iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Figured I need to chew through my todo list of remaining systems if I'm ever gonna get the #JRPG project done so I started work on the shop menu (the easiest thing on the "Entire Systems That Are Missing" list) #gamedev #indiedev

Support your local businessgoat! (There's not actually any purchaseable items yet so you can't.)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 26/09/2026

I always felt all the work that went into the space physics was kinda wasted when it's just a one-and-done level so my next goal is expanding it to be a 4-burger level (I'll also connect better to the Stargazer and donut lore that was invented AFTER I made this level) #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

The level was originally called Waste Of Space as a pun on trash, but it feeling like a waste was not intentional...

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 24/09/2026

I realized it's not always clear when menus has more stuff in them (especially the portrait selector) so I added a new generic UI element that shows an animated arrow if there's offscreen items in that direction (automatically calculated based on menu size) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 22/09/2026

I realized I had three bee accessories that are implemented but unobtainable so now I'm going to hide three secret beehives in whichever random levels has the best hiding spots #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

the glass shoe is a reference to Cinderella, but mostly to the expression "glass cannon"

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 18/09/2026

I'm real glad I did an extended test play session instead of just doing Frie's Greenhouse like normal because I found a thing so bad it needed a fix and rebuild several special control objects got so large they popped into the gameplay space and covered stuff up

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 17/09/2026

I'm pretty confident the next #Burgertale update will be ready sometime during this weekend! (That is, if the final sanity check doesn't uncover something serious that needs a lot of work to fix) Here's some screenshots of upcoming new levels! #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart

In honor of the OoT remake, here's the water temple

i spent way too long setting up the chat message generator for this room

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 17/09/2026

Me: "all the new stuff is tested, it's ready for rel-" (decides to test some NPC interactions on a different savefile) (randomly stumbles over a serious audio bug that was permanently unavailable on my main save because I progressed too far) back to the drawing board... #gamedev #indiedev

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 17/09/2026

test-playing everything is about halfway done (there was a LOT of stuff to fix in the mirror level in particular, it and the creepypasta blood level are in different zones so they're not in the Cowloon list) oh and one of these levels is HUGE so it might take a while to polish it #gamedev #indiedev

I try to get EVERYTHING 100% when I test play, to make sure all the challenges work as intended.

Emphasis on "try"

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 17/09/2026

lining these rooms up wasn't intentional but I like how the fish looks at you from offscreen to clue you in that there's a secret path you haven't found yet #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 14/09/2026

me: "i should rebalance the maths a bit to make the levelup curve more predictable" game:

(i have no idea how many levels this actually corresponds because the game crashed from playing too many sound effects at once)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 13/09/2026

for some reason I decided I wanted to simulate a realistic twitch chat for the background of this one room #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 13/09/2026

I've spotted a new peak stupid UX decision in the wild: a fake AI chatbot, but you only interact via multi-choice dialogue options *functionally* it's just clicking on radiobuttons in a standard form, it's just FRAMED to look like a chat (including fake "thinking" time between options)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 13/09/2026

when I started this project I was like "200 accessories is plenty, I'll never need THAT many" and uh 3 years later I suddenly need to worry about running out of IDs morale of the story, you always need more IDs than you think #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

the empty lines is to group them in groups of 10, to make it easier to verify IDs are valid

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 12/09/2026

And this is what the version with HD assets for the collectibles as well looks like! The sprites are 3x as large as the size they're actually drawn as, so if the game is fullscreened on a regular 1080p monitor (which is 3x the size of the base resolution) everything is 1:1, perfectly crisp

(disregard the green sesame seeds on the burger, I messed up the palette indexing but that's been fixed now)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 12/09/2026

This one has been on my todo list for a while, figuring out a way for the title screen to use your active chromosphere. Also I drew new title screen art! (I'm gonna replace all the antialiased graphics with high quality ones rendered on a GUI layer) #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #Burgertale

Yes this is already a 50+ hour game if you wanna get everything

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 12/09/2026

Had to dig into my project asset folders looking for some old stuff, and it dawned on me what a MASSIVE glowup Frie had between my first concept sketch and the final portrait (it's not explainable by my skills improving either, because it's just ~2 years between these) #furry #art #oc #Burgertale

Original concept, pretty much the only recognizable features is the ring on her hat and her being a rabbit

Final portrait (from the RPG side project)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 11/09/2026

The next #Burgertale update is pretty much content-complete now, gameplay-wise. Still missing a few cutscenes & NPCs. And a big chunk of the new stuff is completely untested, so it might take a while to playtest and polish/bugfix before it's ready to release... #gamedev #indiedev

