The Split Screen Update, version 0.18.0, is live in Colony Survival right now. Plug in a controller, split your monitor in two, and play with a friend sitting next to you.

Enabling split screen creates a second character with the same capabilities as the first. The second player can start their own colony, explore the world independently, use the top-down view, or share a colony with you. A new Split Screen menu lets you customize the layout, including which character appears on which side of the screen and which keyboard or controller controls them.

If your friend can't come over, Steam Remote Play Together supports remote Split Screen — and your friend doesn't need to own Colony Survival to join.

Two smaller tweaks round out the patch: you can request to join a friend's colony by clicking their banner (especially useful in split screen), and pressing CTRL now crouches, letting you squeeze through smaller passages.

Last but not least, the Blueprint Builder's Contest ends this weekend. Check the rules in the contest announcement and submit your blueprint in #blueprint-contest-entries on Discord.

Colony Survival developers have announced that splitscreen multiplayer is in active development for the next major update, Update 0.19. An internal dev build with basic splitscreen already works, and the team is now refining every part of the game to be fully functional in splitscreen. The feature is made possible by the game's fully fleshed-out controller support, which was completed earlier.

Separately, the Blueprint Builders' Contest is wrapping up. Players have until Sunday, August 23, 2026, at 23:59 Amsterdam time to submit entries in the #blueprint-contest-entries channel on the official Colony Survival Discord. Each participant can share up to seven blueprints in a single post, ideally a set of related buildings (e.g., castle walls, gates, and towers). All blueprints must be buildable in vanilla, unmodded Colony Survival.

The top five entries win Steam keys to give to friends. The top three winners will also have a new decorative item of their choosing added permanently to the game, provided it fits the existing art style and they collaborate with the developers to realize the idea. Prizes: first place receives five keys plus their item idea; second place four keys plus item; third place three keys plus item; fourth place two keys; fifth place one key.

Entries must include the blueprint names, a short text description, at least one screenshot per blueprint, the blueprint codes, and the item the player would like to add to the Oddity Press. Judging prioritizes reusability and how well the blueprints fit into another player's world over sheer impressiveness.