Geometry Dash

Geometry Dash is a side-scrolling platformer mobile game created by Swedish game developer Robert Topala. It was released on 13 August 2013 for iOS and Android, with versions for Windows and macOS following on 22 December 2014. The player controls an icon to navigate music-based levels, avoiding obstacles like spikes.

The game comprises 26 full-length levels created by the developer: 22 are auto-scrolling, and 4 are 'platformer' levels. The game includes a level creation system, enabling players to design custom levels, share them online, and play levels created by other users. Players can collect in-game currency—such as stars, moons, coins, mana orbs and diamonds—from official and user-generated levels or chests.

Three spin-off games accompany the main series: Geometry Dash Meltdown, Geometry Dash World and Geometry Dash SubZero. Geometry Dash Lite is a free version of the main game that removes certain levels and icons, the level editor, and many online features. Both the spin-off games and Geometry Dash Lite contain advertisements.

The game was praised for its challenging but addictive gameplay. It has spawned a large community of players and creators.

Geometry Dash can be played using a touchscreen, keyboard, mouse or controller. The player, represented by a customisable icon, is controlled by pressing or holding inputs to navigate through auto-scrolling levels until the end is reached. The level restarts from the beginning if the player collides with an obstacle, such as a spike or wall. A 'practice mode' option allows the player to place checkpoints to help with level familiarity; however, progress cannot be earned towards normal level completion. The in-game music's timing and rhythm are crucial, often synchronising with gameplay. In 'platformer' mode, players can move left or right without the auto-scrolling camera.

Besides the aforementioned obstacles, other gameplay elements also effect the movement of the player icon, including portals, pads, and orbs that change the player's gravity, speed, size, and gamemode. The player's gamemode, or vehicle, determines the motion of the player icon; for example, in the "cube" gamemode (the first gamemode introduced in Geometry Dash), the player jumps a predetermined height upon a single input. The "ball" gamemode switches the player's gravity, while in the "wave" gamemode, the player icon only moves in diagonal lines. Portals and pads affect the player when they pass through them, while orbs affect the player only if they make an input while passing through them.

The full version of Geometry Dash includes 26 main levels, 4 of which are platformer levels. Each level is assigned one of six difficulties: "Easy", "Normal", "Hard", "Harder", "Insane", and "Demon". Each main level feature three secret coins, requiring the player to take a different pathway to obtain them. There are three demon levels among the main levels, and the player must obtain a number of secret coins before they can be played. Each level rewards players upon completion.

Player icons can be customized: icon design, primary and secondary colors, death explosion effects and ship trails can be changed. These customization options can be unlocked by completing main levels, collecting enough secret coins, earning achievements or buying them in the shop.

The full version of the game features the ability to upload and play user-created levels, with Lite and World offering a rotating selection of 20 user-created levels. These levels may use music from the official levels or feature custom music that can be imported from Newgrounds. From 2017 onwards, user-made "demon" levels are divided into five additional difficulties, from "Easy Demon" to "Extreme Demon". Many of them are significantly more challenging than the hardest main level, "Deadlocked". Certain levels feature user coins, which are collected in a similar way to secret coins.

User-made of sufficient quality may be officially "rated" by Topala. Playing a rated level awards orbs and diamonds, in-game currency that can be used to purchase additional player icons. Upon completing a rated level, the player receives a certain number of 'stars', which correspond to the difficulty of the level. Unlike orbs or diamonds, stars cannot be used to purchase items.

Update 2.2 introduces the 'platformer' mode, where players move left or right without the auto-scrolling camera. Upon completing a rated platformer level, the player receives 'moons' instead of stars. Like stars, moons are not used to purchase collectibles. Platformer mode features the same gamemodes as in regular Geometry Dash, with the exception of the wave and the swing, which are absent, and the ship, which is replaced by the similarly functioning 'jetpack'. There are four official platformer levels, located in a section of the game called 'The Tower'.

