Thanks for this video, good to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. It feels like the game's trying really hard to lean into the idea of being able to just make literally whatever you want, versus making a really cool music game level. I'm torn on it, because the latter is definitely the only appeal of the game for me and always has been, but I just know as a kid I would've loved having a game with this many ways to fuel creativity. But yeah, "lost the plot" is the best way I've thought to describe it. Beyond even just the mode itself, things like the art direction (since 2.1 even) or how new gameplay concepts (direction changes, ending the level wherever you want etc) all have NO universal symbols or objective language for the player to pick up on, all feel like the game's fighting against my interest. I'm still excited to see what genuinely cool things people come up with though, in both modes.
If it's gotta exist at all, I think it's fine to have it in the main game, though. My biggest complaint when actually playing it right now is just that the free movement opens the floodgates for all kinds of platformer game design pet peeves, which I thought died when Flash did, but I guess that just comes with the territory of giving a level editor to kids, lol. I'm sure it'll get better with time.
Personally I have had so much fun making platformers and playing them too, but I have grown a bit more weary of it over time. I will still produce more but classic levels will return to being my focus. I think you go into some of the issues I have with it too here
Yeaaaah... I HATE the lack of universal symbols for new gameplay mechanics too. I'll be using a rotated speed changer to signal direction changes in ALL of my levels, and I hope that more people do this (people haven't even used gravity portals to signal a dash orb stop, so I don't have much hope in this, sadly) I don't think that the art direction since 2.1 has been bad actually, EXCEPT for the new backgrounds. They all look so cheap, ugly and unfitting with the rest of the game
Platformer and classic mode levels are going to even out after a few months, since currently RobTop actually needs a lot of them, since there's achievements tied to moons and he needs creators to build things in order for those achievements to be doable. After a while, I think there will be more or less a similar ratio of both gamemodes. I originally disliked the idea of platformer mode, but it's warmed up to me a lot. You know why? The change of pacing. Playing classic mode after a while can get tiresome, as in order to play (especially demons) a classic level, you need to focus a lot on the gameplay, and you can only play for so long unless you have great stamina to not completely lose focus after a while. Platformers are a fun break to me and they greatly increase the replayability of the game, and it probably does for others. It's an interesting way to keep people involved with the game. A lot of games end after a handful of hours, but GD is still a game that people can play for a while whenever they feel like due to its unlimited content. Also I don't think platformer mode is gonna completely remove the sync and musical aspect of the game, at least once people get better at creating it over time. In platformer mode it's still perfectly doable to create synced gameplay, it just takes a different approach to it, and some creators have already managed to do that. This gamemode might have a looser focus on music sync, but I don't think it will completely disappear.
The idea of a platformer with gd mechanics is actually a super promising one imo so I can see why Rob would be excited to add it. And there are some valid reasons not to put it in its own game. But it really does need to be it's own fleshed out game, it's severely held back by the core gd physics and limitations and it ends up holding back gd itself for the reasons you stated.
@@ohadishand then it would therefore not be necessary to use a utensil at all (for the sake of the argument) you could just drink it out of a bowl or use a straw (for the sake of the argument)
I disagree completely, I don't really see why platformer and regular GD can't coexist and why having platformer in the game damages regular GD. The only bad thing I can think of is the community becoming fragmented, but honestly it already was (list grinders, star grinders, creators) and is inevitable for a game with a community so large. I respect your opinion though and can understand your point about the game losing its identity. I don't think these are really major issues though, I care significantly more about having fun playing the game than the image of the game
Star/moongrinding the last couple weeks has been really fun. I think the only real complaint I have is that the featured page is a mix of both. There should be a classic- and platformer featured page. And it does seem that classic levels have been a bit deprioritized
Personally I think it's interesting to see the game change like this. I was kind of lukewarm about platformer too when it was first announced because of the same reasons you mentioned about music sync and representation, but over time I've definitely warmed up to it simply because of how many creative possibilities it opens up for creators. There's already been a lot of really cool ideas implemented through platformer, and I'm excited to see how creators will innovate on all of the new tools, whether they're making platformer or classic levels.
