come and hang out!
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Earthrise (Interstel, 1990) continues to entertain and delight! More grisly, pixelly deaths! More exploration! More mystery!
This game isn't commercially available, but you can request that GOG add it to their catalog.
My completed Let's Plays:
Personal Nightmare (Horrorsoft 1989)
Last Half of Darkness (Softlab Software Laboratories 1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (LucasArts 1989)
Rise of the Dragon Let's Play (Dynamix, 1990)
The Sorceror's Appraisal (Yahtzee Croshaw, 2002)
Cruise for a Corpse (Delphine Software International, 1991)
Mortville Manor (Lankhor, 1987)
Legend of the Sword (Silicon Software, 1988)
Altered Destiny (Accolade, 1990)
The Dark Convergence (Jeffrey Kintz, 1993)
The Dark Convergence 2 (Jeffrey Kintz, 1994)
High Seas Homicide (Sherwood Forest Software, 1993)
Denarius Avaricius Sextus (Thorsoft of Letchworth,1992)
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CRAFT CORNER
Craft corner is on hiatus! I have some ideas for my next cross-stitching project...
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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: Garnets are vibrant, durable, and well-priced gems! I recently bought this A-grade, round-cut, 7mm almandine garnet as a treat for myself... Because I finally hit 10,000 Steam wishlists last month! Woo hoo! I also bought a Snaptite(tm) 14k gold setting and made myself a little necklace. The garnet itself cost just $16.57 USD! I took these photos with my 30x21mm loupe held up to my iPhone camera. Just as Nancy Maple does in The Crimson Diamond, using a loupe to examine objects can show some amazing details!
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INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THE CRIMSON DIAMOND?
Check the sidebar for links to my Patreon and PayPal! Or visit The Crimson Diamond's Steam page follow the game, and add it to your wishlist! There's a FREE playable demo too, for Windows PC and Mac! <3
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Thanks for reading! Happy April! 2024 is the year of The Crimson Diamond!
-- JM