Below the Root
A free browser port of the 1984 Commodore 64 platform-adventure Below the Root, with autosave and a map that fills in. The developer says AI models disassembled the original and wrote most of the JavaScript version.
Official site below-the-root.saul.pw, verified Nov 3, 2026. Posted by the developer on Hacker News (saulpw) as the Show HN link; the page is signed by Saul Pwanson for the Century Arcade.
Rights holder / original work: Below the Root (Windham Classics, 1984), based on Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky trilogy
An unofficial browser port of the 1984 Commodore 64 game, made by disassembling the original disk images; the page credits the original to Windham Classics, 1984. The port's asset data file says it was generated from binary dumps (build/raw/*.bin and an in-game dump), so the graphics appear to come from the original game. No source shows a licence or permission from the rights holders of the game or the novels. (Century Arcade (Saul Pwanson))
VibeGameDB lists this game only to document that it was made with AI coding tools. We do not host it, we do not represent the rights holder, and listing it does not mean it is licensed.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- Play free — official siteBrowserReleasedFree
Runs in a desktop or mobile browser. No download.
Browser (no download) · Mobile · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About Below the Root
This is a free browser port of Below the Root, the 1984 Commodore 64 side-scrolling platform-adventure published by Windham Classics as a sequel to Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky trilogy of novels. It is not an original game: the page calls it a high-quality restoration of the original. You explore the treetop world of Green-Sky, glide from screen to screen, talk to characters and use spirit skills, including sensing what characters feel, to solve its puzzles; it is winnable with all five characters, per the developer. The port adds an autosave on every screen, a permanent status indicator and a map that fills in as you explore, and plays with the keyboard or on mobile. The developer, Saul Pwanson of the Century Arcade, had tried to restore the C64 version in 2013 with an emulator. In the Show HN post the developer says that this time Fable and Astra were directed to dissect and disassemble the original disk images, write a spec and produce an equivalent JavaScript version; they got about 75% of the way mostly autonomously in one evening, and the developer then spent tens of hours playing it through, getting bugs fixed, tweaking the interface and writing the About page. The page itself says only that modern tools were used.
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe developer says: “this time I directed Fable and Astra in varying capacities to dissect and disassemble the original .G64 images, produce a spec, and produce a Javascript version equivalent to the original. They got about 75% mostly autonomously in a single evening.” The developer then spent a few tens of hours playing it through, getting bugs fixed and tweaking the interface, and mentions “difficult conversations with Claude”. Fable is recorded as Claude; Astra is named alongside it without a product, so it is described here only. The product used with Claude (chat, Claude Code or API) is not stated.
Per the Show HN post, the AI models disassembled the original C64 disk images (.G64), wrote a spec and produced a JavaScript version meant to be equivalent to the original; the developer played it through several times on different platforms, directed bug fixes and added quality-of-life features. The page is built from plain JavaScript modules with JSON data files for rooms, tiles, the map and assets; the asset file says it was generated by a script from binary dumps of the original.
- Engine / framework
- Not disclosed (JavaScript)
- Languages
- JavaScript
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Initial build time
- About 75% in one evening, then a few tens of hours of play and fixes, about a week before 13 Sep 2026Developer ReportedHacker News (saulpw)
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“They got about 75% mostly autonomously in a single evening.”Verification notes: The AI claim comes from the developer's Show HN post of 13 Sep 2026 (re-read on 4 Nov 2026): Fable and Astra disassembled the original disk images, wrote a spec and produced the JavaScript version, about 75% mostly autonomously in one evening. The developer names the models only as Fable and Astra and mentions conversations with Claude; Fable is recorded as Claude, as other Claude Fable records are. No share of the code is given. The game's own page does not mention AI and says only that modern tools were used (see conflicts). The page also says the developer has put at least a hundred hours into the project, which may include the 2013 attempt. Features, characters and the developer's background come from the page, which loaded on 4 Nov 2026 (English). The page's scripts make no calls to AI services. The port is recorded with a port notice because it reproduces a commercial 1984 game from its original disk images; the original publisher is credited on the page, and the trilogy is named by the developer. The game was not played.
Development history
- 2013
The developer first restores the C64 version as a bootable emulator image for the Century Arcade and shelves it as a beta.
DeveloperHacker News (saulpw) The developer posts the JavaScript port on Hacker News as a Show HN, about a week after starting it.
ObservedHacker News (saulpw)
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
Browser (official site)
Free in the browser; the game autosaves on every screen.
No public metrics recorded for this listing.
Not publicly available: Concurrent players (site), Monthly revenue, Gross revenue.
Sales & revenue (all platforms)
Browser game — there are no downloads to count.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Not currently ranked.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show HN: Below the Root (1984 game) ported to JavaScript Hacker News (saulpw) | Social post | Sep 13, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Play — Below the Root Century Arcade (Saul Pwanson) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) Century Arcade (Saul Pwanson) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
- How it was made
- The Show HN post says AI models produced the JavaScript port, with about 75% done mostly autonomously in one evening; the game's page says only that the developer used “modern tools” and that the developer has produced a complete port. (Hacker News (saulpw), Century Arcade (Saul Pwanson))
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