Dev Blog
Hi, this is the Stranded III development blog (see also Forum Thread, Comment Thread).
Entry 123 - Mobile Renderer and more - September 23, 2026
Mobile Renderer
I noticed that the game doesn't run on my laptop anymore after switching to Godot 4.7.
I found out that the Forward+ renderer isn't supported by some older/cheaper GPUs. That's a pitty as I want Stranded III to run on as many systems as possible.
To work around this limitation I now switched to mobile renderer which seems to be a pretty standard approach.
Luckily visual impact is minimal and the only feature I had to drop for this to happen is volumetric fog. Acceptable. Now the game runs fine again on my Laptop as well (HUAWEI MateBook 13s with Intel Core i5-11300H and Intel Iris Xe Graphics iGPU).
Sunshafts
Since I lost volumetric fog I added a fake replacement for a comparable effect. Sunshafts are now spawned automatically near trees. These are volumetric objects objects with a particle system to make things feel more alive. It's an effect which can be disabled in the settings.
Sunshafts! Click for bigger version!
Random Terrain Freedom
It's now possible to make random/procedural island generation less random - if you want to.
You can optionally draw rough island shapes and even define basic hight levels.
This feature fills the gap between fully procedurally generated worlds and completely handcrafted maps in the map editor.
Speaking of the map editor: The feature is of course also available there. So you can generate a basic map shape like that and fine tune manually afterwards.
Heightmap Import
The heightmap import dialog for the map editor is done.
It allows you to import common image formats as heightmaps. You can define target height ranges and you are free to modify the aspect ratio and size of the island which will be generated from it.
Hands
What a breakthrough! We finally have first person hands!
I didn't make them myself. Instead I'm using this great asset.
I love that silly finger gun animation which is in there. Maybe I find a way to use that in the game somehow...
Some other important animations are missing though. So I'll have to add some more on my own.
Also I'm not 100% sure if the texture matches the Stranded III art style well enough. It's probably acceptable but maybe I'll make my own overpainted version later.
I noticed that the game doesn't run on my laptop anymore after switching to Godot 4.7.
I found out that the Forward+ renderer isn't supported by some older/cheaper GPUs. That's a pitty as I want Stranded III to run on as many systems as possible.
To work around this limitation I now switched to mobile renderer which seems to be a pretty standard approach.
Luckily visual impact is minimal and the only feature I had to drop for this to happen is volumetric fog. Acceptable. Now the game runs fine again on my Laptop as well (HUAWEI MateBook 13s with Intel Core i5-11300H and Intel Iris Xe Graphics iGPU).
Sunshafts
Since I lost volumetric fog I added a fake replacement for a comparable effect. Sunshafts are now spawned automatically near trees. These are volumetric objects objects with a particle system to make things feel more alive. It's an effect which can be disabled in the settings.
Sunshafts! Click for bigger version!Random Terrain Freedom
It's now possible to make random/procedural island generation less random - if you want to.
You can optionally draw rough island shapes and even define basic hight levels.
This feature fills the gap between fully procedurally generated worlds and completely handcrafted maps in the map editor.
Speaking of the map editor: The feature is of course also available there. So you can generate a basic map shape like that and fine tune manually afterwards.
Heightmap Import
The heightmap import dialog for the map editor is done.
It allows you to import common image formats as heightmaps. You can define target height ranges and you are free to modify the aspect ratio and size of the island which will be generated from it.
Hands
What a breakthrough! We finally have first person hands!
I didn't make them myself. Instead I'm using this great asset.
I love that silly finger gun animation which is in there. Maybe I find a way to use that in the game somehow...
Some other important animations are missing though. So I'll have to add some more on my own.
Also I'm not 100% sure if the texture matches the Stranded III art style well enough. It's probably acceptable but maybe I'll make my own overpainted version later.