Hello! I'm releasing the latest update (and enabling Steam cloud saves!) for The Crimson Diamond slightly ahead of the LudoNarracon Steam event as I'll be away from my desk when the event kicks off. Patch notes and more details will be included in my LudoNarracon event announcement on Thursday, May 1 at 1pm Eastern. Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience, thanks for playing my game! I hope you enjoy it. --JM

Hello!

Thanks so much for your feedback. Here's a big update with many improvements! Hopefully this will be the last update for a while. IMPORTANT: Your save games should work fine with this update!

If you don't see your bug listed at the end of this message, I either couldn't recreate it, it may have been fixed in a previous build, or it was submitted after this update was completed. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Thanks so much for playing my game. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review if you did, it helps a lot!

Best wishes,

Julia

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The biggest changes:

1) NEW DEFAULT FONT: Crimsonite Sans, for improved legibility! To toggle back to the original font, click the "Font" button in the main menu or type "font" into the text parser.

2) All game settings in the main menu should now get saved properly.

3) Mac achievements should now work on Apple Silicon Macs, as well as Intel Macs.

4) The "9" key will now unpause the game, along with the "\" key. This was done to accommodate non-English keyboards.

5)Redesigned and updated the "help" window"

6) New death added, in response to some players trying an unwise thing and being disappointed that there were no consequences :D


FULL LIST OF BUG FIXES. WARNING: SPOILERS
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1. if you type "quit" during the ranger interview or bed quiz, the "Really quit?" prompt will quit to OS if you choose yes, and quit to main menu if you choose no options are only partially remembered - control method, auto-saving, inventory style, visual cue for notes etc. revert to default on every new playthrough, while volume and speed do not
   
   
2. Margot's bonus ending wasn't triggering.
   
   
3. Save Game option in the menu is greyed out if the menu is opened from the intro screen with keyboard, but not if it's opened with mouse (if it's opened with keyboard first, it stays greyed out even if it's subsequently opened with the mouse)
   
   
4. You can help Jack with the trowel as many times as you like
   
   
5. If you cite an item you don't actually have as evidence against Albert, Murdoch will pivot to the telegraph tape out of nowhere.
   
   
6. "ask about kit" can still spoil the existence of the kit in Margot's vanity drawers (and it's a very natural question to ask, as it could equally apply to Albert's kit or even Nancy's lost kit).
   
   
7. When you're in the study in ch 5 with JJ and NN, if you "ask about stein" as your first command, it *only* asks Jack and misses Nathan. If you ask a second time, or ask about something else before asking about the steins, *then* it asks both Jack and Nathan and you learn about Nathan's role in helping Margot.
   
   
8. I wonder if Albert will let me borrow one if his Mohs hardness picks" message shows up (when looking through samples in your inventory) even after Albert is gone (because he's a spy) and after he has refused to help Nancy.
   
   
9. "put mug over fire" doesn't work even though the wax is inside, vs "put wax over fire". Also "put mug on mantle", "put wax on mantle" don't work.
   
   
10. Autosave function should check to see if that player is at 50 saves or greater.
    
    
11. "examine ground" when Nessa is on all fours by the wheelbarrow results in softlock
    
    
12. If you leave lodge before Ch2 dinner via mudroom and re-enter via different door, player can leave lodge through most doors (not kitchen door).
    
    
13. "kick Evan" while he's in the billiards room will result in Nancy opening the exterior door and leaving the lodge
    
    
14. Streamer didn't find evidence for diamonds (as was said at breakfast) but the final scenes say that Nancy knows there are diamonds in Crimson?
    
    
15. you can dig multiple times with the shovel, and get points for it each time
    
    
16. When you go back to Corvus' and Jack's room after Nessa and Corvus have fled, and you examine something that can be examined during the search for the key that you didn't examine during that search for the key, the game will act as if your examination is part of the searching for satchel key sequence.
    
    
17. At the end of Chapter 3, after I collected all of the necessary fingerprints, I tried the "Compare fingerprints" command, and nothing happens. (There is no response from the text parser)
    
    
18. I encountered a typo when typing "Look at Corvus" during the final confrontation in the mines. I have attached a photo. Just passing it along for future patches.
    
    
19. After you give Albert almonds you get a message at the end saying “you don’t have any almonds” (but I just gave him some and of course I still have some in my inventory!). Note: this will also now make Albert thirsty and you can get his fingerprint.
    
    
20. When Nessa is sneaking in your bedroom looking at the steins I tried to blow the duck whistle to startle her but instead I got dialogue from Kimi who isn’t there. Even when Kimi is not there in your bedroom you get Kimi’s surprised dialogue.
    
    
21. When Kimi is in the bedroom sleeping and you blow the whistle you get dialogue from her being startled but she’s asleep (need a message stopping you from blowing the whistle?)
    
    
22. When you’re hiding from Jack and Nathan who are sneaking about on the riverbank you can blow the whistle and they respond, but that then doesn’t trigger them spotting you.
    
    
23. Tell jack about mineralogy. His response has a typo, a missing space after the first period: "Nah, I'm afraid not.I'm not that interested in stuff like that."
    
    
24. After melting the wax, the game tells me "Sorry, you can't do that," even though the wax melted successfully.
    
    
25. The animation of filling the mug with water from the bathroom sink will display a closed medicine cabinet, even if the cabinet is open. Wasn't sure if this was intentional or if Nancy closes it to reach the taps.
    
    
26. If you ask Nathan for fingerprint Nancy also asks Kimi even though she already has Kimi's fingerprint from solving ice in mug puzzle.
    
    
27. using loupe on button in ch5 gives repeated responses.
    
    
28. When Evan is drinking at the jetty, he will answer "ask about [character]" (Margot, for example) despite being too despondent to answer or react to anything else.
    
    
29. I found something strange that I am going to attach in video, it is in Kimi's room once she is asleep at the end of chapter 5. Keep in mind, I never saw her and Albert's confrontation. Typing "look" in Nancy's bedroom says "Albert is here"and you can talk to him.
    
    
30. Looking at binoculars when they're not on the nightstand says that they're there. (Chapter 5, for example)
    
    
31. While trying out the duck call in various rooms within the lodge, I discovered using it in Nancy and Kimi's room produced Kimi's response with some red text, even though she wasn't there. Did not experience this in any other rooms and did not try it outside beyond the screen with the log and where you use it on Kimi for the sample puzzle.
    
    
32. in the third chapter, Jack is sitting at the kitchen table, where an empty jar lies. If Nancy walks in front of the table, the jar stays in foreground, so Nancy appears to walk between the  table and he 'floating' jar.
    
    
33. Just after dinner at the first day, Nancy appears behind the whiskey glass of Mr. Richard.
    Ch 5 - Al was the last person I got shoe size from. "a ab shoes" to Al resulted in repeated dialogue
    
    
34. For no particular reason other than I noticed that they kept popping up, I started looking at shoes and boots. When I looked at the shoes in Albert's room, it says that a note has been added to my notebook--but there is no note.
    
    
35. In trying to figure out what I could do in the kitchen, I picked up the saucepan and the kettle. However, if I look in the cupboard where I got the saucepan, it says that the cupboard contains the saucepan and the kettle (but it doesn't; I'm holding both of them).
    
    
36. If you try to empty the glass in the dining room, you get the “That achieves little effect” message
    
    
37. Ask Nathan about the steins. Then show him the will. If Nancy knows they were looking for the brooch (I'm assuming this is the trigger), Nathan will tell Nancy about the steins. Nancy acts surprised that Nathan knows about them. She shouldn't be surprised, because they've already talked about it and Nathan has already admitted to helping take them.
    
    
38. Minor thing, but if you ask Jack about the samples in the beginning of Ch. 6, he still says "I could bring those to Albert." By this point, Jack should probably know he won't be doing that.
    
    
39. Nancy is overlapping with the water plant, in the boat house-It should be displayed AFTER her and therefore should be hidden. 
    
    
40. Smokehouse: The description about the sparkles mentions them being less sparkly due to the lack of moonlight, but that description shows up even in the daytime.
    
    
41. in chapter 4 when listening to the conversation in the carriage house between Jack and the Ranger, he says “discrete”, when I think he should say “discreet”, since he’s talking about being unobtrusive rather than separate.
    
