Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Homeseek
Second campaign multiplayer is here!
Hi colonists,
We have some new exciting updates for you all!
In the desolate world of Homeseek, every decision is a matter of survival. As the winds of change sweep through our post-apocalyptic landscape, we bring you some important updates:
Weeklong sale —
For a limited time, Homeseek is now 25% off! It's your chance to step into a world where resources are scarce, and your every move matters.
We're excited to announce the launch of our second campaign multiplayer mode! Team up with fellow survivors and conquer the challenges of our shattered world together.
To optimize multiplayer matchmaking, starting on the 17th, multiplayer will be available from Friday 9AM UTC to Monday 9AM UTC. Make every moment count in your fight for survival.
Awards season! —
We're honored to share that Homeseek has won the Bronze Award for Best International Game at the SEA Game Awards. It's a testament to our shared journey through this unforgiving world. But we're not done yet!
We've also been nominated for the TIGA Awards' Best Strategy Game category. Wish us luck as we continue to strive for excellence in the realm of strategy and survival.
V1.07 patch notes —
Improvements
The Second Part is now available for Online Multiplayer.
You will now be able to see, during building placement, the entrance, and the incoming and outgoing pipe spots, in order to position the building more efficiently. Distances for calculating losses and pipe costs are based on those tiles (before they were calculated from the center of the building).
We modified the functionality of Farm. Now it steadily converts water to food every second instead of in batches. This was done to simplify its functionality, making its management easier.
We improved feedback regarding buildings that have efficiency issues. Now you will be able to see accurately the percentage of efficiency for buildings that don’t get as many resources as they should. This improvement addresses also some inconsistencies that there were in the daily resource productions/consumptions.
Active laws now will appear on HUD along with any animals that are in your settlement, but out of an animal farm.
You can add now expedition party resources “per day” for faster preparation.
In an effort to increase the chances of finding others for online multiplayer, we will limit its availability from 9 a.m. UTC on Friday to 9 a.m. UTC on Monday. This will take effect after Monday 17th of October.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that was causing the Wolf Den to not appear in scenario 2.2.
Fixed a couple of bugs related to the windmill quests in 2.2
Other minor fixes.
Upcoming Improvements
Since we released, we have made a significant amount of improvements based on your feedback. We have been through most of your suggestions. We still have a few left:
We are working on a more advanced autosave system that can work as a failsafe in case you want to roll back.
We’ll be adding a bigger difficulty option.
We also want to add more controls and options, like a toggle for edge scrolling, placing multiple buildings, etc.
We are making changes to simplify the connection requirements for some buildings and also provide better feedback.
Remember, the world of Homeseek is as unforgiving as ever. Make alliances, forge strategies, and seize victory in the face of adversity. Your journey through this post-apocalyptic world has only just begun.
Don't forget to follow our Twitter and join the Discord for more discussions, tips, and development updates:
See you in the wasteland.
Is Homeseek comparable to another survival game? A developer's perspective
Dear survivors (and all those curious about traversing the harsh and barren wastes),
We wanted to address a question we see coming up frequently in the community:
Is Homeseek comparable to Frostpunk?
While we’re flattered to be held up against such a titan of a game, it’s important to us that the differences between our respective apocalyptic survival titles be made clear.
So, is Homeseek an alternate version of Frostpunk? In short, no. While Frostpunk has undeniably inspired us in the creation of Homeseek, there are only a few shared elements, such as citizen management and their post-apocalyptic settings. (It's also essential to note that Frostpunk boasts three times the development time and a significantly larger team than ours, making any direct comparison unrealistic.)
That being said, we take pride in forging our own path, and we have created a unique and challenging game world of our own that is well worth exploring. For example…
Homeseek is story focused
We set out to create a realistic portrayal of a dystopian future, and with that comes many hard choices that can help determine your success or failure within the game. We love how immersive and deeply impactful the pre-designed narrative we’ve created is, but we also understand some elements may feel linear in nature. We created a world with many choices and paths, but just like in a real survival situation, there are decisions that can help you move forward and those that can doom you. There are certain technologies and discoveries that are always going to be necessary to acquire to forge your way forward on your journey to find a sustainable home, and it’s up to you to find them.
