- Captains Guide: How to Defend Your Ship - 4 August 2026
Hi Reptorian Hunters,We've continued to be busy adding and polishing the game up ahead of the private playtest in the next few weeks.Captains Guide: How to Defend Your ShipWe've started making some videos showing off different aspects of the gameplay. Here's our video going over the different ways you can defend your ship.Right now, you can choose between using:Shields: which block incoming fire directly, but cost quite a lot of energy to maintainPoint defense: which are solid against incoming torpedoes. However, you need to ensure good coverage so that there aren't any gaps in the defense envelope. Also, they don't work against weapons like beam or thermal lasersEvasion: which allow you to evade incoming salvos. This can make them miss entirely. However, at point blank range, you just don't have time to evade.In the final game, there will be even more ways to defend your ship including…
- We've seriously updated the damage system - 14 June 2026
Hi Reptorian Hunters, We've been very busy adding loads of new stuff. Today I wanted to talk about the updated damage system. Update damage system We've always wanted to make ship damage feel like a puzzle to solve rather than just being about getting a number down to 0. We want you to find weak spots in the enemy and break through their outer armor to get to their soft underbelly inside the ship. We also want you to be protecting any breaches or weak spots on your ship. With that in mind, we knew we needed a dynamic and granular damage system. When a projectile or laser hits the ship, it will do damage in that precise location, so you're rewarded for concentrating fire on a certain spot. Here's a video showing before, during and after battle. Full YouTube link, with cool space music - You can see how extreme the damage can be - the ship ends up totally unrecognizable! As you go through…
- Reptorians: Redesigned - 4 May 2026
Hi again Reptorian Hunters,It's been an eventful few months! We've had our heads firmly down.New team member and redesignAnd I say HEADS because Gibbonfiend Studios has expanded! One of our playtesters, Haybie, was so excited about the game, and had so many fantastic ideas, that he has joined the studio! He's been driving a whole new design and art direction, and it's been genuinely exciting to see. It's also been a wonderful experience to share the journey with someone. He even lives in my little village in the UK so we have real, in-person catchups!There are loads of new things we're excited to show you and I'll leave a lot of this for future updates. However, some of the main changes are:More detailed shipsThe ships have real interiors now that crew can move around freely and you can zoom in nice and close. They feel a lot bigger and homely now (until a Reptorian boarding party start…
- Playtest survey - 5 January 2026
Hi Reptorian Hunters,Thanks everyone that got a chance to play the Christmas playtest, which has now closed.If you managed to get a chance to play, I’d be very grateful if you’d complete this short survey to give me an idea of what I need to focus on for the next few months.Now that the playtest is over, I’m planning on going back into my dev hole for a few months to focus on the next version. I’ll let you know when I emerge.I will be continuing to stream progress if you are interested in seeing what we’re up to. Come and hang out on the Twitch stream if you're free!James
- Christmas playtest is now live! - 20 December 2025
Hi Reptorian hunters, The Hunt of the Reptorians Christmas playtest is now live!It should be even easier to access this time. Just head to the Steam page and there should be a big button to let you in. Just to set your expectations nice and low: this is still very much an early build. You still have time to turn around and run! There are nowhere near enough cards yet and I still need to add a lot more features to make the experience between the battles more enjoyable. Nevertheless, you should still have a bit of fun with it and see its potential. I'd really like to get a steer from you as to whether it's heading in the right direction and any problems/things you don't like about it.I'll run the playtest for about 2 weeks (ending around 4 January) and then do a quick survey to get some feedback. You can also give feedback in the Discord: https://discord.gg/DxPrqcEQND I hope you have a go…
- Sign up for the Christmas playtest! - 15 December 2025
The Reptorians are coming. And they want you to be nice and plump by the time they arrive. So, over the holiday season, please fill up on mince pies, Christmas pudding and mulled wine!While you're digesting, help me test Hunt of the Reptorians! We'll be doing a playtest of the latest build from 22 December. I'd be so grateful to have as much feedback as possible to check we're still on the right path and get as many ideas as possible.Sign up to the playtest here before 22 December!
