The Crimson Diamond Gazette #69
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
"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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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
June 2024
Hello, dear readers -- Happy June. It's almost summer in Toronto, and it certainly feels that way. We've had some very warm spells already but also some nice cool breezes.
Amazingly, it seems that eschewing exclamation points has reduced the number of times this e-newsletter gets caught by spam filters. You are now reading the Crimson Gazette: No Exclamation Point Edition.
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Developer update: The Crimson Diamond is launching on August 15! (That will be the only exclamation point in this issue) The launch date trailer debuted during the first day of IGN Live. Check it out here.
There is still plenty to do, such as finishing the key art, fixing bugs, updating the game manual, adding Steam achievements, and writing an online hintbook (you can see the online hintbook for the demo here). But it really does feel like things are coming to a close. I have all sorts of different feelings about that. The Crimson Diamond has been part of my life for a long time. It will feel weird for it to finally launch.
But I'm also very excited to share it with all of you.
It was pretty surreal to see my game in the schedule amongst such huge games as Borderlands, Lord of the Rings, and Alien.
(Please wishlist The Crimson Diamond on Steam, it really helps me out.)
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I'm gearing up for the August 15 launch and pushing hard to get The Crimson Diamond in front of as many eyeballs as possible. First came the IGN Live announcement, followed quickly by the June Next Fest and Women-Led Games Steam events. I did a bonus stream from my Steam store page for those events, showing the new demo and an old build of the intro sequence. You can see that VOD here.
I've gotten some new coverage about the game, too. Here's an article at Adventure Gamers.
Here's one from A Gaming Network.
And here's a great article from Vulgar Knight. The left sidebar has more links to articles, podcast interviews, etc.
I'm always so grateful when people take the time and trouble to cover The Crimson Diamond. Let's make this launch as awesome as possible.
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I've been fortunate that a lot of Twitch streamers have played the demo over the past month. Thank you so much for streaming the demo and sharing it with your communities.
Here are links to their channels:
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I've started making Instagram reels about the inspirations for The Crimson Diamond. So far I've shared some vintage Agatha Christie novels, my giant Ontario garnet, and the first Canadian edition of Anne of Green Gables. Check out The Crimson Diamond on Instagram here. I also post the videos on Youtube as shorts, but they don't have the captions or overlays.
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I have a Patreon, both tiers will put your name in The Crimson Diamond credits if you're an active patron by JULY 15th (these end up being about $3 USD and $5 USD). The $5 USD tier members will also get a holiday card this winter.
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I love seeing Nancy Maple art. Thank you so much to Twitter person MrPr1993T for this. You can check it out on Twitter (as well as the other characters shown) here.
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The Adventure Game Hotspot Fan Fair is almost here. July 26-28 in Tacoma, Washington. I'll be on the Pixel Art Panel, along with Meredith Gran (Perfect Tides) and Tom Hardwidge (Lucy Dreaming). The panel will be hosted by Paul Korman, co-host of the Classic Gamers Guild Podcast.
Find out more about the event here.
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Fellow game dev Adrian Bauer (Owlboy) made these amazing Sega Master System mock-ups for The Crimson Diamond. I unironically love the graphic design of these boxes.
He even printed it out and stuck it in a case. Impeccable.
Adrian is a fantastic game dev in his own right. He is part of the small team who made the gorgeous Owlboy (check it out on Steam). Here is their studio's webite: D-Pad Studio.
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I've been working on the key art for The Crimson Diamond. It's coming along pretty well but I still haven't added colour to it. Of course the bucket has a starring role. More to come in the next art livestream.
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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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Livestreams continue. Now that all the art in The Crimson Diamond is complete, I'm working on the key art. Still plenty of work to go. In the above VOD I finished Bio Menace episode 2. On to episode 3.
Livestream VOD round-up. All the streams since last gazette are here:
May 21st art stream, May 28th art stream, June 4th art stream, June 11th art stream, plus BONUS June 10th new demo stream on Steam
Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch. Come and hang out.
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I finished Earthrise (Interstel, 1990). This game is a hidden gem and more people should know about it. It's too bad it's not commercially available, but you can tell GOG you would like to see it on their storefront by voting here. I ended with 787/800 points. It was a very fair game -- With lots of exploration, comical deaths, and a great sense of humour.
(Sega Master System design for Earthrise by Adrian Bauer)
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
My wonderful mom stitched a border for my Legend of the Sword death image cross-stitch. I completed it in October 2023, here it is below with how it appears in actual EGA:
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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: This carnelian pendant was my first gemstone acquisition, and it sparked an interest in rocks and minerals that inspired The Crimson Diamond. My parents took the family to the Michigan Space Center and me and my sister were allowed to pick something from the gift shop. This beautiful small carnelian cabochon caught my eye, set in (not) gold. I loved how it looked like a magical gem glowing red from the inside. I loved that I could wear it around my neck and I loved that it was a little locket.
I still love red and gold together, and carnelian is still one of my favourite gemstones.
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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 June. 2024 is the year of The Crimson Diamond.
-- JM