Stranded Isle is a survival/crafting PICO-8 game inspired by
Minicraft. The goal is to gather resources to craft a boat and escape the island. This TAS aims to do this in the fastest time possible without abusing item duplication.
About the game
The game has 3 main versions, titled "P.Craft", "P.Craft Deluxe" and "Stranded Isle". P.Craft is the original version from 2016, while P.Craft Deluxe and Stranded Isle are both the same, updated version from 2017 featuring an extra optional boss and a save game system. Though the TAS is technically played on P.Craft Deluxe, I figured Stranded Isle is the more recognisable and better sounding name, so I'm using it in the submission.
The 2016 version is generally faster for this run, since it's a single cart game as opposed to SI's separate menu and game carts, taking around a second to switch from one to the other. The cart switch allows for more precise RNG manipulation however, which is why I opted to use the later version of the game.
About the run
Commentary on specific events in the run is available in the form of subtitles in the youtube upload.
Finishing the game requires simply completing a shopping list of items. Most of these are simply dropped from blocks in the world, but some need to be obtained from enemies or dug up from the ground. The list is as follows:
- 70 wood
- 69 stone
- 24 iron
- 10 gems
- 36 sand
- 27 ichor
- 12 fabric
As far as optimization goes, the main aspects to focus on in the run are RNG and the stamina bar.
Stamina is used when swinging a tool or weapon, and regenerates when it's not being used. This means that optimal play requires starting to use up stamina as soon as possible, and then never letting it fully recharge. This makes optimization quite a challenge, as sometimes I need to start working on gathering multiple resources at once in order to keep consuming stamina while waiting for RNG to be favourable.
Randomness is the other huge factor. Of the items that need to be gathered most drop a random amount between 2 and 4 upon breaking the block, zombies can drop 0-2 ichor and fabric and digging sand with a shovel has a 50% chance to drop a piece. Zombie spawns also occur randomly when travelling up or down the ladder and finally damage dealt by stone tools/weapons is also randomized. In addition to all of this there aren't many things that advance the RNG value. Hitting blocks or enemies or digging sand is a good way to manipulate it, but there are only so many blocks I can hit, and only so many times I can hit them before they break. Digging sand is also not ideal if it doesn't drop a piece of sand, as then it's a waste of stamina. The most reliable way to advance RNG is having enemies on the screen and letting them do their thing, but even that is not ideal as each one advances RNG pretty slowly on and if they ever target the player then they stop changing the RNG value. Taking damage is also a way to advance RNG, but since it requires having zombies around most of the time it's better to just let them advance it on their own.
Special thanks
- negative_seven, for once again solving the random seed problem and finding a system time that generates a good world layout
Possible improvements
- As always, RNG could be better. The seed I searched for focused on having zombies around to advance RNG without them being able to get to me while I gather resources, but it ended up being a layout that's quite difficult to traverse and collect resources while maintaining optimal stamina usage
- I didn't try to manipulate damage values at all. In fact, occasionally I added hits to blocks because breaking the block sooner did not yield enough drops. Manipulating drops without wasting stamina was tedious enough on it's own.
- Optimally I would not switch tools as often, since being in the menu pauses the game and prevents stamina regen. This once again comes down to the seed not being great for resource gathering.
InfoTeddy: Impressive use of RNG manipulation and stamina optimization. Accepting to Standard.