Homeseek’s maps are designed for each survival experience
We chose to create a tailored experience for players, rather than one that’s randomly generated. We believe this approach offers a more captivating way to explore our world, and allows us to ensure that the element of survival will always be there. The combination of the pre-designed narrative and maps tailored for each scenario forms the foundation of our life-or-death in-game consequences, setting us apart from other strategy survival games.
Homeseek’s citybuilding is unique
In a survival situation, it is not practical to expand endlessly. That’s why in Homeseek, players are presented with the realistic problem of limited space and resources and must strategize to overcome those challenges through the careful placement of buildings. Additionally, just like in the real world, distance and elevation affect efficiencies and create their own unique challenges in gameplay.
Homeseek’s replayability branches across game modes
Since Homeseek is a story-focused game, we understand that once players have moved through the branching narrative enough times, they may be finished replaying the story. To cater to those seeking more, we introduced the Endless mode and Online Multiplayer mode. These modes serve as endgame challenges, providing added replayability for our dedicated players.
In conclusion…
While Homeseek draws inspiration from Frostpunk, the two games differ significantly. We have always been dedicated to offering a unique and engaging experience that sets us apart in the world of post-apocalyptic gaming, and we believe we have achieved that by creating a distinct and captivating game world worth exploring.
We hope this insight answers your question about the relationship between the games and helps you make an informed decision about Homeseek!
If you’d like to chat with the devs or link up with other survivors to share strategies or see who comes out on top in a multiplayer battle, join our Discord! You can also follow us on Twitter (X) for development updates.
Homeseek V.1.06 Update
Greetings, Survivors! We've rolled out a patch with some updates today:
Update 1.06
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where the tutorial hints were not appearing in Survival mode.
Fixed a bug where the resource effect from weather did not show on the HUD tooltips.
Fixed a bug with the game mode tabs on the Main Menu.
Improvements
Added an edge-screen icon for berry bushes when you are constructing a Food Storage, so you can easily see where they are.
Changed the way weather forecast is displayed, so it can provide more accurate info.
Added some tooltips on some elements.
Upcoming Improvements
Currently there is misleading information presented when a storage cannot provide enough water for the converters attached to it. This is causing wrong calculations and expectation for production, and it is currently a very high priority issue, since it is causing confusion and frustration.
We are working on a more advanced autosave system that can work as a failsafe in case you want to roll back.
We are making improvements on all distribution modules in order to more clearly showcase issues that may not be functional.
We are considering refactoring certain buildings, like the farm, in order to make them more straightforward and improve their feedback.
We’ll be adding a higher difficulty option. (Trust me; the game is too easy.)
We also want to add more controls and options, like a toggle for edge scrolling, placing multiple buildings, etc.
We are making changes to simplify the connection requirements for some buildings and to also provide better feedback.
We hope you have been enjoying Homeseek! If so, please leave us a review on Steam!
Don't forget to follow our Twitter and join the Discord for more discussions, tips, and development updates:
See you in the wasteland.
Homeseek Is Participating in Strategy Fest!
Homeseek will be on sale at 20% off as part of Steam’s Strategy Fest, running from August 28th at 10am PDT to September 4th.
The ultimate challenge for strategists looking for a new post-apocalyptic world to conquer, Homeseek is a perfect addition to Steam’s Strategy Fest. In this innovative survival strategy game set in a demanding world with an impactful narrative, you must utilize realistic technologies and manage your settlement’s resources while embarking on dangerous expeditions into the wasteland. Conduct research, build progressive advancements, and make life-or-death choices as you try to survive.
P.S. We really do love hearing from you! Please consider joining our Discord to compare strategies, coordinate with other survivors for multiplayer matches, and give the developers direct feedback about your gameplay experience!
Join our Discord community and follow us on Twitter for the latest news and updates:
Homeseek V.1.04 update
Hi colonists,
We've just rolled out a patch with some big updates today.
Update 1.04
Happiness Rework —
The happiness system got reworked. The change aims to address two issues.
Velocity of citizen abandonment: Citizens now can last one more day on average when their needs are not covered. This consequently decreases the difficulty in all game modes.
