Homestuck

Homestuck is the newest MS Paint Adventure, and as of March 2010 has become the biggest one yet. It started on the tenth of April, 2009, with Homestuck Beta. The Stable Release started on the thirteenth of April (413 becoming a recurring number) in-universe, and probably in the same year, judging by the fact that, according to an in-game calendar, it started on the same day of the week (Monday) both in-game and in reality.

Based on Andrew's new interest in Flash and the layout of Homestuck Beta, it was originally thought that it would be heavily Flash-based, with animations and music, and would drop the MS Paint-style art. However, when the Homestuck Stable Release came, it was revealed that it would continue its art style and use of animated GIFs instead. It was revealed a few days later in Andrew's blog that this was not planned, but rather, it was because doing a whole series on flash was too difficult and time consuming for him. Although most of the adventure is still created with animated gifs, there are still occasional flash updates which take the form of movies or even interactive minigames, and include music.

Plot
Unlike previous adventures, Andrew is employing MSPA Reader commands in order to tell his own complex, pre-planned tale, though he has stated he still sometimes makes things up as he goes.

As written on the MS Paint Adventures site, Homestuck is "a tale about a boy and his friends and a game they play together." It centers around a boy named John Egbert, who, on his thirteenth birthday, receives the latest computer game, called Sburb, a mysterious multi-player game which allows people to manipulate each other's environment. John's online friend, Rose Lalonde, manipulates John's environment with the server application, unintentionally setting off a chain of events that will lead to the teleportation of John's house to an alternate dimension called The Medium. However, by doing this, Rose is also in peril. But, due to a mishap, John cannot rescue Rose, and another friend, Dave Strider, must come to Rose's rescue, and Jade Harley in turn.

But as Sburb is being played, there are grave consequences for the world. The Sburb beta was released as an apocalyptic meteor shower was impending. When a player begins the game, they only have a short time to figure out how to save themselves. As millions are playing, the world is being destroyed before their very eyes. John and his friends are forced to discard their world for one of 'warring royalty' in a 'timeless expanse', where the forces of light and darkness struggle for dominion over the realm of Skaia, with only the Kernelsprites as their guides. In addition to this, John and his friends must deal with a variety of other problems along the way, including infuriating inventory systems, dark monsters like Shale Imps, Guardians making their lives miserable, and more - all of it playing a part in a grand adventure the likes of which no one has ever seen.

Many scenes occur in the future, meteor-ravaged world of 2422, where there are few survivors. Desert wanderers, perhaps escapees from an unjust system, uncover new revelations about Sburb and embark on grand adventures of their own, who's destiny it is to restore life and civilization to the planet. What the future will hold, we can only guess (or use the Suggestion Box.)

Acts
Act 1 - The Note Desolation Plays (Starts 4/13/09, ends 6/7/09)

Act 2 - Raise of the Conductor's Baton (Starts 6/10/09, ends 10/11/09)

Act 3 - Insane Corkscrew Haymakers (Starts 10/14/09, ends 1/14/10)

Intermission - Midnight Crew (Starts 1/14/10, ends 2/9/10)

Act 4 - ?????? (Starts 2/9/10)

Differences between the Beta and the Stable Release
Besides the art, flash, etc., Homestuck had many changes made to it when the Stable Release came out. Here's a list of everything Beta had that the Stable Release didn't:


 * The story started on the tenth of April instead of the thirteenth (both in-game and in real life), and starts on a Friday.
 * Likewise, the Sburb Beta was released on the seventh of April instead of the tenth.
 * John is ten years old instead of thirteen.
 * The hammer and nails are on the desk rather than on the floor.
 * Beta only includes the colors green and red, while the stable release has many others.
 * You cannot see the other items inside the Magic Chest.
 * You "place" the items in your Sylladex instead of "captchalogue" them in your Sylladex.
 * It includes a command that the Stable Release didn't: "John: Move green icon to MAGIC CHEST and click." It is excluded because only Beta uses the click-and-drag option.
 * John attempts to retrieve his arms from a drawer in his bed instead of his dresser drawer.