Hello, dear readers -- Happy December! The holiday season is upon us once again. Ontario has some snow and some chilly winds. It's gotten darker and greyer. The holiday sparkle and glow is very welcome.

Speaking of which: I'm doing my last stream of the year on Tuesday, December 23 at 8pm Eastern. I'll be celebrating with The Crimson Diamond Steam key giveaways and a Fourthwall merch giveaway. Come join me!

I took the above photo in Selfridges in London. I was there to attend AdventureX, and had a lovely time. A few photos of that later in the gazette!

My homemade gingerbread cookies

Here's photo of some of this year's crop of gingerbread cookies. The recipe is from Cecily Brownstone's Associated Press Cookbook, published in 1972. If you ever manage to get your hands on a copy, it's bursting with amazing food photos. I used to pore over it as a kid. Its gingerbread cookie recipe is my favourite.

Here's some more holiday cheer! WTFMAN made this wonderful Sierra-style animated holiday card of Nancy Maple, complete with blue Adventure Game Studio mug. I love those snowpeople on the background so much. Here's the animation.

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Even MORE holiday cheer: I picked up this year's holiday cards from the printers. I'll be mailing them out next week (December 22 at the earliest, so as of this writing you still have time to join!). All $5 tier Patreon patrons will receive the 2025 card (mailed anywhere in the world) and new $5 tier patrons will receive this bonus pack of previous years' cards and a Nancy Maple sticker! Check out my Patreon here.

Big, big thanks to all my Patreon patrons. Your support goes a long way towards making my dream game dev life possible. :)

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The Crimson Diamond key art

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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I'm proud to announce that Chicago Gamespace is now selling The Crimson Diamond art prints on their site. Chicago Gamespace is a video games museum that hosts exhibitions and events and sells game art. They're super cool and lovely! Learn more about them here.

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Mini Maple Mystery cafe interior

The cafe interior for my Mini Maple Mystery is now complete. I even did some character designs. You'll be seeing all of these folks in the game.

Cafe interior work in progress

For comparison, here's the earlier version of the same interior from last gazette.

Mini Maple Mystery house exterior

And here's the current background I'm making when I stream on Crimson C'Tuesdays, using Aseprite. Come join me at 8pm Eastern on Tuesdays and see how it progresses!

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Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator now has a playable demo up on Steam! Here are some of the pixel art baby portraits I created for it. I love the horrible adorable things.

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AdventureX 2025 image

Here's my AdventureX swag. Love the illustrations (by artist Aviv Or). From left to right: Mick from The Drifter, Prim from Prim, Lola from Rosewater, Arthur from Loco Motive, and Duck Detective from Duck Detective.

AdventureX2025 Nancy Maple banner

I proudly hauled this lovely Nancy Maple extendable banner back home to Toronto. I have no idea what I'll do with this, but it was way too cool to leave behind.

And of course, Chance's Lucky Escape (by Goloso Games and me) was being showcased at AdventureX! Here's some lovely Cotton Bureau Chance merch.

I love London. There's always so much to see and do. This time around, me and a couple of friends did Bridge Command, an immersive, interactive experience that replicates being on a starship and undertaking missions during which any number of things can happen!

That red area lit up on the display behind me may be the reason for the smoke at the station, but it's all good :).

I was on comms. I had that nifty headset and a keyboard and I got to respond to distress signals and hail other vessels, AND put stuff on the bridge's main screen. All of this stuff worked! The display behind my head shows what sector we're in and our heading. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well integrated the systems here.

The bridge was so cool. Everything was built very nicely. Check out that engineering stuff below:

If you're a Star Trek fan, I recommend checking out Bridge Command. It's particularly fun if you've got a couple friends to join. They'll place you with a group if you don't have a full crew, which is how we did it, and it was a lot of fun.

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Awesome Youtuber Noodle released this very informative video about CRTs and pixel art. If you watch carefully, you may see a Nancy Maple in there somewhere :D.

I've crossed paths with Noodle before. He created this incredible video about the development and fate of Strange Scaffold's game Bass Reeves Can't Die. I did some art for the project -- I even have my little paper-and-popsicle-stick puppet that Noodle made (with a bonus tired, sad Xalavier!) <3.

Pupper of me that Noodle made

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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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December livestream image

Art streams continue!

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

November 11th art stream, November 25th art stream, December 2nd art stream, December 9th art stream

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

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Heart of China Let's Play image

I started playing Heart of China (1991, Dynamix). In EGA, of course! So far I'm having a blast. I even conquered the bizarre 3D tank arcade sequence. I've gotten as far as Kathmandu with no hints :D.

Here's the playlist.

I will be returning Karuizawa Yūkai Annai (MSX version 1986, Enix) after Heart of China!

Here's the playlist so far.

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)

Neuromancer -- UNFINISHED LP (Interplay, 1989)

Double Dragon EGA (Technos Japan, 1988)

Double Dragon CGA (Technos Japan, 1988)

Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Enix, 1985)

The Twilight Zone (Gigabit Systems Inc., 1988)

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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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Lindy Star Sapphire photo 2

MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION

DID YOU KNOW: Linde Star Sapphires are genuine sapphires! They beautifully exhibit the coveted star effect (asterism), and are created by humans in labs. The asterism is caused by rutile inclusions of titanium dioxide introduced to the the starter corundum sample during the synthesis process. They come in many colours, including blue, black, yellow, pink and orange. I bought this spectacular specimen (set in sterling silver) at a craft fair in London for £42. Needless to say, a sapphire mined from the Earth of this size and quality would cost significantly more!

Lindy Star Sapphire photo 1

Here's another photo of the Linde Star Sapphire. The vividness of the blue and the sharpness of the star effect depends on the lighting conditions.

Lindy Star Sapphire photo 2

The location of the star also shifts and moves depending on the direction of the light source(s). Truly a bewitching gem.

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CRAFT CORNER

I still can't share my current cross-stitch project, but here's a new craft for me to try! I bought this kit at another London craft fair from Tanya Betham of Opus Anglicanum Embroidery. The embroidery floss included is coloured with natural dyes. I picked this kit, "Alison" because I liked the look of the figure. I've learned she's from The Canterbury Tales!

EGA DMC embroidery floss colours

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Holiday card process 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 December :D.

-- JM