- Thermal warheads: time for a Reptorian BBQ! - 3 December 2025
New stuffJoin me on Twitch to see these features in action, and no doubt some bugs too!CARD OF THE WEEK- Thermal warheadsNEW CARDS- In The Flow - Manuveurs are free for the rest of the turn- Got My Eye On You - Evades 1 projectile from a Salvo per turnNEW STUFF- Reptorian surrender screen- Salvo status effects- New art for 4 more cards- Reload soundUSER EXPERIENCE- Projectiles animate a bit faster. A little more snappy now.- Arrow goes green when you can play it- Card cost and arrow go red when you can't afford it- Structural integrity now has numbers on it- Showing max salvage when intercepting- Can't spam next day buttonBALANCE- Enemy thermals more likely and more deadlyFIXES- Lots!
- Watch Me Play Hunt of the Reptorians Live - 4 November 2025
Just a quick one to say that I will be starting to livestream Hunt of the Reptorians on Twitch every Wednesday at 21:00 GMT (16:00 ET / 13:00 PT)I'll be doing a playthrough of the game showing off the latest features (and bugs!) I've been adding and I hope to get some live feedback and ideas from you.Here's a link to the live stream if you want to set a reminder in Twitch 🕹️And here’s a screenshot showing one of the newer features - ship upgrades! Reactors can be upgraded to produce more energy, armor can be upgraded to take more damage, guns can be upgraded to hold more ammo and engines can be upgraded to provide more thrust.There are plenty of other new things and cards to show off too. So, come and hang out on the Twitch stream if you're free!James
- We've redesigned the Campaign. Playtesters wanted for August 2025 playtest. - 8 August 2025
Hi Reptorian Hunters,Thanks to everyone that was involved in the latest playtest. The feedback has been great. People seem to be enjoying the combat section of the game. However, the campaign section of the game seemed to bog down the experience and pacing of the game. I had a similar feeling while playing myself. So, we've decided to redesign the campaign part of the game over the last couple of months.Now, the campaign is from the perspective of your bridge, sitting in your captain's chair. The primary goal is then same - to make it back to Earth (with a powerful enough ship to defeat the Reptorian mothership), and you still have to duck and hide from enemy ships and deal with interesting events on your way. But you do so via events that appear on the viewscreen and decisions you make via clicking on the in-game control panels. I think it's looking pretty nice, even in its initial sta…
- First playtest starting next month (May 2025)! - 19 April 2025
Hello, I’m excited to announce that the first playtest for the Hunt of the Reptorians alpha is happening NEXT MONTH (May 2025). If you’d like to help shape the development of the game by giving early feedback, then you can sign up now: here When the playtest starts, you’ll receive a Steam key to access the playtest. Feedback will be via a special channel in the Discord. Once you’re signed up, I’ll send more details closer to the playtest. James
- 30 Minutes Of New Gameplay - 3 February 2025
Hi all, Just a quick update to let you know I’ve posted a new video of me playing through the game for half an hour or so to show off some of the new stuff. I’m so busy making the game it’s refreshing to actually sit down and play it. It’s even quite fun now (phew)! Until next time, James
- Beam Her To The Sickbay! - 2 January 2025
Happy new year! I've been keeping my head down working on Hunt of the Reptorians but I wanted to give an update on some of the things I've been working on. I’ve added loads of new things so I’ll only focus on some in this update. Crew Crew now have a real presence on the ship, rather than being just animations as part of the room. Gunners are required to load the guns and the engineers can be moved to repair damaged parts of the ship. Crew can also be wounded so you will need to make sure they are protected (e.g. flipping your ship when they are making hull repairs) and can be sent to the sickbay to heal. You can, of course, damage enemy crew too and I'll be adding some weapon cards that are great for shredding Reptorians! 🔪🐊 Your crew are your cards You may know from a previous update that each crew member contributes some cards to the overall deck. A big part of the game will revolv…
- 15 Minutes Of Me Playing (And Rambling About) Hunt of the Reptorians - 2 March 2024
Hi Reptorian Hunters, Just short (but hopefully exciting) one today. I decided I finally had enough stuff done to feel confident enough to record some gameplay for Hunt of the Reptorians. The biggest victory was that It didn’t crash! 😅. I talk about how the game is working now but also talk about some of my future plans. Here’s a link to the video: See you in the next update. James
