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Get lost and survive on a desert island in Survivors: The Quest, out now on iOS [Sponsored]

Only on iPad

Get lost and survive on a desert island in Survivors: The Quest, out now on iOS [Sponsored]
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| Survivors: The Quest

When you first read about Survivors: The Quest you'd be forgiven for drawing comparisons to the TV show Lost.

In the game, you wake up on a secluded island with two fellow survivors following a plane crash and it's your job to secure their physical and emotional wellbeing. That means hunting for food, collecting and repairing useful items, and ensuring that there are no potentially life-threatening fall outs.

After setting up a small shelter and resolving the food situation, your characters will want to start exploring their new tropical abode. This is where it all gets a bit Lost. You see, the island isn't as isolated as it first appears. The survivors will discover odd buildings, a laptop, and scientific equipment which suggests that research was conducted on the island.

It's easy to see where the appeal of Survivors: The Quest is from a video game perspective. Humans have an innate desire for survival so, naturally, a video game based on this will be intriguing - that's why there are quite a few survival-based games already on the App Store.

Mike Zakharov, executive producer of G5 Entertainment, believes that the mechanic of micro-managing three different survivors is a real stand-out feature.

Zakharov said: "Players can switch between these characters, navigating them to different locations or having them join forces to accomplish certain tasks faster - your survivors can search for stuff separately, but will have to collaborate to construct certain objects and solve puzzles together.

"You’ll also be managing the Comfort, Hunger, Stamina, and Fun of these characters, and building relationships between them. And there is even more than that! Not only the characters will have to deal with the forces of nature but also with a legacy of the people who were on this island before them."

It's clear for all to see that Survivors: The Quest was fuelled by big ideas and grand aspirations but, even with the full force of a major studio behind you, there are still many challenges when developing a game.

"The most challenging thing was choosing the features that we want to see in the initial release, and deciding which features and content we can deliver to players later through the updates. It’s not always easy to tell yourself: "Ok let’s run with some ideas and leave the others for future updates.""

Survivors: The Quest managed to make it through and tell the tale, however, and Zakharov is proud of what himself and the team at G5 Entertainment have created.

"Our greatest source of pride is that we made many different game play elements and aspects of the game work together really well and tied them into a coherent, entertaining gaming experience. It wasn’t easy.
The game is complex, yet it is quite simple to play Survivors. The intuitive, well designed, interface makes it easy to progress."

Item-manipulation (gathering food, crafting or repairing items, and solving puzzles) and the involved interaction between the survivors are the two features that the team particularly wanted to get just right.

"Relations between characters is very important in Survivors. And my favorite thing is that collaboration is the key to survival - just like in a real life."

Though the game has just been released into the App Store wild, G5 Entertainment won't be resting on their laurels. The game is still being actively developed, with those features that fell onto the cutting floor during development being brought back to life.

"More locations, characters, and tons of new quests and activities are already in development. Also, more storyline twists regarding secrets of the island and relations between characters will be revealed in future updates."

For now Survivors: The Quest is an iOS-only title but Zakharov is keen to emphasise that other platforms are not being neglected.

"(We) plan to launch Survivors on Android, Kindle Fire/Fire Phone, Windows Phone, Windows 8/RT and Mac."

Head on over to the App Store [download] to begin your tropical survival adventure today.

Chris James
Chris James
A footy game fanatic and experienced editor of numerous computing and game titles, lively Chris is up for anything - including running Steel Media! (Madman!)