Modular ships
Shape a vessel around power, cargo, protection and range.
Starpath Ship Command
A new Starpath entry · Built in Unreal Engine 5.9 for the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam
Starpath Ship Command
Your ship. Your orders. Your story.
A new take on a long-running idea: build a ship, take the bridge, and decide what kind of life to make among the stars.
Command the encounter
Move between bridge, map and director views.
Three factions
Deliver, defend or take the convoy for yourself.
Director’s Cut
Follow a battle live, then revisit its latest replay.
THE GAME
Build a ship. Choose your orders. Make a story.
A full campaign loop, three points of view, and a changing frontier—designed as one spacefaring command adventure.
One more run
From a shipyard to the next story
Choose who you fly with, build a vessel, and take a contract into a shared convoy encounter. Your decisions carry through the run and into the next ship you build.
Choose a side and hull
Start with Pirates, Haulers or Space Marines, then select a hull that fits the job.
Build and take a contract
Balance a ship around its power, mass, thrust, hull, shields, fuel, cargo and cost.
Plot, meet, decide
Pick a route, meet the convoy and choose whether to deliver, defend or plunder.
Keep the story moving
See the outcome and credits, revisit the latest battle, then shape the next ship and contract as progression develops.
Prototype status Packaged runs have reached outcomes and replay across factions; Marine balance is still being tuned.
Make it yours
A ship is a set of choices
Snap modules onto typed hull sockets and watch the ship change as you build. The shipyard exposes the tradeoffs before launch, so a cargo hauler and a raider do not have to solve the same problem.
Build around the job
Choose hulls and modules for weapons, shields, engines, fuel and cargo capacity.
Read the tradeoffs
Power draw and mass work against thrust, hull, protection, range, cargo and credits.
Shape a repeatable design
Mirror placements, undo or redo changes, and save or load a named ship design.
Launch with intent
The shipyard flags problems before launch; even an unarmed ship can leave you relying on conversation, a bribe or a quick escape.
Prototype status Module placement and ship stats are in the current prototype; shipyard presentation and some module layouts are being refined.
Three ways to enter the same encounter
Every faction has something to protect
Pirates, Haulers and Space Marines meet around one shared convoy. The objective changes how you read the route, the ships and the battle.
Pirates
Intercept transports, disable a target, board it and take cargo or a captured ship for profit.
Haulers
Get the contracted cargo to its buyer and bring the value home.
Space Marines
Protect the transports, stop raiders and get the convoy safely to its destination.
Prototype status All three faction runs have reached outcomes in unattended builds. The Marines campaign recently received a delivery-rule fix; overall balance is still in progress.
A small frontier with competing routes
Read the system before you commit
The route is part of the encounter. Trade lanes, a quieter long arc and the asteroid belt trade fuel and exposure against cover; routes shift the circumstances of a battle rather than guaranteeing that it can be avoided.
A living star system
Travel past a bright star, five distinct planets, a broad asteroid belt, a trade lane and a nebula.
Choose your approach
Take the busy trade lane, a longer discreet arc or cover through the belt.
Give the fleet its orders
Use the system map to route ships, form up and escort the convoy, then move between map, bridge and cinematic views.
Stay in command
Mouse and keyboard commands work without a microphone; pause or slow tactical time while you decide.
Prototype status The system art and route choices are in the game. Planet colors, surfaces and combat balance are still being tuned.
When the route closes
Make the fight legible
Combat combines automatic weapons with decisions about shields, modules and the ships around you. The aim is to make a changing battle readable from the bridge, the map and the director camera.
Follow the damage
Turrets fire automatically; impacts ripple across shields, and damaged modules can lose function, power or detach as debris.
Change the balance
Boarding can capture a disabled ship and add it to a pirate fleet. Fighter and drone support are part of the wider carrier combat direction.
Capture the prize
A captured-transport outcome is working in a pirate run. Ship lighting, shield fit and impact sparks still need polish.
Prototype status Prototype combat and capture are present. Deeper fleet features remain in development.