Feedback of immediate threat: Before it was possible for citizens to leave if they had multiple needs not covered, even if they were not depressed. This is no longer the case, since happiness change now is more gradual ensuring that only depressed citizens can leave during an event or at the start of the day.
Balancing —
Happiness losses from events was increased by 50% on average and water extractor and collector were slightly nerfed. These changes aim to balance the decrease in difficulty due to the Happiness rework.
Decreased Water Extractor collection rate (11%)
175/H 🠊 156/H
Decreased Water Collector collection rate (8%)
195/H 🠊 180/H
Bug fixes —
Fixed some bugs related to power, power producers and how weather was affecting them.
Fixed a bug related to HUD buttons when players destroy the Research/ Expedition/ Community Center.
Fixed a bug where players were getting slots instead of laws in the Endless mode.
Fixed bugs causing save files to get disrupted.
Fixed a bug where the displayed scrap refund was not calculated correctly when players destroyed a building.
Fixed a couple of bugs related to laws.
Fixed a bug causing citizens to get stuck.
And a few more minor fixes.
Improvements —
The top HUD panel now displays critical info at all times.
Food connections are now formed automatically. Players can still edit them to their liking. We are working on a similar improvement for the water connections.
We change the order of the game modes so survival mode is first, since we feel it’s more representative of the desired experience. Endless Mode will also get completely unlocked after beating any chapter.
Food contamination now is displayed prominently on all relevant buildings.
Game will now autosave upon quitting a level.
All buildings will now display clearer the reasons they might no be working within the building pop ups.
Expedition map graphics have been reworked.
Destroying storages will now reallocate the resources to other storage of same type. Be mindful this will not work for water storages that have no water type assigned.
Speed of camera can now be adjusted by pressing Shift.
Added animations related to events for chapters 1.3 and 1.5.
Farm and Hunter’s Lodge progression can now be shown without opening the building pop up.
We are working on making the 2nd Part available in PvP.
Upcoming Improvements —
Currently there is misleading information presented when a storage cannot provide enough water for the converters attached to it. This is causing wrong calculations and expectation from production, and it is currently a very high priority issue, since it causing confusion and frustration.
We are working on a more advanced autosave system that can work as a failsafe in case you want to roll back.
We are making improvements on all distribution modules in order to showcase more clearly issues that may not be functional.
We are considering refactoring certain buildings like the farm, in order to make them more straightforward and improve their feedback.
We’ll be adding another difficulty option.
We also want to add more controls and options, like a toggle for edge scrolling, placing multiple buildings, etc.
We are making changes to simplify the connection requirements for some buildings and also provide better feedback.
Thank you for all your feedback so far.
We hope you have been enjoying Homeseek! If you have, please leave us a review on Steam!
Don't forget to follow our Twitter and join the Discord for more discussions, tips, and development updates:
See you in the wasteland.
Badges and Steam Trading Cards Are Here!
We’re excited to announce that we’ve added Steam badges and trading cards!
The current collection includes 9 cards featuring the varied landscapes of Homeseek’s post-apocalyptic future as well as 5 badges (plus 1 foil badge!), and 10 emotes.
— Badges
— Cards
— Emotes
— Profile backgrounds
Enjoy collecting!
Two harrowing game worlds, two apocalyptic realities in one discounted bundle!
If you enjoy that feeling born from overcoming immense difficulties, conquering all odds stacked against you, and surviving despite everything saying it’s impossible, you’re going to love this bundle!
Homeseek and Endzone are teaming up to provide you with two harrowing game worlds and two post-apocalyptic realities, packaged together to deliver a discounted double chance to prove your ability to survive.
It’s up to you to lead these two settlements to victory in their respective worlds. Can you build a home in a land nearly devoid of clean water? Are you able to overcome radiation, toxicity, and violent weather events? Try you hand at two different worlds and manage two struggling colonies with one common theme: surviving the apocalypse.
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About Endzone - A World Apart
In 2021, a global ecological disaster plunged the world into chaos and brought humanity to the verge of extinction. Only few were able to escape into underground facilities called "Endzones". 150 years later, mankind returns to the surface - under your command! In an extremely hostile environment full of radioactivity, contaminated rain and extreme climate change, you'll have to prove your worth as a leader.