    
42. typo ("fervantly") in description of the hole in Act 6
    
    
43. carriage house door lacks collision after it's opened from the inside in Act 4
    
    
44. After Corvus and Nessa go missing, the game still thinks Corvus's luggage is in his room when using look and open, etc., instead of acknowledging that it's gone like Nessa's luggage
    
    
45. After saving Nessa, her hair is no longer disheveled when she talks in the scenes afterward in/out of the mine and at the train station.
    
    
46. Incorrect word when Nathan and Ranger Murdoch arrive: should be "his gaze" instead of "he gaze."
    
    
47. At the train station, there is a missing period in the documentation when referring to Nessa the second time: "Ms Crabbe" instead of "Ms. Crabbe."
    
    
48. I wanted to write to suggest providing an option for a more readable font, for users (like me!) who are having difficulty parsing the fonts used in the game, most especially for description/conversation text.
    
    
49. When Evan is drowning his sorrows on the jetty, he doesn't feel like talking, and stubbornly ignores all "ask about" and "talk about"... unless you use the "tell about" command, then he'll happily talk about anything. [My train of thoughts: I wanted to warn him about Nessa's schemes, so I used the "tell about Nessa" command.]
    
    
50. When Jack is trying to dig out the mine entrance, when asked about the ranger, he'll say that "he must have gone to the bathroom," or something like that.
    
    
51. I kept trying to do the ”dig with spade” command or ”dig with garden spade” in order to get into the tunnel with jack in chapter six but it did not work. I had to look it up and Imused the ”dig with trowel command” i order to get in.
    
    
52. "o dr" will open the vanity drawers even if the vanity drawers are already open.
    
    
53. If you examine the trunk in ch 5, it has the same effect as looking in the trunk would, except that there's an extra message at the end about it not requiring closer examination.
    
    
54. The scores for all three end investigations pluralize "points" even if you scored 1 point.
    
    
55. "look at head" in the study room (with the deer head) does nothing, not even a "This doesn't work" message.
    
    
56. "c cu" (close the open cupboard with the saucepan in the kitchen) if you're far away from said cupboard doesn't do anything and doesn't trigger any message
    
    
57. ww e" with a closed door at the study, while Nessa is searching it, leads to a comment from Nessa that you shouldn't look at or touch anything.
    
    
58. After taking the detonator back, when looking at the debris, the message "You can see an old, discarded plunger detonator amongst the debris." still shows up.
    
    
59. String with missing preposition: "According to what I've deduced, Nessa and Corvus attacked Mr. Richards the jetty and dragged him into the smokehouse."
    
    
60. Nancy says an out of place "Gee, thank you" while presenting evidence about Karl to the ranger at the end
    
    
61. A typo during the train station final scene, the ranger says: "perished a in cave-in at the mine."
    
    
62. When kettle stored in cupboard -- With that cupboard open, when type "pour water in mug" Nancy goes for phantom kettle on stove, fills mug that way.
    
    
63. "what was Jack and Nathan trying to conceal"
    
    
64. "hidden in one of Crimson Ontario's" could use a comma after Crimson
    
    
65. "you be careful you hear" said by Jack could use a comma
    
    
66. examine the Nancy-sized hole made with the trowel, it should say "fervently"
    
    
67. "wound round it" should be "wound around it"
    
    
68. "I'm glad I checked though" should have a comma
    
    
69. "desiccated and splitting and the screws" could use a comma
    
    asking Jack about Karl and Albert in Chapter 6 should yield different responses
    
    
70. "Kimi had a map with Soo Locks circled" needs WITH
    
    
71. "uh..." Said by Jack needs an uppercase U
    
    
72. When you try to examine/search left desk to re-examine after already getting the butt, there is no parser/game response. Same when you try to examine/search the right drawers after finding nothing in there the first time, no parser/game response.
    
    
73. "applicationo"
    
    
74. "butt smells familiar" needs a period
    
    
75. When you try to examine drawer of the wardrobe in Albert's room after he's fled, you don't get a response from parser/game
    
    
76. This fingerprint belongs to Albert" should have a small t
    
    
77. "it is said to 'no streak'" sentence needs to be rewritten
    
    
78. After Murdoch & co. rescue Nancy (and potentially Evan), there is a fade to black, then a text box, and then it's supposed to fade in to the cave entrance. However, the fade in starts with the full picture flashing in, and then becoming almost-black and then fading in.
    
    
79. "tell about" will alternately display "You have nothing compelling to say about that." and then not display anything at all.
    
    
80. If you ask ee about "sole", Nancy will start talking about examining the jetty, even in Ch. 1.
    
    
81. It mentioned that I didn't tell ranger Murdoch about Margot's illness, but I couldn't get any keywords to work- "illness" "sick" "lesions" "medicine" etc etc didn't work. I also wasn't quite sure *how* to tell him- You use an "ask" format for most of the game, so I wasn't sure if "tell" was the wrong word or if I was using the wrong keyword.
    
    
82. Nessa is not responding to "Talk Nessa" or "Talk woman", not even a "I don't want to talk". after getting all 3 samples and checking them. I talked to Albert in the kitchen and Jack told him about the brokencar. Then i didn't go to the dinning room, but instead went around abit and up to my room. Found Nessa, then went back in her room.
    
    
83. If you type “review” during the tutorial, Nancy says that she should introduce herself to the other characters.
    
    
84. Nothing happens if you try to empty the glass in the kitchen.
    
    
85. When you are trying to dust the curio cabinet for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust cabinet for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust curio for fingerprints”.)
    
    
86. When you are trying to dust Margot’s glass for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust glass for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust glass”.)
    
    
87. When you are trying to give the mug to Kimi, the game does not recognise it if you type “give mug to woman”. (You must type “give mug to Kimi”.)
    
    
88. If you examine Albert’s glass after you have lifted his fingerprint, Nancy still says, “Now to lift the fingerprint from the glass!”
    
    
89. You cannot dust the button for fingerprints while you are at the jetty.
    
    
90. If you investigate the smokehouse interior before looking at Corvus or his clothes, when Nancy notices that his buttons match the one that she found, she will say that she should go inside the smokehouse and share what she has learned with Nathan (even though she has already done so).
    
    
91. If you type “review” after investigating the smokehouse interior but before figuring out where Evan was taken, Nancy says, “I should talk to Nathan and Jack about all of this!” (However, if you talk to Nathan or Jack, Nancy says that she must find out what “hallongrotta” means.)
    
    
92. If you try to tell the ranger about a piece of evidence that you have discovered more than once, Nancy will act like she did not find it.
    
    
93. After blasting the dynamite in Ch. 6, ask Jack about his wirecutters. Nancy says, "It seems that the only way I'll be able to get into this mine is by helping Jack clear this rubble the hard way! *I wonder if I missed anything back at the lodge?*" As if Nancy hasn't already created the hole.
    
    
94. In the final confrontation, these seemingly similar commands work differently, starting from when you hide behind the boulder: "throw rock passage" will make Nancy pick up the rock and throw it down the passage. "throw rock entrance" will make Nancy pick up the rock, but she won't throw it and the textbox reads: "You're in a good place to do SOMETHING, but be more specific!" "throw rock exit" gives the description "You don't have a plain rock right now." And Nancy doesn't do anything. If you already have the plain rock, all three of these will make Nancy throw the rock.
    
    
95. Just wanted to report a small bug I found in Chapter 5. Corvus responds when knocking on his and Jack's door, but the room is empty upon entering it. I later found Corvus and Nessa in Margot's closet. This happened to me after eavesdropping on Albert and Ranger Murdoch.
    
    
96. Guest Bedroom 1: If I type “take glass” I get a response about not picking up the broken glass as it might cut me. This is before the curio cabinet has been broken (in chapter 1).
    
    
97. Asking about Margo or the brooch/steins after Margo's death sometimes produces the previous response, instead of the expected response after certain events. For example, asking Kimi about the steins when she's hiding in the bushes looking for owls gave a response about how nice they were.
    
    
98. Asking Nessa about Margot after her death gave a message to stay away from her.
    
    
99. even if you find out about Corvus and the bench by asking people, and never see him sit there, you still get the message about seeing Corvus there yourself on examining the shoeprints
    
    
100. in Act 6, if you talk to Jack after helping him with the trowel, he still mentions wanting your help
     
     
101. Nancy not coming to the garnet mines conclusion is only if you ask about cookie at the end of Ch5, as opposed to ask about hallongrotta at the end of Ch5. If you ask about hallongrotta she does explain her thinking properly
     
     
102. after Nancy meets Nathan in the smokehouse, follow up text messages and dialogue even into subsequent chapters periodically tell her she is ready to meet Nathan in the somehouse.
     
