Stranded (video game)

Last updated
Stranded
Stranded (video game) logo.png
Official logo
Developer(s) Unreal Software
Publisher(s) Unreal Software
Designer(s) Peter Schauß
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release2003
Genre(s) Action-adventure, Survival
Mode(s) Single-player

Stranded is a 3D action-adventure video game, developed by Unreal Software. The main goal of the Robinsonade game is to survive on a dangerous island and to find a way to return home.

Contents

The game is free to download and play. The second installment of the game was released under the CC BY-NC-SA Creative Commons license with its source code.

History

Stranded was released in mid-2003 by Peter Schauß, the founder of Unreal Software. Its design and gameplay are influenced by the relatively unknown German freeware game Schiffbruch .

Stranded was a success in November 2003, appearing in four different German gaming magazines and the Rhein-Zeitung. [1] After release of Version 1.3 development ceased, and the Stranded source code was released, but without any license information given, thus leaving all copyrights still on Peter Schauß. [2]

Gameplay

The game has no campaign mode, but its "random island" mode is wrapped up in a story where the player is stranded on a deserted island. Resource management is a vital component of gameplay, since the player character has a constant need for food and water, and has to sleep. The game features a day and night cycle. Sleeping in the open injures the player, unprocessed food is not very effective against hunger and aggressive animals threaten the player. So the player is forced to gather resources like branches, stones and vines to construct tools, buildings and weapons. Each building that is finished will unlock another, more sophisticated building, until the player is able to build a raft to escape from the island and reach his homeland.

The terrain in the game is completely modifiable.

There are also some mini-missions such as rescuing kiwi birds or fighting off a pack of blood-thirsty raptors under a time limit. Such custom maps can be created with the built-in map editor. Several of these fan-made maps can be downloaded from the Stranded home page. Although there are some limited settings, such as turning off the need for food, water and sleep, any way of story-telling is limited to a single briefing message after the map has started and creative terrain design.

Stranded II

Peter Schauß started work on the sequel Stranded II in late 2003. Development entered public alpha stage in December 2005. But still, the release of the final version didn't happen until June 2007. Stranded II had improved visuals and much more features than its predecessor, and was built with ease of modding in mind.

Stranded 3

As of 2012, Peter Schauß has started working on another sequel, Stranded III. [3] There will be multiplayer support which will be a part of the Unreal Software Gaming Network (U.S.G.N.) which is already being used for Counter Strike 2D and Carnage Contest. [4] There is no mobile version planned but there are possibilities that once the PC version is launched mobile development will take place. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeciv</span> Open-source turn-based strategy game

Freeciv is a single- and multiplayer turn-based strategy game for workstations and personal computers inspired by the proprietary Sid Meier's Civilization series. It is available for most desktop computer operating systems and available in an online browser version. Released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, Freeciv is free and open source software. The game's default settings are closest to Civilization II, in both gameplay and graphics, including the units and the isometric grid. However, with a lot of multiplayer games being played in longturn communities, rulesets and additional variants have evolved away from the original ruleset. Freeciv is playable online at Longturn.net, fciv.net, freecivweb.org and some temporary private servers.

<i>Quake</i> (video game) 1996 video game

Quake is a first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive. The first game in the Quake series, it was originally released for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux in 1996, followed by Mac OS and Sega Saturn in 1997 and Nintendo 64 in 1998. In the game, players must find their way through various maze-like, medieval environments while battling monsters using an array of weaponry. Quake takes inspiration from gothic fiction and the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

<i>SimCity</i> (1989 video game) 1989 video game

SimCity, also known as Micropolis or SimCity Classic, is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The game's objective is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further city development. Importance is placed on increasing the population's standard of living, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situations to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.

<i>Americas Army</i> Series of video games

America's Army was a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication device designed to allow Americans to virtually explore the Army at their own pace, and allowed them to determine whether becoming a soldier fits their interests and abilities. America's Army represents the first large-scale use of game technology by the U.S. government as a platform for strategic communication and recruitment, and the first use of game technology in support of U.S. Army recruiting.

Urban Terror is a freeware multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by FrozenSand. Originally a total conversion of id Software's Quake III Arena, FrozenSand released Urban Terror as a free standalone game in 2007 utilizing ioquake3 as the game engine. While the game engine is licensed under the open-source GPL, Urban Terror's game code is closed source and its assets are freeware but not open content.

