You, it seems, are an alien researcher whose ship has crashed on an Earth now empty of humans--'twasn't nuclear war, though, 'twas a Green Plague (not much development on the specifics there) that wiped everyone out. As an expert on Homo sapiens (or, to you, "the Ancients"), stranded on the planet you're supposed to understand, your mission is to apply your knowledge to get yourself out of your plight one way or another, though exactly how isn't clear at the outset. (Nor, arguably, is it at the end, though you have a better idea.) You explore a small suburban home in an anthropologist's mindset--in the bathroom: "From your knowledge of Ancient social mores, this was likely to have been a personal cleansing area." The effect is occasionally like that of a short story I once read called something like "Daily Rituals of the Nacirema"--I don't remember the author--which similarly describes common daily suburban life as an anthropologist might. But the intent there was to parody, and Glowgrass is more science fiction than sociology--and, moreover, the Earth you're witnessing is several technological notches up on us currently, so most things are only indirectly familiar. It's something of a strange way to go about it, but the story does, for the most part, hold up, more because it's well written than because of striking originality.
The main problem with the plot, though, is that there's just not enough there. You get snippets about yourself, but not enough to really figure out who you are, what you were doing coming to Earth in the first place, what you really think of "the Ancients" or of the things you find. Nor, as noted, is the fate of the Earth made clear--you find a printout that hints at a plague, but why did it happen? What sort of plague was it, how was it spread, how did it start, did anyone survive or get off the planet? It might be unfair to expect all this from a competition entry, but a story as complex as this one should get at least some development, and there really isn't much to go on here. There are offhand references at the end that seem entirely cryptic--which gives the impression that the author either has a sequel planned or meant to develop the plot more in this one and never got around to it. If there is more to come, I look forward to it--but this snippet is so truncated that it's a bit frustrating.
The gameplay is mostly adequate, though the required syntax is often rather specific, and steps for piecing together one mechanical puzzle aren't entirely logical (you have to be holding certain objects that you hook together but not others). At one point, a certain NPC says to you "I didn't think of that!", even if you've already mentioned it to her. And there is a vehicle that is a location unto itself, so "get out of" it doesn't work, and objects that appear to be in plain sight require "examine" to find. More irritatingly, crashes are frequent--and I'm running the latest DOS TADS runtime, so I don't think it's the interpreter. In a small game, of course, it's not a huge issue--but one hopes that a future release will clean things up.
Glowgrass is not particularly difficult--there are only three puzzles, really, though some searching of scenery is necessary to solve those puzzles, and they're all fairly straightforward mechanical assemble-and-apply-the-objects puzzles. (Though there is one moment that requires simply waiting around for four or five turns, not initially obvious to me.) But the writing is good enough to keep you involved; you have the sense of inhabiting the mind of a character who is genuinely intrigued and surprised by what he finds. At times, the writing takes on the overwritten character of mediocre science fiction, and you get this:
A gasp wells in your throat, as vividly you relive how it must have been; to suffer such agony, so young. For the first time you regret the empathic talent which led you to xenohistory. A moment later, the mood passes, leaving you still somehow chilled.For one thing, tears well in eyes; gasps don't generally well in throats. For another, you're not reliving anything, you're trying to imagine, and your capacity to do that is fairly limited considering who you are. More importantly, imputing emotions is difficult to do well--see this year's Sunset Over Savannah for an exceptionally good attempt--and in a scene like this, where the player can infer perfectly well what he or she is supposed to be feeling (your "empathic talent" is a little weird; why it would lead you to researching Earth is too hard to infer), there's no need to inform the player that he or she feels sad or empathetic or anything else. Similarly, you're told at another point that a room "still retains the awe and innocence of the Ancient age," which feels like overkill, unless the author wants to tell us exactly why it seems that way. But there are also good moments that recall, well, good science fiction, such as the following from the intro:
A minute later, you get to your feet, pain gnawing your body. Scratch one dropship; nobody could have survived that crash. Scratch your equipment. Now it's just you, your wits - and the Ancients. Hope you're as good a xenohistorian as you claimed at the Institute. Because unless you find some kind of way out of here, it could be months before a recovery team locates you.Not profound, but concise and even witty in a rueful sort of way. There are several shaky moments, in terms of writing, in Glowgrass, but the game is short enough that it's not a major problem; if this were followed up or expanded into a full-length game, the imputing-emotions bit might get wearisome. At any rate, Mr. Cull keeps us involved throughout, and even manages to pass off one quasi-metaphysical moment (in that it's somewhere between spiritual and technological) with a minimum of conscious suspension of disbelief. (At least, that's how it felt to me.) Though that moment doesn't really feel as transcendent as it should, it's convincing and gives the story a jolt.
Glowgrass, in short, is a competent and reasonably interesting little entry, though it feels more like a teaser than a game in its current state. I hope the cryptic references will be elucidated in a later game; for now, I give this one a 7 on the competition scale.