iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 30/09/2026

I finished my game for the #GDEXGameJam! Sir Dude World is a puzzle adventure game where you play as Yaguzi, a time traveler who travels between dimensions to stop a meteor shower from destroying his world. Complete timed missions and rest each day to regain energy. #GameDev #IndieDev 🎮 Play it:

michellerakar.itch.io

Sir Dude World by Michelle Rakar, The Gek Games, GiffordMusic

Travel through dimensions and rest between nights

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 28/09/2026

I finished my #GDEXGameJam project last night and made a lot of quality-of-life updates! The biggest one is that I added a new bar that shrinks as abilities are active so the player can see it visually. I also added icons above characters to show who you can interact with. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 27/09/2026

Thank you! Yeah definitely a lot of work on the environmental storytelling and the process before getting to the dialogue, haha. I was able to get a lot of wishlist features while polishing it up, so I'm looking forward to sharing the final game soon!

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 27/09/2026

Last night was a big development day for my #GDEXGameJam project! The game's done, but I'm still polishing it. Yesterday I implemented a flashlight mechanic puzzle, all of the story, and a lot more! Look forward to the final playable link coming soon. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 25/09/2026

I've been working a lot on parallax mapping today for my #GDEXGameJam project. Most events are in place and working now. I also finished the last map, Mr Dude World! I added meteors that change in quantity, depending on how far the player has progressed in the game. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 24/09/2026

I finished most of the backgrounds for my #GDEXGameJam project! I added a few of them into the game and just need to save out some layers and then draw 1 more. Lilim Town and Terica Middle School definitely took the most time since they're bigger. #GamdeDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 23/09/2026

I decided to implement a crawl sprite for Yaguzi when he's crawling through the tunnels in my #GDEXGameJam project. It involved a bit more eventing than I initially thought because I wanted him to face the correct directions and appear inside the tube properly. #GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 23/09/2026

I finished all of the animations for all of the characters in my #GDEXGameJam project. I just exported the sprite sheets and got them into the #RPGMaker game, so here are most of them on the same screen. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/09/2026

I finished the character lineup for my #GDEXGameJam project! I still need to animate them and turn them into sprite sheets, but the drawings are there. I might change up the effects a bit too, so they can fit more with the UI style, but we'll see if there's time. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 21/09/2026

I turned all of my thumbnail background sketches into rough digital sketches for my #GDEXGameJam project. Now I'm laying out rough collisions in the engine to figure out the scale and positioning of everything. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 21/09/2026

Here's a close-up of the run cycle in Photoshop before I imported it into the engine too. I wanted to really focus on the highlights and contrast in the shading. I was inspired by the SNES game DBZ Hyper Dimension for the art style.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 21/09/2026

I finished the protagonist Yaguzi's run cycle for my #GDEXGameDev project! I imported it into #RPGMaker and got to test him running around the map too. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 21/09/2026

I sketched the background designs for the rest of the maps that I'm planning for my #GDEXGameJam project. I like planning them on paper first so I can be rough and focus on the layout of them all. I decided Lilim Town is gonna be vertical instead of horizontal, unlike the others. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 20/09/2026

I spent most of today programming the core mechanics in my #GDEXGameJam project! @nimbusstev.bsky.social joined me to draw one of the major backgrounds too. I added new placeholder UI related to the new character ability mechanics we came up with. Making good progress! #RPGMaker #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 19/09/2026

The #GDEXGameJam started today, so I decided to concept a little game idea centered around Sir Dude World for it! I threw together this little test in #RPGMaker for a dialogue box. Not sure about the transition and font yet, but just trying some things out to see what works best. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 13/09/2026

I'm usually not a fan of the flashlight mechanic in games, but I decided to make one for this short room in my #RPGMaker side project, Vote Milkshake. It works similarly to how the follow light did in my Stage Left game, using events and player position to track it. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 05/09/2026

It did! I got to focus more on transitions and VFX, which is something I usually save for the end of my regular projects. It was fun to just make a bunch of story progression quickly to move things forward across multiple maps. I also did a lot more event movements and simple sprite cutscenes.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 05/09/2026

