Sarena
@michellerakar.itch.io
Game Designer with a passion for character design and interactive storytelling. Writing a story called The Nays.
Senior Curriculum Developer with a BFA in Animation.
🔗 https://michellerakar.carrd.co/
Senior Curriculum Developer with a BFA in Animation.
🔗 https://michellerakar.carrd.co/
I made a lot of progress on a new #RPGMaker plugin today! For this plugin, I'm printing a lot of game data to an external txt file that acts as a debug log. This is meant for external playtesting and for storing data on playthroughs. I'm learning more about parameters.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
November 17, 2025 at 10:45 AM
#PokemonZASpoilers
I beat Pokemon Z-A a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to stop playing it post-game even after getting the full Pokedex; it's now one of my favorite Pokemon games! I made it a point to take a new trainer photo every rank, so here's my (slightly spoilerish) compilation!
I beat Pokemon Z-A a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to stop playing it post-game even after getting the full Pokedex; it's now one of my favorite Pokemon games! I made it a point to take a new trainer photo every rank, so here's my (slightly spoilerish) compilation!
November 16, 2025 at 9:29 AM
#PokemonZASpoilers
I beat Pokemon Z-A a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to stop playing it post-game even after getting the full Pokedex; it's now one of my favorite Pokemon games! I made it a point to take a new trainer photo every rank, so here's my (slightly spoilerish) compilation!
I beat Pokemon Z-A a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to stop playing it post-game even after getting the full Pokedex; it's now one of my favorite Pokemon games! I made it a point to take a new trainer photo every rank, so here's my (slightly spoilerish) compilation!
While it may not look like a lot of visual progress, I made a lot of data progress on my #RPGMaker plugin today! Now, instead of using party members, I store the characters in an array. I had to make two windows for the party and the area below, but they're all selectable now.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I decided to finally learn how to make my own #RPGMaker plugin! I'm making a custom party manager plugin, so I'm learning about how windows work. Right now I have it showing the character's name and face in a party menu and a stats window on the side with who you're hovered over.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I set it up so that it uses the Actor database for the player's current party and the Classes database for the monsters' base stats. So I set the Actor's class to be that specific monster when it's caught. It's fun how much automation you can do with some basic script commands!
November 3, 2025 at 9:45 AM
I set it up so that it uses the Actor database for the player's current party and the Classes database for the monsters' base stats. So I set the Actor's class to be that specific monster when it's caught. It's fun how much automation you can do with some basic script commands!
I've been playing a lot of monster collection games lately, and I've always thought it'd be fun to make my own. So I threw together this little test in #RPGMaker using the database, events, and JavaScript! I didn't actually need any plugins to put this concept together either.
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
November 3, 2025 at 9:38 AM
I've been playing a lot of Digimon Story Time Stranger these past few weeks and I think I'm close to beating it. I have multiple pages of notes like this on what stats my Digimon need to gain in the Digi Farm so they can digivolve. The digivolving is really my favorite part of these games!
October 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM
I've been playing a lot of Digimon Story Time Stranger these past few weeks and I think I'm close to beating it. I have multiple pages of notes like this on what stats my Digimon need to gain in the Digi Farm so they can digivolve. The digivolving is really my favorite part of these games!
Over the years, I've always enjoyed making lists and tracking data relating to my interests in spreadsheets. My brother and I have been tracking our Pokémon TCG Pocket cards in Google Sheets so we can see which cards to trade, and I'm making a lot of progress with the EX packs.
October 16, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Over the years, I've always enjoyed making lists and tracking data relating to my interests in spreadsheets. My brother and I have been tracking our Pokémon TCG Pocket cards in Google Sheets so we can see which cards to trade, and I'm making a lot of progress with the EX packs.
Last night, I was thinking about clever ways to create the team menu for The Note Competition Remake. I came up with an idea to be like an equipment menu where you equip different characters for different slots in battle. So I made some sketches to brainstorm before implementing.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
October 13, 2025 at 11:13 AM
I've been brainstorming a lot for our remake of The Note Competition. We're leaning towards completely re-theming it and most likely renaming it. But for now, I've been optimizing the code and fixing some functionality to set us up for an easier time when we dive into it!
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
October 6, 2025 at 7:46 AM
@nimbusstev.bsky.social and I spent another day in Unity on a mini game called Outlaw Bar Bowling! We spent more time on the visuals than the others, but didn't quite get the bowling mechanics working yet. He did the 3D art, and I did the 2D materials/art!
