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hey all, I have 4 secret playable characters in the game that can be unlocked with codes, 3 of which you can see in the images and 1 special one not revealed yet! lets get to 6 comments here, and I will post one!

Vortex The Pretty - MGGJ Edition

A 3d platformer where you play as a princess and twirl to scale great heights and solve challenges.

download here: https://jnpickee.itch.io/vortex-the-pretty-mggj-edition

(the windows version finally works now, so everyone can hop on and join in on the fun!)

I am going to be rebuilding the page to reflect the new version soon, it is not the best right now.

Edit: as of Monday May 2nd 2022, the game page is now complete, so it is presentable for this game jam, enjoy :)

Thank you for your considerate response, it is not ignorance, you had it right, the game (build) you played should have been built for PC controlling but was too rushed, so it is not your fault for pointing that out, my apologies for the confusion, I do believe that the key mapper I had would taken care of gamepad functionality though, but as I have said, it could not be implemented in time. But will include it into the update later

Thank you for your time, I will consider your comments, yeah others have said the UI is not that good, and to be truthful, it is not really finished by a long shot, the controls are that way because I play mostly console games, so the controls reflect that with the keyboard acting like a big arcade pad, but I really need to consider the PC controls though, I do have a key remapper for this issue since someone in the Panda3d forums pointed this out and offered a fix there, but I didn't have  enough time to put it back into the game, sorry about that, it will be in the full preview released later this summer

Panda3D does feature mouse inputing, however I work on a laptop, so it is difficult if not impossible for me to work and test on such a feature, my apologies for that. I will fix the game page now though, maybe I went a little too overboard with the style heh heh, sorry. I did get another comment about controls hints, and I am working on trying the fix for that now, you should see a way better UI in the full preview in the summer.

Your camera locking idea seems like a nice one, but I am worried that it might strip the "freedom" feel from a already limited experience, sorry I could never get natural transitions from floor to wall or wall to ceiling  right, and is still a issue I wrestle with whenever I revisit it. but thank you for giving me something to think about, I will add that all the mini games are supposed to provide replay value though, a cheap trick by me for people to master the controls, so they are not meant to be completed by beginners and require seasoned experience, since it is the secret ending that it leads to,  so camera balancing while moving on the wall was all considered.

I did later realize this couple of weeks later that replay value like that would be bad because it is a game jam (short free time for playing because of multiple entries) , so for the sake of the jam I did provide a walkthrough for people to rate the content and skip the work, I apologize for this. 

I am sorry for the bell issue, the whole bell quest was made, planned and completed 1 day before the deadline, I had actually planned on having a UI arrow always point towards the next bell but had to drop it because I didn't have enough time. there was also supposed to be a stamina limit for twirling, but I didn't have enough time to put it back in, anyway much thanks for the feedback, it is really helpful since I am working on the game right now.

Update: I tweaked the animations to have Vortex spin more naturally, I have also tweak the AI to be slightly better as per a request, A word of warning to those watching the video, the animation for spinning will look different between the video and real gameplay, thank you all for understanding. 

thank you, I am working on polishing this game up and including more features right now, the tutorial thing is something I have not thought of though, I mean I get the idea of slowly teaching the player how to play as they are playing and was thinking of simply locking up a lot of the gameplay mechanics and teaching the player them when they get unlocked like Banjo Tooie did,

But, I have actually experimented with  a "action button" system in a vary early prototype that behaves similar to the one found in the first 3d zelda games where when the situation comes up the button would have a simple word of what the key would do in that situation, but you are right I completely missed the mark on the user experience, and start focus on it in the near future, I thank you for bringing it to my attention. 

                                                                   Vortex The Pretty a mostly “perpendicular” 3d platformer let’s you explore a surreal world as you are led down a mysterious gopher hole with two friends whom you meet the mysterious mother of this strange non-sense world which blends 4 themes together, Sweets, Regal, Sky, and Silicon Forest. The mother challenges you to a bell hunt that you must complete, or do you?

Game Page: https://jnpickee.itch.io/vortex-the-pretty-mggj-edition (where the downloads are)

Walkthrough: A complete walkthrough which demonstrates the content, it contains spoilers, so it is recommended that you watch if you completed the game or if you don’t want to play the game yourself.