Last weekend, I made a couple of mini #RPGMaker projects with my brother where we tried to finish things quickly rather than focusing on polish, which is a little different from our usual projects. Here's a blog post where I talk about these silly little projects: #GameDev #IndieDev

michellerakar.blogspot.com

Vote Milkshake Devlog

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 31/08/2026

Yesterday I decided to take a break to make a little silly game for fun, which looks very different from my normal, more serious projects. This is Vote Milkshake, using mostly premade/downloaded #RPGMaker sprites. I had fun playing with effects and making custom menus for this. #GameDev #IndieDev

youtube.com

Vote Milkshake: Nun Version (Squidwik)

YouTube video by Sarena

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 20/08/2026

A couple of weeks ago, I made a short memory game called Stage Left. Check out my devlog where I talk about the process I went through to make this short mini-game in 6 hours: #GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker

michellerakar.blogspot.com

Stage Left Devlog

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 02/08/2026

Last night I had a dream that I made this game in #RPGMaker, so I decided to make it a reality! I spent a night making this short little memory game where characters show up in a random order each time you play. 🎮 Play the game here: michellerakar.itch.io/stage-left #GameDev #IndieDev

youtu.be

Stage Left: Gameplay Video

YouTube video by Sarena

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 21/07/2026

Yeah it would be nice if they used the same feature they already built for shares where you could actually see the cards they don't already have.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 19/07/2026

I made a running animation for Ralphie in the Linkship Competition. I wanted to focus on running instead of walking because the pace is a bit faster. I also implemented 4 frames instead of the typical 3 in #RPGMaker games. And used a plugin to allow for a different idle animation #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 18/07/2026

I made some progress on our Linkship Competition game today! I've been working on some cooldown mechanics. Once you use an ability, their icon fills up until the cooldown is complete. Then, you can use it again and repeat! Health bars and resource bars are working too. #GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 30/06/2026

Yeah, the goal is for the battles to be very hectic, so each mechanic has some kind of QTE, button mashing, pressing a specific combination, etc. We'll have to play around with it to see which one feels best for healing specifically, but that's what we're thinking currently.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 19/06/2026

1&2: RPG Maker 3: It's easiest to make something quickly without a lot of setup especially for features like dialogue where it's built-in. It's what I'm most familiar with/started with. It's also powerful enough that you can use JavaScript to build advanced projects fast without overcomplicating it.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 12/06/2026

This is truly devastating. I don't think they understand how much trust they've lost by pulling this on us. If it were officially archived, that'd be sad but not the end of the world, but the fact that it'll just be gone (unless the community can salvage it somehow) is really heartbreaking.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 01/06/2026

My friends and I started meeting bi-weekly for our CUPdates project over 5 years ago, so we did a special in-person meet-up for the 100th one this weekend! I took this time to reflect on my projects over the years, so you can check out some of what I presented here: #GameDev #IndieDev #Blog

michellerakar.blogspot.com

CUPdate 100: Project Recap & Reflection

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 31/05/2026

@nimbusstev.bsky.social and I made a lot of progress on our Linkship Competition game today! I made some basic battle mechanics like cooldown timers, button mashing, and holding buttons. Here's the Navigator's rechargeable weapon used to sabotage the enemy's linkship. #GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 23/05/2026

It's been that time of year where work takes over my personal life, so I haven't had a lot of time to work on personal projects. I'm hoping I can get back into things again soon, though! In the meantime, I've just been trying to stay creative while playing games that let me draw and customize.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I really want to get back into my personal projects, but I've been working extra hours, and when I'm not working, I've been a bit too drained, so I've just been playing video games in my free time.

