Winx Adventure (2010)

It was interesting not seeing this game discussed on this blog especially when I knew for certain that an article was written. Then it occurred to me, it was on one of the other blogs. So, this is the official Games for Girls post.

Better late than never I guess, but an interesting memory lane trip nonetheless. Countless hours were lost while playing this game all those years ago so let's take a trip down memory lane.

Much Ado About Winx

Dress-up like a bumble bee

My first introduction to Winx was through the 4Kids dub of the show Winx Club when it aired during the Fox Box (formerly Fox Kids) lineup. At the time it debuted, I was completely unaware that it was from Italy. Fast forward some years and I learned more about the show and production company via the Winx Club dot com site.

This is also where I learned about the Rai and Rai English dubs which the site use to show in the old theater section of the site (very different from its current version). Based on the 4Kids version, Winx Club follows a group of friends who attend this special magic school for fairies. At the start, Bloom was the focal character because she was pretty much a mystery as she was from a world that had no magical beings.

Later in the season, Bloom learns that she was adopted which explained why she was the only one with powers, but it also brought up the question of how and why she was sent to Earth. As the season wound down, it was unveiled that she was the princess of a now barren realm and quite possibly the only hope for restoring the realm to its former glory. So, where does the Winx Adventure game come in?

Garden of Charmix

Banner ad for GoC game access.

Charmix is stage two of the Winx upgrade system; aka their fairy transformation. It looks similar to stage one with some differences. There were only three transformation elements available with plans to add more; light, nature and fire/music* were the main three.

Garden of Charmix was the mini game included within the Winx Adventure game. Winx Adventure, from what I've gathered at the time, was the second game created after Gardenia Park. It was an open world game where you could travel about the town and decorate your living space.

There were clothing and furniture stores along with the potential for adding extra stores from the Winx Universe. You could even customize your avatars to have a unique appearance. This was great, but one of the main draws was Garden of Charmix.

Like the show, you learn how to use different skills to earn points toward a bonus. You earned points from fending off attacks in addition to growing different plants that served different purposes. From what I can remember of the available plants one boosted attack power, another healed and the third provided some much needed shielding; growth time varied so you had to plan accordingly.

The setup of the game was similar to the simulation machine that was featured in Season 1 where the students had to convert a barren landscape into a thriving one in order to pass. Same scenario but with each passing stage came more challenges. After a while, you earn enough points to unlock your character's winx transformation.

Exploring Gardenia

My main avatar's room. Actually found the heart
chest/chair and vanity online recently.

Outside of Garden of Charmix is Gardenia. I think my place was around the corner from the area where the game was located; found by talking to Ms. Faragonda. The place you will be calling your virtual home is quite spacious.

Though you are tasked with decorating it to be more homey. I changed the door though it would've been nice if I could change the windows too. My living area had a place to watch television, a place to sit and read, a cafe-like area, a fridge and pantry (the pink and brown rectangles in the pic), my room and a little work area.

There were some colors that just looked better in the 3D environment and of course those items cost a bit more. We had two currencies at our disposal: WX (winx coins) and RC (rainbow coins). Rainbow coins were the special currency that could be purchased with cash or earned by use of a bonus code that was found on Winx products and the physical magazine (at the time anyway).

WX was the common currency that could be earned from playing games on the main Winx Club site and from playing the Garden of Charmix game. That was actually one of my favorite aspects of the game as you weren't limited to a single earning location. Of course you need some place to spend these coins which is where the shops come in.

Memory Collage that was made for a forum
discussion during the final days of WA.

Some of the first items that got purchased came from the 'customization' shop. Can't remember the exact name, but do know you had to talk to Bloom in order to get to the shop. Here is where you could purchase hair and skin tones.

Second to this was the fashion shops where you could purchase clothes for your avatar. Next was the furniture shop. There was lots to be had for WX but the good stuff was available for RC; like the four-post bed in the pic above.

The main positive with the currencies at the time was that the prices weren't up there. You could obtain lots of items using both currencies and still have some left over for a rainy day. I think I used most of my RC for music purchases on the main site.

We had a small amount of shops available with room to expand later on but the devs had other plans. Everyone that played had high hopes for Love & Pet, the juice bar, the dance hall, the beach and quite possibly the ability to visit Magix to attend Cloud Tower, Alfea or even Red Fountain (for the boys).

Some Winx Fun: Pics Explained

In case you haven't notice, I have a bit of a soft spot for the old version of the site. The bumble bee avatar was part of a forum contest to help increase participation as well as spark some creative juices. The background that's featured in the GoC ad pic was made by a fellow site participant who ran an art shop on the forum; a pretend shop.

I'm still in love with that green door and doorway from my living space. A happy little accident occurred some time during 2019 where I found the heart vanity and storage chest online while window shopping for something unrelated. I was giddier than I needed to be, but was excited to see the items in real life.*

The collage was like a memory trip for a forum post that a lot of site members were contributing to when the announcement came about the game closing down. The center pic with the chat lines was not part of the game. They were inserted as part of a class design project and I chose WA as the focal point of that project.

The pic below that with the computer screen was also added as part of the project. It was recent and fresh at the time so the end result was nice and I got a passing grade. The two avatars at the bottom in fairy outfits are my main and secondary accounts.

I created a little story that featured the two as siblings with the one in red being the oldest and the one in pink being one of the younger siblings; she's the twin of another avatar, a boy, I created but didn't go thru WA extensively with. There was a nice story about the siblings but I never published the story.

The Memories

One of the twins. Flora's
Believix Wings and luau outfit.

During my first introduction to the site, it had a sky blue and pink theme. There were a variety of languages to choose from to help customize the site to fit your needs. I flipped back and forth between English and Italian because the Italian version had more features as well as more games to choose from.

Winx Adventure was the same except the language was server based. I played mainly on the English server, but depending on server traffic, I would either play on the Italian or French servers. My knowledge of French was higher but could get the gist of what was being said in Italian.

You could send mail to other players using the mailbox, you could receive gifts using the pedestal like the Hallowinx tee from the event. It was a nice environment with loads of depth and potential. Even if something was lacking, the players made the most out it.

From hosting role-plays in the park to getting players to join forces to get a shop to open; it was wishful thinking but enjoyable all the more. Not only that but fellow players held contests site side to give players that didn't have access to RC a chance to earn some to shop in the stores that had all the neat stuff. Winx Adventure was filled with variety and loads of fun.

Looking back at the other post I did, it wasn't actually on the game as a whole. Instead it was about games I missed playing which included three other games that were played that are no longer up. Of the games that were mentioned in that post, this was the only 3D game that was designed using the Unity game engine.

While I'm hopeful for it's return some day, I'm also hesitant. Back then I could play with no problem as my computer at the time was designed for gaming. Hopefully, when it makes a reappearance it will be in a format that's not graphics intensive.

* music/fire - there was a mix up at the time where the music outfit (modeled after Musa's transformation) wound up representing fire; noted by the fire ball during the attacking phase in the game

* real life items - I found the items while browsing Amazon but these items are made for little kids. That said, if the design is intriguing you can seek out a wood worker to have the pieces custom made for you.