The last civilian ships vanish through the Earth Gate. Behind them, an enemy assault fleet closes in. Only one friendly ship remains: the carrier ECS Intrepid.

There is no time to follow. The Intrepid fires on the gate. Its detonation tears through the assault fleet, destroying the enemy and the carrier's only way home in the same flash.

Earth is safe. The crew that saved it is not.

There is another way back. In Domus Sector, a working gate still leads to Earth. Between here and there lies hostile space. The Intrepid needs supplies, a relay to send word home, and pilots who can keep flying when the next contact appears.

You command the carrier. Six pilots. Four craft. You choose the route, send the flights and give the orders. When the radio falls silent, you wait to see who comes back.

Get them home. As many as you can.

How it plays

You never fly a fighter yourself. You run the carrier, and every fight plays out on the tactical scope and over the radio.

• Plot the route. Jump sector by sector toward Domus Gate. Scout ahead to avoid ambushes.
• Assign the flight. Drag pilots onto craft. Skill, fatigue and hull all count.
• Give the orders. Your pilots report what the enemy is doing. Engage, retreat or fire a full salvo.
• Live with it. Damage, fatigue and losses carry over, and Materials for repairs are scarce. A lost fight can bring the enemy to the carrier.
• Reach Domus Gate. Break the assault at the gate, and the Intrepid jumps home to Earth.

Controls

• Mouse: click and drag.
• Hover over pilots, craft and order cards for more information.
• P or Esc opens the menu: sound, volume and restart.
• Fully playable with the sound off.

Made for GoedWare Game Jam #17

Theme: The Long Way Home. Made in ten days by one developer in Unity 6, with licensed Asset Store packs for the ships, effects and UI, and licensed libraries for the music and sound effects. The radio voices are synthesized, not recorded.

A friendly heads-up: Last Ship Home is a jam prototype, built against the clock. Getting the whole journey playable came first, so balancing got less time than it deserved. Some fights may feel harder or easier than they should, and the numbers behind the odds could use more tuning. There was also more I wanted to add than ten days allowed; more on that below.

Thanks for playing it for what it is. If something feels off or unfair, sorry 😊!

One question for you..?

While brainstorming for the jam, I imagined a much bigger game: a Wing Commander-style experience where you never sit in the cockpit. You command the carrier instead, choosing routes, missions, training, pilots and orders during combat. I scaled that idea down for the jam to see whether its core would be fun. Even the smaller version proved ambitious: I had to simplify some systems and leave others out. Last Ship Home is a first glimpse of the idea, not everything I hoped to fit into this prototype. A full game would go much further, with battles unfolding in 2.5D, more missions, deeper crew management, ship upgrades and more ways to shape the journey.

Would you play a full game like this? Leave a yes, no or maybe in the comments, and tell me what you'd want in it and what you'd leave out.