Gleaming the Verb

One-room IF Comp 2009 21st of 24

Gleaming the Verb
Author(s)	Kevin Jackson-Mead
Publisher(s)	n/a
Release date(s)	01-Oct-2009
Authoring system	Inform 7
Platform(s)	Z-code
Language(s)	English
License(s)	Freeware
Multimedia
Color effects	none
Graphics	none
Sound/Music	none
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Cruelty to be determined

How It Begins

You might be anyone, naked, and carrying nothing. You inexplicably find yourself in a featureless cubical room of glowing beige plastic containing nothing whatsoever except yourself and a metal cube. A synthetic voice instructs you to READ THE CUBE.

Notable Features

• Wordplay. Based on cryptic clues, the player must determine which verbs are useful for manipulating the cube.
• Barely interactive. The player can do nothing but guess the verb; the environment cannot be explored or otherwise interacted with.
• Barely fiction. The premise serves only to isolate the PC with a single object, the cube. The story is not followed up on.

Trivia and Comments

• The title is a homage to the movie Gleaming the Cube (see imdb, Wikipedia). According to the Wikipedia article, the titular phrase is meaningless.

Versions

Release 1

• Gleaming the Verb (Kevin Jackson-Mead; 01-Oct-2009; Z-code).
  • Release 1 / Serial number 090930 / Inform 7 build 5Z71 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
  • IFID: 25436357-9417-4B4B-9858-43DEE5E872C0
    IFID links: IFDB
  • IF Comp 2009: 21st place of 24 entries.
  • Download gleaming.z5 from the IF Archive

Links

General info

• Gleaming the Verb (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Gleaming the Verb - at IFDB.
• Gleaming the Verb - at ifwizz interactive fiction (in German).

Reviews

• Review by Philip Armstrong.
• Review by Sam Kabo Ashwell.
• Review by J. D. Berry - in SPAG.
• Review by Renee Choba.
• Review by Riff Conner.
• Review by Dark Star.
• Review by Ben Dixon.
• Review by Shane Fitzgerald-Gale.
• Review by David Fletcher.
• Review by Jeremy Freese.
• Review by FrozenIsles Productions.
• Review by Victor Gijsbers.
• Review by Hipolito.
• Review by Christopher Huang.
• Review by Denis Klotz.
• Review (in Russian) by Valentine Kopteltsev (uux).
• Review by Amanda Lange.
• Review by Yoon Ha Lee.
• Review by Juhana Leinonen.
• Review by Michael Martin.
• Review by memegarden.
• Review by Rob Menke.
• Review by George Oliver.
• Review by Wesley Osam.
• Review by Jenni Polodna.
• Review by Portmanteau - at IFDB.
• Review by reviewslinger.
• Review by Rhian.
• Review by George Shannon.
• Review by Dan Shiovitz.
• Review by Emily Short.
• Review by Mike Snyder.
• Review by Sorrel - at IFDB.
• Review by TempestDash - at IFDB.
• Review by tenjouutena.
• Review by Matt Weiner.
• Review by Jake Wildstrom.
• Review by Daniel Wilson.
• Review (in Russian) by yandexx.

Spoilers

• Download gleaming.txt from the IF Archive. Walkthrough by the author.
• Walkthrough and map by David Welbourn.