The Flesh Game

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The Flesh Game
The Flesh Game

Developer: Tamás Tóth

Publisher: NewGround

Designer: Tamás Tóth

Engine: Flash

Version: Demo Release

Released: October 30, 2006

Genre: Adventure game

Modes: Single-player

Platforms: Cross platform

UPC/A7: N/A

ISBN-10: N/A

Media: Download


Blood: The Flesh Game is a small Flash adventure game mixing elements from Blood and Blood II: The Chosen starring Caleb. It was uploaded to NewGround on October 30, 2006 (Halloween Eve) by Tamás Tóth (Squall85). It is only available as a demo version, that the author intended to finish but claims to not have had time. The game is rated "mature" for "excessive violence" and it generally received positive reviews despite its shortness, some going as far as to say that it was their "favourite Flash game."

As the game is Flash-based it should run on Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and many other operating systems. The title "The Flesh Game" was chosen as it sounds like "The Flash Game" and "flesh" is a common word in Blood lore. The graphics were created by Tamás Tóth (except the Blood II "Caleb and the Moon" image) and the rights to which are his property. The sounds and music (and the Blood II "Caleb and the Moon" graphic) are from the official Blood games and are owned by Monolith Productions.

Story and Areas[edit]

--- Warning: Solutions to Puzzles Revealed in Following Text ---

The Flesh Game in many ways appears to be set during the second episode of Blood, such as the winter motif, hedge maze (also seemingly modelled after C5L1: Cold, Cold Grave), Blood era cultists, and the messages from the sixteenth incarnation of Tchernobog. Though there is no official setting for the game, and some Cultists wield CabalCo death ray type weapons and Caleb uses a Blood II type time bomb and pistols. Also take note that the list entries here are not the official names for the areas, as they are never stated. The list also has areas that are cinematic only (such as Darkening Sky and Graveyard).

The Flesh Game Areas


  • Area1: Entryway
  • Area2: Fireplace Room
  • Area3: Dining Room
  • Area4: Out the Window
  • Area5: Basement Entrance
  • Area6: Basement Bomb Area
  • Area7: Basement Zombie Area
  • Area8: Basement Phone Room
  • Area9: Telephone Close Up
  • Area10: Darkening Sky
  • Area11: Graveyard
  • Area12: Hedge Maze Main
  • Area13: Hedge Maze Gate
  • Area14: Hedge Maze Key Area
  • Area15: Concrete Pillars
  • Area16: Outdoor Battle Site
  • Area17: Infirmary Entrance
  • Area18: Infirmary Interior
  • Area19: Three Door Room
  • Area20: Telephone Close Up 2

Caleb's adventure begins outside a large red building surrounded by Cabal sharpshooters. The player's first action is to enter the house (the only other option leads to instant death). Caleb then finds himself in a well furnished room guarded by a man eating plant (in some ways similar to a Chrysalid Pod). After blasting the plant he proceeds down right where he approaches an area that has a dining table (with a plate of blood and a bite mark on the surface), a painting and a window. He has the option of heading right but if the player takes it Caleb is shot by a cultist through another window. Caleb has to open the previous window by selecting the pull string, then break the window and blast the cultist (before it fires back). Now he has two options, head to the basement or the attic. The attic turns out to be locked so you can only go down into the basement. The first basement area contains a wooden box, if you shoot the box the whole building explodes. However if you shoot the box's lock you get access to a bomb! Once this is completed Caleb proceeds right where he meets two zombies. The player has to click on Caleb's bomb holding hand to retrieve the explosive and then blow the two ghouls to pieces (if he does not have the bomb Caleb dies no matter what). Afterwards he enters a room where a zombie breaks out of its coffin and runs outside, then the wall mounted phone rings. Once Caleb picks it up he hears Tchernobog decree "You'll know what to do when the time comes."

Caleb proceeds to walk out of the building into a graveyard while dusk is breaking and nearby he finds a garden hedge maze. The player must navigate Caleb by moving the mouse and not collide with any hedges (the game is now in an overhead mode). If the player clicks on the ground Caleb freezes. Once reaching the exit gate Caleb attempts to open the lock on it to no avail. So he has to approach a sector where Caleb sees a skull key. Once there, the player is faced with a frozen "Johnny" (eg: Jack Torrance from The Shining) and an incoming zombie. Caleb has to grab a Voodoo Doll from Johnny and use it on the Zombie before continuing on through the maze. With the skull key Caleb unlocks the gate of the hedge maze, where he finds himself near some concrete columns, many of which are structurally insecure. Upon pressing the front left one a cloak of invisibility appears, which Caleb grabs and uses it to greatly impede the Cabal by firing through a large group of cultists and fanatics (if you do not have the cloak it all ends in tears). Now Caleb is in a body infirmary where he walks up and is blocked by a metal table. Caleb pushes the table which awakens a zombie lying on one of the push beds. Caleb's quick reflexes allows him to blast the villain though. Caleb then enters an area with three doors, one of which is marked "Exit." A phone descends in which he once again hears the dreaming god, "Two doors lead to certain death. Choose wisely!" If the player clicks on the wrong door then Caleb is crushed and mutilated. The left-most door is the correct one (which is the same pattern as the correct door in E1M5: Hallowed Grounds, as well as the painting in the dining room, hence the "You'll know what to do" comment. It also is not the one marked "Exit"). Caleb then escapes from the complex and a text screen appears telling why the author never completed the full game.