* 4 worlds each with it’s own theme and enemy type

* explore and play around with a extensive moveset

*  in-game cutscenes

Disclaimer: I only found this thread after looking around and would have posted my announcement 2 weeks ago, my apologies for that. This game was made for the magical girl game jam 3, but would love to see outside opinions as well (which is why I am posting here), the Mac version is recommended, as the windows version operates at half speed, and the linux version is untested, thank you for your time, and have a good one.

A highly polished game, great looking models and all, nice and fun beat em up gameplay, and challenging too, the slow down mechanic is cool and fits into the theme well, I wonder if you intend on adding a healing feature in the future.

Disclaimer: to anyone having trouble playing or just want to watch to see the content, I made a full walkthrough for those interested in this option, it contains both endings and how to get to them if you wish to play the game, the walkthrough can be found in the link below.

okay, thanks I just played it, vary challenging indeed, a nice picture book cutscene to give a idea of what is going on, I like what was there, the only complaint I have is maybe you could tack on a extra 5 to 10 seconds, or make a easy mode that does so.

That would make sense because you are ascending up, W positions the camera to be close to you on the side you (not above or below), now thinking about it, the mini game is unfair as it expects you know how to move on walls decently, but also when you reach the end you are expected to "Twirl Dive" into the rose awaiting you at the top before the jelly fish reaches it.

I did edit the game page to include the controls if that helps, but I am also thinking of creating a video walkthrough of the game to see if that helps,  I mean I could also slow down the jellyfish, but that would be tweaking the game, and I only want to tweak the game if a technical issue arises, but if this is a enough of a problem to enough people, I will be willing to consider it a technical issue ;)

Thank you for your interesting insight, the windows version is vary slow but I am working on a fix as I type this, also you hold "X" key to remain twirling, in this state, you can move up (and stay on) walls or  the ceiling, the dialog feature I have to apologize for, it was a vary late cut and paste job from my previous game for the jam and intend on rebuilding it later.

I thought the cutscene feature was ready, but is still not, only found this out vary late into jam so, I did simple tricks to make it functional, it's not pretty but functional, I apologize for that, and  my apologies again for the bad collision, I would have put more work into it but I ran out of time.

You choose weather to pursue silver bells or go after the objects the other girls are trapped in, however the silver bells are in plain sight on purpose to deter away from the other objects, as the silver bell ending is the bad one, You were actually on your way to the secret ending by getting the gold bell.

Which  was the first step, beating the "robot"jellyfish's race would have been the 2nd step, while the 3rd is another mini game on top of the tree stump in the "silicon forest" (or the area in the back with the sapphires)

liked that you went with the advanced wars style battles (I think it's called tactical RPG?) rather then a simple turn base, the art style is something, giving a sort of reverse noir feeling for some reason, anyway, nice little game, I enjoyed what was present.

hey, Mac users cannot Open rar file format natively (needs a 3rd party program), could you consider putting the Mac port into a zip file instead?

okay, thanks, will do

EDIT: okay played, pretty cool bullet hell, with a time control mechanic, though challenging, I enjoyed myself, the only issue I can think of is maybe the WASD for movement, I kept reaching for the directional keys by accident, though it could be because I am mostly a console gamer.

thanks, I was going for a Alice in Wonderland feeling (or Coraline to be accurate) so I am grateful you enjoyed it, I am still looking into the windows issue though, I know it's something with collisions not the graphics, but I will definitely let you know if I fix it, thank you for your interest.

can't get pass the tutorial because I don't know what RMB or LMB is, good game from what I played

Update: I manage to fix the windows version, except the speed, so you can now play it to both endings and the graphics are restored, I am still working on a fix for the speed, let's hope it can be done, thanks everyone for your understanding!

Critical Update: the windows version has just been pulled, I found out it was more then slow, it was not functional, plus all the shaders did not work, so it look like a ms-paint drawings (the environments), I am currently investigating the issues right nowt, so I hopefully can have the windows version re-uploaded soon, thank you for your understanding and I apologize the troubles.

Thanks, I have to apologize to you, I just tested the windows version today with bootcamp, it is not functional, shaders don't work and it runs half the speed at 14fps, once again thank you for playing.

Edit: the windows version is updated to function, the speed issue still persists though.

great presentation and detailed artwork, Cool RPG wished I could invest more time it, but great for the playthough that I played.

the sword's strength is fine, it is the reach, but if that is where you are going with the design, the other features cover it pretty well for me, I can see challenge in having to skillfully engage the enemy, though I am better a console shooters, so it could still be me.

it turns out this game does work on my mac, cool style, it is like doom with the 3d and sprites but it plays and looks like halo on the OG xbox, the only minor issue is the sword looks like to can reach longer but find myself always needing to hug the enemies to make a hit, and sometimes trading blows.

but with the excellent life recovery mechanic it is not really a issue and maybe more that I am a sucky player, hah hah. 