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 10/09/2026

I saw someone make a cool riff on the Kingdom Hearts 2 box art so I got inspired (if I'd been serious instead of doodling this during a meeting I probably should've drawn everyone separately / combine in post, I realized I messed up the composition & couldn't fit all the important characters) #art

Clockwise: Muri, Frie, Tippy, Terse and Gupreda

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 08/09/2026

I don't usually put a lot of thought into character designs, but since Ember's existence is the big plot twist at the end of EEE I wanted to make literally EVERY part of her design mean something #deltarune #oc #art #indiedev #furry

Reference image of a deer. There's a lot of explanatory text.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 06/09/2026

this piece of #gamedesign should probably be obvious but I think it's really neat when hub zones have little decorative details around the entrances so you can tell which one goes where e.g. in this case left is the slime area, right is the TV area #gamedev #indiedev

both the slime area and the TV area are bad for your health

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 05/09/2026

I dunno if I mentioned it before but I really like controlling stuff VISUALLY with objects in the #GameMaker room editor like, rooms on the map are defined by big red rectangles, and warp doors are connected by these long green lines (that is an object that's stretched and rotated to line them up)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 05/09/2026

I think those noneuclidean room connectors is one of the best features I've ever made, now I can make the most evil labyrinths EVER so you really gotta work for the coolest collectibles #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

this is just like a quarter of the level, it's in a separate region in the corner

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 02/09/2026

i'm gonna do that thing where you get a secret personality quiz by the regional boss when they show up to taunt you during the area, and you can win peacefully if you agree with their ideals hard enough #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

A screenshot of cutscene code. The text is cut off to avoid spoilers.

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Reposted by Yal

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 31/08/2026

macabre = “muh-KAHB” Worcestershire = “WOOSS-ter-sheer” omnipotent = “ahm-NI-puh-tunt” reticent = “RET-uh-sunt” epitome = “ih-PIT-uh-mee” myriad = "MEER-ee-ud" Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 30/08/2026

*emerges from writing mines* Time to finally start connecting all of those plot threads I didn't originally have plans for (and even if there's still a lot of stuff to do before Cowloon/Institute is ready, I'll start wrapping stuff up for a bugfix + balance update) #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

time for the classic "are we the bad guys?" moment at the 80% mark of the plot

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 28/08/2026

I'm going to make the Ontario region an explorable dungeon in my game, I just finished looking up cool landmarks on wikipedia (the Gore District is gonna be there even if it's gone IRL because that name is PERFECT for a spooky dungeon zone where you collect organs and fight zombies and stuff)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 23/08/2026

I feel like these messages might be a bit TOO derivative of the ch4 prophecy panels... but uh, since it's the mirror world the text is also mirrored, so it's much harder to read!! #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 23/08/2026

You know that thing about how Miyazaki didn't want to put bonfire mimics in Dark Souls because it would violate the player's trust and be actually evil? ...I might have done something evil #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale

when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back

by extension, mirrors are the abyss

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 22/08/2026

The data has been entered and cleaned up, but at what cost? #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG One balance thing I figured I should add is that some recipes give you multiple copies of the item, since some materials are kinda rare/tedious to stock up on, and items shouldn't feel too precious to use.

Every recipe is listed here, but even if you can read the combinations here you still need to find the cookbooks in-game in order to actually craft them.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 19/08/2026

Doing a lot of data entry and cleanup right now. Like turning this giant table of crafting recipes and new item ideas into usable game data. (RPGs have a lot of items, huh...) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

Everyone's favorite so far is the pigeon salad.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 16/08/2026

Oh yeah and I updated the editor a bit with support for circle and rectangle tools, to make it easier to make stuff like the tower maps. Also the number of tiles has grown quite a lot so there's a hotkey for copying the hovered tile type instead of finding it in the palette. #gamedev #indiedev

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 15/08/2026

Implemented a system that lets map nodes have ambiance parameters, like making dungeon interior rooms dark! When you change ambiances, they smoothly blend to the new value over time to make the transition less jarring. #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 15/08/2026

#GameMaker tip of the day: you can right-click colors in the Asset Browser palette to change them to a custom color. You don't need to only use the 16 defaults. (I legit didn't notice this until today despite relying a lot on coloring folders to find them at a glance lol) #gamedev #indiedev #UI #UX

All the folders in my RPG project, colored more coherently and creatively than ever before.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 13/08/2026

Working on a new dungeon type: towers! Each floor is actually contained inside the upwards stairs tile. The illusion that you're moving to new floors is practically nonexistent, and my original plan didn't work out AT ALL, so I'm gonna need to figure something out... #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 12/08/2026

Made the crystals glow and pulsate and stuff too, so you can tell they're powerups! (it's done with additive color blending with separate intensities for each corner, so the top left seems lit up more, matching how other tiles are shaded) #gamedev #pixelart #JRPG

