Geometry Dash

Geometry Dash is a series of five video games developed by Sweden-based developer Robert Topala, and published by his own company, RobTop Games.[1] The principal game, Geometry Dash, is a rhythm-based platforming game which currently has 21 official levels and a game creation system with more than 50 million online levels made by players. Each of the official levels features unique background music. Other features include a level editor, "map packs," user-created levels, secret vaults, and a variety of icons and game modes. [1]

Gameplay
Geometry Dash uses a simple tapping/clicking system to control different vehicles that react when a player presses anywhere on the touchscreen (or: space/up key(s), mouse, or "A" button when using a controller, if playing on the PC version) and can be held down to constantly interact (on some vehicles). Users cannot control the speed at which the icon is moving, the only way to change the vehicle's speed is by touching a speed modifier. The timing and rhythm of the in-game music are key parts of the game, often in relation to each other.

The objective of the game is to complete a level by reaching its end; however, if the player crashes into an obstacle, they will have to start over from the beginning.[2] All levels (with the exception of the three "demon" rated levels in the full version) are unlocked from the start, so they can be played out of order. Along the way, the player can collect up to three secret coins in each official level, which are scattered in either hidden or challenging areas (or both).[3]

The icon can take up to seven separate forms, which behave differently with each interaction.[2] The mode of the icon can be changed with seven gamemode portals, while the behavior of these modes can be changed further with manipulation portals, including size portals, which change the size of the icon, mirror portals, which reverse the game view, gravity portals, which reverse the gravity, dual portals, which duplicate the icon and five different speed arrow sets that change the speed of the player. The game also features dash arrows that move the icon on a straight line in-air until the release of the fingers or mouse. All of these features offer a variety of ways to play the game.

If the player completes a level, they will be rewarded with icons or colors on main levels, and "mana orbs," which can be used to purchase icons, death effects, or trails in various shops.

Levels

 * 1) Stereo Madness (Easy)
 * 2) Back on Track (Easy)
 * 3) Polargeist (Normal)
 * 4) Dry Out (Normal)
 * 5) Base After Base (Hard)
 * 6) Can't Let Go (Hard)
 * 7) Jumper (Harder)
 * 8) Time Machine (Harder)
 * 9) Cycles (Harder)
 * 10) Xstep (Insane)
 * 11) Clutterfunk (Insane)
 * 12) Theory of Everything (Insane)
 * 13) Electroman Adventures (Insane)
 * 14) Clubstep (Demon)
 * 15) Electrodynamix (Insane)
 * 16) Hexagon Force (Insane)
 * 17) Blast Processing (Harder)
 * 18) Theory of Everything 2 (Demon)
 * 19) Geometrical Dominator (Harder)
 * 20) Deadlocked (Demon)
 * 21) Fingerdash (Insane)

Main Levels
Geometry Dash features 21 official levels of which 18 are unlocked from the start of this game. Each level grants rewards upon completion.[2] Each official level has 3 secret coins, making a total of 63. These secret coins are used to unlock the 3 locked demon levels: 10 unlock Clubstep, 20 unlock Theory Of Everything 2, and 30 unlock Deadlocked. (Until Update 2.0, Clubstep required 20 coins to unlock, and Theory Of Everything 2 required 30 coins to unlock.)[4]

These levels generally increase in difficulty as the player progresses, with the only exceptions being the demon levels (which are harder than the levels after them) and certain levels near the most recent updates (which may be easier than the ones before them).

Levels are classified by difficulty, from Easy to Demon; as stated before, most levels are harder than those preceding them but some may be more or less difficult.

The stars represent the difficulty and the number of stars the player gets when completing that level. For the official levels, this ranges from one star (the first level) to fifteen stars (the 20th level).

Geometry Dash has a practice mode that can be used for any level which allows the player to restart at manually placed checkpoints instead of the very beginning.[5] These checkpoints are marked by green, diamond-shaped gems. A level cannot be officially completed on practice mode; however, if the end is reached on practice mode then certain icons and achievements can be unlocked

Online Levels
In addition to the 21 official levels, the game also features online levels. To access these custom, player-made levels, the player must have purchased the full version. The editor is a function that players may use to create their own levels. [6]

The player must complete, or "verify" their own level with all coins in normal mode in order to ensure that it is possible to beat - only then can they publish it to the Geometry Dash community. A level can be verified in separate attempts such as completing a run through in one attempt and then collecting coins in another; however any changes made to the level will make it unverified.[5]

Each user-created level has a unique ID (older levels have a lower ID number), which can be used to play the level without searching its name. As similar to the official levels, user-created levels are classified by difficulty, which is decided by Robert Topala, the creator, by players or "level moderators" who can send a level to Topala to be "rated." This is becoming a subject of much controversy as Topala often is inactive for long periods of time.

Unlike official levels, custom levels cannot be played offline unless they were previously downloaded.[7]

Level types/difficulties
There are 7 difficulties in Geometry Dash that rate how hard the custom/official levels are. They are Auto, Easy, Normal, Hard, Harder, Insane, and Demon. There are five subsets of demon difficulty, being Easy Demon, Medium Demon, Hard Demon, Insane Demon, and Extreme Demon. However, these are only shown on online levels.

With each level, the player gets an amount of stars and orbs (the currency of Geometry Dash), depending on the percentage that the player gets on the level.