     
103. Any time I type "powder mug" or "dust mug" I get the response "you don't have Kimi's mug." I didn't even know she had a mug. (The only mug I have is the AGS blue mug that has so far kept my wax liquid overnight.)
     
     
104. If you examine Kimi’s mug while it is on the table and you have lifted her fingerprint, the messages do not seem right. The second message says, “You think you can see some faint oily smudges on Kimi’s mug.” Then Nancy says (in the third message), “… Which I’ve already done!”
     
     
105. You get the “well done” message each time you get the ice.
     
     
106. In chapter four, if you go south from the lodge’s main entrance to the overlook screen when Essa is walking east, Nancy appears on the bridge screen once Essa has left the overlook screen. Then the next time you go to the overlook screen, Nancy enters from the north regardless of which direction she came from.
     
     
107. Also in chapter four, Nathan still responds normally if you ask him about things or try to give him things immediately after the cutscene with Jack in the carriage house. Then Nathan will act surprised when you talk to him or climb down the ladder.
     
     
108. If you blow the duck call while tied to the tree, the rope disappears visually (although as far as the game's concerned, Nancy remains tethered and needs to untie before she can move).
     
     
109. The ranger says "we took prints of Nessa's shoes when we took her into custody" even when Nessa is supposedly dead and her body - unrecoverable in the mine.
     
     
110. In the dialogue in which ranger Murdoch asks Nancy if she and Margot were close, and Nancy says it doesn't matter, what matters is that what happened was wrong - the messages display her avatar, unlike all of her other lines in this closeup / cut-scene. The same inconsistency is present when she talks about the telegraph paper that mentions Karl.
     
     
111. After chilled raw cookie is eaten it reappears on the tray
     
     
112. Nancy still automatically knows about "hallongrotta" in the smokehouse after investigating the symbol, even if she never heard of it before
     
     
113. After Nessa has bolted and took her jewelry box with her, looking at the room still mentions the box.
     
     
114. Chapter 5 - Tried to open Kimi's luggage, but it does not show in the screen. Last I saw her luggage, it was when she was looking at the cormorants.
     
     
115. Ch 3 - "melt wax" shows this in the kitchen: "you don't have any wax right now" The wax is in the mug.
     
     
116. Ch 5: "review" tells me I'm satisfied and should talk to Nathan, but he still boots me out of the smokehouse; I'm missing Corvus shoeprint although I think (..?) I did examine his shoes in an earlier chapter; getting his shoe size again progresses; the preceding box in "review" does hint at shoe sizes, so this might be passable (edited)
     
     
117. Ch 4 - "a ab margot" shows the dialogue that Nessa had already mentioned after the soup incident:
     Looks like this issue occurs in Nancy's a nd Kimi's room. So far, doing this in other rooms seems to get a response.
     
     
118. the notebook doesn't update with a "obtained wirecutters!"
     
     
119. After you clear rubble using the shovel and then talk to Jack, he talks as if he's still digging. "I'm trying to dig out this rubble:
     
     
120. When you ask Jack about himself at ch6 start, this response is clearly very outdated
     
     
121. Corvus' luggage can still be looked at, searched, opened, unlocked ... the usual interactions, even though it's actually no longer in the bedroom at this point
     
     
122. I've decided to randomly try dusting all my inventory items, and when I try to "dust mug" it assumes I'm referring to Kimi's mug instead of the blue mug I have.
     
     
123. When you enter the spare room after "talk to Nathan", the game shows this message ("Jack has set up a spare room..."), which 1. seems to not be what should be shown here at this point 2. I already saw earlier in the game when I visited him in this room before, I think
     
     
124. Need a line from Nancy that makes it clear that the pick needs to be found elsewhere, not in Albert's kit. Also maybe make asking about Albert's kit not a thing until after all 3 samples are collected. When Albert's in the kitchen Nancy won't ask about the kit, it seems like a bug.
     
     
125. I was wondering if you would consider adding a more modern, dyslexia friendly font as an option. I realize high resolution text is not in keeping with the style of the game, but I hope you let accessibility take priority here.
     
     
126. pour/put blue mug/wax/hot wax into/onto/in/on raw cookie" doesn't work, only "raw cookie" works
     
     
127. "I will be discrete with my investigation." I think "discreet" is the word that should be used here.
     
     
128. At the beginning of Chapter 6, you can ask Jack about Margot's kit and his dialogue will still talk about the ranger's meeting as if it's yet to occur.
     
     
129. In the mine, when examining the machinery, one sentence says "It would coarsely grinds up the garnets." It should be "grind" here.
     
     
130. Corvus got away (easiest catch) and Nessa gets away -- Newspaper closeup at musuem says "WANTED" but the Bedtime closeup says "JAILED" still. AND that Corvus was caught, not that he got away
     
     
131. AGS reports scripting error if you try to 'close' the already closed study door.
     
     
132. To resume the game when paused, you’re supposed to press the / but reversed key, I think the English word is backslash. I guess this might be a separate key on an English/American keyboard, but it’s not on my Swedish keyboard and I believe there are many keyboards out there that doesn’t have the key as well. So… maybe an alternate key or an alternate way to unpause could be added? I had to force quit my game.
     
     
133. During Ranger interview, during the Albert portion, if you answer "dynamite" and THEN "blasting cap", that line of questioning repeats, but this time without the inventory items. Other questions do the same.
     
     
134. I noticed this after Nat and Jack were shown Nessa and Corvus' new will, I'm not sure if it can be triggered earlier. I have the objective of finding Nessa's brooch (not that I haven't been looking for it since it was stolen!) The command 'shake yellow hat' results in a response of 'you don't have any water right now'On closer inspection, it appears that simply typing 'shake' will result in the same dialog response.
     
     
135. Nancy says (or thinks) “Nessa could seriously threaten Mr Richards’ life with thos Jordan almonds…would she go that far?” where “thos” should be “those”.
     
     
136. Kimi's luggage is missing from her room after chapter 2?
     
     
137. Tried to eliminate the bug of the melted wax stuck in the mug. 1) the wax shouldn't be obtainable a second time and 2) if it IS, it can be removed with "take wax" or "dump mug" or similar commands.
     
     
138. Close-up of Nessa has non-EGA colours?
     
     
139. Every time I am at the waterfall and type "look" a new note is added to my notebook, and it's identical each time - "looked around river for clues". I can do this multiple times without leaving the screen. I'm currently finding everyone's footprints (just Nessa's to go!) before I can examine the smokehouse, and the glass jar is still in the river.
     
     
140. "look flypaper" command in Chapter 2 duplicated the pair of description text boxes (1st general description, 2nd lightness remark, 3rd general desc, 4th lightness remark)
     
     
141. At the end of the fifth chapter, when you're given the opportunity to chat about various aspects of the game thus far with Nathan and Jack, I asked Nathan about the report; however, nothing happened. No response from the game - nothing. Now, what might be triggering this is that I consulted the hints beforehand, and asked Nathan about the report BEFORE I actually found the report in Corvus's satchel. At that point, there was a response, but no goal.
     
     
142. I was trying to get the fingerprint from Jack, and my thought was to try freezing the jam-filled baked cookie, removing the frozen jam, then getting the print from that. Freezing the raw and baked cookies didn't work, and then I tried taking some ice chips and putting them in the raw cookie. {Put ice in raw cookie} The text I got was:"I need to find a different way to chill the wax."
     
     
143. Feeding Albert almonds when trying to get him thirsty succeds, but then shows an error along the lines of "you have no almonds".
     
     
144. "sprinkle salt on cookies" gives an error message about not having any water. Probably sprinkle is a synonym for pour and it interprets salt as salt water?
     
     
145. Nancy decided she should share her results with Nathan before I had Albert's shoe size. Then Nathan wouldn't let me in.
     
     
146. "tie rope to waist" could use a few alternatives like "tie rope to me".

Hello!

Thanks so much for your feedback. Here's a big update with many improvements! Hopefully this will be the last update for a while. IMPORTANT: Your save games should work fine with this update!

If you don't see your bug listed at the end of this message, I either couldn't recreate it, it may have been fixed in a previous build, or it was submitted after this update was completed. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Thanks so much for playing my game. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review if you did, it helps a lot!

