The Crimson Diamond

Started by jmjm, Wed 26/04/2017 17:01:45

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jmjm

Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 08/11/2018 08:52:39
I'm so happy to see an update on this game!  I was worried it may have been abandoned.  Thanks for sharing!

I've been working on it this whole time, but I really had to get the working demo, website etc. set up quickly once I learned my game made it into the showcase at WordPlay 6, which is a one day free festival at the Toronto Reference Library (in Ontario, Canada) on November 10 from 12-5pm.

Any Canadians/Ontarians/Torontonians are welcome to stop by the event this Saturday to play the demo, meet me, and discuss the game! ;-D

Oh, here's the WordPlay site: http://handeyesociety.com/wordplay/

SarahLiz

I just played the demo last night.  The Colonel's Bequest is my ALL-TIME favorite adventure game.  Laura Bow 2 was fun, but just not the same feel as a guest-staying-in-an-old-mansion-whodunit.  As there has never been a remake of CB, or even a fan-made game version (that I know of), I can't tell you how excited this makes me.  I too had seen this post a year or so ago, and figured it had been abandoned, so I'm just giddy at the thought of it being completed! The demo is pretty nice...spying and snooping through everyone's crap is really fun, so hopefully the player will be able to find some juicy stuff in the drawers & cabinets & suitcases in the completed version.  ;) Looking good so far.

jmjm

Quote from: SarahLiz on Fri 09/11/2018 18:43:43
The demo is pretty nice...spying and snooping through everyone's crap is really fun, so hopefully the player will be able to find some juicy stuff in the drawers & cabinets & suitcases in the completed version.  ;) Looking good so far.

Thanks so much! I know, those drawers and cabinets... Adventure gamers are basically like hungry raccoons ;). For the demo they're mostly empty, but I just got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted them to actually work. When I make the gameplay for the rest of the story they should have some stuff in them :).


milkanannan

Quote from: jmjm on Thu 08/11/2018 18:42:21
Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 08/11/2018 08:52:39
I'm so happy to see an update on this game!  I was worried it may have been abandoned.  Thanks for sharing!

I've been working on it this whole time, but I really had to get the working demo, website etc. set up quickly once I learned my game made it into the showcase at WordPlay 6, which is a one day free festival at the Toronto Reference Library (in Ontario, Canada) on November 10 from 12-5pm.

Any Canadians/Ontarians/Torontonians are welcome to stop by the event this Saturday to play the demo, meet me, and discuss the game! ;-D

Oh, here's the WordPlay site: http://handeyesociety.com/wordplay/

Wish I were home. I'd totally go - the lineup looks awesome. I didn't know we Canadian adventurers had enough critical mass to throw one of these!

Good luck today!

jmjm

QuoteWish I were home. I'd totally go - the lineup looks awesome. I didn't know we Canadian adventurers had enough critical mass to throw one of these!

Good luck today!

Thanks! Out of the 25 games on showcase, only 3-4 were local or had local involvement, I think? Still, I'm glad I went and it was a well-run event. I had a great time watching people play my game for the first time ever! Got some good feedback and some bugs to stomp on ;).

ManicMatt

Those crops are so lovingly drawn pixel by pixel! Good stuff!

selmiak

This is very beautiful, and what I played was kind of interesting. I guess it is part of the story to explore but there are only empty cupboards (what did I expect in a hotel...) and nothing else to pocket or use, but after some time I grew tired of the text parser input. Is there any chance you add mouse controls? This would be so much more fun.

I found a typo, the japanese room mate says "as" instead of "has" one time.

eri0o

This game is beautiful and looks very very fun to play, where can I subscribe for updates other than this thread? :-D

Shadow1000

Quote from: jmjm on Thu 08/11/2018 18:42:21

... my game made it into the showcase at WordPlay 6, which is a one day free festival at the Toronto Reference Library (in Ontario, Canada) on November 10 from 12-5pm.

Any Canadians/Ontarians/Torontonians are welcome to stop by the event this Saturday to play the demo, meet me, and discuss the game! ;-D


Drat...just saw this post now, 2 weeks late :(

jmjm

Quote from: eri0o on Sun 25/11/2018 23:53:35
This game is beautiful and looks very very fun to play, where can I subscribe for updates other than this thread? :-D

Yes, there is! On my site there's a sign-up for my e-newsletter, the first of which came out this past Sunday. You can read it on the site here:
http://www.thecrimsondiamond.com/CrimsonGazette1.html

And I have a new version of the demo on the site too, with the click-to-walk feature implemented, a tutorial room, and some bug fixes!
http://www.thecrimsondiamond.com/

jmjm

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 26/11/2018 00:13:36
Quote from: jmjm on Thu 08/11/2018 18:42:21

... my game made it into the showcase at WordPlay 6, which is a one day free festival at the Toronto Reference Library (in Ontario, Canada) on November 10 from 12-5pm.

