M3A Labs / Vortex Shift / Guide

How to Play Vortex Shift

Vortex Shift is an arcade roguelite built around one question, which you'll answer a few hundred times per run: which orbit should I be on right now? Your ship circles a glowing core on one of several rings. Gems show up on the rings, mines drift along them, and hopping from one ring to another is the only way you move. Fill the gem quota, pick an upgrade, and the next level adds another orbit. When your hull runs out the run is over, but the upgrade and cosmetic gems you banked are yours to keep.

The first time you play, a short tutorial walks you through all of this on a practice level with three orbits. The mines can't hurt you there and the level never ends, so take your time. It also has you try your ship's power twice. When you're done (or if you skip it), a fresh run starts. You can replay it later from SETTINGS.

Controls

Switching rings is instant, but it isn't a teleport. Your ship actually travels across the gap, and while it's in between it counts as airborne: mines on either ring can't touch it, and boss shockwaves pass right underneath. Once that clicks, you stop thinking of a switch as just moving and start using it as your dodge.

How a level works

1. Collect gems to fill the quota at the top of the screen. The quota gets bigger every level, and the EFFICIENT CORE perk makes it smaller.
2. Avoid the mines. Touching one costs a hull point, unless a shield charge soaks up the hit. You can hold up to 3 shield charges, and they come from Aegis Orbs, the AEGIS PROTOCOL perk and the AEGIS CORE hangar mod.
3. Clear the level and pick one of three random upgrades (the upgrades guide lists all of them). Whatever you pick stays with you until the run ends.
4. Ascend. You get a new orbit (six is the maximum), the field speeds up a little, and the next level starts when you tap. The music changes as you reach new stages.

Combo ranks

Each gem you grab without losing hull adds one to your chain. The chain also runs on a timer, which the COMBO STABILIZER perk and the COMBO MEMORY mod make longer. As the chain grows you climb through the ranks below, and every gem is worth its base value multiplied by your current rank. Taking hull damage drops the chain back to zero. A hit absorbed by a shield doesn't count, which is one more good reason to keep a charge in reserve.

Grazing

If you slip past a mine without touching it, you get a graze as soon as you're clear of its danger zone: some bonus score plus a free step on your combo chain. Each mine can only be grazed once. The danger zone gets smaller when the orbits are packed close together, so you can't farm grazes from a mine on the next ring just by staying in your lane. Most of the scores at the top of the leaderboard are built on grazes.

Destabilization

Hanging around on an easy level for ages doesn't work. Each level has a par time, and once you go past it the orbit starts to destabilize: the passive survival score stops and more and more mines appear until you ascend. A countdown on screen warns you before it kicks in, so it never comes as a surprise. In practice it just means you should keep climbing.

Engine overheat

Quick switches and short bursts cost nothing. If you hammer the switch without a break, though, the drive heats up, and when it reaches the limit switching is locked for two seconds (you'll see a warning first). The heat drains fast as soon as you ease off, about three times faster than while you're still spamming. I added it to stop people from staying permanently mid-jump, and in normal play you'll rarely notice it.

Four kinds of gem

Every gem fills the quota, but only two kinds are worth keeping after the run:

• Plain gems are a gold outline that's almost see-through inside. They fill the quota by one and give score, nothing more.
• Prisms are the big cyan ones. They count as three gems toward the quota and give three times the score, and they're split as one plain, one upgrade and one cosmetic gem, so each one banks one of each.
• Upgrade gems are solid yellow-green diamonds. They fill the quota by one, and they're banked to buy new ships and permanent hangar upgrades.
• Cosmetic gems are solid too, but pale, almost white, and much brighter. They also fill the quota by one, and they're banked to buy color schemes and trails.

Of the regular gems that appear, 30% are upgrade gems, 15% are cosmetic gems and 55% are plain. Your two balances are kept whether you're logged in or playing as a guest, and the daily missions pay a mix of both. You spend them in the Hangar.

Accounts, guests and saves

You can start right away as a guest, and your progress and gems are saved in your browser. A free account (a username, a password and, if you like, an email for recovery) keeps your progress on the server, puts your scores on the global leaderboards, unlocks the Daily Challenge and achievements, and lets you carry on from another device.