- New Game Mechanic: Your Crew Are Your Cards. Plus New Card Designs 🎴 - 12 February 2024
Hi Reptorian Hunters, Sorry it’s been a little while since the last update. I’ve been adding lots of things trying to get something playable for upcoming playtests (keep posted for more details on these!). Things are going well and it’s starting to shape up quite nicely. At least the core gameplay loop. Your crew are your cards One big change to the game mechanics is that your crew now have their own cards. But what does that mean? In most other deckbuilders, you have a global deck of cards that you add to, upgrade, and remove from your deck. My general philosophy for Hunt of the Reptorians is to make the cards an abstraction of captaining a ship. I didn’t feel that a global deck fitted well with that abstraction. So, I added crewmembers to the game. Behold! Each crewmember contributes cards to the overall deck. As they gain experience, you can add more cards to them. You will also be a…
- Updated visuals 👀. New trailer 🎬. Steam Strategy Fest🎉. - 24 August 2023
Hi again, Hope you are well. Behold the updated visuals in the combat screen! This is by no means the final update to the visuals. But I think it’s a nice improvement. I hope you agree. Added lighting within the ship rooms I think this gives a nice moody feeling to the rooms. Cooler damage effects and damaged rooms We’ve added smouldering effects, new trails and explosions to the projectiles and more shrapnel coming from the ship after impacts. We’ve also added some art for when rooms are damaged. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for the poor Reptorians! Simplified the UI I’ve cut down the amount of UI so that there’s more room to show the action. Still lots of work to do on the UI but I think this cleaner approach is working in general. Let me know if you agree! Steam Strategy Fest and new trailer Hunt of the Reptorians will be in the Steam Strategy Fest starting 28 August 2023. It wi…
- 🚀 Torpedoes incoming 😱 Evade! Evade! Evade! (dev log) - 20 April 2023
Projectiles and range (dev log) Hi again! I’ve been working hard on getting some new updates in to the combat system. Projectiles and the inter ship zone A core concept of the combat system is the idea of projectiles. Everything that is fired from a ship (railgun slugs, torpedoes, point defence, chaff, energy weapons, fighters etc.) is a projectile. Projectiles that are fired from the ship must travel through the “inter ship zone” to reach their target. This is an area in between the ships the representing the journey projectiles take to reach their target. Every turn, projectiles proceed across the inter ship zone. Some are fast and some are slow. When they reach the end of the inter ship zone, the surviving projectiles are unleashed on the target ship Range You can collect cards to increase and decrease range depending on whether your deck and the situation favours close or long range…
- Combat Mechanics: A High-Level Overview (Dev Log) - 16 January 2023
First dev log: overview of the combat system I'm very excited to start sharing what I've been working on for the last year or so - Hunt of the Reptorians. It's a deck building game where you creatively smash spaceships apart from the outside in. In this first update, I'll give an overview of the combat system. Build a deck to captain your ship I love deck building games. I also love managing spaceships. I felt the deck building model would work well as an abstraction of a ship's weapons and abilities and all the on board activities such as repairing, targeting, boarding, etc. It will also be really cool to experiment with crazy cards and synergies between them. Dynamically carve up enemy ships... and avoid being carved up yourself I always loved making sand fortresses when I was a boy and loved the feeling I got when the fortress was surrounded with water and the waves started breaking…
- New teaser trailer available - 5 December 2022
Hi Reptorian hunters! I've very excited to show off the first glimpse of the game in the new teaser trailer - here. I hope this gets you excited and gives you some sort of idea what the game is about. My plan is to update this trailer as I add more features. I'm also going to start posting some more dev updates. Is that something that you would be interested in? If you're interested in keeping up to date you can sign up to my newsletter. Or follow me on twitter. Speak soon, James