Best wishes,

Julia


The biggest changes:

1) NEW DEFAULT FONT: Crimsonite Sans, for improved legibility! To toggle back to the original font, click the "Font" button in the main menu or type "font" in the main menu.

2) All game settings in the main manu should now get saved properly.

3) Mac achievements should now work on Apple Silicon Macs, as well as Intel Macs.

4) The "9" key will now unpause the game, along with the "\" key. This was done to accommodate non-English keyboards.

5)Redesigned and updated the "help" window"

FULL LIST OF BUG FIXES BELOW. WARNING: SPOILERS
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1. if you type "quit" during the ranger interview or bed quiz, the "Really quit?" prompt will quit to OS if you choose yes, and quit to main menu if you choose no options are only partially remembered - control method, auto-saving, inventory style, visual cue for notes etc. revert to default on every new playthrough, while volume and speed do not
   
   
2. Margot's bonus ending wasn't triggering.
   
   
3. Save Game option in the menu is greyed out if the menu is opened from the intro screen with keyboard, but not if it's opened with mouse (if it's opened with keyboard first, it stays greyed out even if it's subsequently opened with the mouse)
   
   
4. You can help Jack with the trowel as many times as you like
   
   
5. If you cite an item you don't actually have as evidence against Albert, Murdoch will pivot to the telegraph tape out of nowhere.
   
   
6. "ask about kit" can still spoil the existence of the kit in Margot's vanity drawers (and it's a very natural question to ask, as it could equally apply to Albert's kit or even Nancy's lost kit).
   
   
7. When you're in the study in ch 5 with JJ and NN, if you "ask about stein" as your first command, it *only* asks Jack and misses Nathan. If you ask a second time, or ask about something else before asking about the steins, *then* it asks both Jack and Nathan and you learn about Nathan's role in helping Margot.
   
   
8. I wonder if Albert will let me borrow one if his Mohs hardness picks" message shows up (when looking through samples in your inventory) even after Albert is gone (because he's a spy) and after he has refused to help Nancy.
   
   
9. "put mug over fire" doesn't work even though the wax is inside, vs "put wax over fire". Also "put mug on mantle", "put wax on mantle" don't work.
   
   
10. Autosave function should check to see if that player is at 50 saves or greater.
    
    
11. "examine ground" when Nessa is on all fours by the wheelbarrow results in softlock
    
    
12. If you leave lodge before Ch2 dinner via mudroom and re-enter via different door, player can leave lodge through most doors (not kitchen door).
    
    
13. "kick Evan" while he's in the billiards room will result in Nancy opening the exterior door and leaving the lodge
    
    
14. Streamer didn't find evidence for diamonds (as was said at breakfast) but the final scenes say that Nancy knows there are diamonds in Crimson?
    
    
15. you can dig multiple times with the shovel, and get points for it each time
    
    
16. When you go back to Corvus' and Jack's room after Nessa and Corvus have fled, and you examine something that can be examined during the search for the key that you didn't examine during that search for the key, the game will act as if your examination is part of the searching for satchel key sequence.
    
    
17. At the end of Chapter 3, after I collected all of the necessary fingerprints, I tried the "Compare fingerprints" command, and nothing happens. (There is no response from the text parser)
    
    
18. I encountered a typo when typing "Look at Corvus" during the final confrontation in the mines. I have attached a photo. Just passing it along for future patches.
    
    
19. After you give Albert almonds you get a message at the end saying “you don’t have any almonds” (but I just gave him some and of course I still have some in my inventory!). Note: this will also now make Albert thirsty and you can get his fingerprint.
    
    
20. When Nessa is sneaking in your bedroom looking at the steins I tried to blow the duck whistle to startle her but instead I got dialogue from Kimi who isn’t there. Even when Kimi is not there in your bedroom you get Kimi’s surprised dialogue.
    
    
21. When Kimi is in the bedroom sleeping and you blow the whistle you get dialogue from her being startled but she’s asleep (need a message stopping you from blowing the whistle?)
    
    
22. When you’re hiding from Jack and Nathan who are sneaking about on the riverbank you can blow the whistle and they respond, but that then doesn’t trigger them spotting you.
    
    
23. Tell jack about mineralogy. His response has a typo, a missing space after the first period: "Nah, I'm afraid not.I'm not that interested in stuff like that."
    
    
24. After melting the wax, the game tells me "Sorry, you can't do that," even though the wax melted successfully.
    
    
25. The animation of filling the mug with water from the bathroom sink will display a closed medicine cabinet, even if the cabinet is open. Wasn't sure if this was intentional or if Nancy closes it to reach the taps.
    
    
26. If you ask Nathan for fingerprint Nancy also asks Kimi even though she already has Kimi's fingerprint from solving ice in mug puzzle.
    
    
27. using loupe on button in ch5 gives repeated responses.
    
    
28. When Evan is drinking at the jetty, he will answer "ask about [character]" (Margot, for example) despite being too despondent to answer or react to anything else.
    
    
29. I found something strange that I am going to attach in video, it is in Kimi's room once she is asleep at the end of chapter 5. Keep in mind, I never saw her and Albert's confrontation. Typing "look" in Nancy's bedroom says "Albert is here"and you can talk to him.
    
    
30. Looking at binoculars when they're not on the nightstand says that they're there. (Chapter 5, for example)
    
    
31. While trying out the duck call in various rooms within the lodge, I discovered using it in Nancy and Kimi's room produced Kimi's response with some red text, even though she wasn't there. Did not experience this in any other rooms and did not try it outside beyond the screen with the log and where you use it on Kimi for the sample puzzle.
    
    
32. in the third chapter, Jack is sitting at the kitchen table, where an empty jar lies. If Nancy walks in front of the table, the jar stays in foreground, so Nancy appears to walk between the  table and he 'floating' jar.
    
    
33. Just after dinner at the first day, Nancy appears behind the whiskey glass of Mr. Richard.
    Ch 5 - Al was the last person I got shoe size from. "a ab shoes" to Al resulted in repeated dialogue
    
    
34. For no particular reason other than I noticed that they kept popping up, I started looking at shoes and boots. When I looked at the shoes in Albert's room, it says that a note has been added to my notebook--but there is no note.
    
    
35. In trying to figure out what I could do in the kitchen, I picked up the saucepan and the kettle. However, if I look in the cupboard where I got the saucepan, it says that the cupboard contains the saucepan and the kettle (but it doesn't; I'm holding both of them).
    
    
36. If you try to empty the glass in the dining room, you get the “That achieves little effect” message
    
    
37. Ask Nathan about the steins. Then show him the will. If Nancy knows they were looking for the brooch (I'm assuming this is the trigger), Nathan will tell Nancy about the steins. Nancy acts surprised that Nathan knows about them. She shouldn't be surprised, because they've already talked about it and Nathan has already admitted to helping take them.
    
    
38. Minor thing, but if you ask Jack about the samples in the beginning of Ch. 6, he still says "I could bring those to Albert." By this point, Jack should probably know he won't be doing that.
    
    
39. Nancy is overlapping with the water plant, in the boat house-It should be displayed AFTER her and therefore should be hidden. 
    
    
40. Smokehouse: The description about the sparkles mentions them being less sparkly due to the lack of moonlight, but that description shows up even in the daytime.
    
    
41. in chapter 4 when listening to the conversation in the carriage house between Jack and the Ranger, he says “discrete”, when I think he should say “discreet”, since he’s talking about being unobtrusive rather than separate.
    
    
42. typo ("fervantly") in description of the hole in Act 6
    
    
43. carriage house door lacks collision after it's opened from the inside in Act 4
    
    
44. After Corvus and Nessa go missing, the game still thinks Corvus's luggage is in his room when using look and open, etc., instead of acknowledging that it's gone like Nessa's luggage
    
    
45. After saving Nessa, her hair is no longer disheveled when she talks in the scenes afterward in/out of the mine and at the train station.
    
    
46. Incorrect word when Nathan and Ranger Murdoch arrive: should be "his gaze" instead of "he gaze."
    
    
47. At the train station, there is a missing period in the documentation when referring to Nessa the second time: "Ms Crabbe" instead of "Ms. Crabbe."
    
    
48. I wanted to write to suggest providing an option for a more readable font, for users (like me!) who are having difficulty parsing the fonts used in the game, most especially for description/conversation text.
    
