The Crimson Diamond Gazette #60
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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Click here for the entire DevBlog
Editor: Julia Minamata - julia@thecrimsondiamond.com
September 2023
Hello, dear readers! Happy September! The weather has cooled down quickly, with cool breezes and cooler nights. It's a lovely time of year. I've got more treasures from the Bancroft Gemboree to share, raising monarch butterflies, dev update, and more!
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Developer update: The design document for chapter seven is complete, and I've finished blocking out the basics for the chapter! Everything is progressing well. This will be the infamous "test of knowledge / debrief" chapter, where the player will need to make some important decisions and then see how the story ends!
Please wishlist The Crimson Diamond on Steam, it really helps me out!
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At long last, I've created The Crimson Diamond presskit! I had this info on the main page of thecrimsondiamond.com, but this makes it easier for people to read it and follows a familiar template. I used presskit() by Rami Ismail. I'm not all that tech-savvy and had a heck of a time getting it to work properly (my fault), but it's working well enough for me!
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Not only is it September, but it's KRULLtember! The first annual Krulltember, in fact! Luke and Matt of the Level 0 NPCs love this movie, me and Alex and Andrew had never seen it. We had a little watch party and did a commentary track! I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the movie. We will be rounding out Krulltember with other Krull media, including the arcade game, Atari game, and more! Stay tuned!
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My mother discovered this wonderful book about raising monarch butterflies by Carol Pasternak, and wanted to give it a try! She's been growing milkweed in her garden for a few years now, so the time was ripe!
I ordered this faunarium off of Amazon for her, it's worked really well so far. The caterpillars can climb up the walls and secure themselves to the black lid to pupate.
The first step was going to a park with milkweed plants and look on the undersides of the leaves for eggs. They're tiny, smaller than a sesame seed.
Three eggs hatched into tiny little worm-looking things, which in turn developed into these fine caterpillars.
When the caterpillar is ready to pupate it heads up to the lid, glues its rear end up there, and then assumes this j-shape. After a few hours it magically morphs into a green cocoon!
The caterpillar can still be seen in here.
The cocoons eventually becaome opaque and green, and will stay like that for 8-12 days. Notice the beautiful golden points!
When the butterly is nearly ready to emerge, the cocoon becomes translucent.
And here's a newly emerged monarch butterfly! When they're freshly out of their cocoon they will hang upside down and still for a few hours while they dry off and a liquid runs off their wings. When they start fluttering, they're ready to be set free!
It's a fascinating process. One monarch egg in one hundred makes it to adulthood, and monarch butterfly populations are in decline. So raising the eggs in a safe environment and releasing the butterflies into the wild helps them out!
My mom is enjoying her new hobby. Her garden is full of flowers that are full of sweet nectar for butterflies and birds alike (and two hearty milkweed plants). Hopefully we'll see more butterflies in her garden next spring and summer!
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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!
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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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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Music stream with Dan! We revisited and polished up the "Pursuit Theme", one of the tracks for the game! It's always a good time with Dan. Check out that stream here!
August 15th art stream, August 22nd art stream, August 29th music stream, September 5th art stream, and September 12th art stream!
Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch!
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Altered Destiny (1990) continues to be a stunning EGA game! Thanks to stream chat I was able to change the music settings from PC speaker to AdLib, then MIDI, and then back to AdLib (when I decided that the more realistic-sounding MIDI piano music didn't mesh so well with the otherwordly setting and visuals). Here's the Altered Destiny playlist so far.
Altered Destiny is available on GOG and Steam!
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
My Legend of the Sword cross-stitch is coming along nicely! The top frame is complete, the bottom frame is well on its way. I'm already thinking about what to do next!
Here are the DMC embroidery floss colours I used for my EGA palette:
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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION
DID YOU KNOW: The Schicker Fluorite Occurrence is a rock deposit in Ontario where you can obtain amazing samples, direct from the earth! As the name would suggest, the area is abundant with lovely gemmy purple fluorite. But it's also known for other amazing rocks and one of those is apatite (see above photo for the specimens I gathered!). If you are planning on paying a visit to the site, don't forget to fill out the waiver!
These lovely pieces show the chararacteristic crystal habit of apatite (hexagonal columns). They weren't carved or polished in any way -- They came straight out of the dirt like this! It feels like magic.
Here's how big my pieces are. I'm so happy with them!
Here's a close-up of the one with the nicest colour, courtesy of my 30x21mm loupe. The top is mossy green and the bottom is rich red. Stunning!
Apatite has a Mohs hardness of 5, which probably explains when it tends to have cracks and fractures throughout. But I think the fractures give it a nice textured look!
Here's a top view, which shows that wonderful hexagon!
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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 September!
-- JM