Stranded


Background

The Stranded project started in 1988. Inspired by Infocom, we started by designing a language to write it in, called Rabies. Rabies managed what few commercial languages have done, in combining the clarity of Assembler with the speed of C64 Basic, along with a programming environment that beats Edline by inches. We had a version of the game running, if not bug-free, on the C64 at the end of 1990. A port of both the language and the game to the Amiga along with refinements were made in 1991. Two attempts at porting the game to PC, first in TADS, then in Common Lisp, were made around 1993. We made a half-hearted attempt at porting the language to PC in 1995, but the code was a bit unclear. Also, we still have the Rabies sourcecode of the game, but that isn't any more useful than a core dump, due to the character of the language. We began porting it to Inform at the beginning of 1996. It is currently being alpha-tested.

Here is a transcript from the beginning of Stranded 

Bedroom                                              Score: 0     Moves: 1


So, it's finally time again for the long awaited skiing holiday at your cabin in
the Black Forest in Germany. You have worked hard the last few months at the
office in Canberra and you don't mind leaving Australia for a while.

Yesterday, you arrived Germany and met up with your friend who lends you a car
while you are here. The flight was terrible and the food worse. You have
promised your wife and daughters to try to change the return ticket to another
airline. However, as you wake up the first morning at the cabin you find that
your family is gone...

Stranded
An Interactive Story
Copyright (c) 1989-96 by Johan Berntsson, Fredrik Ramsberg and Staffan Friberg.

Release 1 / Serial number 961117 / Inform v6.05 Library 6/2

Bedroom
You are in your bedroom. Most of the floor space is taken by a rather large
double bed. Against a wall there is also a small table, or desk, before which
is a chair. In one corner of the room is a large cupboard. A door leads
southwest.

>

Release

Stranded has now been released. Eventually, we had to change the title, since another game called Stranded was published in 2001. So, our game is now called Vacation Gone Awry. You can download the game, or try it out online, at http://vacation.ramsberg.net

Go back to Fredrik's Interactive Fiction page

Fredrik Ramsberg
fredrik@ramsberg.net
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