The Crimson Diamond Gazette #72
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
Danny O'Dwyer recommends The Crimson Diamond on the Noclip Crewcast
DigitallyDownloaded.net round-up
Gamers With Jobs Conference Call mention
@MarshmallowSack on Cohost article
Retro Game Club Podcast interview
Matt Chat with Matt Barton & Mat Bradley-Tschirgi
60 Second Review by Jared Brock
New Adventure Games round-up by YakWaxLips
Limmy plays The Crimson Diamond
Upstairs Downstairs Game Talk Video
TurianShepard's "4 Adventure Games You Need To Play in August 2024" video
Talking To Women About Videogames episode
Ars Technica article about The Crimson Diamond
Kotaku article featuring The Crimson Diamond
"Indies In Depth" episode 2: Julia Minamata & Andrew Dickinson
Time Extension article: Meet The Devs Keeping EGA Alive In The Modern Day
"The Crimson Diamond: A Cozy mystery adventure beckons": Adventure Gamers
"Digging for Gems and Clues: The Crimson Diamond Launches on August 15": A Gaming Network
"A Gem Found In The Belly Of A Fish": Vulgar Knight article
IGN Live debut of The Crimson Diamond release date trailer
Pixel Pizza Podcast: Julia Minamata (The Crimson Diamond)
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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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!
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Editor: Julia Minamata - julia@thecrimsondiamond.com
September 2024
Hello, dear readers -- It's been one month since The Crimson Diamond launched. I'm very proud of it and so happy that people have been enjoying it so much.
Buy The Crimson Diamond on Steam (For PC and Mac).
It's also on itchio and FireFlower Games.
If you enjoy the game, please leave a review on Steam! It helps so much to increase its visibility on the Steam store.
Developer update: I'm continuing with bug fixes and working to getting The Crimson Diamond on GOG. Hopefully I'll have some good news about that soon.
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I went on a little vacation to Halifax to visit Dan (more on that later) and my friends the Level 0 NPCs. We've let's played The Colonel's Bequest, The Dagger of Amon Ra, and now The Crimson Diamond on their Youtube channel.
Another reason for me to visit Nova Scotia was the magnificent Bay of Fundy, to collect my very own zeolites. Get ready for an extensive Rock Facts section this issue...
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Carolyn Petit wrote a glowing review of The Crimson Diamond for Kotaku. Thanks so much, Carolyn. It feels so good to know that there are still writers at the big games media sites who have a love for old-fashioned adventure games.
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Nicole Carpenter (author profile here) wrote very positively about the game for Polygon. Hooray!
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I was over the moon to learn that EDGE magazine reviewed The Crimson Diamond in the September issue and gave it an 8/10. :-)
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Jess Clayton-Berry at Game Luster wrote a review and gave a 7/10, which I very much appreciate. Read the full review here.
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Another incredibly pleasant surprise: Danny O'Dwyer (founder of Noclip), had a lot of very nice things to say about The Crimson Diamond on episode #190 of the Noclip Crewcast. Timestamped link here.
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Patreon patrons' names are in The Crimson Diamond credits. These credits can be accessed via the main menu (the button is on the bottom right), or typing "credits" into the text parser at almost any point in the game. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Patreon patrons. There will be a holiday card this year for the $5 USD tier folks.
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David Flynn of GamingTrend wrote a lovely article about The Crimson Diamond and gave it a 95, which completely blew me away. Thanks so much, David. Read it here.
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Jaesa Evermoore covered The Crimson Diamond for Temple of Geek. Thanks so much.
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This one JUST missed last month's gazette, I'm happy to share it now. PC Gamer included The Crimson Diamond in this round-up by Shaun Prescott.
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Speaking of round-ups, DigitallyDownloaded.net included the game in their round-up article. Thanks, Lindsay :-)
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Gamers with Jobs - Conference Call mentioned The Crimson Diamond in episode 934, give a listen here.
