iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 4h

100% half life alyx if you havent played it already. Not VR, but if you want a flat game after the unboxing: The Cup's free demo lands on Steam October 10. A 1v1 creature card battler with the odds printed on every card!

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Reposted by The Cup

Micbemac @micbemacgames.bsky.social · 9h

The latest edition of the MicBeMac Newsletter goes out this week. If you love #indiegames or you are an #indiedev this is the newsletter for you! You can support the newsletter by signing up for free! bit.ly/4rtjONH

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 7h

Wishlist it here: store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/...

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 7h

One House swing from losing. Then the Thunderbird rolled a 12, and a 12 hits every enemy at once. Thirty seconds of The Cup's demo. Free on Steam October 10. #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Wishlist it here: store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/...

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Same trailer, phone-shaped. The Cup's free demo lands on Steam October 10. It opens on a d12 that doesn't land until the end. #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Our budding broadcasters appreciate your kind words, thank you! The d12 roll is the damage on one creature's swing, with jackpots and backfire effects for the 1 and 12 rolls for that creature.

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Wishlist it here: store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/...

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So that's kind of the falling action, very interesting how your change leveled that out. Awesome resource, thank you!

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Thunderbird's turn. The lightning only exists when it attacks, and whatever it hits goes to color bars. Art by ChioArt. 🎮 #indiedev #indiegame #TurnBasedThursday

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Cool! Did you just move where that key from the attic to the basement and that smoothed it out your dropoff? Looks like the next steps happen pretty quick too so it kept them hooked. Also how difficult is setting up and rigging steam stats to record this?

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Pen sketch to the live card. Ondřej Tichý painted the Armadillodome, and the animation rig follows how he drew it to move. Wishlist on Steam - Demo releases October 10th: store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/... #wishlistwednesday #indiegame #artprocess

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

700!? thats too many stings! are you ok?

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Wishlist for the October 10 demo: store.steampowered.com/app/5079520/...

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The Cup @cupqualifierapp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

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

youtube.com

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 · 28/09/2026

yeah I'll probably need to, not necessarily from scratch but im open to adjusting balance along the way as things come up. Game stats get saved, so a lot of my current balancing is based off over a few thousand games already.

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

Both, in my original devlog video that this is cut from I pushed for a tts version just to see more games with friends, the next step to the web version was more of the same because as I had more feedback from local delegates with great suggestions to work with. The roster just swelled from there.

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

That's the count in the digital game, paper only had 12 creatures and 3 survivors. TTS helped show a lot much faster for balance because of its pacing upgrade, web version is even faster now though!

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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

A few mechanics definitely had to wrap around the layout as you point out. The movement mechanics between creatures in their slots had a few uses early on but to make it more significant they had to be included more across the set as I went along. Not all have movement interactions but more do now!

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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

yes! in the video i have a few examples of him in game with him counter-swinging. a keyword-wide "reflect" effect that is light is an interesting idea that we could add though - thanks!

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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

youtube.com

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 · 18/09/2026

Similar approach for me - trying the tutorial as a main menu option with a lil notice me flag. I also tried to break it down into two parts to wrap it up quicker and both are covered in a 2 minute video for those who want to watch instead. How much is too much hand holding, that's the balance..

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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 · 11/09/2026

Pretty cool, you have them doing a lot of emotional storytelling - and all without a face! Is that a choice for simplicity?

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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 · 10/09/2026

Love the handwritten notes you have alongside the textbook info, is your page turn a 2D trick or something like prerendered 3D?

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

Love milky chance, lucky enough to see them live a few years ago. 🔥 for 🔥 youtu.be/kmgKRmSXQUY?...

youtu.be

Milky Chance - Living In A Haze (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Milky Chance Official

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

Actively trying a little bit of both actually

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

More noise and more pressure to break through it. With the press pre-release a week before I'm trying to figure out how a small indie dev can break through to them first to be better positioned when next fest starts properly.

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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

youtube.com

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

YouTube video by The Cup

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