Homeseek V.1.03 update
Hi colonists,
We just made a hotfix for some reported bugs.
Update 1.03
Fixed a game-breaking bug that was causing several issues (most prominently Chapter 1.5 wasn't ending) that related to Polish and Russian
Fixed a bug related to screen settings and resolutions
Some other minor fixes
Added error and bug recording sdk
—
Thank you for all your feedback so far.
We hope you have been enjoying Homeseek! If you have, please leave us a review on Steam!
Don't forget to follow our Twitter and join the Discord for more discussions, tips, and development updates:
See you in the wasteland.
A word from the developers
Survivors,
We want to thank each and every one of you who has spent time battling the scarcity of resources, vicious bandits, and extreme conditions throughout the wasteland. We are so grateful for your time playing and the feedback and suggestions you have provided us.
With that in mind, we want to address some of the challenges we have faced as developers and update you on the ways in which we are taking your feedback into account in order to improve the game.
—
Linearity
Many of you have expressed frustration with the linear nature of the games, and we hear you. We are attributing the feeling of “linearity” some of you have mentioned to 3 main things:
1. Difficulty - Due to the high difficulty of the game players feel pressed to progress in the main objective as fast as possible, leaving you no time to explore and experiment. By decreasing the difficulty and slowing down certain scenarios, players will have more space for trying out their own thing. This should also combat the fact that some feel “it’s like solving a puzzle”
2. Story - Homeseek is story-based game. Inevitably, the story will be experienced in a somewhat linear way. However, keep in mind that each scenario can be played in a few different ways, and while nothing is random, there’s more than one questline and storyline that the player can experience in each scenario. It’s important to understand that the first scenario works more as a tutorial; therefore, the player agency is limited compared to the other scenarios. Keep playing to explore more options!
3. Game modes - While the story mode is shorter, survival mode offers a more long-term experience where each choice has a more lasting effect. If you feel that playing one scenario at a time does not offer enough freedom, we invite you to try out survival mode, for a more lasting, impactful, and player-driven experience.
—
Difficulty
Homeseek is meant to take place in a harsh world, but we understand that not every player wants to struggle at every turn. For this reason, we have already released a patch that addresses these issues through balancing we developed with your comments and concerns in mind.
Specifically, we are making the initial levels easier, as well as slowing down how fast things can go wrong. We’ll be having more updates to that end in the future as well, so keep an eye out!
—
Punishment
Many people feel that the game is too punishing of mistakes and missteps. We understand your frustration and are currently developing an autosave feature in order to alleviate your concerns there. With this feature, you’ll be freer to experiment and use trial and error without needing to start entire scenarios over or having to remember to manually save.
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Ambiguity
Finally, we understand that some of the missions are a bit ambiguous, leaving you unsure of how exactly to move forward. We are working to clarify these instances to bring you a better experience.
—
Again, thank you so much for your interest in Homeseek. We also deeply appreciate your patience and understanding as you allow us to take all of your comments into consideration and apply them to our work. We hope you will be excited by all the changes we’re developing for you.
Thank you,
The Traptics Team
P.S. We really do love hearing from you! Please consider joining our Discord to compare strategies, coordinate with other survivors for multiplayer matches, and give the developers direct feedback about your gameplay experience!
Homeseek V.1.02 update
Hi colonists,
We just made an update focused on balancing. Please note that These changes will not be present in old saves, so we strongly recommend restarting levels rather than loading them.
Update 1.02
—
Balancing
Increased starting water in wells
Increased starting water in wells Chapter 1 14k 🠊 18k Chapter 2 5k 🠊 6.5k Chapter 3 5k 🠊 9k Chapter 7 5k 🠊 6.5k Increased Berry Bushes collection rate (10%) 90/H 🠊 99/H Increased Scrap Piles collection rate (10%) 60/H 🠊 66/H Increased Water Extractor collection rate (30%) 135/H 🠊 175/H Increased Water Collector collection rate (30%) 150/H 🠊 195/H Increased Warka Tower collections rate (33%) 18/H 🠊 24/H Farm production has been modified based on the water quality Using poor water x 1.5 🠊 x 1.75 Using clean water x 2 🠊 x 2.5
The above-mentioned changes make the first levels easier, provide a greater sense of player agency, and allow for more freedom of movement. Furthermore, they should encourage the construction of more buildings, especially converters.