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 12/08/2026

Adding this dungeon reward thing where you smash up a crystal and it gives you a surge of experience points (the thing it upgrades is meant to be thematic, like seashells upgrading your shield/armor skills or your DEF/RES stats) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 10/08/2026

One cool thing with having little quips where characters react to stuff is that you can show character development directly in the core gameplay loop, instead of just in cutscenes (e.g. a character going from permanent survivor's guilt to the determination + dad jokes combo) #gamedev #writing #JRPG

(there's gonna be like 100 of these per character but I zoomed in on the ones I've actually written)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 09/08/2026

And last but not least, the portrait selection menu! The hardest part here was making the portraits use the active palette, palette handling suffers a bit from premature optimization. (there's WAY more than 3 portraits, but they're so big only 3 fit on-screen at a time) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

Just because I think dwarves are boring doesn't mean I'm not gonna let you play as short bearded dudes with a penchant for battleaxes, they're just filed under "human" instead of being their own thing.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 09/08/2026

Color menu is in place! It's a pretty standard menu functionality-wise, most of the work was picking out (almost 200 total!) visually-pleasant default colors in a paint program (there's separate palettes for skin, hair, fur and clothing) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

From top to bottom, the choices are red, green, blue, yellow, purple, bland metal, silver & gold, and monochrome.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 08/08/2026

Everyone is still doing the "put the Deltarune egg room in other games" meme but I can't get over how it just outright is an important setpiece in Persona 1 pink tree in a dark void, "don't forget" theme (it's the save point) the only inspiration that's somehow more obscure than Brandish, huh...

Will you inscribe your story upon me, young ones?

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 07/08/2026

How it started vs how it's going when most of the functionality is in place (color picker and name entry menus aren't done yet but randomizers and data flow works) (you don't wanna know how messy the code to hide outfit colors when "custom outfit colors" is off is) #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

Note how the highlight region is all the way in the top left corner instead of ON THE ACTUAL MENU.

Shoutouts to the bug where head cloth/armor colors would never update if the outfit did not include headwear, even for cases where the PORTRAIT sprite used them

(This is the default state of the menu, with all the extra options hidden unless you WANT to be overwhelmed)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 07/08/2026

Slowly chipping away at the character customization menu code. I kinda regret going for mnemonic abbreviations here because it took some digging to figure out what the heck "OFBU_C" was short for after 6 months of not needing to use it #gamedev #indiedev #code

(in case you're curious, it's short for "Outfit, Body Upper, Cloth", and the other are the different iterations of upper/lower/head, cloth/metal)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 04/08/2026

Prepared a bunch of portraits, since I'll soon start on recruitment/customization menu work. I've always been irked when your options are like "human", "pointy ears human" and "green human" so the animal races are meant to be as visually/mechanically diverse as possible. #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

You've heard of birdshot, now get ready for getting shot BY a bird!

Deer are the tallest of the bunch, even when you don't count the antlers.

...while the mice are noticeably shorter, to the point they're out of frame in some menus. I need to figure something out about that.

And humans... kinda exist, I guess. Humans are a major part of my target audience, so I need to give them characters they can relate to.

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 04/08/2026

You often hear people talk about how "indie games are carrying gaming" but it looks like it's gotten pretty literal now, with this bundle supporting the one-third of game industry veterans that got fired this year itch.io/b/3802/game-...

idk if the link previews properly so I took a screenshot of the front page image for visual context

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 03/08/2026

Had a thought: if Deltarune's plot is about an eternal battle between good and evil repeating every X years (like a lot of RPGs do) then suddenly a bunch of plot beats in ch4/ch5 line up in a very interesting trajectory

What if there's a way for the story to never end? After all, they can be retold...

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 02/08/2026

I added a new accessibility option that lets you change burger type, which affects health pickups, menu cursors, the HUD and pretty much everything else which uses burger graphics. The vegan option (chickpeas) also removes the slice of cheese. #gamedev #pixelart #Burgertale

(Just because I enjoy chickpea burgers doesn't mean I know how to DRAW them)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 01/08/2026

I've not really been in a programming mood these last few days, so I've focused on dungeon planning. A fun quirk of me being less abstract than FBW is that you need to dig several levels deep for an area concept to make sense, which means a LOT of unique area types... #gamedev #indiedev #JRPG

Cyberspace is found by going inside computers in the Computer Room in the Dotcom Offices, which are most easily found in San Fransico.

(There is no man behind the tree, in case you were wondering.)

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Yal @yaru.itch.io · 01/08/2026

excuse me did Fangamer just shadowdrop official Twisted Sword Ralsei merch??? #deltarune

(The youtube status update post thingamajig that made me find out about this thing existing)

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