Welcome to Portlight
Portlight is a trade-first maritime strategy game played in the terminal. You start as a captain with a small ship and limited silver. You build a career through route arbitrage, contracts, infrastructure, finance, and reputation.
The TUI (portlight tui) is a complete play path. The CLI is the same game with typed commands. They share a save.
What makes it different
Section titled “What makes it different”- Prices react to your trades. Dump grain at a port and the price crashes.
- Contracts require proof. Right goods, right port, tracked provenance.
- Infrastructure changes timing. Warehouses, brokers in all five regions, seven licenses.
- Reputation is four axes. Trust, heat, regional standing, underworld.
- The game reads what you built. Four victory paths score evidence, not a menu pick.
- Bounty hunt is a hunt. Accept a live captain, then
bounty huntspawns that encounter.
The world
Section titled “The world”- 20 ports across 5 regions
- 18 goods with scarcity pricing (including pelts and contraband)
- 43 routes gated by ship class and season
- 9 captain types
- 5 ship classes
- 4 pirate factions, 8 live named captains
- 134 named NPCs
- 4 victory paths
- For Beginners — zero to first trade, TUI first
- Getting Started — install and the first ten minutes
- The TUI — keys: H, K, W, P, F, and the rest
- Trading — how prices and regions work
- Commands — full CLI reference
- Career Paths — milestones and victory
- Architecture — how the code is layered