Below the Root (computer game)

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Below the Root

Developer(s)	Windham Classics
Publisher(s)	Windham Classics
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Platform(s)	IBM PC (DOS), Commodore 64, Apple II

Below the Root is an adventure game released by Telarium (later known as Windham Classics) in 1984. It is based on the Green-sky trilogy, published between 1975 and 1979 by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Though not a typical example of an adventure game, Below the Root featured the largest game world of any adventure game available until that time. The player can assume the role of one of five characters with different abilities, a member of one of two races - the Kindar or the Erdling - and attempt to settle the existing differences between the two groups.

[edit] History

The game was based on a series of books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Explaining how the game came about, she wrote:

"Like so many of my books, the trilogy's deepest root goes back to my early childhood when I played a game that involved crossing a grove of oak trees by climbing from tree to tree, because something incredibly dangerous lived "below the root." Years later when I was writing The Changeling I recalled the game, and in the course of embellishing it for that story, became intrigued with the idea of returning to the world of Green-sky for a longer stay. The return trip took three years and produced three more books. Initially published in 1975, 1976, and 1978, the trilogy was later reincarnated as a computer game (published by Spinnaker Software of Cambridge, MA).

The computer game transpired when I was contacted by a young computer programmer named Dale Disharoon. After Dale introduced me to the world of computer games, I wrote and charted, Dale programmed, and a young artist named Bill Groetzinger made marvelous graphics for a game that takes off from where the third book of the trilogy ends." source

[edit] Gameplay Features

This game was highly ambitious and had many subtle and clever details woven into the game's universe. First of all were the social norms of Green-Sky. Theft and violence were nearly alien concepts to the books' characters. Therefore, one could not (as is common with adventure games) simply walk into a room and pocket an unattended object. One had to find the owner of the object and ask permission, buy the object in a shop, or locate the object in a public area. Particularly interesting was the extremely low level of violence in the game. The player was almost unable to hurt anything, and could be hurt only by falling, unfriendly animals, or walking into walls. (Even the occasional adversary did not hurt one's character, although one might find oneself kidnapped and held prisoner; in a prison-house one might find a sword lying around. This sword could be used to cut vegetation, in place of the shed beaks of trencher birds normally used by Kindar, which tended to break after a few rounds. It was also possible to kill people with this sword, but there were serious, permanent penalties to your abilities for doing so. Taking lives would essentially make the game unwinnable, which is consistent with the themes expressed in the original story.

It was among the first games that offered a choice of multiple protagonists, as well as a choice of gender, age, race, and beginning level of psychic powers (referred to as "Spirit-skills"). Furthermore, people treated the characters differently based on your choice of avatar. A child character could be invited to play. Erdling characters could be given a chilly reception at some Kindar houses and vice versa. Small groups of religious fanatics from both races existed in the game. Consistent with the books, these people were portrayed as being opposed to any alliances between the two cultures, and thus had to be avoided whenever possible. "Pensing" emotions when encountering a stranger could provide clues to their attitudes and distinguish friend from foe. While the game's technology limited the extent of these features, they were certainly present.

Another interesting detail is that the Kindar characters (tree-born) did not get much nutrition out of eating meat, since they were vegetarians. If a Kindar character eats meat, he temporarly loses his psychic abilities. Likewise, the narcotic Wissenberries were somewhat more health-damaging to Erdling (ground-born) characters. In the books, Kindar -- even children -- often used the berries in rituals and ceremony, as well as recreationally, and for relief of physical and emotional pain.

Most of the gameplay focused on the challenges of getting the character to move around the game world. Various objects in the game could help this: of primary importance was the "shuba," a flying-squirrel-like garment which allows the character to glide diagonally instead of falling, and also prevented the character from being hurt by falls. Along the way, one learns a variety of "Spirit skills" or psychic abilities of progressive difficulty. The Spirit-skills, which included telepathy (called "pensing"), telekinesis (called "kiniporting") and the ability to influence plant life ("grunspreking") are the key to making progress in the game world and achieving the ultimate goal. Communicating with animals as well as people through telepathy is vital to enhancing the character's Spirit-skills.

The graphics were exquisitely colored, highly advanced for the time. Users have described the deeply evocative and compelling qualities of the images as being one of the main reasons they kept playing. An unknown composer wrote a number of bell-like musical phrases very much in the style of the choral chant important to both cultures as described in the books. As in today's games, these pieces are heard when an important discovery is made or the player gains important skills or advances.

The game is a direct sequel to the books, and is meant by the author to be taken as canon. It originated in Snyder's realization that one of her final plot elements had been a huge mistake. She was being flooded with mail from adults and children, but could not see any way to change the ending now that the book was on the market. In addition, she had believed the event she described to be necessary to the ultimate resolution of the plot. Introduced to the concept of computer games, Snyder saw a way to redeem the situation while keeping and even advancing the original plot. The object of the game is to solve the mystery of what really happened.