Geometry Dash was created by Swedish video game developer Robert Topala, known professionally as RobTop. On 6 June 2010, Topala created his first video game, Bounce Ball Thingy, on Newgrounds, developing it while he was at university studying civil engineering. He abandoned his course because he became more interested in the video game industry. Topala decided to work alone, founding RobTop Games in 2012. The first video game he produced under RobTop Games was Boomlings, a puzzle video game released on 5 November 2012 for mobile devices. Topala continued to create video games, including Memory Mastermind (2013) and Boomlings MatchUp (2013).

According to Topala, the game began as a project that could have moved in any direction. He remarked, 'It simply started as a template with a cube that could crash and jump'; 'There really was no detailed plan'. He previously developed it for the computer and later altered his plan and made attempts to make it a mobile game. The Impossible Game inspired Topala, and it took about four months to create the game and bring it to the App Store and Google Play Store. In the beta version, the game was called Geometry Jump but later changed to Geometry Dash. The game is developed on the Cocos2d game engine. A trailer was released on 29 April 2013, featuring a level using the song Ultimate Destruction (made by Tmm43). The song is not present in the final game, however the level was later redesigned into the fifth official level, called Base after Base.

Upon its release, Geometry Dash had seven levels and two game modes. It gained popularity worldwide, especially in Canada, becoming the most popular paid iPhone app in June 2014. There are four free versions of the game, one being Geometry Dash Lite, which includes 23 levels from the full version, including the tower levels.

The game has received regular updates, adding new levels, game modes, player icons and other features. Sneak peeks are released on YouTube, showing clips of features from new updates. Spin-off games were released in order to promote some updates, with Meltdown, World and SubZero, featuring content from versions 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2, respectively.

After multiple delays, update 2.2 was released on December 19, 2023, for all platforms. The update was heavily anticipated, taking over 6 years to develop. The update added a brand new platformer mode, allowing the player to control the character's horizontal movement instead of the level automatically scrolling to the right. Upon the release, the game hit a peak of 80,000 simultanious players on Steam, a new record. With the updated level editor having numerous additions, people were able to recreate entire games, such as Super Mario Kart, using only in-game objects.

The music of Geometry Dash was produced by a variety of different artists, with some tracks being licensed and others produced specifically for the game, including ones made by Robert Topala himself. Certain menu sections feature royalty-free compositions by Kevin MacLeod. The music that plays during levels consists mostly of EDM and other electronic genres. Tracks may be cut in order to fit the length of the level, which is usually around 1-2 minutes.

The game received generally positive reviews from critics. Softpedia complimented the game's style and the challenge 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'. 148Apps also 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'. Geometry Dash has been listed by the reviewer Chris Morris on the website Common Sense Media as a child-friendly video game that parents could let their children play on, stating 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'. Geometry Dash was the second-best and seventh-best-selling iPad and iPhone game in the App Store in 2018.

Geometry Dash Lite is a free version of the game with advertisements and gameplay restrictions. Geometry Dash Lite includes only main levels 1-19, all tower levels, and a few selected levels that are either Featured, Daily, weekly or Event levels but does not offer the option to create levels or play most player-made levels. It also has a significantly more limited selection of character customisation options, lacking many icons, colours, and other character effects in the full game.

On 16 December 2015, Topala announced a spin-off game, Geometry Dash Meltdown, which was released on 19 December 2015 for iOS and Android. It includes three levels featuring songs by F-777. The game showcased new icons and features in levels added in version 2.0 of the original game.

On 21 December 2016, Topala announced a second spin-off game, Geometry Dash World, saying it would come out on the same day. It includes two five-level worlds, introducing features that came to the original game later in update 2.1. It also features a selection of levels created by other players.

Gamezebo praised the game's captivation and decent gameplay styles. Although, the reviewer noted that it was not the 'most interesting looking game out there'. Gerson Noboa from AndroidGuys said, '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'.

On 12 December 2017, Topala announced a third spin-off game, Geometry Dash SubZero, which was released on 21 December 2017. Geometry Dash SubZero's levels all contain features present in update 2.2, despite the update's release date being years later.

• Official website

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