Yal
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yaru.itch.io
Yal
@yaru.itch.io
280 followers 330 following 930 posts
Software engineer | Game Maker user for >20 years | Maker of Burgertale, Hotline Sanzu, and like 50 other games | Computers peaked in the 8-bit days | Put "perfect is the enemy of good" on my tombstone
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yaru.itch.io
Yal @yaru.itch.io · Sep 17
I missed the #Undertale anniversary with one day, but better late than never! My free UT/DR fangame framework (for #GameMaker) is complete, if you've struggled to make Kris/Frisk walk around and never got to the fun part where you add your OCs, check it out! #indiedev

yaru.itch.io/epsilon-engr...
Epsilon Engraving Engine by Yal
The unofficial parallel story to the parallel story
yaru.itch.io
yaru.itch.io
Putting some final touches on level design... I'm trying to get the big update done before the end of december, most of the remaining work is scripting cutscenes and writing dialogue. Actually test playing it all is going to be a giant undetaking, too... #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
If you think it looks like a confusing mess NOW, just wait until you try playing it
December 3, 2025 at 11:55 PM
yaru.itch.io
#drawcember day 2 ~ color

"Someone that can create her own light..."

I don't really like coloring things since there's no undo function on paper, but it's pretty neat how otherworldly a single colored thing on an otherwise monochrome sketch looks. #oc #sketch #furryart
The RainbowShard actually exists in the Epsilon Engraving codebase, you just can't obtain it since I ran out of time and couldn't add the secret superboss you were meant to fight to get it. And yes, Ember can equip it.
December 2, 2025 at 5:49 PM
yaru.itch.io
#drawcember day 1 ~ Light It Up

"Watch what happens when I cast a spell I don't know!"

This might've been THE optimal prompt to start the month off with, considering I didn't even need an excuse to draw Ember this time...
#OC #art #sketch
(The ThornAnkh is a rose in the light world. If you're going for the No Mercy route, you'll need to take some precautions to make sure nobody eats it while Levi is back in control...)
December 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
yaru.itch.io
The criminal underworld level just wouldn't feel right without gambling so I added slot machines. Internally they just roll a dice and the reel animation is just visual fluff to slowly reveal the outcome. (The odds are set such that you'll always lose in the long run) #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
November 30, 2025 at 10:22 PM
yaru.itch.io
Since some people still haven't accepted that videogames are art, I'm gonna use an uno reverse card and take the battle to them instead...
#gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
Bet nobody was expecting THIS debate, huh?
November 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM
yaru.itch.io
I always felt kinda bad for the shortcut blocks being alive and the player being forced to actually kill something if they wanted shortcuts, so now I've replaced them with a magical construct you don't have to feel bad about breaking open. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
(Does not open from this side.)
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
yaru.itch.io
Made some decorative murals for a lore hallway. Instead of carefully (and SLOWLY!) placing tiles to build the images, they're made from two layers: a lowrez pixel art image scaled up 8 times, and a mostly-transparent "tile edges" texture repeated over the entire room. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
The only thing that's missing now is me learning proper art skills, huh?
November 27, 2025 at 12:05 AM
yaru.itch.io
One of my weaknesses is that I can't just make a throwaway joke and be done with it. I obsessively MUST make any place, people or event mentioned in the joke show up in the game later, which usually means making a bunch of new assets, implementing items and so on... #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
This is the source, a joke I made all the way back in the FIRST DEMO RELEASE like 2 years ago. And this is the payoff, a store I added to the game for this upcoming update. (There's no pride drink since I don't consider it a deadly sin 🌈, instead you get betrayal - which was made up by Dante and isn't canon.)
November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
yaru.itch.io
I kinda regret saving all of the movie world staff-only areas for last... they're sandwiched between the regular level bits and super hard to find so I keep losing track of them. Finally figured out a way to mark them with debug objects so I can FIND them lol #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
The oldschool sepia filter makes the debug objects (which are on a higher layer that isn't affected by the filter) stand out a lot better, too!
November 20, 2025 at 8:48 PM
yaru.itch.io
Slowly grinding through drawing the actual graphics for the batch of new bosses, after that it's a giant pile of cutscenes to script out... Florence was THE most work so far, since all her attacks have unique costumes AND backgrounds. #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #Burgertale
What is a movie critic? A miserable little pile of opinions! 1-on-1 fights are overrated, anyway Luckily, the smell of this attack isn't simulated. [Insert Metal Gear joke here]
November 19, 2025 at 7:51 PM
yaru.itch.io
Quality of life thing: there's gonna be a warp in the Fruitian Village now so backtracking between upper and lower Nugget Mines gets easier. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
The road less travelled (because it literally didn't exist before today)
November 16, 2025 at 1:48 AM
yaru.itch.io
Added a second spell and melee equip slot. Your main gear isn't working in the current fight? You can have something situational-and-too-costly-for-general-use on standby, no pausing required! #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
November 15, 2025 at 1:51 AM
yaru.itch.io
Taking a break from crunching out boss code by planning some puzzles. I just can't make good puzzles when staring into the screen, I NEED to be distraction-free on physical paper for that. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
Astute fans of Racing Lagoon might recognize one of the terms used here.
November 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
yaru.itch.io
(Relatedly, I've realized that a level that shows as having no crystal burgers on the map will be IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS as having something sus going on, so I've started work on adding hidden "red herring" ones to levels you'd normally only do plot stuff without collectibles) #gamedesign #Burgertale
This level has 2 crystal burgers and the player has already gotten one of them. This level has no crystal burgers so if the player pays attention to the HUD they will immediately realize something weird is going to happen
November 6, 2025 at 10:17 PM
yaru.itch.io
(1/2) Game design thing for #Burgertale: I'm adding in an absolutely HUGE secret area in a level the player gets kicked out of due to plot reasons. To make sure players realize they missed a LOT of stuff there, I've placed a stack of FIVE collectibles in this area. #gamedev #indiedev
This is a very big reward for a small jump, but to be fair you needed to do some pretty hardcore exploration to get this far.
November 6, 2025 at 9:45 PM
yaru.itch.io
Either I had a bit of an epiphany and figured something completely overlooked out, or I'm going insane and I'm seeing patterns that aren't there.

