MANIFEST

MANIFEST is a hard-SF space logistics tycoon set in a single living solar system.

You are not the pilot. You are the dispatcher.

Take contracts, assign ships, plan trajectories, manage captains, and keep your company profitable while your fleet moves between planets, moons, stations, and industrial ports. Every decision lives in the planning layer: what cargo to specialise in, which ship to buy, how hard to burn, when to depart, and what risks you are willing to accept when something goes wrong halfway to Mars.

This is a game about the pressure of keeping ships productive. Idle ships bleed money. Late deliveries hurt your reputation. Old hulls develop histories. Captains become known quantities. A quiet ore run can suddenly become a rescue problem, a customs problem, or a piracy problem.

No combat. No dogfights. No FTL. The drama comes from logistics, timing, ship histories, and the stories that emerge when your plans meet reality.

Key Features Draft

Features planned for MANIFEST include:

- A single-system hard-SF logistics sandbox

- Trajectory planning built around Hohmann transfers and fusion-style hard-burn routes

- Multiple cargo specialisations, including passengers, bulk ore, bulk gas, and high-value freight

- A fleet of individual ships with condition, history, and second-hand market stories

- Human captains and autopilots with distinct strengths, risks, and operating styles

- Mid-flight events that create emergent stories instead of scripted missions

- A persistent top-down system map where routes, ships, hazards, and trade networks are all legible at a glance

- A management-focused structure where growth comes from better planning, better specialisation, and a better-run company

Development Status Draft

MANIFEST is currently in active development.

The core direction is locked in: a dispatcher-first, planning-layer space logistics game with hard-SF flavour and no combat. The current work is focused on building out the full playable loop across contracts, route planning, ships, captains, events, company management, and the system map.

This itch.io page is the place to follow development, screenshots, progress updates, and future public builds.