EDIT: I had to take down my original response because everything you just said I just found why was happening when I installed bootcamp, the version you have is non functional, the shaders don't work, so everything except the characters look like ms-paint job, and it runs at half speed, I will say my apologies to you for having to go though with that.

Edit: the windows version is updated to a functional state, though, the speed issue still persist.

Disclaimer: the theme of the game is not shown in the standard ending of the game, instead it's in the secret, to get the secret ending, ignore the mother's silver bell hunt, and go help dust bunny in back of the castle for the gold bell, play the jellyfish's race in the sky area and race up the structure and grab the lavender rose before he does.

play and win the silicon plant bros's shuffle game at the top of the tree stump in the silicon forest area, then head back into the castle for the secret ending.

Interesting insight, to be blunt this was a rush job for the jam, a lot of code and unused assets were taken from my other project Whilrigig Willies, and I say a lot and not all because I was rebuilding Whirligig Willies back into a cute girl game (it was one before, but 2020 reasons for changing it), so all of the features were rebuilds (not copy pastes) of ones from whirligig willies.

I had just done the movement and action mechanics by the time the jam started. so I started work on the rebuilds of the cutscene and mini-game features, sadly half the jam was finished by the time I got done, I had to port in a few simple features, but some major ones did not make it back because I did not have enough time, like boss fights, the hud (with stamina), and customizable controls.

When you say the characters are ugly you mean the princess girls right? because everything else including the short skirt magical girl is supposed to look strange on purpose, the world's graphics use simple normal mapping created from blender's texture displacement module, it is actually my first time using normal maps outside of vary simple tests, not bad for a first try?

The cutscene feature was a rebuild of the cutscene feature found in my whirligig willies project which was meant to have voice acting so it is still not fully developed, the project would be in it's 2nd alpha stage once all the feature rebuilding is completed, so less then half way. What modes are you getting stuck on though? and what do you mean by drifting? like moving while standing?  hmm I thought I had the gameplay mechanics on lock, anyway the movement while standing is a issue I am still addressing.

The depth? which direction? if down, maybe I can add a shadow to help the player, so the controls, if you noticed in the instruction image, there is no single key explained as that key for that feature, instead you have the key map on the upper right corner being explained on what each of the keys does, this is because you were able to customize the controls, but the module was not implemented because time constraints, I apologize for that.

Once again apologies for the windows version, now did you not enter the castle? just walk and try to run into the front door, you will be warped into the castle, the castle's floor is a replica of the president's office floor which you get a hint why if you get the secret ending, I should put a disclaimer that the game's theme is also revealed in the secret ending and not standard.

if you are using the windows version it is not your fault, my apologies, windows does not do openGL well with Panda3d, There is a SDK with directX thats runs with a full framerate, however there is no runtime builds that I can build a directX executable from, I guess licensing issues.

Edit: you may have experienced more then just speed issues with the windows version, I play it myself and it was not functional and the graphics didn't work, however, today, I updated the windows version to function, but the speed issue is still there. 

cool little game that gives me a final fantasy crystal defenders vibe, the gameplay was good.

cool little game that gives me a final fantasy crystal defenders vibe, the gameplay was good.

A vary solid beat-em-up, it is amazing what you did within the month, I was there in the progress section of the discord.

getting super meat boy vibes from this which is cool, but way beyond my skill level, couldn't get past the 2nd spike section, anyway cool game.

holy projectiles batman! this is hard! even on easy mode, but I liked it, great presentation and fun gameplay.

good game, though the puzzle pieces retracing back to their original positions made the puzzle a little harder, maybe if the pieces can be placed anywhere outside the mirror so they can be stored for use later rather then getting in the way, but a fun little quick game none the less.

okay, my bad, I just zoomed into the game, I should have checked the options first.

I like this, I get a original Legend Of Zelda vibe from this.

nice little 2d shooter, little confused on the controlling but I eventually got it, though I could not do everything because I don't have a mouse (laptop user here), a nice game none the less.

the presentation is top notch, vary highly detailed and voice acted too.

cool little game, nice and arcade like. the only issue I had was the background was pretty bare.

Thank You, it's my first jam, so I am learning still, I will take your advice next time though.