Achievements
The game features several achievements, which can be unlocked in several ways, such as collecting a certain number of stars, completing demon rated levels, completing official levels, adding friends, liking or disliking online levels, rating custom levels, etc.; plus secret achievements unlocked through undisclosed means.[6]

Achievements can also be unlocked by collecting shards, which can be obtained from daily chests, from demon chests or by completing the respective shard's gauntlet.[7]

By unlocking achievements, the player is rewarded certain icons, colors, or trails. The player can also unlock other customization features, namely a selection of trails behind icons, a secondary color glow around the icon's black border, and death effects.[5]

Secret Vaults
The game features three secret vaults as of the 2.11 update. The first one can be unlocked by getting 10 silver (verified) user coins, the second by getting 50 diamonds, and the third with an emblem obtainable from the shop hidden the treasure room (in turn obtainable with 500 diamonds).[7]

They display a screen with a text box where you can input codes that can be found from deciphering tricky riddles and unlock secret achievements, which unlock new icons, trails, etc.[7]

There is also a "Treasure Room" in the game, accessed once you have earned 5 keys (which, in turn, are earned per 500 collected orbs). Inside, there are 248 chests, consisting of pages of silver and gold chests, which require 1 and 5 keys each to open, respectively. On the second-to-last page, there are 3 large chests, which can only be opened after you have opened 50, 100, and 200 silver AND gold chests, respectively.

Shops
There are also three shops, in which you can use the orbs you gain in the levels. The first is in the icon select menu and is free to enter, while the second and third are in the Treasure Room and cost diamonds to unlock.

Geometry Dash Lite
In the Lite version, players cannot access certain features that are in the purchased version. For example, players cannot access user-created levels and create their own levels, the main levels only reach Electroman Adventures, you can't play and create online levels, it does not have the daily chests, players cannot create an account, the three shops are not accessible, and players can't access the subfolder of Shards of Power. Also some achievements and customizations of vehicles that cannot be obtained.[4]

Geometry Dash Meltdown
On December 16, 2015, RobTop announced a spin-off game called "Geometry Dash Meltdown", which was released on December 19, 2015 for iOS and Android. Currently (as of update 1.0) it includes 3 levels (featuring the songs of F-777) with new icons from version 2.1 made to showcase the 2.0 features to those who do not own the full version.[8][9]

Geometry Dash Meltdown Levels

 * 1) The Seven Seas
 * 2) Viking Areana
 * 3) Airbione Robots

Geometry Dash World
On December 21, 2016, RobTop announced the newest spin-off game called "Geometry Dash World", saying that he would leave on the same day. Currently (as of update 1.0) includes 2 worlds with 5 levels in each world, new 2.1 icons, a shop, a new vault, daily quests, levels & rewards, and secret chests made to showcase some of the new 2.1 features that were included in the update of the full version.[10][11][12]

Dashlands

 * 1) Payload
 * 2) Beast Mode
 * 3) Machina
 * 4) Years
 * 5) Frontlines

Toxic Factory

 * 1) Space Pirates
 * 2) Striker
 * 3) Embers
 * 4) Round 1
 * 5) Monster Dance Off

Geometry Dash Subzero
On December 12, 2017, RobTop announced the newest spin-off game called "Geometry Dash SubZero", which was released on December 21, 2017. It is currently the latest stand-alone game released by RobTop,[15] and is the first to offer some features of update 2.2, including new icons and triggers such as Camera Controls, which are not yet released on the full and original version of Geometry Dash.

Geometry Dash Subzero Levels

 * 1) Press Start
 * 2) Nock Em
 * 3) Power Trip

Development
According to Robert Topala, the game began as a project that could have moved in any direction. He made the remark, "There was really no detailed plan... it simply started as a template with a cube that could crash and jump".[16] He previously developed it for the computer, but later altered his plan and made attempts to make it a mobile game. Topala was inspired by "The Impossible Game" and he took about four months to create the game and take it to the App Store and Google Play. In the beta version, the game was called "Geometry Jump", but was later changed to "Geometry Dash".

Upon its release, Geometry Dash had just seven levels, which are now currently free to play on the game's free version, alongside six other levels released in later updates in the full version (Time Machine, Cycles, xStep, Clutterfunk, Theory of Everything, and Electroman Adventures). It would soon gain serious popularity around the world, especially Canada, where it achieved the title as the most popular paid iPhone app in June 2014.[17] There are four free versions of the game, one being "Geometry Dash Lite" which currently (as of update 2.2) includes the first 13 levels from the full version.[4]

Soundtrack
The Geometry Dash soundtrack is by several music artists, including ForeverBound, DJVI, Waterflame, DJ-Nate, F-777, and MDK.[18] In addition to the official songs, usage of most songs on the Newgrounds music portal is also available. Since it is common for users to abuse the portal to upload songs not made by them to use in Geometry Dash, RobTop implemented higher restrictions to prevent this.[19]

Reception
The game has opened to generally positive reviews from critics. Softpedia complimented the game's style and challenge that it brings up, saying, "While it can get a bit frustrating sometimes, you can always complete the stages using the practice mode and then jump into the many different user-generated levels."[20] 148Apps gave the game a positive review, stating, "Geometry Dash provides all of the challenge expected from an “impossible” game while also making it more accessible to newcomers."[21] Geometry Dash has also been listed by the reviewer Chris Morris on the website Common Sense Media by as a child-friendly video game that parent could let their children play on. Saying that the game was a "good way to handle frustration", and that "Families can also talk about rhythm and the joy of dancing in time with music".[22]

Other editions
For Geometry Dash World, Gamezebo praised the game's captivation and decent gameplay styles, though the reviewer noted that it was not the "most interesting game" in existence.[23] Gerson Noboa from AndroidGuys praised the Geometry Dash spin-off, stating that, "Geometry Dash World is a worthy addition to your game arsenal. Thanks to tightly connected graphical and sound elements, the game provides an awesome, integrated experience that is rarely seen in Play Store games".[24]