#IndieDev #GameDev #ScreenshotSaturday
#IndieDev #GameDev #ScreenshotSaturday
September 28, 2025 at 11:45 AM
@nimbusstev.bsky.social and I spent another day in Unity on a mini game called Outlaw Bar Bowling! We spent more time on the visuals than the others, but didn't quite get the bowling mechanics working yet. He did the 3D art, and I did the 2D materials/art!
#IndieDev #GameDev #ScreenshotSaturday
#IndieDev #GameDev #ScreenshotSaturday
Working on some more Unity projects tonight! I just finished the mechanics for this drink mixing game. It's mixed with a bowling game where you bowl for ingredients, and then can mix the drinks you get to create power-ups. The core mechanics of this scene are there. Next up, art!
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
September 28, 2025 at 3:57 AM
I had this idea that there could be a local multiplayer mode where you battle against a friend. So that led me to figure out how to control another event using keyboard inputs and code in RPG Maker! Movement and interactions are working so far. Next up: picking up item spawns!
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
September 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Looking at our #GGJ projects, we were thinking about which one we could expand/remake into a full game. The Note Competition (2020) is looking most likely because it was very bite-sized and has potential. So I converted it to RPG Maker MZ and updated the title with new plugins.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
September 17, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Another small Unity game with @nimbusstev.bsky.social! We spent a bit more time on this one, and it was a bit bigger than the previous one. This time, I worked on all of the art assets while he did most of the programming. It's a mini dodgeball game in the desert.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
September 14, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Another small Unity game with @nimbusstev.bsky.social! We spent a bit more time on this one, and it was a bit bigger than the previous one. This time, I worked on all of the art assets while he did most of the programming. It's a mini dodgeball game in the desert.
#IndieDev #GameDev
#IndieDev #GameDev
I made a little Unity game with @nimbusstev.bsky.social tonight. I programmed the mechanics where you have to type names and phrases to move Chila forward and beat Boney in a race. He made all of the 3D art assets for the game. It was a fun project to make within a few hours!
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
September 14, 2025 at 5:09 AM
I made a little Unity game with @nimbusstev.bsky.social tonight. I programmed the mechanics where you have to type names and phrases to move Chila forward and beat Boney in a race. He made all of the 3D art assets for the game. It was a fun project to make within a few hours!
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
I spent a lot of time troubleshooting the Set Movement Route in #RPGMaker, but after some help on the forums, and some more research on my own, I found a combination of plugins that mostly works. It required holding some frames, adding more frames, and resetting the step order.
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
September 3, 2025 at 8:20 AM
I finished all the drawings of Pidgebeetle! I exported them as spritesheets and started to import the animations into RPG Maker. I'm having some frame issues with how Set Movement Route works for displaying longer animations, but I'm making progress and troubleshooting.
#IndieDev #GameDev #RPGMaker
#IndieDev #GameDev #RPGMaker
September 2, 2025 at 7:30 AM
I finished the idle animation with the final art for Pidgebeetle! I saved it out as a spritesheet and imported it into the engine with the speed I want him to move at. I also drew some head turns for him that I'll use for later parts of the scene.
#GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker
#GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker
September 1, 2025 at 4:44 AM
I added a really simple text box to figure out some of the positioning and size. It might get fleshed out more in the final version, but it works for now! I also added black bars that animate in from the top and bottom to indicate that it's the start of a cutscene.
August 30, 2025 at 7:07 AM
I added a really simple text box to figure out some of the positioning and size. It might get fleshed out more in the final version, but it works for now! I also added black bars that animate in from the top and bottom to indicate that it's the start of a cutscene.
I'm making a mini-game dev project where I'm creating a single scene; it'll all be working in an engine, but I'm focusing more on the visuals. I started with the sketch (on the left) in Photoshop and am slowly adding colors and lights in RPG Maker (the right screenshot).
#GameDev #IndieDev
#GameDev #IndieDev
August 30, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I tried out Pheonix KageDesu's Alpha NET plugin for RPG Maker to see how complicated creating a multiplayer game would be. I was able to get this all functional in a few hours, so not too bad! The hardest part was getting the waiting message to show up properly.
#GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker
#GameDev #IndieDev #RPGMaker
August 28, 2025 at 8:09 AM
