Hi everyone!

Vortexia is a turn-based tactical game in which you have to survive, collect items and reach the goal in time. The game was initially built as Path Forge, for the Godot Wild Jam 68. The current version is being submitted to the Improve My Game Jam 33.

This blog outlines the game and the improvements made to it from the earlier version.

Game Outline

The game is played on a grid. You start at the bottom left corner, and have to find your way to the goal at the top right within the deadline, while also collecting special items called Orbs. Each turn, you can only move to an adjacent cell, although there are special cells that allow you to move in different ways. There are equipments that give you passive advantages, consumables that you can use when you want, and curses that give you passive negative effects. You have to manage your health, energy and gold. You can buy items at the shop. Each grid is self contained, and the game is designed for short play sessions. In each game you get a new grid that is randomly generated.

Feedback from GWJ-68

I got a lot of useful feedback from the jam. The two main categories of feedback were:

• The learning curve is steep.
• The color palette is unappealing.

This is what I set about to improve in the current jam.

Changes for the IMGJ-33

First, I picked a color palette to use for the game. I wanted to continue using a dark theme, so I found such a palette.

Earlier color scheme:

Current color scheme:

I added icons for the stats on the stat bar: Turn, Health, Energy, Gold, and also added a stat indicator for Orbs which shows the current and target Orb counts.

Earlier stat bar:

Current stat bar:

Next was a big item: to ease the learning curve. I felt a step by step tutorial to take the player through the various concepts, cells and items would be helpful. So I added a tutorial of 9 levels. The first 8 introduce various game concepts, and the last is a sample game on a smaller grid, and with fewer cells filled in. The starting resources and deadline are the same as in the full game. So this sample game is easier to complete. When the player is comfortable, they can proceed to play the full game.

Some screenshots from the tutorial levels:

Hope you find the game fun, and look forward to hear your thoughts and feedback to improve future versions!