    
49. When Evan is drowning his sorrows on the jetty, he doesn't feel like talking, and stubbornly ignores all "ask about" and "talk about"... unless you use the "tell about" command, then he'll happily talk about anything. [My train of thoughts: I wanted to warn him about Nessa's schemes, so I used the "tell about Nessa" command.]
    
    
50. When Jack is trying to dig out the mine entrance, when asked about the ranger, he'll say that "he must have gone to the bathroom," or something like that.
    
    
51. I kept trying to do the ”dig with spade” command or ”dig with garden spade” in order to get into the tunnel with jack in chapter six but it did not work. I had to look it up and Imused the ”dig with trowel command” i order to get in.
    
    
52. "o dr" will open the vanity drawers even if the vanity drawers are already open.
    
    
53. If you examine the trunk in ch 5, it has the same effect as looking in the trunk would, except that there's an extra message at the end about it not requiring closer examination.
    
    
54. The scores for all three end investigations pluralize "points" even if you scored 1 point.
    
    
55. "look at head" in the study room (with the deer head) does nothing, not even a "This doesn't work" message.
    
    
56. "c cu" (close the open cupboard with the saucepan in the kitchen) if you're far away from said cupboard doesn't do anything and doesn't trigger any message
    
    
57. ww e" with a closed door at the study, while Nessa is searching it, leads to a comment from Nessa that you shouldn't look at or touch anything.
    
    
58. After taking the detonator back, when looking at the debris, the message "You can see an old, discarded plunger detonator amongst the debris." still shows up.
    
    
59. String with missing preposition: "According to what I've deduced, Nessa and Corvus attacked Mr. Richards the jetty and dragged him into the smokehouse."
    
    
60. Nancy says an out of place "Gee, thank you" while presenting evidence about Karl to the ranger at the end
    
    
61. A typo during the train station final scene, the ranger says: "perished a in cave-in at the mine."
    
    
62. When kettle stored in cupboard -- With that cupboard open, when type "pour water in mug" Nancy goes for phantom kettle on stove, fills mug that way.
    
    
63. "what was Jack and Nathan trying to conceal"
    
    
64. "hidden in one of Crimson Ontario's" could use a comma after Crimson
    
    
65. "you be careful you hear" said by Jack could use a comma
    
    
66. examine the Nancy-sized hole made with the trowel, it should say "fervently"
    
    
67. "wound round it" should be "wound around it"
    
    
68. "I'm glad I checked though" should have a comma
    
    
69. "desiccated and splitting and the screws" could use a comma
    
    asking Jack about Karl and Albert in Chapter 6 should yield different responses
    
    
70. "Kimi had a map with Soo Locks circled" needs WITH
    
    
71. "uh..." Said by Jack needs an uppercase U
    
    
72. When you try to examine/search left desk to re-examine after already getting the butt, there is no parser/game response. Same when you try to examine/search the right drawers after finding nothing in there the first time, no parser/game response.
    
    
73. "applicationo"
    
    
74. "butt smells familiar" needs a period
    
    
75. When you try to examine drawer of the wardrobe in Albert's room after he's fled, you don't get a response from parser/game
    
    
76. This fingerprint belongs to Albert" should have a small t
    
    
77. "it is said to 'no streak'" sentence needs to be rewritten
    
    
78. After Murdoch & co. rescue Nancy (and potentially Evan), there is a fade to black, then a text box, and then it's supposed to fade in to the cave entrance. However, the fade in starts with the full picture flashing in, and then becoming almost-black and then fading in.
    
    
79. "tell about" will alternately display "You have nothing compelling to say about that." and then not display anything at all.
    
    
80. If you ask ee about "sole", Nancy will start talking about examining the jetty, even in Ch. 1.
    
    
81. It mentioned that I didn't tell ranger Murdoch about Margot's illness, but I couldn't get any keywords to work- "illness" "sick" "lesions" "medicine" etc etc didn't work. I also wasn't quite sure *how* to tell him- You use an "ask" format for most of the game, so I wasn't sure if "tell" was the wrong word or if I was using the wrong keyword.
    
    
82. Nessa is not responding to "Talk Nessa" or "Talk woman", not even a "I don't want to talk". after getting all 3 samples and checking them. I talked to Albert in the kitchen and Jack told him about the brokencar. Then i didn't go to the dinning room, but instead went around abit and up to my room. Found Nessa, then went back in her room.
    
    
83. If you type “review” during the tutorial, Nancy says that she should introduce herself to the other characters.
    
    
84. Nothing happens if you try to empty the glass in the kitchen.
    
    
85. When you are trying to dust the curio cabinet for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust cabinet for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust curio for fingerprints”.)
    
    
86. When you are trying to dust Margot’s glass for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust glass for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust glass”.)
    
    
87. When you are trying to give the mug to Kimi, the game does not recognise it if you type “give mug to woman”. (You must type “give mug to Kimi”.)
    
    
88. If you examine Albert’s glass after you have lifted his fingerprint, Nancy still says, “Now to lift the fingerprint from the glass!”
    
    
89. You cannot dust the button for fingerprints while you are at the jetty.
    
    
90. If you investigate the smokehouse interior before looking at Corvus or his clothes, when Nancy notices that his buttons match the one that she found, she will say that she should go inside the smokehouse and share what she has learned with Nathan (even though she has already done so).
    
    
91. If you type “review” after investigating the smokehouse interior but before figuring out where Evan was taken, Nancy says, “I should talk to Nathan and Jack about all of this!” (However, if you talk to Nathan or Jack, Nancy says that she must find out what “hallongrotta” means.)
    
    
92. If you try to tell the ranger about a piece of evidence that you have discovered more than once, Nancy will act like she did not find it.
    
    
93. After blasting the dynamite in Ch. 6, ask Jack about his wirecutters. Nancy says, "It seems that the only way I'll be able to get into this mine is by helping Jack clear this rubble the hard way! *I wonder if I missed anything back at the lodge?*" As if Nancy hasn't already created the hole.
    
    
94. In the final confrontation, these seemingly similar commands work differently, starting from when you hide behind the boulder: "throw rock passage" will make Nancy pick up the rock and throw it down the passage. "throw rock entrance" will make Nancy pick up the rock, but she won't throw it and the textbox reads: "You're in a good place to do SOMETHING, but be more specific!" "throw rock exit" gives the description "You don't have a plain rock right now." And Nancy doesn't do anything. If you already have the plain rock, all three of these will make Nancy throw the rock.
    
    
95. Just wanted to report a small bug I found in Chapter 5. Corvus responds when knocking on his and Jack's door, but the room is empty upon entering it. I later found Corvus and Nessa in Margot's closet. This happened to me after eavesdropping on Albert and Ranger Murdoch.
    
    
96. Guest Bedroom 1: If I type “take glass” I get a response about not picking up the broken glass as it might cut me. This is before the curio cabinet has been broken (in chapter 1).
    
    
97. Asking about Margo or the brooch/steins after Margo's death sometimes produces the previous response, instead of the expected response after certain events. For example, asking Kimi about the steins when she's hiding in the bushes looking for owls gave a response about how nice they were.
    
    
98. Asking Nessa about Margot after her death gave a message to stay away from her.
    
    
99. even if you find out about Corvus and the bench by asking people, and never see him sit there, you still get the message about seeing Corvus there yourself on examining the shoeprints
    
    
100. in Act 6, if you talk to Jack after helping him with the trowel, he still mentions wanting your help
     
     
101. Nancy not coming to the garnet mines conclusion is only if you ask about cookie at the end of Ch5, as opposed to ask about hallongrotta at the end of Ch5. If you ask about hallongrotta she does explain her thinking properly
     
     
102. after Nancy meets Nathan in the smokehouse, follow up text messages and dialogue even into subsequent chapters periodically tell her she is ready to meet Nathan in the somehouse.
     
     
103. Any time I type "powder mug" or "dust mug" I get the response "you don't have Kimi's mug." I didn't even know she had a mug. (The only mug I have is the AGS blue mug that has so far kept my wax liquid overnight.)
     
     
104. If you examine Kimi’s mug while it is on the table and you have lifted her fingerprint, the messages do not seem right. The second message says, “You think you can see some faint oily smudges on Kimi’s mug.” Then Nancy says (in the third message), “… Which I’ve already done!”
     