These games include Videoverse, Tomodachi Life, and Desktop Explorers.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/05/2026

I'm kind of disappointed to see that it's also made in Unity like Unite... I was really hoping this would be a new standalone one. We'll see where it goes once they show more of what the editor looks like, but not getting my hopes up anymore, haha.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 06/05/2026

For our Note Competition remake game, right now we're calling it WING Competition (WIP title). In this dev log, I made some logo concepts, started the Steam integration, did some initial sketches and thumbnails, and updated my debug plugin. Check out the details here: #GameDev #IndieDev

michellerakar.blogspot.com

WING Competition Early Devlog 3: Logo Design & Steam Setup

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 26/04/2026

The other night, I decided to make an old-style website using HTML and CSS, designed to look like it was made 20 years ago. I used p5.js, so I wouldn't have to figure out hosting for it. This was a fun little project I made in a night! 🔗 Check it out here: editor.p5js.org/Sarena/full/...

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 14/04/2026

Check out the final Macca Masquerade devlog, where I detail all of the additional features we added after the Global Game Jam and how we wrapped up this ambitious #GGJ project: #GameDev #IndieDev #GGJ26

michellerakar.blogspot.com

Macca Masquerade: Post-GGJ Devlog 2

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 03/04/2026

For the past few weeks, I've been working on a 40+ question personality quiz! After you take the quiz, you'll find out which of my characters from The Nays that your personality matches. 🎮 Play it in the browser here and share your results in the comments below! #IndieDev #GameDev #RPGMaker

michellerakar.itch.io

The Nays Personality Quiz by Michelle Rakar

Find out which character you are

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 28/03/2026

I'm heading back into development on our game, previously called The Note Competition! We still don't have a title (tentatively WING Competition), but we had a brainstorming session the other night. So I looked through our inspirations and drew a few sprite style tests for Urom. #IndieDev #GameDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 24/03/2026

I updated some of the visuals in our little #RPGMaker personality quiz side project. Then I added a results screen with information about the character, a way to learn more about them, and the option to retake the quiz. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 23/03/2026

So I got a bit carried away with this personality quiz project and ended up making my own #RPGMaker plugin for it! It stores values in internal variables and then calculates which character has the most points at the end. It stores names and descriptions in variables, too. #GameDev #IndieDev

sarena.itch.io

Personality Quiz Plugin by Sarena

Create a personality quiz in RPG Maker MZ

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/03/2026

Last month was #GGJ26, so we made a game called Macca Masquerade. I documented my process throughout the weekend, so check out my first blog post, where I detail everything that happened during the jam weekend and where we were by the end of that first week of working on it. #GameDev #IndieDev #GGJ

michellerakar.blogspot.com

Macca Masquerade: Global Game Jam 2026 Devlog

A blog dedicated the to artwork and game development process of Michelle Rakar, a Game Designer with a BFA in Animation.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/03/2026

It's mostly just intended to find out which character you're most like, for right now! It was kind of just a little fun side project I came up with for the night, but it's something I can definitely see myself using for actual gameplay elements in a future project.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/03/2026

Yeah, exactly! It was a really rough test I did in about an hour, so it's a work-in-progress still, haha.

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/03/2026

It's a personality quiz! The idea is that I'll have a series of questions, and then at the end of all of the questions, it will tell you which of the characters your personality aligns with the most. I only set up 1 question so far, just to get it working for this example, but there will be more!

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 22/03/2026

My friends and I were talking about making our own personality quizzes for our characters, so I spontaneously made this quick little test in #RPGMaker. When you select a choice, it adds points to a specific character, and then at the end of the questions, picks who has the most. #GameDev #IndieDev

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 15/03/2026

In this strategy RPG, play as Kali the assassin on her mission to infiltrate the Macca Masquerade and find the elusive cult leader: Maester Beckon. Challenge attendees to duels, unmask them, and collect masks. 🎮 Play the game here: thegek.itch.io/macca-masque... #GameDev #IndieDev #GGJ #GGJ25

thegek.itch.io

Macca Masquerade by The Gek Games

Unmask the Cult in this Strategy RPG

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Sarena @michellerakar.itch.io · 15/03/2026

I'm happy to share that we officially finished our #GGJ26 project, Macca Masquerade! We've been working nonstop, debugging and adding more features over the past month. I'll share the link to play it tomorrow, but for now, some screenshots for #ScreenshotSaturday. #GameDev #IndieDev #GGJ

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