Hello, dear readers -- Happy April. The world (in Ontario) is slowly coming back to life Bits of green are starting to peek out from the grey and brown. An encouraging sight.

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LudoNarracon image for TCD

I'm very excited to announce that The Crimson Diamond is part of the Official Selection for this year's LudoNarraCon event, presented by Fellow Traveller! Subscribe to the Fellow Traveller newsletter to keep up to date on their events.

There will be an update to The Crimson Diamond, with some bug fixes and cloud saving on Steam enabled, PLUS I will be on a panel with some amazing co-panellists. More info to come...

LudoNarraCon runs from May 1-5th.

Here's a teeny-tiny version of the LudoNarraCon Official Selection graphic. To get a better look, visit the official site.

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The Crimson Diamond is on Steam. It's also on itchio and GOG and FireFlower Games. Sometimes people ask me where the best place is to buy the game, to support me as an indie dev. Steam is best (especially if you also leave a review), it's incredibly helpful for visibility on the store. But please choose whichever option is best for you.

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I will be (remotely) giving a talk at Narrascope this year! Narrascope is an annual celebration of narrative games from June 20-22, based in Philadelphia at Drexel University. There are options for in-person and online attendance, which is super convenient. You can find the schedule here.

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Adventure Game Studio Award 2024 Best Gameplay for The Crimson Diamond

I'm so proud and excited to announce that The Crimson Diamond won an Adventure Game Studio Award for Best Gameplay! Adventure Game Studio was the perfect engine for me, as someone who'd never made a game before. I plan on continuining to use it in the future. The community around this engine is truly amazing. I couldn't have made my game without their support.

Here's the tutorial video I made, covering Adventure Game Studio Basics.

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Thank you so much, John Walker (via Kotaku) for including The Crimson Diamond in this round-up of "Best Point-and-Click Adventures of the 21st Century". Adventure games never died, they've evolved and improved and I couldn't be more excited to see what the future holds.

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My GDC microtalk is now up on GDC Vault!"You Are Not Alone" was part of the Independent Games Summit track. I spoke alongside Neha Patel and Renee Gittins.

I spoke about my experiences as a (mostly) solo game developer, and how it encouraged me to seek connections in different ways.

Apparently you don't need any special access or account to watch the talk, so c heck it out here :D. I'm the second speaker!

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fourthwall store

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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Livestream VOD round-up. All the streams since last gazette are here:

March 25th art stream, April 1st art stream, April 8th art stream.

Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch. Come and hang out.

Streaksy's remake of Omnicron Conspiracy screenshot

I experienced all the endings in Omnicron Conspiracy! Specifically, Streaksy's excellent remake of Omnicron Conspiracy, in which he added another plot thread to tie up. He also added some of the best easter eggs in a game ever, including a The Crimson Diamond ad on the Omnimon and a way to activate pants on Betty the Body in the Mind-Zi Tavern.

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)

Loom (Lucasfilm Games, 1990)

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)

Earthrise (Interstel, 1990)

Lord Avalot d'Argent (Thorsoft of Letchworth, 1995)

Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess (ERE Informatique, 1989)

Omnicron Conspiracy (First Star Software, 1989 / Streaksy, 2025)

I've started a new Let's Play series: Neuromancer (Interplay, 1989). Most of the first episode is me reading the lore in the manual, some of which are excerpts of the William Gibson sci-fi novel of the same name. I... Don't know if I'm cut out for the cyberpunk, dystopian future (2058, actually). I've already gotten arrested three times in this game and I've only played it for 5 minutes. Time will tell!

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Do you love it when people are wearing pants? You might enjoy Pantsmo's Pantaloon Adventure, a free, modded version of Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure. eviltentacle is the mastermind of the project, with some assistance from me and Emmfoolery.

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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION

DID YOU KNOW: Crimson diamonds are real! Recently the Smithsonian unveiled one of their latest and greatest acquisitions, The Winston Red Diamond. It's a 2.33 carat, Fancy red brilliant-cut diamond, the 5th largest natural red diamond in the world. This diamond is more than one in a million. According to estimates, red diamonds of this quality are one in twenty-five million. You can see it for yourself in the Winston Gallery at the Smithsonian.

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Professor Plum cross-stitch work in progress

CRAFT CORNER

Professor Plummer is coming along nicely. Here's a gridded version below, plus the DMC embroidery floss colours I use, if you'd like to give it a try!

Professor Plum's cross-stitch grid

Here are the DMC embroidery floss colours I use for the EGA palette:

EGA DMC embroidery floss colours

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Royal Ontario Museum animated GIF

INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THE CRIMSON DIAMOND?

I have Patreon and PayPal. Or visit The Crimson Diamond's Steam page to purchase or follow the game. (Steam reviews are super helpful and appreciated!) It's also available on GOG, itchio and FireFlower Games.

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Thanks for reading. Happy April. Ontario is warming up slowly.

-- JM