How Double Skunk gets built
Solo devs are selected for shipping code, not for marketing. An honest look at my attempt to learn the 20% of game marketing that gives 80% of the value: what has gone well enough, what I have avoided, the real wishlist number, and an open call for partners before Steam Next Fest in October.
Double Skunk could have shipped in August. I am pushing the release back six to eight weeks at minimum instead, to get a demo in front of people at Steam Next Fest and build an audience first, and to finish accessibility and language work along the way. You only get one Next Fest, the same way you only get one release.
I asked r/Cribbage for feedback on a mirrored hands mode and learned it already existed, complete with a name and a patent from 1905. Duplicate cribbage is now in Double Skunk. Both players play both sides of every deal, and nobody gets to blame the cards.
Online cribbage keeps the rules and throws away everything around them. Double Skunk is adding the reads back. Marked decks you learn to see through, a card your rival watches you select, and a hand order that decides how much you give away.
Double Skunk's new Challenge of the Week gives everyone the exact same scenario, the exact same deck, and one shared leaderboard. Here's how it works and why a fixed seed is the only fair way to find out who's really the best.
Gamers rage at AI art replacing real artists but shrug at AI replacing months of development time. Here's an honest, personal case for the tools that built Double Skunk, and a plan to share the money if it succeeds.