Hello, dear readers -- Happy April! I look forward to my mom's crocuses every spring. When I see them, I know I've made it through another winter. They're always a welcome sight.

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The Deadly Bluff hotel exterior work in progress

Developer update: I've been streaming work on this hotel exterior, and it's coming along nicely! This is my fifth background for the game so far. I have about fourteen planned in total.

Coding-wise, I'm still working on letting the player order food in the cafe. As with everything else, it's a lot more involved than I initially thought :P .

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The Crimson Diamond hit a pretty cool milestone recently: 600 reviews on Steam, and still Overwhelmingly Positive! Thanks so much to everyone who's played it, enjoyed it, and left a positive review. Positive reviews are treasured and vital for indie game devs. It doesn't have to be long and detailed, just writing "good game" is very welcome! Please do take a minute or two to leave positive Steam reviews for games you like. It makes a big difference!

The Crimson Diamond is also sold 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 was a guest on DevTalk, hosted by Montreal-based studio Folklore Games! They made a beautiful game called Spiral, and are working on their next project.

You can watch the video on their Youtube channel. If you'd like to watch their DevTalks live, follow their Twitch channel. Dan was on, too!

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I also got to be a guest on Second Wind's RPG Help Desk, hosted by Jesse Galena! I talked about some game design influence stuff I hadn't talked about before, including the first game I ever designed (and it WASN'T a computer game)! It was a great conversation, you can check it out here.

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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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Helix from Requiem California sent me the awesome merch they commissioned for the Over the Garden Wall Hallowe'en event they had last year. These gorgeous stickers, keychains, and drink holders feature art by Heather Hermann.

Levon Jihanian, one of the background painters who worked on Over the Garden Wall, created this art for my little OtGW adventure game, and Requiem Cafe put it on a luxurious mousepad! If you look closely, you can see a few fun details: The Crimson Diamond launch screen on Wirt's computer, some thumbprint cookies on a plate, and the Adventure Game Studio (the engine I used for The Crimson Diamond and my tiny Over the Garden Wall adventure game) mascot, the Big Blue Cup.

The Over the Garden Wall adventure game is free and playable in browser here (it's very small and short, about fifteen minutes of gameplay, and there's a PDF walkthrough if you get stuck).

Over the Garden Wall DVD case, outside

I ordered a DVD of the show and mailed it to the cafe for folks involved in the show to sign -- I couldn't be happier! "Pat M." is Patrick McHale, the creator of the show!

Over the Garden Wall DVD case, inside, with sketch by Patrick McHale

Even better, Pat did a whole sketch on the inside of the case of Greg and Wirt in the forest. I love this so much. This job was a dream come true. I still can't believe I got to do this.

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My stream VOD thumbnail of me and some art I'm making in the background

Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Double Dragon, passed away recently. The DOS port of Double Dragon is one of my favourite games of all time, and I've been playing (and finishing!) it every week on stream. I'd recently bought the big box version on ebay, for $30 USD -- A steal of a deal for a game I treasure so highly. Thank you, Kishimoto-san, for all the hours of fun!

I made these animated GIFs of Abobo clapping and Billy/Jimmy Lee elbowing, as a tribute. They're also available as animated emotes for subscribers to my Twitch channel.

Abobo from DOS Double Dragon clapping

Billy/Jimmy Lee of DOS Double Dragon performing his famously effective elbow

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

March 13th special Curious Odyssey stream, March 17th art stream, March 24th art stream, March 31st art stream, April 7th art stream.

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

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Karuizawa Yūkai Annai video thumbnail, showing a screenshot of the game and me in the bottom right

Oh boy, this game! It's become a bit of a pixel hunt. But I'm still having a great time with Karuizawa Yūkai Annai (MSX version 1986, Enix). The story is really interesting and I love discovering clues.

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)

Heart of China (Dynamix, 1991)

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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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Screenshot of The Crimson Diamond intro sequence, showing a man holding up a big diamond

MINERAL TRIVIA SECTION

DID YOU KNOW: In order for a mineral to get named after person, that mineral must be found as a naturally occuring specimen! Grahampearsonite was recently discovered in Brazil, inside a diamond from deep in the Earth -- More than three hundred kilometres beneath the Earth's surface!

Graham Pearson is a geochemist (specializing in the Earth's mantle) who works at the University of Alberta, who has made many significant contributions to his field.

This particular mineral had been synthesized in labs before, but couldn't be named until it was found in nature. There are many other minerals named after people: Howlite, Bixbyite, and Dolomite, among others!

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The Crimson Diamond logotype cross-stitch

CRAFT CORNER

I'm back working on The Crimson Diamond logo cross-stitch. This one is a lot of empty space, so it shouldn't take too long. I'm saving the diamond in the magnifying glass for last.

Here are the DMC Embroidery floss colours I used for this project:

EGA DMC embroidery floss colours

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Holiday card 2025 process 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 April!

-- JM