People aboard the ship
A bridge between the map and the battle
The command deck is a place to make fleet decisions, then return to the system map or cut outside to follow the action. Captains, nearby ships and crew react to what is happening.
Open the system around you
A bridge hologram projects the star system into the room. Its room-scale expansion is a current work in progress, and crew figures are still placeholders.
Talk through comms
Read speaker subtitles and hear local speech from the Windows voices already in the packaged prototype.
Ask for grounded advice
Type a hail to another ship or ask your crew for advice based on the current situation.
Keep a microphone optional
Command uses mouse and keyboard. Spoken voice recognition is not part of the current build.
Prototype status The bridge, typed comms and local spoken lines are in progress; manual listening and the room-scale presentation still need review.
Director’s Cut
Play the battle, then watch your cut
The live director chooses subjects and shot styles as events unfold. You can take over the camera, slow time, pause and mark a moment; after the run, revisit the latest battle as an episode.
Follow a point of view
Choose a subject and shot style, from a fleet-wide view to a close pass through the action.
Make a moment yours
Override the live camera, slow or pause time, and mark the beat you want to follow.
Revisit the latest episode
The latest battle can be replayed after its outcome. Replay is player-triggered and keeps the most recent episode; use an external recorder if you want a video file.
Carry the story forward
The progression direction carries earned credits into upgrades, a new ship build and another contract.
Prototype status Packaged runs reach outcome and replay. Credits, upgrades and the wider progression loop remain in development.
A NEW ITERATION
Years of Starpath, carried into a new game.
For years, Starpath has returned to the same idea: a ship is a home, a tool, and a way to make a life among the stars. This is a brand-new game made in Unreal Engine 5.9 specifically for the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam. It carries that familiar core into a new iteration, exploring modular ship construction, bridge and map command, and a cinematic director that turns each encounter into your own cut.
The 2026 Epic AI MegaJamMADE FOR THIS JAM
2026 Epic AI MegaJam
November 12–15, 2026 · Theme: Director’s Cut
A new Starpath game built in Unreal Engine 5.9 specifically for this jam. Its Director’s Cut turns fleet encounters into episodes you can shape live and revisit, while continuing a multi-year exploration of shipbuilding and life among the stars.
THE THEME
Director’s Cut
Starpath’s take on the theme is a player-directed episode: command a fleet, shape the live camera and return to the battle as your own cut.
Watch the official theme revealRENDER ROYALTY · RTX TECHNOLOGY GOAL
Targeting the NVIDIA RTX Award under Render Royalty. A packaged test recorded DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution active alongside ray-traced visuals on an RTX 5070 Ti. Broader hardware validation is ongoing.
How the project meets the judging goals
Ambition & innovation
A modular shipyard, bridge and tactical map meet an evolving battle director in one campaign loop.
Theme · Director’s Cut
Direct a live encounter, take the camera over, then return to the latest battle as your own cut.
Fun factor & gameplay
Three factions pursue different goals around a shared convoy, with routes changing the risks of contact.
Visuals
A star system, shields and cinematic combat shape a consistent space setting; lighting and effects are still being refined.
Level design & progression
Routes, contracts, credits and ship upgrades connect each encounter to the next run.
Audio
Reactive subtitles and local spoken crew lines give the bridge and passing captains a voice; manual listening checks are still pending.
Prototype in development. Packaged unattended runs exist; human play, balance, audio and broader hardware checks continue. Public downloads will remain empty until a verified distributable release is recorded.
FROM THE CURRENT PROTOTYPE
Starpath in progress
REAL PROGRESS
Notes from the current build
A real solar system, shields that ripple, and captains who talk
The placeholder spheres are gone. The system now has a living star, five distinct planets, an asteroid belt and a nebula. Weapons, explosions and shields have real effects, comms lines are spoken aloud, and pirates can board and keep a ship.
Day one: from an empty project to a first playable build
Starpath Ship Command is our entry for the jam theme Director's Cut. In the first stretch we got a ship builder, three factions, a full run from shipyard to payout, a bridge, a director camera with replay, and a first Windows build that plays start to finish.