The Underside
a platform adventure

+

The Almighty Paintbrush
a platform adventure editor
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PREVIEW BUILD: this preview contains the same first ~2-5% of the game, though a
               few changes have been made to the dialogue, etc. the game is more
               or less the same as it was before and is included only for the sake
               of providing an example of how things can be done with the editor!

               PLEASE report all bugs on the official forums:
               http://www.insignificantstudios.com/forums/

               also, share all your creations on those same forums as well!

MISC. CONTROLS----------------------------------------------------------------

        NOTE: THESE CONTROLS APPLY ONLY TO THE GAME. FOR EDITOR INFORMATION
              CHECK THE DOCS/ DIRECTORY!

        F2         Restart the game
        ALT+ENTER  Switch fullscreen/windowed
        ALT+F4     Quit the game

DEFAULT CONTROLS--------------------------------------------------------------
        
        Z           jump
        X           shoot
        A           previous weapon
        S           next weapon
        I           inventory
        arrows      move

IMPORTANT NOTES---------------------------------------------------------------

        there's no way to actually quit the game right now besides pressing alt+f4, or
        hitting the [x], so remember to do that when you're done.

SETTING IT UP-----------------------------------------------------------------

        for now, edit config.txt to edit controls and settings.

STORY-------------------------------------------------------------------------

        In the beginning, the World was flat, and it was pure, and it was good.
        From atop his Almighty Throne, The Universal King looked upon the plain, white
        landscape.

        He grabbed his Almighty Paintbrush and with one mighty swing of his arm...
        stroked layers of Life onto the expansive canvas.

        But then the World became full of corruption and evil, and so the Universal
        King decided to start anew.

        And so with a mighty flip, he turned the World upside down, and so the top
        side became the Underside, and the bottom side became the Overside.
        
        And it was good.

        The Overside's new inhabitants, the People, thrived for millions of years.
        However, these People, made of dirt and originating from the under side of
        the World, were inherently dirty.

        And so the world again became corrupt and evil.

        So, The Universal King, now running out of sides to flip to decided that the World
        was beyond saving, and so he decided to wipe it from existence.

        But unable to destroy the World that he had so cherished and loved, he gave the
        World his ultimatum:

        If he could find a single Person who could show him that the World had not completely
        fallen to evil, the World would be saved.

        But if he could not find a reason to preserve his creation,
        the World would be destroyed by his very hands.

        Will the world be saved?
        Does such a Person truly exist?

ABOUT THE GAME----------------------------------------------------------------

        the underside is an exploration based action platformer in the vein
        (it's a pun~) of games like castlevania, metroid, and cave story. however,
        unlike most other games in this genre, the gameplay is driven more by plot
        than by free-roaming exploration (though the world is fully explorable).

        the game's graphics and engine are (believe it or not) completely original.
        the game's engine is written in clickteam's multimedia fusion 2, while the
        graphics are done in humanbalance's graphicsgale.

        the music is written by both me (arthur lee), and my close friend, j. michael
        brown. done in fruityloops using the 3xosc plugin as well as tweakbench's toad
        and peach vsts, the game's soundtrack has a real retro feel to it.

        the game's plot revolves around a character named 'ip' who must escape from the
        underside, and maybe prevent the world from being destroyed while he's at it.
        the game's world, characters, plot strands, and dialogue are heavily inspired
        by earthbound, and are quirky, whimsical, and sometimes a little strange.

        the gameplay is very fast paced -- a lot more akin to games like megaman or metal
        slug rather than metroid or cave story in terms of pacing.

CREDITS-----------------------------------------------------------------------

        programming
                arthur lee

        story/writing
                arthur lee

        art
                arthur lee

        music
                arthur lee
                j michael brown

        level design
                arthur lee
                david walton (the hamburger cave)

        this game was programmed in multimedia fusion 2 by clickteam ( http://www.clickteam.com )

CONTACT INFORMATION-----------------------------------------------------------

        email:    arlee@ucsd.edu
        website:  http://www.insignificantstudios.com/
        aim:      the podunkian

        feel free to contact me, but use aim at a last resort, especially since i only really use
        it to talk to people i already know in real life, okay~?

OTHER STUFF-------------------------------------------------------------------

        for the sake of not ruining the game for yourself, you shouldn't look at/modify the script
        files for the game until after i've released the whole game. that way you won't spoil the
        story for yourself, or anyone else. thanks~!

COPYRIGHT---------------------------------------------------------------------

        copyright 2006-2008 arthur lee
        do not use or modify any portion of this software without permission, please!
        this software may not be distributed or sold on any CDs, etc. without permission either!


