Vortex

Screenshots

   

   

Controls

How to play

The in-game "attract mode" (shown above) explains gameplay, movement and enemy types. Press "Enter" on the initial splash screen and attract mode will begin to cycle.

TL;DR

• Use a game controller (see below)
• To move, push the "movement" joystick in the 2D direction you wish to travel.
• To shoot, push the "fire" joystick in the 2D direction you wish to shoot.
• To change surfaces, move toward the surface boundary.
• You get two superzaps per level. The first kills all enemies. The second kills only one.

Be kind to yourself, use a game controller

Vortex is a twin-stick shooter on 3D surfaces. It was designed to be played with two joysticks (e.g. with a game controller). While it is possible to play with the keyboard, doing so is fairly difficult and just not very fun. Personally I use a Logitech F310 (~$15).

On MacOS you can use Joystick Mapper (or something similar) to map your game controller to keyboard keys.

On Windows, you can use DS4Windows to map a PS4 controller, or JoyToKey, or REWASD for other controller types.

Vortex supports touch so you can technically run it on your phone, but that's also not very fun. I've never met a touch joystick I liked, and this game's got two of them. Mobile support primarily exists so that you can kick the tires or show the game to your friends. But if you actually want to have a good time, grab a game controller and a PC.

Project

Vortex was built using Flynn, an open-source javascript/HTML5 game engine supporting desktop and moble browser game development. For more Flynn vector games see the project page at: vectoralchemy.com Flynn capabilities demo

Release party playlist

We're still on COVID lockdown here so we're not filling our house with non-resident humans, but we are eating way more pizza than the surgeon general would recommend while playing Vortex on the big screen and blaring this playlist. Come join us in spirit. Party on, Wayne.