     
105. You get the “well done” message each time you get the ice.
     
     
106. In chapter four, if you go south from the lodge’s main entrance to the overlook screen when Essa is walking east, Nancy appears on the bridge screen once Essa has left the overlook screen. Then the next time you go to the overlook screen, Nancy enters from the north regardless of which direction she came from.
     
     
107. Also in chapter four, Nathan still responds normally if you ask him about things or try to give him things immediately after the cutscene with Jack in the carriage house. Then Nathan will act surprised when you talk to him or climb down the ladder.
     
     
108. If you blow the duck call while tied to the tree, the rope disappears visually (although as far as the game's concerned, Nancy remains tethered and needs to untie before she can move).
     
     
109. The ranger says "we took prints of Nessa's shoes when we took her into custody" even when Nessa is supposedly dead and her body - unrecoverable in the mine.
     
     
110. In the dialogue in which ranger Murdoch asks Nancy if she and Margot were close, and Nancy says it doesn't matter, what matters is that what happened was wrong - the messages display her avatar, unlike all of her other lines in this closeup / cut-scene. The same inconsistency is present when she talks about the telegraph paper that mentions Karl.
     
     
111. After chilled raw cookie is eaten it reappears on the tray
     
     
112. Nancy still automatically knows about "hallongrotta" in the smokehouse after investigating the symbol, even if she never heard of it before
     
     
113. After Nessa has bolted and took her jewelry box with her, looking at the room still mentions the box.
     
     
114. Chapter 5 - Tried to open Kimi's luggage, but it does not show in the screen. Last I saw her luggage, it was when she was looking at the cormorants.
     
     
115. Ch 3 - "melt wax" shows this in the kitchen: "you don't have any wax right now" The wax is in the mug.
     
     
116. Ch 5: "review" tells me I'm satisfied and should talk to Nathan, but he still boots me out of the smokehouse; I'm missing Corvus shoeprint although I think (..?) I did examine his shoes in an earlier chapter; getting his shoe size again progresses; the preceding box in "review" does hint at shoe sizes, so this might be passable (edited)
     
     
117. Ch 4 - "a ab margot" shows the dialogue that Nessa had already mentioned after the soup incident:
     Looks like this issue occurs in Nancy's a nd Kimi's room. So far, doing this in other rooms seems to get a response.
     
     
118. the notebook doesn't update with a "obtained wirecutters!"
     
     
119. After you clear rubble using the shovel and then talk to Jack, he talks as if he's still digging. "I'm trying to dig out this rubble:
     
     
120. When you ask Jack about himself at ch6 start, this response is clearly very outdated
     
     
121. Corvus' luggage can still be looked at, searched, opened, unlocked ... the usual interactions, even though it's actually no longer in the bedroom at this point
     
     
122. I've decided to randomly try dusting all my inventory items, and when I try to "dust mug" it assumes I'm referring to Kimi's mug instead of the blue mug I have.
     
     
123. When you enter the spare room after "talk to Nathan", the game shows this message ("Jack has set up a spare room..."), which 1. seems to not be what should be shown here at this point 2. I already saw earlier in the game when I visited him in this room before, I think
     
     
124. Need a line from Nancy that makes it clear that the pick needs to be found elsewhere, not in Albert's kit. Also maybe make asking about Albert's kit not a thing until after all 3 samples are collected. When Albert's in the kitchen Nancy won't ask about the kit, it seems like a bug.
     
     
125. I was wondering if you would consider adding a more modern, dyslexia friendly font as an option. I realize high resolution text is not in keeping with the style of the game, but I hope you let accessibility take priority here.
     
     
126. pour/put blue mug/wax/hot wax into/onto/in/on raw cookie" doesn't work, only "raw cookie" works
     
     
127. "I will be discrete with my investigation." I think "discreet" is the word that should be used here.
     
     
128. At the beginning of Chapter 6, you can ask Jack about Margot's kit and his dialogue will still talk about the ranger's meeting as if it's yet to occur.
     
     
129. In the mine, when examining the machinery, one sentence says "It would coarsely grinds up the garnets." It should be "grind" here.
     
     
130. Corvus got away (easiest catch) and Nessa gets away -- Newspaper closeup at musuem says "WANTED" but the Bedtime closeup says "JAILED" still. AND that Corvus was caught, not that he got away
     
     
131. AGS reports scripting error if you try to 'close' the already closed study door.
     
     
132. To resume the game when paused, you’re supposed to press the / but reversed key, I think the English word is backslash. I guess this might be a separate key on an English/American keyboard, but it’s not on my Swedish keyboard and I believe there are many keyboards out there that doesn’t have the key as well. So… maybe an alternate key or an alternate way to unpause could be added? I had to force quit my game.
     
     
133. During Ranger interview, during the Albert portion, if you answer "dynamite" and THEN "blasting cap", that line of questioning repeats, but this time without the inventory items. Other questions do the same.
     
     
134. I noticed this after Nat and Jack were shown Nessa and Corvus' new will, I'm not sure if it can be triggered earlier. I have the objective of finding Nessa's brooch (not that I haven't been looking for it since it was stolen!) The command 'shake yellow hat' results in a response of 'you don't have any water right now'On closer inspection, it appears that simply typing 'shake' will result in the same dialog response.
     
     
135. Nancy says (or thinks) “Nessa could seriously threaten Mr Richards’ life with thos Jordan almonds…would she go that far?” where “thos” should be “those”.
     
     
136. Kimi's luggage is missing from her room after chapter 2?
     
     
137. Tried to eliminate the bug of the melted wax stuck in the mug. 1) the wax shouldn't be obtainable a second time and 2) if it IS, it can be removed with "take wax" or "dump mug" or similar commands.
     
     
138. Close-up of Nessa has non-EGA colours?
     
     
139. Every time I am at the waterfall and type "look" a new note is added to my notebook, and it's identical each time - "looked around river for clues". I can do this multiple times without leaving the screen. I'm currently finding everyone's footprints (just Nessa's to go!) before I can examine the smokehouse, and the glass jar is still in the river.
     
     
140. "look flypaper" command in Chapter 2 duplicated the pair of description text boxes (1st general description, 2nd lightness remark, 3rd general desc, 4th lightness remark)
     
     
141. At the end of the fifth chapter, when you're given the opportunity to chat about various aspects of the game thus far with Nathan and Jack, I asked Nathan about the report; however, nothing happened. No response from the game - nothing. Now, what might be triggering this is that I consulted the hints beforehand, and asked Nathan about the report BEFORE I actually found the report in Corvus's satchel. At that point, there was a response, but no goal.
     
     
142. I was trying to get the fingerprint from Jack, and my thought was to try freezing the jam-filled baked cookie, removing the frozen jam, then getting the print from that. Freezing the raw and baked cookies didn't work, and then I tried taking some ice chips and putting them in the raw cookie. {Put ice in raw cookie} The text I got was:"I need to find a different way to chill the wax."
     
     
143. Feeding Albert almonds when trying to get him thirsty succeds, but then shows an error along the lines of "you have no almonds".
     
     
144. "sprinkle salt on cookies" gives an error message about not having any water. Probably sprinkle is a synonym for pour and it interprets salt as salt water?
     
     
145. Nancy decided she should share her results with Nathan before I had Albert's shoe size. Then Nathan wouldn't let me in.
     
     
146. "tie rope to waist" could use a few alternatives like "tie rope to me".

The AdventureX Steam event is here! The Crimson Diamond developer Julia Minamata will be livestreaming from TCD's Steam store page tonight (Friday, November 8) at 8pm Eastern. She will be playing Chapter 3 of the game and discussing its development, as well as answering game development questions. A new update will be coming soon for the game, including a new font option! See the new font in action during the stream!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098770/The_Crimson_Diamond/
The Crimson Diamond is currently 10% off on Steam, the first time it's been on sale since launch! Buy now and enjoy a cozy weekend of mystery.

The Crimson Diamond demo was in the 2019 AdventureX showcase at the British Library in London! Thanks to the organizers for keeping the adventure gaming spirit alive.

Hooray!

Steam tested The Crimson Diamond and has rated the game as PLAYABLE on Steam Deck! I've also heard from friends who've played it on Steam Deck and they can vouch for this. I'm so glad that it's been made official!

It's doubtful that the game will be rated as VERIFIED on Steam at any point, considering its reliance on keyboard input. There is a pop-up keyboard that appears on Steam Deck and a Bluetooth keyboard can also be paired with it. The keyboard shortcuts for common parser commands (such as "o d" for "open door" and "l" for "look") will probably be helpful for Steam Deck users!

