To build, just build the .sln in VS 2017. A distribution zip will be created in a dist directory at the root of the repo.
Before a release, update AssemblyInfo.cs in the project directory to increase the build number (3rd version field) of AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion by one. If the a Steam installation of RimWorld is detected, the major & minor version fields of AssemblyInfo.cs and the targetVersion field of mod-structure\About\About.xml will be updated automatically. If a Steam installation is not detected, these must be updated manually.
HugsLib dependencies are fetched via NuGet and the RimWorld and Unity assemblies will be copied out of the game's Steam directory if found. The output will automatically be copied into the game's mod directory if a Steam installation of the game is detected.
If you are not using Steam, create a ThirdParty directory at the root of the repository and copy Assembly-CSharp.dll and UnityEngine.dll from the game into there.