The Crimson Diamond Gazette #59
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
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!
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Editor: Julia Minamata - julia@thecrimsondiamond.com
August 2023
Hello, dear readers! Happy August! July was hot and rainy here in Ontario, August has been surprisingly pleasant. Cool breezes, not too humid, and some exciting mineral acquisitions! Read on!
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Developer update: All of the assets and animations for chapter six are now complete! All that remains is to polish up the writing and programming, as well as testing. I'm well on my way to having chapter six 100% complete by the end of August! And then one more chapter to go! The above screenshot shows a minor addition -- The ability to toggle the "Visual cue for notes" that pops up when players complete a notebook objective or otherwise perform a game progression action. I wanted to include a visual cue to accompany the audio cue -- Now, either can be on or off (in the audio cue's case, by turning down the sound fx volume)!
Please wishlist The Crimson Diamond on Steam, it really helps me out!
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I attended this year's Bancroft Gemboree! The button is from years ago, when my parents took me and my sister, and the embroidered patch is this year's merch. The show was amazing and featured tons of vendors, interesting talks, and delicious Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream (I heartily recommend the new S'mores flavour!).
So much to look at... and purchase! I'll be sharing my acquisitions in the next few gazettes. My favourite piece is featured in this month's gazette, scroll down to read all about it!
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I love The Colonel's Bequest, and I've been a fan of the Level 0 NPCs Youtube channel, for their fun, banter-filled playthroughs of mostly Sierra adventure games. I'm happy to report that I've joined the NPCs for their latest collab Let's Play, which happens to be The Colonel's Bequest!
We play the game... Not efficiently! It's a lot of fun chatter between friends with some minor game progression. In the latest episode (as of this gazette) Matt shares an anecdote about wearing cut-up onions on his feet to treat a persistent cough. We've also discussed favourite tv show theme songs, and if Laura Bow is made of cake. Here's the playlist so far!
NPC Matt drew this amazing rogue version of me. I love it so much.
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Merch sighting! Awesome adventure game Twitch streamer and game developer Robotspacer wore an EGA bucket t-shirt on a recent stream! Robotspacer is one of my favourite streamers. Not only does he stream games that I'm interested in (he's started a playthrough of Murder Club in EGA!), he's also creating a Mac game in Worldbuilder, a very retro engine. He plans on porting that game to the Playdate, which excites me to no end. I can't wait to play it on mine!
Here's Robotspacer's Twitch channel! You can also follow him on Twitter and Mastodon!
Want your own EGA bucket t-shirt? Click here for my Fourthwall store !
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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Birthday card starring Dido! It's always nice to haul out the watercolours and paint. I can't resist all those bright colours!
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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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Here's the latest batch of videos of my Twitch livestreams! Progress is being made on the new scene, Bio Menace episode 2 continues, plus the thrilling conclusion to Loom and the start of a new Let's Play!
July 25th art stream, August 1st art stream, and August 8th art stream!
Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch!
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I've finished Loom (EGA)! What a magical experience. I feel like there is something special about this one, and it's not just because all of the other games I've Let's Played have been a lot more challenging, in terms of game design, UI, etc. Not to mention, Loom is an example of a game that is unequivocably more beautiful in EGA than in VGA (and the VGA version also cut out some of the writing!). Here's the playlist for my Loom Let's Play.
I've started playing Altered Destiny (Accolade, 1990) -- In EGA, of course! This game is available on GOG and Steam, but defaults to the non-EGA version. If you install the game from the GOG version, you can then find the setup.exe and run that in DOSBox or D-fend, which will let you choose what graphics mode you want. From then on, the game will launch via the GOG icon in EGA!
This is my first experience with an Accolade adventure game, and it's got a text parser! So far I'm loving it.
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)
Mortville Manor (Lankhor, 1987)
Legend of the Sword (Silicon Software, 1988)
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CRAFT CORNER
The border for my Legend of the Sword cross-stitch is now complete! I'm wondering if I'll even use black embroidery thread for the black lines, or if I'll leave that the black of the aida cloth. Not only would that mean fewer stitches, it might help recreated the impression of the colours being projected from a crt screen, in all their fuzzy glory!
Here are the DMC embroidery floss colours I used for my EGA palette:
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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: The Crimson Diamond is set in Crimson, Ontario, a town that was established because of a nearby garnet mine! When I attended the Bancroft Gemboree, my main goal was to obtain a genuine northern Ontario garnet. I couldn't be more pleased with what I found!
This incredible, plum-sized, hefty, 12-sided almandine garnet hails from River Valley, Ontario. It's truly spectacular. Those lines in the faces are caused by the growth pattern of the crystal, which give the whole rock an uncanny, alien look.
Depending on the lighting, flashes of bright red can be seen. It's gorgeous and I can't stop looking at it.
Here it is next to a Canadian quarter for scale!
Garnets come in a variety of types and a colours. Almadine garnets are most common, and I love their shape the most!
Above image from https://www.geologyin.com/2018/03/garnet-group-colors-and-varieties-of.html
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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 August!
-- JM