Making it Home

You’re a ladybug, a long way from home, and you need to get home in time for your daughter’s birthday.

Making it Home is a 2D physics contraption builder crossed with a platformer. Bolt a vehicle together out of scrap, climb on board and keep it running with your own two feet (and wings) all the way across America.

Build the machine, then drive it.

In most contraption building games you just watch your creations. In this one you drive it. Wheels, sails, steam engines and a solar panel if you’re lucky. What you build and where you stick it matter, and the moment it starts moving you’re on top of the thing keeping it running. Raising the sails, cleaning the solar panels and leaping between the bits that have fallen off.

The road wants to slow you down and one of the hazards is a carrot.

Pick your route across the USA and meet the local wildlife, some are friendly and some less so. You’ll be defending your machine from cherry bombs, autonomous drones and, yes, carrots. All while a classic country soundtrack keeps the journey in a better mood than it has any right to be in.

Every run you discover better parts and worse ideas.

You won’t make it home on your first attempt. Each run you will discover components, find the combinations that work for you and start the next run with more to play with and way more ambition. The campaign runs about 6-8 hours and no one finishes without making at least one machine that in hindsight was a mistake.

Or take the clock out of it entirely.

Cozy Mode removes the hazards and enemies so you can chill and enjoy exploring the “choices matter” story while taking the scenic route. There is a sandbox mode too with daily, weekly and monthly design challenges to build some rivalries with your friends.

What you get

• A road-trip campaign of roughly 6-8 hours, playable in full in Cozy Mode
• The entire campaign in co-op with up to 3 friends; locally, or online through Steam Remote Play Together
• Daily, weekly and monthly design challenges with a limited parts list
• Full Steam Workshop support for sharing your designs and stealing everyone else's
• 63 achievements, a hand-drawn art style, and a country soundtrack

A note on controllers

Fully supported for the platforming. You will need a keyboard and mouse to design the vehicle.

Who made this

Pill Bug Interactive is Sean and Dave, two developers in Wales, BAFTA Cymru-nominated for our arcade shooter Cycle 28. We seem unable to stop making games about building a machine and then finding out what it actually does. This is the one where you have to ride it.

No Generative AI was used in this game. We pay humans for art and music.