<i>Unreal Tournament</i> 1999 first-person shooter video game

Unreal Tournament is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the Unreal series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast by Infogrames in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Players compete in a series of matches of various types, with the general aim of out-killing opponents. The PC and Dreamcast versions support multiplayer online or over a local area network. Free expansion packs were released, some of which were bundled with a 2000 re-release: Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition.

<i>Unreal Tournament 2004</i> 2004 first-person shooter video game

Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the third game in the Unreal Tournament series and the sequel to Unreal Tournament 2003.

<i>Multi Theft Auto</i> Grand Theft Auto multiplayer modification

Multi Theft Auto (MTA) is a multiplayer modification for the Microsoft Windows version of Rockstar North games Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that adds online multiplayer functionality. For Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the mod also serves as a derivative engine to Rockstar's interpretation of RenderWare.

<i>Alien Arena</i> 2004 video game

Alien Arena is an open-source, stand-alone first-person shooter video game. Begun by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series. Alien Arena focuses mainly on online multiplayer action, although it does contain single-player matches against bots.

<i>Zoo Tycoon 2</i> 2004 business simulation video game

Zoo Tycoon 2 is a business simulation video game developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios and MacSoft. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, and Mac OS X, although expansions are not included in the Mac version. A Nintendo DS version, titled Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, was released in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Engine</span> Real-time strategy game engine

The Spring Engine is a game engine for real-time strategy (RTS) video games. The game engine is free and open-source software, subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tremulous</span> Video game

Tremulous is a free and open source asymmetric team-based first-person shooter with real-time strategy elements. Being a cross-platform development project the game is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

<i>Mobile Forces</i> 2002 video game

Mobile Forces is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rage Software using the Unreal Engine and published by Majesco Entertainment. The core team of Rage Games who developed Mobile Forces went on to become Realtime Worlds.

Star Wars: Battlefront is a series of first- and third-person shooter video games based on the Star Wars franchise. Players take the role of characters from the franchise in either of two opposing factions in different time periods of the Star Wars universe. The series was launched in 2004 by LucasArts with Star Wars: Battlefront, developed by Pandemic Studios for LucasArts. The game received positive reviews and sold well. In 2005 Pandemic developed a sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, which was also critically and commercially successful.

<i>Smokin Guns</i> 2012 video game

Smokin' Guns is a first-person shooter video game. Smokin' Guns is intended to be a semi-realistic simulation of the American Old West's atmosphere. Gameplay as well as locations are inspired by Western movies, particularly those from the Spaghetti Western genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teeworlds</span> 2007 video game

Teeworlds is a free, open-source sidescrolling multiplayer shooting game originally created by Swedish developer Magnus Auvinen and now maintained by the community. It features simple cartoon-themed graphics and physics and relies heavily on classic shooter weaponry and gameplay. Currently there are official versions for Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS and it has been available via digital distributor Steam since 2015. The source code is publicly available.

<i>Xonotic</i> 2011 video game

Xonotic is a free and open-source first-person shooter video game. It was developed as a fork of Nexuiz, following controversy surrounding the game's development. The game runs on a heavily modified version of the Quake engine known as the DarkPlaces engine. Its gameplay is inspired by Unreal Tournament and Quake, but with various unique elements.

<i>Stranded II</i> 2007 video game

Stranded II is a German 3D action-adventure survival video game released in June 2007 by German developer Unreal Software as a sequel to the original Stranded game. Just like in its predecessor, the main goal of the game is to survive on a desert island environment, ultimately escaping and returning home. The game can be downloaded for free on its official website and on the developer's website.

<i>Ark: Survival Evolved</i> 2017 video game

Ark: Survival Evolved is a 2017 action-adventure survival video game developed by Studio Wildcard. In the game, players must survive being stranded on one of several maps filled with roaming dinosaurs, fictional fantasy monsters, and other prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and potentially hostile human players.

<i>Fortnite Creative</i> 2018 sandbox video game

Fortnite Creative is a sandbox game, developed and published by Epic Games, part of the video game Fortnite. It was released on December 6, 2018, for Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in November 2020 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

References

  1. Schauss, Peter. "About - Timeline". www.unrealsoftware.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  2. Schauss, Peter. "Unreal Software - Thread: Open Source". www.unrealsoftware.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  3. Schauss, Peter. "Unreal Software - Thread: Stranded III Dev. Blog". www.unrealsoftware.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  4. "Stranded 3 - Unreal Software" . Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  5. "Stranded 3 Mobile Versions" . Retrieved 6 January 2014.