Below the Root

The story of Below the Root is set in Green-Sky, a world covered with enormous trees and wildlife. The player is tasked to stop the world from certain disaster. D'ol Falla, the ancient leader of Green-sky, had words given to her in a dream about a paling green light and a spirit fading away in darkness who must be sought out. The players must explore Green-sky and interact with the inhabitants of two civilizations, Kindar and Erdlings.

The two groups were estranged for years and were reunited by a young boy named Raamo who has vanished and must be found. As the player explores Green-Sky, their character interacts with five people such as the Wise Child and D'ol Nesh-om who give visions regarding Raamo and grant expanded abilities to traverse the world and find new clues to Raamo's whereabouts. These clues lead to Raamo's location. On discovering his whereabouts and optioning to rescue him, he declares the prophecy is fulfilled and Green-sky is saved.

Below the Root was developed by programmer Dale DeSharone. DeSharone initially began his career as an elementary school teacher. The principal at the school wanted to get computers and had DeSharone attend programming workshops for TRS-80 computers. He became interested in the possibility of computers presenting visual information and purchased an Atari 8-bit computer. He learned to program and began developing video games for students at the school.

During this period, Atari was running the Atari Program Exchange, which included a quarterly catalogue for prizes for best user made software. DeSharone submitted some of his educational games, which won him thousands of dollars' worth of Atari computer equipment in 1980. This led to DeSharone to leave teaching and form Dale Disharoon Inc., a California-based development studio which created computer games and began focusing on developing further educational games for home computers through publishers like The Learning Company and Spinnaker Software.

From contemporary reviews, Nick Piazza, Jr. of Compute! described the game as a "superb" adaptation of Snyder's Green Sky Trilogy. Piazza complimented the games scope and graphics of "the color and detail rival that of any arcade game.

There are more than 100 different screens, each a delight to the eye." Manfred Kohlen in the German video game magazine Happy Computer  called it "a beautiful and interesting role-playing game" and that the fantasy atmosphere, appealing graphics and unique gameplay elements such as mind reading were highlights. Computer Entertainer also praised the game as "delightfully different", specifically with the "beautifully formed and animated" main character and appreciated the "lush and gentle world of Green Sky."