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Get Played is another lovely podcast that mentioned The Crimson Diamond. Check out their September 16 episode here. It feels really cool to be mentioned in the same space as Papers, Please by indie game dev legend Lucas Pope.
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Joel Couture of Indie Games+ did a nice write-up for the Crimson Diamond, thanks so much, Joel!
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Thanks also to Indie Retro News for boosting the game on their site.
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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. I particularly like the embroidered items, and they all ship and arrive quite quickly, no matter where you are in the world.
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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Sam (Wizard), aka @MarshmallowSack, wrote a wonderful review of The Crimson Diamond on Cohost. Read it here.
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I had an amazing chat with fellow Canadian Twitch streamer, Nalvara. She was kind enough to stream The Crimson Diamond on her channel and then we did our talk. Here's the VOD on her Youtube page.
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I was on the Retro Game Club podcast, S6E18. It was a great conversation. Give a listen here.
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I returned to Matt Barton's Youtube channel, this time to chat with him and Mat Bradly-Tschirgi while they played some of The Crimson Diamond.
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Speaking of lovely chats, GetSelious and I talked The Crimson Diamond for The Outerhaven on Youtube, on their Spectator Mode podcast.
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Jared Brock reviewed the game on Youtube, check it out here.
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And here's a Youtube round-up of new adventure games. Thanks for including The Crimson Diamond, YakWaxLips.
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I really enjoyed this conversation with Matthew Bianchini. I'm always interested in talking to players who don't have old-school nostalgia for adventure games, to see what they make of The Crimson Diamond. I'm happy to report that Matthew enjoyed it!
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I didn't make The Crimson Diamond by myself. I have a lot of testers and Patreon patrons to thank for their time and support. Above all, Dan Policar composed an incredible soundtrack that's more than forty minutes long, and he did it on a real Roland MT-32. Dan's released the soundtrack on Bandcamp, so please support him if you can by buying the album!
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A big thanks to all the amazing Twitch streamers who have played The Crimson Diamond on their channels. It's been thrilling to watch some of my favourite people playing and enjoying my game, and sharing it with their audiences. Sadly Twitch doesn't archive VODs forever, so I don't really have a reliable way to share those videos.
Fortunately a fan of Limmy's does archive his VODs on Youtube, so I'm happy to share his VOD of my game here. If you're a Twitch streamer who has posted their The Crimson Diamond VOD on Youtube, please let me know. I'd love to share it in a gazette.
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The Crimson Diamond is in the Game Devs of Color Expo Steam event! I'm so grateful to be included in this. There's a huge schedule of events to check out, with panels, AMAs, and in-person events in multiple locations. Here's the schedule. It all kicks off on Wednesday, September 14 at 4pm Eastern.
I'll be doing a bonus stream from my Steam store page on Friday, September 20 at 8pm Eastern. I'll be streaming Chapter 2 of The Crimson Diamond for the first time ever.
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Dan remastered some of The Crimson Diamond tracks for his Bandcamp release live on stream. Check that out here.
Dan's current gig is Lori & Corey Cole's (of Sierra's Quest for Glory fame) latest game, a follow-up to Tilly's Tale. He previously made music for Romero Games' Empire of Sin, and the trailer music for Roberta Williams' Colossal Cave Adventure remake.
Livestream VOD round-up. All the streams since last gazette are here:
August 13th The Crimson Diamond pre-launch party, August 20th art/music stream, August 27th art stream , September 3rd art stream , September 10th art & music stream
Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch. Come and hang out.
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I capitulated and pulled out a walkthrough for Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess (ERE Informatique, 1989). It's a pretty short game (though the walkthrough seems to skip a lot), but I still think it's incredibly cool and looks gorgeous.
