Hello, dear readers -- Happy May. Spring is here, and the warblers are (temporarily) here too. Now's the best time to see them, so get out there if you can! Scroll down for some bird photos that I took while on a couple of birding excursions...

Pictured here, from left to right: Cape May Warbler, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warlber. The lighthouse in the background is from Presqu'ile Provincial Park (in Ontario), The plant life (from left to right) are Jack-in-the-pulpit, Purple Trillium, and Pheasant Back (aka Dryad's Saddle) mushrooms.

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Dev update:

The latest (and hopefully last for a while) update is available now! Read the patch notes here. This update includes cloud saves on Steam :).

The Crimson Diamond is sold on Steam. It's also on itchio and GOG and FireFlower Games. Sometimes people ask me where the best place is to buy the game, to support me as an indie dev. Steam is best (especially if you also leave a review), it's incredibly helpful for visibility on the store. But please choose whichever option is best for you.

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Narrascope talk

I will be (remotely) giving a talk at Narrascope this year! Narrascope is an annual celebration of narrative games from June 20-22, based in Philadelphia at Drexel University. There are options for in-person and online attendance, which is super convenient. You can find the schedule here.

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This panel, hosted by Adventure Game Podcast's Seoirse Dunbar, and including me, Adam Vian (Crow Country) and Goloso Games (Inspector Waffles) was part of this year's LudoNarraCon event, presented by Fellow Traveller! Subscribe to the Fellow Traveller newsletter to keep up to date on their events.

We talked about "How to make an Old School Narrative Driven Game Appeal to a Modern Audience" and it was a fantastic conversation. Check it out here.

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I'm super excited to announce (in collaboration with Goloso Games) "Chance's Lucky Escape" -- A Playdate Season 2 game! Learn more about the Playdate here. It's a delightful handheld console with a fun little crank on the side.

Yann (of Goloso Games) wrote the story and programmed the game. I made the art, animations, and designed the font. We hope you have as much fun playing it as we did making it :D.

Playdate Season 2 launches May 29, you can pre-order it her e.

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I recently sat down for a lovely conversation with Twitch streamer Dawg! We talked about (and played a bit of) The Crimson Diamond. Dawg pulled some images and quotes from waaaaay back in the development of the game and reminded me of some of the things I said and did, all those years ago! I had a fantastic time and super encourage you to give a watch/listen. You can do that here.

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May is the spring migratory bird season. We're fortunate here in Ontario to have many places to enjoy seeing brightly coloured warblers as they pass through. Two of the best places are Point Pelee National Park and Presqu'ile Provincial Park.

This year, I've started learning how to use my dad's old Canon Powershot SX50 HS. It's got 50x zoom, which is very helpful for capturing images of shy birds. I'm happy to share some of the photos I took here:

Point Pelee National Park:

Wood Duck Point Pelee 2025

Wood Duck

5-lined skink from Point Pelee 2025

Five-lined Skink

Palm Warbler from Point Pelee 2025

Palm Warbler

Trillium Point Pelee 2025

Trilliums (Ontario's provincial flower)

Kinglet from Point Pelee 2025

Kinglet having lunch

Dryad's Saddle from Point Pelee 2025

Pheasant Back (aka Dryad's Saddle) mushrooms starting to grow

Prothonotary Warbler Point Pelee 2025

Prothonotary Warbler

Presqu'ile Provincial Park:

Yellow-rumped warbler Presqu'ile 2025

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Canada Geese and goslings Presqu'ile 2025

Canada Geese and goslings

Purple Trillium Presqu'ile 2025

Purple Trillium

Yellow Warbler Presqu'ile 2025

Yellow Warbler

Kingbird from Presqu'ile 2025

Kingbird

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My GDC microtalk is now up on GDC Vault!"You Are Not Alone" was part of the Independent Games Summit track. I spoke alongside Neha Patel and Renee Gittins.

I spoke about my experiences as a (mostly) solo game developer, and how it encouraged me to seek connections in different ways.

Apparently you don't need any special access or account to watch the talk, so c heck it out here :D. I'm the second speaker!

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fourthwall store

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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VOD screenshot

Livestream VOD round-up. All the streams since last gazette are here:

April 15th art stream, April 22nd art stream, April 29th art stream, May 6th art stream , May 13th art stream

Crimson C'Tuesday happens every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern on Twitch. Come and hang out.

Betty the Body work in progress

Here's the art piece I'm working on -- A fan art of Betty the Body with pants on (which is an easter egg in Streaksy's Omnicron Conspiracy remake).

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Neuromancer (Interplay, 1989) is a fascinating game. I love how unique it is, and of course the EGA art is gorgeous. Here's the playlist for it so far. This game has an incredibly interesting development story, I encourage you to give it a read.

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)

Loom (Lucasfilm Games, 1990)

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)

Earthrise (Interstel, 1990)

Lord Avalot d'Argent (Thorsoft of Letchworth, 1995)

Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess (ERE Informatique, 1989)

Omnicron Conspiracy (First Star Software, 1989 / Streaksy, 2025)

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Do you love it when people are wearing pants? You might enjoy Pantsmo's Pantaloon Adventure, a free, modded version of Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure. eviltentacle is the mastermind of the project, with some assistance from me and Emmfoolery.

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MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION

DID YOU KNOW: Often, inclusions (materials that are naturally incorporated into minerals) are seen as undesireable imperfections. But inclusions can be beautiful and can make a truly unique gemstone! The above close-up is of tourmalinated quartz. This means there are bits of tourmaline in the quartz. To me, that's two minerals for the price of one :).

This tourmalinated quartz is beautifully incorporated into this bracelet by a Toronto-based jewellry company called Vitaly Design, which uses recycled stainless steel in their items. I think they do a very good job of giving the stainless steel a gold-like look which I find very appealing. This particular bracelet is called Hail, and it's inspired by slushly, icy Toronto winters. How could I resist?

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Professor Plummer completed

CRAFT CORNER

Professor Plummer is complete :). Onwards to Corvus Shaw:

Corvus cross-stitch work in progress

Here are the DMC embroidery floss colours I use for the EGA palette:

EGA DMC embroidery floss colours

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Royal Ontario Museum animated GIF

INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THE CRIMSON DIAMOND?

I have Patreon and PayPal. Or visit The Crimson Diamond's Steam page to purchase or follow the game. (Steam reviews are super helpful and appreciated!) It's also available on GOG, itchio and FireFlower Games.

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Thanks for reading. Happy May :D.

-- JM