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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 11h

The bee dies when it stings. It hits for 6 and goes straight to the Pit. It's the only creature whose whole job is dying, so it made me build a real death for all of them. Official Portrait №5. Art by Ondřej Tichý. #indiedev #indiegame #gamedev

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The bee dies when it stings, so every creature got a better death (Official Portrait №5)

Un Solo Piquete hits for 6 and goes straight to the Pit. Art by Ondřej Tichý.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Un Solo Piquete gets one sting. It lifts, hits, and then goes to color bars itself, because honeybees don't survive stinging. Art by Ondřej Tichý. 🎮 #indiedev #indiegame #gaming

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

59 creatures, 9 survivors. The paper prototype worked in person and nowhere else. We needed more eyes on it, so it went into tabletop sim, and that is where the feedback actually started. Wishlist on Steam, out in November. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The quietest card in the game, doing its one job. Whatever hits the Armadillodome takes 1 back. Art by Ondřej Tichý. 🎮 #indiedev #indiegame #ScreenshotSaturday

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Hit the Armadillodome and it hits you back. Same rule since it was a pen drawing on an index card. Painted by Ondřej Tichý, his first card for us. Wishlist on Steam, out in November. #indiedev #indiegame #GameArt

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The layout never changed. I drew the board early on, before most of the rules existed, and we still use it. Attack, health, and a range on the cards that roll. Some cards have not changed since their paper versions. Wishlist on Steam, out in November. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Nine minutes and nothing happened. Thats the card working. The Armadillodome reflects 1 damage back at whatever hits it and has done exactly that since I wrote it on an index card somebody has to be the floor. Art by Ondřej Tichý. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FQg... #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The armadillo that can't roll into a ball (Official Portrait №4)

YouTube video by The Cup

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

He needed a 7. He rolled a 6. Spirit Bear rolls a d12 and misses on anything up to 6. The average is 4.75, a good card. It still feels like a coin flip, and the feeling is what people play. Printing the miss on the card kept the average and lost the ambush. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Un Solo Piquete stings once and that is the entire card. The target goes to color bars, then so does the bee. Honeybees die when they sting because the barbs hold. This one knows that going in. Art by Ondřej Tichý. #indiegame #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Half the risk in my game didn't feel like risk. My best card rolled a d8 and a natural 8 hit everything. Moving it to a d12 made the good roll rarer. It did not make swinging it a decision. Printing a way for it to go wrong did. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Same card, three months apart. Left is the paper prototype with a pigeon sticker on it. Right is the commissioned painting that replaced it. Thunderbird changed four times getting here, in the art and in the rules. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Armor stops damage. It does not stop rust. Volt onto chem chains to the next creature and corrodes it, and corrosion ignores armor. One rule, printed on two cards, decided the match. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Three months, three prototypes. Hockey cards and pigeon stickers, then a tabletop sim so more people could play it, then a C++ engine that plays the game against itself. First video devlog. The design half is one card that took three tries to get right. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

youtu.be

My indie card game was hockey cards three months ago

The Cup is a free browser card battler where every card is a real animal, and this is how it went from a paper prototype on hockey cards to commissioned card art in three months. The middle of it is…

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Steal the Look copies the last infusion played by either player. Dress your own creature and the moth across the table is wearing it too. Every buff you play is one you might be handing over. That's the whole card. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Different kind of #screenshotsaturday for me today, working on the spectator mode and making sure it is synced across different users, looks good! Timing on the next fight needs improvement though. #indiedev #solodeveloper #cardgames

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This thunderbird was a hockey card. Now it's painted, by ChioArt. No background bolt when resting, the lightning only exists when it attacks. store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/... #indiedev #gameart #indiegame

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Gatorline attacks on a d6. A six hits everything adjacent, and the chem it carries rides along. One roll, whole line rusted. The die is on the card. You can read the bet before you stand next to it. cupqualifier.app?src=bsky#cod... #indiedev #indiegame #turnbasedthursday