Reduced the max occupants by 1 in Medical Centers but increased the healing rate by 25%. This has no impact on the average healing provided per day but allows for faster cycling between the sick citizens. So essentially this means citizens spend less time getting treated, which consequently increases the amount of available workers at all times.
Additionally, since the players will now have more resources we increased the damage from contaminated resources by nearly 40% but have reduced the amount of max damage a citizen can take while consuming said resources. This change aims to emphasize the importance of better water quality (and its use in the farm) and provide the player with a bigger reaction window for addressing the sick citizens.
To put it into perspective a single Medical Center in combination with poor water consumption (from the Wetlands or the Purification Center) is enough to sustain a community of 50 people without ever having someone die (Not taking into account damages from other sources like events or expedition events). Using Poor Water instead of Contaminated for consumption and irrigation reduces the average daily damage to citizens by 66%.
Chapter 3 events have been “slowed down” to allow for more player experimentation.
Chapter 7 has been slightly extended so that it lasts longer and allows for more player experimentation.
Chapter 8 minimum duration has been increased.
We reduced the requirements for the Windmill-related questline in Chapter 9 from 4 to 2.
Expedition traveling speed has been reduced by 10% to deemphasize their usage in the beginning. The Lay of the Land rule bonus has been doubled. (So effectively expeditions start slower but eventually become faster than they are now).
Travelling Speed in Endless has been reduced by 66%.
Canines, Equidae, and birds of prey provide less food when butchered, livestock provide more.
With the increase in the starting resources and collection rates, players can set up their bases faster before having to send expeditions. Additionally, this will allow players to pursue different avenues instead of feeling forced to “rush” expeditions. Finally, the increase in resource production makes preparations for expeditions easier.
—
Bug Fixes
Made a fix where the resolution of the game wasn’t being fitted correctly. Players can now also choose their preferred monitor.
Fixed a bug in Chapter 5 where the ship was never returning from the island (Chapters need to be restarted).
Reseted the world map in a more appropriate starting position in scenario 4. Always remember you can rotate with Q and E.
Fixed a bug where Laws were being awarded even though it was found.
Fixed a text field that was providing wrong info about the type of law slots found.
Chapter 4 last location had the same location as Chapter 3.
Fixed a bug where default resolution was problematic on PCs with multiple monitors.
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Other improvements
Expedition parties now form instantly.
Level 3 will now show when the next caravan will come.
Quests for finishing scenarios 3 and 4 are now clearer.
Building production and conversion on HUD tooltip have been separated to improve clarity.
Improved the feedback when an event decision would max out the Vexation meters in Chapter 2.
Pressing Shift allows for faster camera movement.
Power Consumption/ Production can be seen outside of working hours.
The game now autosaves when you quit a chapter.
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New laws
Equipped for Combat: Expeditioners will receive 5% less damage from all sources while exploring.
Haste Makes Waste: Expedition parties explore locations 10% slower but find 20% more stuff.
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Upcoming improvements
We are working on a more advanced autosave system that can work as a failsafe in case you want to roll back.
We are working on an improvement to make Happiness escalation more gradual so that players have more time to react, as well as better feedback.
We are making improvements on all distribution modules in order to showcase more clearly issues that may not be functional.
We are considering refactoring certain buildings like the farm, in order to make them more straightforward and improve their feedback.
We are also making a change to streamline connection creations and automate them to a degree.
We’ll be adding a bigger difficulty option.
We also want to add more controls and options, like a toggle for edge scrolling, placing multiple buildings, etc.
We are making changes to simplify the connection requirements for some buildings and also provide better feedback.
We are working on improving the aesthetics of the expedition maps.
Destroying storages should reallocate the contained resources to the other available storages.
Steam cards will be released soon.
Thank you all for all your feedback so far.
We hope you have been enjoying Homeseek! If you have, please leave us a review on Steam!
Don't forget to follow our Twitter and join the Discord for more discussions, tips, and development updates:
