game studio spotlight

Is Julia Minamata The President of 16-Color Pixel Art? The Interview!

Question #1: Tell us a bit about yourself and your work.

Hi! I’m Julia Minamata. I’m an indie game developer and pixel artist based in Toronto, Canada. I launched my first game (The Crimson Diamond, a cozy mystery adventure) last August. I made everything except the music. I also do contract work, mostly low-resolution, limited palette pixel art.

Some projects I’ve worked on include Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, Witch Strandings, and Recommendation Dog!!. I recently released a Playdate Season 2 game called “Chance’s Lucky Escape”, in collaboration with Goloso Games.

Sometimes I do narrative design consultation, too! I also stream art and retro games on Twitch.

Question #2: So, why are you in games, anyway?

I got into games because in my chosen profession it was even harder to get ahead, at least in my experience! I studied art in college and got a Bachelor of Applied Arts Illustration, specializing in magazine and newspaper illustration.

Print media had already been in decline before I even graduated. Exacerbating that was entering the real world during a recession. I don’t seem to have very good timing when it comes to these things – I started game dev post-indiepocalypse!

Question #3: Are you the best pixel artist, or just our favorite?

Heh! If those are only two choices I’ll have to go with being your favourite, and assume you haven’t encountered the many, many awesomely skilled pixel artists that are out there doing it, too!

Even in my chosen highly niche sub-specialty of pixel art (16-colour default EGA, 320x200 pixels) I don’t think I’m the best! But I’m happy to be your favourite!

Question #4: Tell us about the most exciting thing you're working on now.

I’m currently working on a tiny little fan game project which is very exciting for me because I’m actually a big fan of the thing the game is fanning over! I’m also producing and directing it, which are first-time experiences for me; that’s also exciting! I was producing and directing myself on my first game The Crimson Diamond, but this is the first time I’m working this way with other people.

The Crimson Diamond

Follow amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple to the ghost town of Crimson, Ontario to investigate the discovery of a massive diamond in this retro-inspired, EGA text parser mystery adventure!

I was asked to work on it because I was recommended by a colleague whom I very much respect. That was very exciting, too!

Question #5: Favorite non-game inspiration that you think people should experience?

First of all, I didn’t read this question correctly but I already spent some time writing this response so I’m sticking with it. I read it as “Favourite non-game inspiration that you experienced. Set the scene about why this is important to you.” Please dump this question if it’s not working for you!

Facts! Cool, interesting historical and scientific facts inspired a lot of the writing for The Crimson Diamond. The game delves (hah!) into geology and mineralogy. A lot of the story is grounded (hah!!) in facts.

Fact: Red diamonds are the rarest colour of diamonds, so rare they were nearly unheard of until the 1980s.

Fact: The mine that produced the most red diamonds in the world only produced 20 carats of red diamonds within a 30 year span, that’s how rare.

Fact: Ontario, Canada had an operating diamond mine in the 2000s.

Fact: Diamonds take millions of years to form, so whatever was discovered in our time was definitely around in 1914, when the game was set. The combination of these facts was the basis for the setting of the game.

Question #6: Biggest regret to date? (We've all screwed something up—lesson learned? Could be related to game dev, but doesn't have to be; it could be about pipe fixtures.)

I don’t really have any regrets! Every decision I made, I tried to make the best decision with the available information. Sometimes I wish I started doing indie game dev sooner. But that wouldn’t really have been possible because I look back at everything that had to happen before it was feasible for me.

There weren’t really any game design programs in school when I was starting my post-secondary education. The engine I used for my game, Adventure Game Studio, launched in 1997, and I didn’t learn about it until the early 2000s when Youtube became a thing and I could watch people Let’s Play adventure games made with the engine and know that it was possible. I learned how to use Adventure Game Studio from Youtube tutorials (shoutout to densming!), too.

Maybe I could’ve launched my game sooner, had I pivoted away from freelance illustration earlier. There’s a potential to feel regret about that, but it’s my personality to not want to give up on something too quickly, especially after I’ve dedicated years to honing a particular skillset.

I don’t consider that sunk cost fallacy, either. I see it as respecting myself enough to give myself a solid chance at gaining momentum in my chosen field.

Now that I’ve had that experience though, I don’t think I would put myself though as many years of disappointment, uncertainty, and heartache, and kinda losing some of my love for illustration – I don’t think I’d do that again with game dev. But I don’t regret doing it the first time because it got me to where I am today, and it helps me appreciate what I’ve accomplished so far in game dev.

Question #7: In the finite amount of time you have on this planet, after which you shuffle off into the great unknown and are never heard from again, what's one thing you want to do in games?

Uh oh! The one thing I wanted to do in games was to make one, and to put it out, and for people to play it and enjoy it. I’m over the moon that I accomplished that. But the trick is to continue to make games the way I want to make them, and for people to continue enjoying them. The huge secondary goal is to be able to make a decent living from doing this.

That’s the hard part, because I know I will continue making games whether or not it can be my full-time job. Whether or not I CAN make it my full-time job isn’t totally in my control. I can only continue to work hard and hope for the best.

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