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Third card painted. Emoji above, paint below. 65 still emoji, and the wishlist pays for the next one. Free in a browser now. Steam demo in October. store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/... #wishlistwednesday #indiedev #gamedev

Three cards from The Cup, top row emoji placeholder art, bottom row commissioned paintings: La Peregrinacion monarch swarm and Thunderbird by ChioArt, The Goose by Prayoga. Three of 68 painted.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Third card painted - started as a hockey card with a pigeon sticker and lightning drawn in pen. @chioart08.bsky.social painted the storm and split the lightning off the card for me so that it only exists when the card is awake. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pchW... #gameart #indiedev #gamedev

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My card art was a hockey card in pen - now it's this

YouTube video by The Cup

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Putting something together to show the journey from start to finish. Dang I hate being on camera, how do I get over it?! #gamedev #devlog #cardgame

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Last short of the set: the lynx. Flat attack, no dice. 1, 2, 4, 1. It files its damage in advance. The hare runs the market. The lynx just keeps the books. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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A century of ledgers, one famous cycle

SPECIMEN FILE No.24, from SPECIMEN SPOTLIGHT No.4.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Loup-Garou alternates every turn: calm it hits flat 2, moon it rolls a d8. The card prints its own schedule, so both players see it coming. Variance you can plan around is a decision, not luck. cupqualifier.app?src=bsky#cod... #indiedev #indiegame #turnbasedthursday

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My card art was emoji. I paid two artists for these three cards. Wishlist is for October's Steam demo. The game is already free in a browser. store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/... #wishlistwednesday #indiedev #gamedev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Thunderbird rolls a d12 every time it attacks. One number on that die stops being an attack and becomes all of them. It rolled that number. The booth has not recovered. cupqualifier.app?src=bsky#cod... #indiedev #gamedev #sciart #cardgame #indiegame

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The goose card is named after my corgi. She's called Goosey around the house. The card says Do Not Approach. She approaches everything. Portrait number two. Art by Prayoga. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev #nature #illustration

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Short two from the spotlight: the golden eagle. Half the continent points at the caracara and calls it the Mexican eagle. The flag never made that mistake. I drew the snake anyway. Felt right. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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That's not the bird on Mexico's flag

SPECIMEN FILE No.25, from SPECIMEN SPOTLIGHT No.4.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Natural 12 on a d12. On the Thunderbird that means it hits every enemy on the board at once. 1 in 12. On a 1 the storm turns on it, takes 3, attack fizzles. Art by @chioart08.bsky.social. This one gets its own portrait episode soon. #screenshotsaturday #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Lemmings don't march off cliffs. A 1958 film crew pushed them, for the shot. The myth is nearly 70 years old and still gets repeated. That's what every card in my game is built on: the real story beats the one you were told. #naturalhistory #lemming #sciart

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

New short: the Senior Forecaster. One office since 1887, audited accuracy under forty percent.. I feel like 40% is still pretty solid for being brought back from almost death and its the first thing asked in the grogginess of waking up. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev #animalfacts

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139 years in office - Under 40% accuracy

SPECIMEN FILE No.46, from SPECIMEN SPOTLIGHT No.4.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Spotlight no.4 is up. Three specimens, three offices, zero elections. My favorite fact of the batch: fur trade accountants unknowingly recorded one of ecology's most famous cycles a century before anyone verified it. They never once looked up from the ledger. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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SPECIMEN SPOTLIGHT No.4 - THE OFFICE HOLDERS

Three specimens, three offices, zero elections. Every fact checkable.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Odd thing to bring to wishlist wednesday: it's already free, in your browser, right now. The wishlist is for the Steam demo in October. It's the offline half. Single player, no account, no connection. #wishlistwednesday #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

store.steampowered.com

The Cup on Steam

Free 1v1 creature card battler. Demo coming for Next Fest, October 2026.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The armadillo in your yard can't roll into a ball. Only the three-banded ones manage that. The nine-banded jumps three feet straight up instead. Which is a fine way to startle a coyote, and a terrible way to meet a car that would have passed clean over you. #naturalhistory #armadillo #sciart