As for other updates: I'm still working on bugs, thanks so much for your feedback! The Crimson Diamond is now available on Steam, GOG, itchio, and FireFlower Games! Achievements work on Steam and GOG, but so far only on PC and some Mac machines (Intel).

It's been lovely to read the reviews and to hear how much people have been enjoying my game. Thank you so much!!

--JM

Hello, everyone!

I'm so excited to be included in the Game Devs of Color Expo event here on Steam! To celebrate, I've activated a newly updated version of The Crimson Diamond demo -- This version's save games will carry over into the full game! There's never been a better time to try The Crimson Diamond! This new demo will be available for a limited time, until September 24 (when the Steam event ends).

Find out more about Game Devs of Color Expo here![www.gamedevsofcolorexpo.com]


Friday, September 20, at 8pm Eastern:
I will also be streaming The Crimson Diamond on its Steam store page! This is the FIRST time I will play beyond Chapter 1! Let's see how far I can get! Hope to see you there!


*Note: There are Steam achievements in the full game (for PC and for Intel Mac machines), but not in the demo.*

Hello, everyone!

Thanks so much for your feedback! Me and the testers have been hard at work improving the game: Addressing bugs, making the text parser a bit friendlier, and more! These updates are for Windows AND Mac machines!

Further in this update there will be an itemized list of bugs that have been fixed, but I'll list the priority stuff here:

1) This update shouldn't affect your savegames. Though my testers have noticed that sometimes when loading an older savegame, some of the fixes listed below don't appear "fixed". This won't affect gameplay.

2) Some players were experiencing audio issues that were causing the game to crash. This update will display applicable error messages and instructions on how to correct these issues!

3) There were some issues involving opening and closing doors in certain areas outside that were causing the game to freeze. These have been fixed (see below for details).

4) "g" is now a text parser shortcut for get/take. Example: "g hat".

5) The link to the hintbook in the main menu is now available in the Mac version of the game! Though older savegame files might not see the link in the main menu (it seems to be an issue with how Adventure Game Studio handles assets). I'm sorry for the inconvenience. The hintbook can be found here, too.[www.thecrimsondiamond.com] Mac achievements on other than Intel machines is also currently being investigated.

6) There is no longer a "steak plate" in the game!


Below you will find the full list of bug fixes (WARNING: SPOILERS!). If you don't see your bug listed, it is likely still in the queue and will be addressed in a future update. Thanks so much for taking the time to report!

I will be taking some time off after this update. Pre-launch, launch, and post-launch has been a lot work! But please do continue to report issues and give feedback. If there's anything critical I will investigate as soon as I can. The best place to send reports is feedback@thecrimsondiamond.com. Thank you to everyone who's given the game a chance! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review!

Big thanks once again to my amazing testers.

--JM

-------------------------------------------------------

Bug fixes (WARNING: SPOILERS):

1. Chapter 5. I assumed the satchel would be locked and started looking for a key. I searched the entire room and even received a message in my notebook that I thoroughly searched the room. However, upon leaving both times, Nancy said I didn't search enough. After a restore, I made sure to search the satchel first which toldme it was locked. Then, after searching through five locations, I received a message from Nancy that Corvus must have the key on him.
   
   
2. We noticed that when Nancy is behind the smokehouse to where the building is see-through, if you type “open door”, Nancy opens the door and then the game freezes.
   
   
3. "close door" when behind the boathouse does nothing.
   
   
4. added responses for when players try to "powder cookie" or "powder raw cookie" and "lift fingerprint from cookie" to indicate these are not the required actions.
   
   
5. "g" is now a parser shortcut for "get"
   
   
6. "pour wax into [raw] cookie" and fill [raw] cookie with [candle] wax" now work IN ROOMS OTHER THAN THE KITCHEN
   
   
7. "cool cookie in icebox, chill cookie in icebox, put/place cookie in icebox" now work
   
   
8. I entered Nessa's room, used Look and it told me there was a jewellry box on the table. So, naturally, i type "Look jewellry", upon which point nancy says "Nessa's jewellry box is gone... Has she left the lodge?".
   
   
9. when trying to rub the samples against the plate, I tried to enter "rub river sample against plate" which didn't seem to work. Which is a bit odd, since that's the language used in the hints.
   
   
10. "steak plate" has been corrected to "streak plate"
    
    
11. "Murdoch" should be a synonym for "ranger"
    
    
12. Chapter 2 start save, talked to Margot, listened to the 2 hallway conversations, then went on the balcony. Walk to the left to next screen, get "nothing seems to be going on outside", Suddenly I was in the parlour. The leaving cutscene started after leaving the room. I couldn't recreate this but I added additional checks to prevent it from happening.
    
    
13. Added autosaves to after the explosive is prepped and once the player has entered the mine.
    
    
14. This occurs after the call to supper: When snooping in Albert's room because he's finally gone, his "Kindly stay out of my way" message appears on-screen when trying to close the drawers on the wardrobe and nightstand, and they can't be closed. (Hopefully, Albert won't notice.)
    
    
15. this happened in Chapter 1 when snooping in the kitchen after Jack left when it was time to head to the dining room. Opened the cupboard on the left side in the right-hand corner to get a drinking glass, looked at the glasses, received a message there weren't any.
    
    
16. After I removed the large crystal from the stone by the support pillar, I went back to the machinery to examine it and noticed the crystal came back. I walked up and down a few times just to confirm it, and I've attached screenshots below to show the issue.
    
    
17. chapter 5, when you're in the smokehouse, investigating after Nathan left, and you use the "listen" command from inside, Nancy will go outside to listen with her glass and she'll hear Nathan in the house, despite him not being there anymore. It doesn't break the forced investigation state, but doesn't make sense.
    
    
18. After saving Nessa from the ledge in the Garnet Mine and before standing up, typing "examine footprint" will cause Nancy to walk off the ledge into no man's land and remain unable to move. Typing "stand" at that point gives the prompt that Nancy is already standing.
    
    
19. The inventory can be opened by pressing tab while in the menu, save, and load menus. The attached video shows only the save and load as in the other menu, it is completely hidden behind it and the effect can only be noticed with input display as you have to press escape twice to exit the menu. You can also look at and examine objects in your inventory when using the text format. The top of the video is slightly cut off due to me compressing it poorly, but I figured it was not enough to matter.
    
    
20. After dinner in chapter one, when Evan and Nathan are meeting in the study, I first knock on the door and get Evan's response that he is busy. I go into the Conservatory and see Evan sitting on the sofa like he was before dinner. Once I leave I go back to the study and this time open the door. On entering the room, Evan is still in his sitting position from the Conservatory and slides across the floor like that instead of normally walking away.
    
    
21. if Nancy is seated going into the end of chapter 3, she remains seated going into the cutscenes in capter 4. I was sitting down in the spare room upstairs to compare my prints, triggering the cutscene in Evan's bedroom. Nancy was sitting on Margot's nightstand for the scene. I assume she's normally standing, but it looked correct in the moment. In the next scene in the cellar, Nancy appears standing. When I move, she appears seated in Evan's office chair and slides across the screen instead of walking. Nancy couldn't do any commands that sitting would prevent, until I told her to stand up.
    
    
22. "ask about shoes" should work for respective sizes
    
    
23. "x stuff with loupe" should work
    
    
24. at the jewelry box in Ch 3, you can type the following: x box, get print. You don't have to dust the print to get it.
    
    
25. "throw anyword rol" should do something in the confrontation room.
    
    
26. "take rock" after Corvus is crushed does something incorrect
    
    
27. Chapter 5 issue where the scuffs outside the smokehouse needed to be re-examined to trigger the note to enter the smokehouse.
    
    
28. issue with smokehouse where standing on a specific area outside the smokehouse would cause Nancy to try closing the smokehouse door from the inside, resulting in the game freezing.
    
    
29. issue with shed where standing on a specific area outside the shed would cause Nancy to try closing the shed door from the inside, resulting in the game freezing.
    
    
30. issue with boathouse where standing on a specific area outside the boathouse would cause Nancy to try closing the boathouse door from the inside, resulting in the game freezing.
    
    
31. mudroom bug where exiting to the outside and re-entering the mudroom caused the next parser command to leave the room back outside again.
    
    
32. Added error messages for when the game is missing the audio.vox file or the null pointer error. Error messages include instructions on how to correct this.
    