Controls[edit]

  • To move around in the non-hedge areas, click on the arrows encased in circles.
  • To fire your pistols, click on the enemy or item you wish to shoot.
  • To interact with an object click on it or in the hedge maze walk on it.
  • To use your bomb, click on the hand Caleb is using to hold it (the sprite will double in size if the cursor is on it correctly).
  • To navigate the overhead Caleb through the hedge maze move the mouse in the direction you wish him to travel.
  • If you die, find and click on the "Restart" button to be taken to a recent point in the game.
  • To begin navigating the hedge maze click on the "Start" button, do not move the mouse until the game loads!
  • To return to the main menu in game, click on the "Menu" button. Warning: all progress is lost!
  • At the skull key site or the hedge maze lock, click the "Continue" button to return to the maze. Do not move the mouse until it has loaded!
  • If you are running the Flash file stand alone (instead of on a website) then you can leave the boundaries of the hedge maze (into the grey border area).
  • If you are out of the boundaries you can move Caleb to the top or bottom of the maze (top being the easiest), then a quick mouse movement to the right can take him to the other side of the map (or left if for some reason you want to go back). This allows you to go directly to the locked gate cutting the length of one's journey but the "Exit" arrow does not work until you have the key.

Enemies[edit]

Items[edit]

  • Akimbo Pistols: Caleb's main weapon in the game, he has them at the start and all through the game.
  • Time Bomb: one time use only in the basement zombie area, collected in the previous basement zone.
  • Voodoo Doll: collected from "Johnny"'s frozen corpse, usable only once on the zombie attacker near Johnny.
  • Skull Key: found near Johnny, being guarded by a zombie. It is required to leave the hedge maze, as it unlocks to gate.
  • Cloak of Invisibility: makes Caleb invisible (except his hat), this allows the player past a Cabal ambush after collecting it from pushing a concrete column.

Caleb's Taunts[edit]

The Flesh Game contains many Caleb quips from Blood, Blood II: The Chosen and those game's expansions. Here is a list:

  • "WAGGH!" upon dying one way or another.
  • "Ding Dong! The bitch is dead" after hearing a woman scream, quip a reference to The Wizard of Oz.
  • "* Short Evil Laugh *" after blasting the man eating plant.
  • "Hmm, extraordinary use of colour, the composition is a bit lacking" commenting on a gothic style painting in parody of an art expert.
  • "That'll teach ya!" after slaying a cultist.
  • "I need a key!" after encountering the attic's unbreakable lock.
  • "* Long Shrill Scream *" while being grabbed by a zombie and being pulled into a box where he is eventually killed.
  • "I have something for you!" said while throwing the bomb at two zombies.
  • "Leftovers!" muttered just before the bomb detonates killing the two zombies.
  • "* Long Evil Laugh *" in response to the large explosion.
  • "Whoa!" after witnessing a zombie escape from it's coffin and walk out of the room. He also yells this when his arm is grabbed by a zombie.
  • "Strangers in the night! Exchanging glances..." sung by Caleb as night sets in. Lyrics from a song by Frank Sinatra.
  • "A hedge maze? How delightful!" sarcastically stated while approaching said hedge maze.
  • "Hmm..." uttered while wandering through hedge walls and when entering the infirmary.
  • "Locked!" murmured when encountering the locked hedge maze gate.
  • "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" beckoning a zombie to appear.
  • "Here's Johnny!" said upon taking the voodoo doll from Jack Torrance's frozen corpse, a reference to The Shining.
  • "Rest in pieces!" after disintegrating a zombie with the voodoo doll. Parody of "Rest in Peace" a common grave adornment.
  • "Run! Run! Run!" said while destroying a Cabal ambush while invisible due to the cloak of invisibility.
  • "Who wants some huh?! Who's next?!" excitedly after killing a bunch of Cabal.
  • "Whoa! Wrong door!" exclaimed after opening a wrong door, before being killed by a crusher.

Platform Shooter[edit]

Tamás Tóth had previously stated that he might build a Blood Flash platform game at some point in the future (stated in late 2007). Partly inspired by this Blood Wiki article, he announced work on it on August 5, 2008. One of the first things completed was the extraction of sounds from Blood and Blood II: The Chosen to use in the game. After a discussion with some commenting users, he decided to draw the sprites for the game himself, rather than use sprites from the games. As well as coming up with ideas himself, he is asking the community for help with the storyline and design.

Some Flash files, containing the in-progress engine were released. These include Caleb with a fully usable arsenal of a Pitchfork, Sawed-Off Shotgun, Tommy Gun, Dynamite Bundle, Aerosol Can, Napalm Launcher, Tesla Cannon, and Life Leech. There is also a body canister, a flame guy, and a barrel on a primitive untextured map.

The development then slowed down, as Tamás Tóth needed to focus on academic work. Development resumed on April 22, 2009, when he released a demo showing off the new Cultist animations. This was followed in May with a demo showing off Fanatic, Innocent, Axe Zombie, and Phantasm animations. With these new graphics, as well as the older Caleb graphic, User:Gideon made a little promotional wallpaper on June 9, 2009. Tóth is now keen to start making these animations into actual enemies though development is still highly sporadic.

After another absence more news was released on September 21, 2009 when he posted a mention of wanting to let Caleb swim. He got one posative response and coded it in, and released a demo of it on February 28, 2010 based on an updated version of his earlier map demo. He also released a new file containing animations and drawings for the Bloated Butcher, Hand, Bat, Hell Hound, Gill Beast, Bone Eel, Rat and Spider. He also mentioned the possible addition of enemies from Blood II and he is asking the public what their favourite Blood II creatures are.

Back again at the end of July 2010, he announced that he "successfully finished the school so [he now has] a diploma, now [is] a professional engineer of computer technology. Or something like that." He also stressed that development has been ongoing in the area of animation and other efforts and that hopefully the next playable demonstration should feature enemies that the player can dispose with in a variety of ways. As of July 2011 he has stated that he is still working on the project.

Development Blog: http://fleshgame.blogspot.com/

Latest Engine Demo: Fifth Engine Demo

External Links[edit]