Reviews for Flesh To Stone

[JoeMcGee123]

I've played this a few times and it's pretty good.The death I had that was the most "contentious" was due to the blue square spawning so close to the edge of the screen and getting hit by the laser right when it came out.

I'm not sure if the alternative is limiting where the squares can spawn, making some sort of "warning" for an incoming laser or making the entire arena more like a boxing ring or an island in design (not aesthetically) so that there's an opportunity to see the laser appear but have that area be just outside the play area.

I didn't have much of a problem with the stock enemy, but it would be cool to have some variety. If you're using flashing as an indicator of impending detonation, maybe have an enemy type that'll stop, pivot to face the player's location while flashing, then charge one final time. Just to break up the kind of circular swarm with the one enemy type that goes on.

[weirdoinventor]

There's arcade style hard, and then there's taking it one step too far, which I think this game does. I'm not the best player, but my very best attempt was I think 500 points, which is maybe 50 seconds of play-time. If you ever decide on throwing in another X hours to improve the game the main thing I'd rethink is the very first enemies that enter the screen. While not hard to outrun by themselves they massively frustrate any attempts to flesh to stone through any other obstacles. If one is near you when you turn to stone you're done for. So I'd shift that movement pattern to some enemy that slowly starts dripping in around 500 points or so, maybe even later, and do something that doesn't stay on your position like that instead as the first enemy. It would also be nice to have the game make the distinction between current score and high score. Being given both after every round would be nice.

For a Ludum dare game though it has an interesting concept and even a decent variety. Typical of the challenge though it lacks some polish and testing.

bigdumps responds:

Thanks for playing! I really appreciate the feedback notes since I'm looking to try and develop this into something more. There's a lot of problems with mechanics and enemy behavior that clash, which in result create some frustrating play. There's a few ideas roaming around to alleviate these problems, so hopefully a more polished and well thought out version will be better.

[ShadowAnimates]

The graphics and the music were fine, in my opinion, but this game needs some refining. Sometimes the blue tile appears outside where you can walk, and turning to stone doesn't help at all in any way. It just lets enemies swarm you and then you die.

bigdumps responds:

Hmmm I haven't seen the blue tile issue before but I think I have to revisit that mechanic entirely... I don't really like having to grab a score element to charge up your ability. Thanks for playing!

[jpuroila]

Points for the graphics and music, but the concept itself REALLY needs some rethinking. In effect, this is just a mouse avoidance game(except you don't actually use a mouse) because you can't actually turn to stone without losing - if you turn into stone, you just get swarmed by enemies and instantly lose the moment you turn back into flesh.

bigdumps responds:

Yes, I agree... there's simply not enough reason to turn into stone except the lasers. The chasing enemies can usually be avoided by just pathing correctly. I have to think of a few other obstacles or enemies where it's necessary to be in stone form to overcome. Thanks!

[Bonzai568]

a very fun and simple game, dodge the enemies, watch out for the beams, hold shift as quickly as you can before getting hit! good job with the game, man. keep it up :)