''Stranded'' is a 3D

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game, developed by Unreal Software. The main goal of the

Robinsonade Robinsonade () is a literary genre that takes its name from the 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simply a ...

game is to survive on a dangerous island and to find a way to return home. The game is free to download and play. The second installment of the game was released under the

CC BY-NC-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

with its

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

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 The Rhein-Zeitung (''RZ'') is a regional German daily broadsheet newspaper published in Koblenz by Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH and distributed across Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rhe ...

. After release of Version 1.3 development ceased, and the ''Stranded''

was released, but without any license information given, thus leaving all copyrights still on Peter Schauß.

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 In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or i ...

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 A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

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 A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrel ...

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 bird Kiwi ( ) are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the order Apterygiformes. The five extant species fall into the family Apterygidae () and genus ''Apteryx'' (). Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest ...

s 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 In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

. 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 Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

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 ''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specific ...

in mind.

''Stranded 3''

As of 2012, Peter Schauß has started working on another sequel, ''Stranded III''. 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. There is no mobile version planned but there are possibilities that once the PC version is launched mobile development will take place.

References

External links

Developer Unreal Software official website

Official ''Stranded'' home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stranded (Game) 2003 video games Action-adventure games Freeware games Video games set on islands Windows games Windows-only games Windows-only freeware games Survival video games Video games developed in Germany Video games with available source code