(I feel like the big issue with this theory is that it doesn't really EXPLAIN any of the mysteries)
#Deltarune #Gametheory #gaming
A wall of text explaining the Flower Theory. It's colored yellow and pink.
November 5, 2025 at 4:40 PM
yaru.itch.io
The next speed bump on my "wrap up all the unfinished stuff in #Burgertale for one megaupdate" journey is that I now need to make seven entire bosses (two of which can also fight on your side), there's gonna be a lot of coding new attack patterns in the next few weeks...
#gamedev #indiedev
This was the most visually interesting thing I could show for this, some random code from a mostly-empty script with the others in the background. (the planning document I sketched up during my lunch break, which the code is based on)
November 3, 2025 at 9:25 PM
yaru.itch.io
One of my favorite pastimes is realizing a screen has some dead space and then putting a secret path there that's not connected to anything yet, just to keep the player guessing if they've explored everything yet. Always good to have options for hiding later secrets...
#gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
(this is the Bread Ruins boss shortcut, if you don't recognize it after the refurbishements)
November 2, 2025 at 5:38 PM
yaru.itch.io
Implemented a bunch of new weapons and abilities that's been on the todo list for a LONG time. For instance, the ability to summon friendly slimes to help you fight. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
They're about 80% less useless as you'd expect the easiest enemy in the game to be, because they DO get a stat boost when they're on your side.
November 1, 2025 at 12:54 AM
yaru.itch.io
I realized explosive barrels are in the game now so I expanded the Totally Natural Cave (Not Created In An Accident) with some new props and lore. You can also use the barrels to open the groundpound path early (explosives break most breakable blocks, even skill-locks) #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
October 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
yaru.itch.io
Finally getting around to touching up the last level with unfinished stuff in it, the movie world. I know I say "this is the largest level in the game so far!!" a lot but this one is the only one that reaches ALL the edges of the maximal supported level size. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
(Sepia filter turned off so you can actually see which area is which.)
October 27, 2025 at 9:35 PM
yaru.itch.io
Sorted through all my #Burgertale design documents today, taking all the done things out and grouping plans by name / questline. I even found THE original design document, from back when the game was going to be much shorter and I hadn't finalized any designs. #gamedev #indiedev
You think putting things in neatly organized folders is hard, try doing it with real paper. Somehow, only two of these ideas made it into the game.
October 26, 2025 at 6:15 PM
yaru.itch.io
I have some big boss / cutscene scripting to do before the other levels are truly complete, but in the meantime I'm wrapping up tiling for the last unfinished level... Blast From The Past! This one was a bit tricky to wrangle into something flippable. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
They don't make 'em like this anymore.
October 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
yaru.itch.io
Shattered Citadel progress: pretty much done with the general layout, filling out all the placeholder rooms with real level design. Placing collectibles now, adding more focused puzzles / platforming challenges when rooms feel too empty. Enemies will be the last step. #gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
Trust me, it will be even more incomprehensible when you're actually playing and can only see ONE room at a time.
October 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
yaru.itch.io
I realized everyone in the 8-bit world basically has Matte's [SPEECH PATTERN] so I just had to put her in as a shopkeeper as an easter egg
#gamedev #indiedev #Burgertale
Would this [INNOCENT BUSINESSGOAT] lie to you about her [PRODUCT's]?
October 19, 2025 at 10:52 AM