The Crimson Diamond Gazette #43
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
"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 help admin 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
April 2022
Hello, dear readers! Happy April! Toronto is slowly warming up. It's encouraging to see the crocuses in bloom and the goldfinches swapping their dull winter coats for their bright yellow finery.
Developer update: Development on Chapter 5 continues! I've programmed the first section of it, and am currently creating the assets for that section: Inventory items, close-up views of those items, animations, etc. The art stuff is a nice change of pace from the programming, and is much more straightforward! I'm hoping to have the assets for this section (plus some slight alterations to previous chapters) finished in another week's time!
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Not much new to to share this month, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! That means more time to work on The Crimson Diamond, and hopefully launch it this year. Though the year does feel like it's passing by distressingly fast.
I was on a virtual, pre-recorded panel for the XP Game Developer Summit along with Felix Kramer (Blaseball, Among Us VR, Polytron), Kim Belair (CEO of Sweet Baby Inc.), Louisa Atto (writer & narrative designer, Sweet Baby Inc.), Evan Narcisse (Kotaku, io9, Redfall), and Xalavier Nelson Jr. (Strange Scaffold), but I don't know if it's publicly viewable. It was called "Non-Disclosure Annoyance: When Secrecy Blocks Creativity". You can see the panel description here!
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I've been making a lot of progress on this EGA bucket on the art streams! It's been a lot of fun exploring the possiblities of this close-up view with folks on Twitch. I like putting this type of detailed artwork in The Crimson Diamond, but it does take more time than a typical screenshot. But it's well worth the effort! Here's the latest art stream of the bucket!
Dan's continued to make amazing Roland MT-32 tracks for the game on the music streams. While TCD won't have music playing throughout, there are some terrific pieces that play situationally and some wonderful stings for effect. Here's the stream with some stings that Dan composed live!
All art and music streams happen on Twitch on Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern, either on a_maplemystery (art) or dantheband (music). Hope to see you there! I post all of the streams as videos on my Youtube channel, in case you want to watch them later in the week.
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I've really been enjoying playing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure in EGA! I'm playing it for the first time. It's a stunning game, particularly in EGA. I had a temporary setback because the version I was using was bugged, but someone kindly sent me a working version. I do own the game on GOG, but that's the VGA version only. I wish LucasArts was generally better about making the EGA versions of their games more commercially available! Here's the playlist of my Last Crusade Let's Play so far!
Spooky!
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CRAFT CORNER
My Evan Richards cross-stitch is coming along nicely! But I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about getting out my little bead loom and making little seed bead portraits of my characters too. I already have the EGA beads! I think something like that would look stunning if hung in a window.
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Left: Picasso Jasper beads. Right, clockwise from top: Brecciated Jasper x3, Bloodstone, Dragon Blood, Ocean Jasper, Red Jasper. All from my collection!
MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: While gems are often valued for their clarity (transparency), there are plenty of gorgeous, vibrantly coloured rocks with unique, dazzling patterns that are opaque! Jasper falls into this category. There are many different types of jasper, with just as many names: Bloodstone, Dragon Blood, Picasso Jasper, Mookaite, and many more! Red is the most common colour for jasper (blue is the rarest). Jasper was used by ancient civilizations as far back as 4th-5th millennium BC for bow drills, and was carved for seals found at the Palace of Knossos circa 1800 BC. I love how they look like little pieces of abstract paintings.
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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!
-- JM