I built a free multiplayer drawing game with AI judging - here's how it works and what I've learned

Hey IH 👋

I've been building Doodle Duel — a browser-based multiplayer drawing game where an AI judges the drawings instead of players voting.

The problem I was solving

Every online drawing game I played had the same flaw — player voting. It always turned into a popularity contest. People vote for their friends, joke drawings win over good ones, and it just feels broken. I wanted to see if AI could do a better job.

What it does

Players join a room (up to 10), everyone gets the same prompt, draws in quick rounds, and an AI scores each drawing on accuracy, creativity, and style. No accounts needed, no downloads, works on any device with a browser. There's also a solo Arcade mode with 50 levels and global leaderboards for when you just want to practice on your own.

100+ prompts across 34 categories so it stays fresh across sessions.

Tech stuff that might be useful to others

• Switched my AI model from Claude to Kimi 2.5 and cut costs by roughly 80% with similar quality. If you're running AI in production, shop around.
• Set up AI agents through OpenClaw for automated marketing — one handles Twitter content, another monitors analytics, another writes blog posts. Running on a DigitalOcean droplet 24/7.
• For discoverability I've been working on schema markup and generative engine optimization so LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude recommend the game when people ask for drawing games or party games. Early days but worth thinking about if your product fits a category people ask AI about.

What's working

The AI judging angle is a genuine differentiator. When people try it they immediately get why it's better than voting. The use cases have been broader than I expected — game nights obviously, but also team building, classrooms, and icebreakers at events.

What I'm still figuring out

Distribution. The game is fun once people try it, but getting those first sessions going is the hard part. Browser games don't have an app store working for them so it's all organic, SEO, and word of mouth.

Would love to hear from anyone who's built consumer products with a cold start problem — how did you get your first few thousand users?

Happy to answer any questions about the AI scoring system or the tech stack.