The Crimson Diamond Gazette #53
Welcome to the latest issue! News and fun facts inside!
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Find game bugs? feedback@thecrimsondiamond.com
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Donate on PayPal!
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MEDIA
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 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!
To view this issue in browser, click here
Click here for the entire DevBlog
Editor: Julia Minamata - julia@thecrimsondiamond.com
February 2023
Hello, dear readers! Happy February! Even though it's been an unseasonably warm winter in Ontario, I'll be happy to see the crocuses bloom again.
Developer update: I still haven't gotten started on Chapter 6! Instead, I added a new visual "points" cue to the game and have been testing that out. I also added more notes and notebook pages to the player's notebook and have been testing that out, too. I've also added more music. One track of which will be found in the latest version of the demo, coming out soon! Speaking of which...
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The Crimson Diamond is in the Steam Mystery Fest! The event runs from February 20 - 27! I'll be debuting the new version of the demo when the event opens, and I'll probably stream on my Steam store page some time during the event (TBA). Visit The Crimson Diamond's Steam store page and scroll down to "Recent Events & Announcements" to find out more!
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I'm helping organize a special panel about game art for game devs! I'm collaborating with Chris DeLeon of HomeTeam GameDev for this free, non-ticketed panel with some wonderful panelists! Here's the promo video!
I've heard from a lot of gamedevs (and potential gamedevs) who want to create their own games, but they get stuck on lack of art training or art experience. Chris and I have gathered panelists who have gotten past that obstruction and gone on to create wonderful things!
We'll be recording the panel in late February, editing it, and releasing it in March! In the mean time, if you have any questions about this topic, please let me know in the Youtube comments!
Here are the panelists. Please check out their work and maybe that might spark some questions to ask!
Planned panelists:
Julia Minamata @JuliaMinamata / thecrimsondiamond.com
Freya C @spdrcstl / communistsister.itch.io
Francisco González @GrundislavGames / Grundislav Games on Steam
Damien Crawford @TheWorstRPGDev /cannibalinteractive.itch.io
Aureus @MoralAnxiety / moralanxietystudio.com
with panel host/moderator Chris DeLeon @ChrisDeLeon
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Computechnosoft was a finalist in this year's Ubisoft Toronto Indie Series, for their game Strange Dungeon! This is the game I learned a bit of Blender and Clip Studio Paint for, and it's turning out great! Unfortunately they didn't win any prizes at the Indie Series, but it was a great honour for them to be nominated. Check out their Steam page and wishlist the game here.
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A reminder that my Patreon tiers have changed! Now, all current patrons will have their names in the credits of The Crimson Diamond when it launches. The default is to have names included, and the name used will be the Patreon profile name. If you'd like to opt-out or use a different name, please message me on Patreon! Here's a link to my Patreon page.
I've also retired my $1 tier, but patrons on that tier will still get their name in the credits, and nothing changes for them! Retiring a tier just means no new patrons can join it.
A heartfelt thank you to all my Patreon supporters. <3
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Dan was back, polishing up the track for the new Crimson Diamond demo (which will be launching during Steam Mystery Fest!). We'd started this track back in August 2021. It was great to revisit it and finish it off! It's a super-cozy looping track for the tutorial room in the game. Hopefully that encourages more people to play the tutorial! Check it out here! Dan's Twitch channel is dantheband, we raid him on music stream nights!
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The close-up fisherman is nearly complete! I'm still not 100% satisfied with the hand, so I've taken some additional screenshots for photo reference. I'll use it (flipped of course) on the next art stream! The octahedral crystal in my hand is an awesome bit of fluorite and sadly not a diamond. :-)
Here are links to all the videos of the livestreams since last gazette!
January 17 art/music stream, January 24 art stream, January 31 art stream, February 7 art stream, February 14 art/music stream!
Here's an animated GIF of rough animation for the fisherman!
A return to Bio Menace! There's a channel point redemption of to play Bio Menace for ten minutes, and it got redeemed twice during the February 14 stream. I'm happy to report I got to Level 5! Woo-hoo! It's FREE on GOG and I highly recommend it!
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I'm having a lot of fun playing Mortville Manor! Well... Maybe I'm more having fun figuring it out than actually playing it how it was intended. The limited number of questions the player can ask the characters does bother me, which is why I decided to start and restart etc. the game, asking all the characters all the questions that are available. I now have all of that taken care of and can concentrate more on fun!
Here's a glimpse at the spreadsheet I've put together of all the characters' responses to the starting questions. The differently coloured boxes indicate responses that seemed unusual or opened up a new question (the bright green boxes). :
Here's the current playlist for Mortville Manor. And a remind that Brocanty Games is currently remaking Mortville Manor with UI improvements and real voice-acting! Follow their project here.
My completed Let's Plays:
Personal Nightmare (Horrorsoft 1989) playlist
Last Half of Darkness (Softlab Software Laboratories 1989) playlist
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (LucasArts 1989) playlist
Rise of the Dragon Let's Play (Dynamix, 1990) playlist
The Sorceror's Appraisal (Yahtzee Croshaw, 2002)
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I've been designing more merch for my Fourthwall store. It's a lot of run and a challege to try to create designs that translate well onto items! Like this embroidered hat, for example! There is a limit of six thread colours, so I changed the brown pixel in Nancy's yellow scarf to dark red and I still think the proper effect is created! And I used the colour of the hat for the black in Nancy's eyes and mouth.
I did the same thing for this embroidered Nancy patch!
I also have a merch store on Society6, with a broader range of stuff!
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CRAFT CORNER
Slowly but surely, the parlour reveals itself! I'm excited to work on the painting that's hanging over the sofa, but I might leave that for last.
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(Image from The Gem Guy on Twitter).
MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: Trigons are natural marks that can occur during the development of a diamond? They're a result disruptions during the diamond's growth! Glorious geometry! Read more about them here.
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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 February!
-- JM