NIGHT SHIFT: ORBITAL DISPATCH

The station never sleeps. Neither can you.

You are the night-shift controller aboard an orbital freight station responsible for keeping incoming traffic moving safely and efficiently.

Every arriving ship has somewhere to be—and only so much fuel left to get there.

Assign ships to the correct docks, manage crowded approach lanes, inspect regulated cargo, respond to emergency traffic, and keep the station operational when systems begin to fail.

THE DEMO

This free browser demo contains four progressively more demanding shifts.

SHIFT 1 — ROUTINE FREIGHT

Learn the basics of traffic control, dock assignments, fuel management, holding patterns, and diversions.

SHIFT 2 — REGULATED CARGO

Biological freight enters the station. Inspect regulated shipments and route them only to certified docking facilities.

SHIFT 3 — HAZARD PROTOCOL

Hazardous materials arrive under strict regulations. One mistake can become a serious safety incident.

SHIFT 4 — SYSTEM FAULTS

Dock failures, emergency arrivals, traffic surges, and maintenance decisions put everything you've learned to the test.

FEATURES

• Real-time orbital traffic management
• Three specialized docking bays
• Randomized incoming ships and assignments
• Fuel-pressure and emergency-priority systems
• Biological and hazardous cargo
• Cargo inspections and berth regulations
• Temporary dock failures
• Dispatchable maintenance crew
• Station Safety system and Game Over conditions
• Persistent score across all four shifts
• Shift grades and performance reports
• Pause and audio settings
• Reduced-flash accessibility option
• Mouse-driven controls
• Playable entirely in your browser

STATION SAFETY

Serious operational failures count as Critical Incidents.

Allowing a ship to run out of fuel, bypassing required inspections, or sending regulated cargo to an unsafe berth will reduce your safety allowance.

Three Critical Incidents during a single shift will revoke your station certification and end the run.

Safety allowances reset at the beginning of each new shift.

CONTROLS

Mouse / Touch

• Select ships from the inbound queue
• Inspect cargo
• Assign Dock A, B, or C
• Hold ships when necessary
• Divert traffic
• Dispatch the repair crew during dock failures

Escape

• Pause or resume an active shift
• Close applicable menus

THE FULL VERSION

The demo ends after Shift 4.

The full version of Night Shift: Orbital Dispatch is planned around unlimited procedural shifts with much slower long-term difficulty progression.

Future operations will expand with additional regulations, cargo types, station failures, emergencies, and long-form progression while keeping traffic growth capped so difficulty comes from increasingly complex decisions—not simply impossible arrival speeds.

Can you keep the station running?