    
33. Can no longer fill the blue mug with water if it's already filled with wax (either melted or unmelted)
    
    
34. Can no longer search the hats in the walk-in closet after spilling the water on Corvus but BEFORE Corvus and Nessa flee the lodge.
    
    
35. You can type "o box" from outside the boathouse and the game hardlocks
    
    
36. Look coat / examine coat and hat doesn't work (after obtaining these items)
    
    
37. "Dump glass into sink" and its variations should now work in the kitchen
    
    
38. Death music doesn't loop any more
    
    
39. "Are you hungy brother" in Confrontation cave
    
    
40. in the garden shed, the 'LOOK' command always tells there's an hanging rope, even after it has been taken.
    
    
41. In end cinematic, Nancy's speech portrait at the train station doesn't have her hat on.
    
    
42. "brush soot" doesn't work on Kimi's mug
    
    
43. my character says "but what does hallongrotta mean?" as I'm leaving the smokehouse after dusting the almond prints, and "Ask lodge inhabitants about 'hallongrotta' populates in my notebook, despite me not actually encountering that word while in the smokehouse.
    
    
44. Added "waistcoat" as a synonym for "vest"
    
    
45. Edited the text so it's made clearer that Nancy can't borrow Albert's picks from his kit
    
    
46. Added text for if players try dusting the salt shaker for prints
    
    
47. Added text for if players try to take the salt shaker to use as a powder dispenser
    
    
48. Added text for if players try to tie Nessa with wire in the cave after saving her
    
    
49. Fixed the issue of the ending newspaper being incorrect -- if Nessa gets away, the newspaper now will say "WANTED" in the close-up when Nancy is in her bed.
    
    
50. After eavesdropping on Nessa and Corvus in the walk-in closet, player will no longer receive a prompt to eavesdrop again.
    
    
51. Bedtime quiz now accepts "birdwatching" or "bird watching" as a correct answer.
    
    
52. "soot cue ball" and take print without having soot in tin (you need to get Jack's print first to get Evan in position, since that one doesn't require soot)
    
    
53. if I give Albert one (unsalted) cookie, I cannot take another one and I'm stuck! "take baked cookie" says I already have taken one (and you can't use "take cookie" any more)
    
    
54. When you have taken the padlock from the blue trunk at end of ch5 and then "examine padlock" while still standing at the blue trunk, Nancy still bends down at the blue trunk to examine it.
    
    
55. When you try "insert wire in plunger" after blowing open the mine entrance, the game will react as if you missed the dynamite at the lodge, simply because I already used it and it's no longer in my inventory.
    
    
56. I cannot rub the glacial/erractic/granite sample on the brooch/ruby/cabochon at this point, after having already scratched the ruby by obtaining diamonds and noticing that the ruby was scratched, and then rubbing all the other samples on it.
    
    
57. after helping with the dishes visiting Coruvs' and Nessa's rooms upstairs makes them disappear from the bar; but "listen" from dining room still works (there is no prompt to do so however) . NOW the eavesdropping won't work, but visiting their bedrooms does move them out of the bar.
    
    
58. you can "soot papers" while Al's still in the room and you automatically pick them up. Also the papers will disappear from the trash can now
    
    
59. "substance" is now a synonym of "symbol"
    
    
60. dialog says I should try opening the satchel in case it isn't locked; if I examine it, it tells me it's locked, but this dialog doesn't go away until I actually try to open it.
    
    
61. Asking Nessa about Margot after she's died now gives an appropriately horrible response.
    
    
62. the "you don't need your inventory" when Nessa's hanging off the cliff doesn't apply to text inventory
    
    
63. Ch 4 - "a ab nathan" yields no response. This is before going to dinner:
    
    
64. Jewellry box now disappears after Nessa and Corvus have left the lodge in Chapter 5
    
    
65. Ch 6 - "x coarse garnets" whether inside the first part of the cave or the cavern results in not being able to examine it:
    
    
66. Newspaper says that Nessa hasn't been apprehended and is a fugitive, while Murdoch one point during his questioning that she's been detained. NOW it says she's wanted.
    
    
67. if you "ask nathan about will" - Nessa & Corvus disappear from closet but all their items are still there; only once you "talk to Nathan" everything disappears. NOW, "ask nat about will" will cause the satchel, corvus' luggage, and the jewellry box to disappear.
    
    
68. when I tried to save mid-bedtime quiz, shows the save name in the answer sheet while I type the name of the save file:
    
    
69. after I witness Nessa & Corvus sleeping, I can still eavesdrop with glass on the bar from the hallway (but not from dining room, that's fixed; also does not work if I open door and try that way, only glass is still possible)
    
    
70. Ch 1 after dinner: doing the first bar eavesdrop from hallway, there's a dialog box saying I can't hear any voices, but eavesdrop still happens ok (separate from the disappearing Nessa & Corvus issues, didn't go upstairs or anything like that in this instance)
    
    
71. hat in Nancy's portrait still doesn't show, but then it also doesn't show when she's on the train of thought either.
    
    
72. Ch 3, "soot curio" - no response, no action; "dust curio" works. same with "soot box", no response, no action; "dust box" works
    
    
73. Ch 3: after taking Kimi's mug, looking from parser just says mug half-full etc., looking from inventory also says "I should lift the print" (haven't dusted it yet); not sure if the latter should be showing yet
    
    
74. Ch 3, lastly "soot cue ball" also no response, "put soon on cue ball" also doesn't work; "dust cue ball" works
    
    
75. did dousing using glass with salt water in it; afterwards salt was still left in glass; "empty glass" no response/action in Nancy's room, but in other rooms it emptied the glass fine; (still got the sample ok when dousing)
    
    
76. Chapter 5: no response/action to "soot brooch"
    
    
77. Chapter 6: "soot wire", "soot plunger" aren't working
    
    
78. when Nessa escapes after you save her from the edge, Nancy wasn't tied up but Evan was, but then he suddenly stands up with rope gone when Ranger Murdoch enters the scene.
    
    
79. Ch 2: just after witnessing Nessa in front of curio, "talk nessa" back in her room no response/no action
    
    
80. Ch 2 - I've put salt and water in the glass. When I try to empty it in Evan and Margot's room, it only empties the salt and puts it back in Nancy's inventory, dry:
    
    
81. "empty glass" while Jacks is using the kitchen sink yields no response.

Hello, everyone!

First of all, thank you to everyone who's purchased The Crimson Diamond. I hope you're enjoying the game. If so, please leave a review! Reviews help boost visibility on the Steam store. I have a sequel planned and I would love to be able to dedicate myself to it full time.

Thank you for all your feedback. There were some issues that were impeding player progress that me and the testers decided to focus on, so we could get this update out to you quickly (while there's still some weekend time play -- Though depending on time zone, your mileage may vary).

***Mac patch has been applied! Thanks for your patience.***


Read below for patch details (spoiler tags will be used). Save games shouldn't be affected by these changes! Please open the Main Menu in-game to check if you're playing the updated version. It should say "Version 1.02b" in the lower left corner.

1) "Look outside" in various rooms of the lodge will no longer crash the game.

2) The Chapter 2 issue to do with revealing clues has been fixed. In the previous game version, players were sometimes able to dust for fingerprints BEFORE completing their fingerprint kit. This led to confusion about why that action was working inconsistently.

3) The Chapter 5 issue with Albert's room has been fixed. Specifically, the issue where player were getting parser responses relating to the cookie puzzle in Chapter 3, regardless of what was entered in the parser after Chapter 3 was complete.

4) The RANSACKER achievement has been fixed. This achievement can now only be completed in Chapter 1, as was intended.

5) The GET A GRIP achievement has been fixed. It wasn't activating once complete, now it will!



Please keep reporting bugs and submitting feedback! Either via the Steam Community Hub Discussions or feedback(at)thecrimsondiamond(dot)com. It's making the game better and better. And thank you to my amazing testers for their dedication and hard work.

Best wishes!

-- Julia

The Crimson Diamond is now available for purchase! $14.99 USD with a 10% launch discount that will last for one week!

If you enjoy the game, it would help out tremendously if you leave a review on the Steam store page! More reviews will help more people find the game -- And maybe they'll like it, too!

There will also be a post-launch party on my Twitch channel this Tuesday[www.twitch.tv] (August 20) at 8pm Eastern! I'll be sharing my post-launch experience and doing Steam key and Fourthwall merch giveaways! Come join me!