Glen the Space Man,

The Game

Welcome to Glen the Space Man, the Game.

This is a three dimensional VRML 2.0 game. You will need a VRML 2.0 browser past this point. Read the notes at the end of this page if you have questions about this.

What is this game about?

The game looks like this:

Before you lies a large blue open cube frame. Glen and his space ship are at the center of this cube frame. At the bottom of your field of view are six buttons. You click on these buttons to move Glen in any one of six directions.

There is another smaller cube frame within the larger cube frame. This is Glen's garage. You must steer Glen so that his head moves into the center of his garage. At that point Glen, and you, win. You will see a Glen Wins! message as long as Glen's head is in the center of his garage.

Want to play now? Listed below are links to the first four levels. Use the back button of your browser to return to this page

Level 1, No Spinning

Level 2, Spin Around Y Axis

Level 3, Spin Around X Axis

Level 4, Spin Around Z Axis

Want to know more? Read on...

How does Glen move?

Glen ejects mass cubes from his head. If he ejects one to the left, he moves to the right. Other directions work the same way. In the introductory levels you do not need to reason the direction in which to toss the mass cubes. You need only concern yourself with the direction in which you want Glen to move.

What do the buttons do?

There are six buttons in your lower field of view. They can move Glen in any of six directions. The first two are labeled +x and -x. They move Glen in the plus or minus x direction. This would be to the right for the +x direction and to the left for the -x direction.

The next two buttons are marked +y, which moves Glen upward, and -y, which moves Glen downward.

The last last two buttons are labeled +z and -z. The +z button moves Glen forward, which is initially directed out of the screen. The -z button moves Glen backward, which is initially directed into the screen.

How many mass cubes does Glen have?

At the start of the game Glen has twenty mass cubes in his head. There is a mass cube counter initially in the back lower left of your field of view. Every time Glen throws a cube, the counter goes down by one. Do not worry about running out of mass cubes. You can always get more by pressing the button labeled More.

How much time does Glen have?

Two minutes, then the game recycles. You can see a relative time readout in the back lower right corner of your initial field of view. When the counter gets to 1.0, the game recycles. This takes two minutes.

In some browsers when you play a certain level for the first time, you may not receive a complete two minute game. If the first game is short on time, the next ones will not be. Apparently, some VRML browsers do not start their internal clock correctly at the first moment that you see the game.

What happens every time Glen emits a mass cube?

Since Glen initially holds all of the mass cubes in his head, his total mass is reduced by the mass of one cube every time one is ejected. So, Glen, with slightly less mass, gets slightly more of a kick out of the second mass cube ejection than he did out of the first. The throwing of the third cube accelerates Glen more than the second, and so on. The last of the twenty cubes effects Glen the most.

When you press the More button, you fill Glen up with twenty mass cubes total, and he is once again in his most massive state.

At any time only one ejected mass cube is drawn. So, when you cause the second one to be thrown, the first one disappears.

What else?

In all but the first introductory level the large cube rotates along with all of its contents, which would be Glen and his spaceship and his garage. The buttons still control the motion as in the first stationary level, but you must translate that motion into the now spinning frame of reference. Up on the buttons means up from the

Have fun playing Glen the Space Man, The Game. Listed below are the links to the first four levels. Use the back button of your browser to return to this page.

Want to learn more about the physics behind Glen the Space Man?

Visit, or return to, the momentum section of Zona Land. Find the link below.