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)
Lord Avalot d'Argent (Thorsoft of Letchworth, 1995)
Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess (ERE Informatique, 1989)
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I mentioned that I went to Nova Scotia, and the Bay of Fundy specifically, to hunt zeolites. This sign was on display at the Fundy Geological Museum (another one of my vacation stops):
The rock formations at Wasson Bluff are fascinating. They're a blend of basalt (porous volcanic rock) which is the dark brown / black rock on the right side of this formation, and sandstone (the orange bit, the colour being due to the richness of iron in the area).
The Bay of Fundy is known for its low and high tides. Judging from the seasweed and relative dampness here, it's pretty clear that this is the bay at low tide. Speaking of which: I booked a highly knowledgeable guide (Brian of FundyTreasures.ca) and brought a friend. If you don't know the schedule for the tides, it's easy to get caught with very wet feet or be trapped on an elevated outcropping of sand for hours until the water recedes again.
Here is a close-up of the basalt in the area. The basalt was once liquid lava that then cooled. Bubbles formed as this was happening and those voids created spaces for crystals to form later. This is the reason why this area has been famous for two hundred years as a destination for rockhounds.
Another reason I vacationed in Halifax was to see Dan again, who was in town touring with Sean Paul!
Speaking of my Halifax friends, here they are! Matt (on the left) and Alex (on the right) of the Level 0 NPCs, and of course Sean Paul.
Here's a view of Scotiabank centre, where Sean Paul was performing, from Citadel Hill (a historic fort, which I also visited during my trip).
I love the houses in Halifax.
This is probably the best thing I ate the whole trip. It's a savoury taiyaki (Gochujang Pork) from a shop called Cafe Taiyaki 52.
No trip to Halifax is complete without eating a donair. This was the place local and Level 0 NPC Matt Goodmanson recommended: Tony's.
We did a roadtrip to Peggy's Cove and stopped off for buttered lobster roll and seafood chowder on the way at Shaw's Landing. Delicious.
Another Nova Scotia delicacy: Gingerbread cake. Also delicious.
Here's a food discovery that I'm shocked hasn't made its way to Toronto: Apple fries. These ones were ordered from Potikki's. The incredibly crispy-crunch of french fries with nice soft insides, but dusted with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with caramel sauce.
This looks like a painting, but it's a photo taken by Alex. Can you see the Great Blue Heron?
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CRAFT CORNER
This time it's Craft Corner's turn to take a break -- I have something in the works that I'll hopefully be able to share next month. Watch this space...
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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: The zeolites of Wasson Bluff, Nova Scotia are world famous and sought by collectors (see above photo for more). As tour guide Brian taught us, zeolites are crystals that formed within the porous basalt rock of the bluff. They come in an array of shapes and colours, with different names.
Wikipedia says that zeolites are "a family of several microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, [and] oxygen". I mostly think of them as gorgeous but fragile crystal treasures.
Here is part of my haul:
These crystals are stilbite. They're characterized by these striated growth patterns and a fan-like shape.Colours range from colourless to yellow, grey, and brownish-red.
This specimen is potentially thomsonite, which is considered a rare-ish find at Wasson Bluff. They're ball-shaped and usually whitish. These ones have been stained brown by iron. Brian says that soaking specimens like this in Iron-Out and distilled water will work wonders to reveal their true colours.
Analcime is a gorgeous crystal that can easily be seen formed in clusters, clinging to the basalt. The largest crystals I saw during the tour was analcime crystals.
Natrolite is fairly easy to identify with its stick-like protrusions. This specimen would probably also benefit from an Iron-Out bath. Ideally it would be whitish.
Heulandite are tiny little crystals and are so pretty. I'm looking forward to cleaning this one up to make it sparkle even brighter.
Nova Scotia used to be home to copper mines. Sometimes you can see the presence of copper in the rocks. It's very easy to identify this brilliant, saturated blue-green colour.
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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 to purchase or follow it. It's also available on itchio and FireFlower Games.
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Thanks for reading. Happy September. Bonus photo of Mr. Darcy, the cat I was catsitting!
-- JM