The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet
Encyclopedia
The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet is a 1996 work of interactive fiction
by Graham Nelson
, distributed in z-code
format as freeware
. It won the 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition
after being entered pseudonym
ously under the name "Angela M. Horns" (an anagram
of "Graham Nelson"). The game is set in the Zork
universe created by Infocom
, or a copy of that universe. Nelson has described the connection to the Zork universe as "tenuous." Sherbet uses a similarly light-hearted style to the original Zork games. The game resembles a traditional Zork-style dungeon-crawl, with some additional twists.
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
by Graham Nelson
Graham Nelson
Graham A. Nelson is a British mathematician and poet and the creator of the Inform design system for creating interactive fiction games. He has also authored several IF games, including the acclaimed Curses and Jigsaw , using the experience of writing Curses in particular to expand the range of...
, distributed in z-code
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
format as freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
. It won the 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition
Interactive Fiction Competition
The Interactive Fiction Competition is one of the best known of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours playing a game before deciding how many points to award it...
after being entered pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ously under the name "Angela M. Horns" (an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of "Graham Nelson"). The game is set in the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
universe created by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
, or a copy of that universe. Nelson has described the connection to the Zork universe as "tenuous." Sherbet uses a similarly light-hearted style to the original Zork games. The game resembles a traditional Zork-style dungeon-crawl, with some additional twists.