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Horned rabbits are real. A virus grows keratin spikes on wild cottontails, and taxidermists in Wyoming turned the rest into an industry. Nobody can say where the animal stops and the story starts. So the card says allegedly. #cryptozoology #jackalope #sciart

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

My card game's art has been two emojis per card. This week the first real painting came in. Art by ChioArt. The game is free in your browser: cupqualifier.app?src=bsky#cod... #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

An axolotl regrows limbs, heart tissue, and parts of its brain. It also never grows up. It stays a larva its whole life and breeds anyway. Critically endangered in the canals it comes from. Thriving in tanks everywhere else. #sciart #axolotl #biology

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The beaver is on the Canadian nickel because the pelt trade drew the map. That fact is printed on its card. In my first tournament it also refused to die. Its whole team gains armor every turn, nobody could get through it. Placeholder emoji #animation looks ok! #naturalhistory #beaver #indiedev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Tournament night, good #gameplay capture with friends Rules weren't an issuse, what I actually did all night was tell people where to click. Now, that's the feature list - built on group feedback. Best 3 hours of research I've done. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-X... #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Winner Had Never Played Before - Cup Night #1

Six players. One bracket. One mug, and the person who won it says he logged in for the first time thirty minutes earlier. This is CUP NIGHT #1, the first tournament The Cup has ever run: two…

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Ran a tournament for my card game on Saturday. First one. People turned up early and just... played. an hour before the bracket even started. On a schedule I'd have called that dead time. It was six people teaching themselves the game while I did nothing. #highlight #indiedev #gamedev #gameplay

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

"Sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal" is trivia. "Sea otters have no blubber, so the fur is the whole system" is the fact. The second one tells you why an oil spill kills them. That's the bar for every card we write. #sciart #seaotter #indiedev

A sea otter floating on its back in kelp, with text contrasting the trivia that sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal against the fact that they have no blubber, so the fur is the whole system.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Our caption track passed every check. No gaps, no overlaps, no blanks, numbering clean. It was still out of sync. Auto checks can prove a file is built right. They can't prove it IS right. Someone has to watch it. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Finished up a tutorial video with horizontal and vertical versions that are quicker alternatives to the in game played tutorial: youtu.be/BuAjUa5oBb8?...

youtu.be

How To Play The Cup - a free browser card battler in two minutes

YouTube video by The Cup

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Going public taught us two things fast: a scam scare, and "too complex." Devlog 2 is what we did about both. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

our color commentator's voice came from megateamup. he played the game for the first time this week and heard himself call his own roll. clip courtesy of MegaTeamUp - twitch.tv/megateamup #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

New show. A highlight reel for the worst dice in the game - four disasters, three and a half minutes, two commentators blaming each other for all of them. Opens on three 1s in a row. That's 1 in 216. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFR... #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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Two 1s back to back. Would you roll again? (ROLL THE TAPE №1)

Two 1s landed back to back in a real match. That is 1 in 36. A third would be 1 in 216. Four moments from the qualifier, in the order they hurt. Play it free, in your browser:…

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Our tournament bracket crowned a champion in round one. A bye and "not decided yet" were both null. So it advanced a player past an opponent who was never coming. Byes are explicit now. Simulate every bracket size before you ship one. #indiedev #gamedev #solodev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Every creature is a real North American animal, mutated, with its real natural history printed on the card. Aliens are televising it. Free, in your browser, nothing to install. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsH... cupqualifier.app?src=bsky#cod...

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THE CUP - Official Trailer | a free card battler where everyone watches the die

A free 1v1 creature card battler where there is no skip button - you field a team, play cards, and everyone watches the die. Play now, in your browser. ▶ PLAY FREE —…

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