Any Canadians/Ontarians/Torontonians are welcome to stop by the event this Saturday to play the demo, meet me, and discuss the game! ;-D

Drat...just saw this post now, 2 weeks late :(

I'm hoping to show The Crimson Diamond at Comics x Games, which is also held at the Toronto Reference Library! I'm going to submit it when submissions open, so fingers crossed :).

Shadow1000

Quote from: jmjm on Tue 27/11/2018 00:27:43

I'm hoping to show The Crimson Diamond at Comics x Games, which is also held at the Toronto Reference Library! I'm going to submit it when submissions open, so fingers crossed :).

Awesome...I think it's at Yonge and Bloor?

I played the demo last night. My thoughts:

First, HUGE kudos for taking me right back to the late 80s when I played text-based games. Unlike the 80s games, I didn't find myself typing 30 variants of a command to get JUST the right word combination. I found that the parser worked surprisingly well so the game progressed at a nice pace rather than becoming a word-guessing game.

The demo does state that many of the graphics are unfinished. Despite this, I can see great potential and talent in the backgrounds. The story and characters are intriguing and definitely make me want to play more. I liked exploring the lodge; more about this soon. There were few specific puzzles but that's ok; the demo is a great preview of the upcoming game.

Don't read unless you've played the demo
Spoiler
I did find there to be a lot of opening things, including doors and drawers that had nothing in them. I don't know if this is intentional or just because it's an early demo. If it were the completed game I might find this aspect to make the pacing of the game drag a bit. Another point is that the last "thing to do" I found a bit confusing because i was trying to do it using a certain blue item found in the kitchen rather than the correct item found closeby in the kitchen
[close]

Other than that, I really think this game will be a huge success and I'm looking forward to it. Especially having lived in Toronto my whole life, the Canadian aspect resonates with me.

Cheers


jmjm

Quote from: selmiak on Sat 24/11/2018 17:42:36
This is very beautiful, and what I played was kind of interesting. I guess it is part of the story to explore but there are only empty cupboards (what did I expect in a hotel...) and nothing else to pocket or use, but after some time I grew tired of the text parser input. Is there any chance you add mouse controls? This would be so much more fun.

I found a typo, the japanese room mate says "as" instead of "has" one time.

Thanks so much! The funny thing about the cupboards... I couldn't help myself, making them all interactive. :P I have the whole story and the puzzles planned out, I will be most likely putting more stuff in the cupboards! Although you're right, it was a hotel so it would make sense for the cupboards to be empty :-D. I hadn't originally planned on making a demo but I later felt it was an important step to take, which is why some stuff is over-developed and some is under-developed for this stage of the game.

I added mouse controls for the movement of the player's character, but that's probably it. I love creating with the text parser!

Do you remember what sentence specifically had the typo in it? I'd love to correct that!

Thanks so much!

jmjm

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Tue 27/11/2018 05:02:53
Awesome...I think it's at Yonge and Bloor?

Yes, the library at Yonge and Bloor!

AGS has a lovely text parser feature that I wish was used more! It's better than what the Sierra devs had in the day, and it's easy to use. It's great tool, and it goes a long way in making the text parser more playable.

The introductory sequence graphics are the rough graphics, the rest of the game is as it should be. Although whenever I play Colonel's Bequest, my fingers itch to improve my own game graphics :).

Part of the reason all the cupboards and drawers are interactive is because I got carried away :-D. I loved making them animate and work. But there will be more stuff in them.

There is one inventory item in the game you can pick up that is nothing but a tribute to AGS and all you lovely folks! This community is so wonderful and helpful, and has helped me over a few obstacles. I wouldn't have made it this far without the forums. ;-D

I'm a lifelong Torontonian, too. I recently visited the Royal Ontario Museum and was tickled pink to see two facing stone entrances for "Mineralogy" and "Geology", much like the rivalry in the intro of the game! The Crimson Diamond really is a combination of a lot of my interests and I'm glad to hear it has struck a chord with you!

jmjm

Let's Player LateBlt played some of my demo! The video's an hour long and shows some basic gameplay but not the entire demo, no spoilers really.  :)

I'm psyched!! He seemed to really like it and was super nice about it!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zPmsyIpURuo

dactylopus

That's awesome!  I'm a big fan of LateBlt, I'll have to give this video a watch when I have some time.

jmjm

Quote from: dactylopus on Fri 21/12/2018 08:30:52
That's awesome!  I'm a big fan of LateBlt, I'll have to give this video a watch when I have some time.

Me too! It was such a rush hearing him read my dialogue  ;-D

OgreVorbis

I'd really like to know how you did that dithering like the classic EGA games. What tool did you use?

milkanannan

Just watched the play through of the demo. Looks great! You probably hate being asked this, but how long do you think before you launch it?

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