@@ad1340yt What is bro talking about? The "Normal" levels are classic, and they aren't even the normal at this time since, like said in the video, 90% of featured levels are platformers.
I personally think it was a great addition because for me personally if i want to put a still art image in my level you can really take time to appreciate it in platformer rather than scrolling past it and forgetting it. Not to mention platformer will completely expand whats possible for GD and i personally think it will help the games lifespan. For example making a horror level in classic mode is basically impossible I'm sorry but its true, like collab level was probably the closest thing to an actual horror level but its only creepy the first time you play it. Although i do agree platformer levels should've just been stars instead of a moon system like not everyone wants to play platformer and vice versa some people dont enjoy auto scroll. But since icons are locked to one or the other people will be forced to play both if they want them. But overall Definitely not unhealthy for the game since this already bringing in tons of new creators and players. Not to mention it brings so much more stuff to really do, like pretty much one of the few things that kept this game alive for so long was "oh new top one" which got so repetitive and draining. Now you have harder platform levels, speedrunning, and just the vast possibilities of platformer. thats all sorry for rant
I don’t agree with this, the problems you stated such as the horror stuff are not solved by platformer mode. It is still just as hard to make a good horror level with the original mode. Platformer mode is fundamentally a different game meaning the horror experience we want/expect from a normal gd level can’t be created in platformer mode, its not the same experience.
I agree with you. The platformer mode made the lifespan of the game way bigger, different players with different skillsets are coming to the game and with the amount of inputs it has (6), you can do way more things than in classic mode. As an example we have SemiQuaver, Dead Signal, Rainbow Kart etc. I'm all for it
@@Clebb_GD Horror literally won’t work in classic because the main issue is that you’ll die and see the same jumpscare again and again so it where’s out it’s welcome. In platformer you have the ability to make something that chases you, or build up an ambience that you can’t do in classic because it’s just repetitive so I have to completely disagree with your disagreement. Checkout serponges other level and whatnot.
@@shiver8082 I don't disagree that auto scroll horror levels are bad, I disagree that platformer is the answer to fix it. After all, gd wasn't made for horror gameplay, so adding an entire new game mode to accommodate, at the expense of the original seems silly.
@@Clebb_GD what? You just said before that it’s not any easier to do it in platformer?? Do you even know what you’re arguing about? To put things in simple terms platformer mode expands upon the limitations of what auto scrollers can do and allows creators to make new things and create more variety in the game. Which just logically is a great thing 💀 I don’t understand how it’s this hard to understand. Alot of this is starting to just feel like nostalgia cope. “Too much change is scary and I love the past”. There’s no reason to be negative abt something that isn’t in your control because it’s not gonna change anything other than you being unhappy. It’s just part of the game now no point in whining.
I personally rlly like it bc playing normal levels get boring over time and platformer mode is just for something else to do. Both modes are equal imo.
My take on it is this. I like platformer mode, I think it was a good addition. Like I agree with everything you’re saying but the way the implementation is it doesn’t feel like traditional levels are being replaced by platformer levels. It feels more like geometry dash and geometry dash platformer are two different games. Sort of an NES two games on 1 cart type thing. I agree that if these two things blend badly that would be bad. But I think the existing separation makes me ok with this.
That's just the thing though, there really isn't that much seperation at all. They both show up in the same featured tab, they're both made in the same editor, the only real difference is that one gives you moons and the other gives you stars
Wherwin explains that the two games cannot co-exist because creators will "lose sight of geometry dash". As long as he doesn't make a more detailed, convincing argument about *how* that would happen, one can reply back "no, I think they can co-exist" and no one's mind will ever change. For example, do the new platfomer features clutter the editor to the point creating regular geometry dash levels has much more friction? Another commenter mentioned slopes got messed up with the update, and I think that's the quintessential example of the platformer mode stepping on the original game, breaking old levels. (and there's still no complete solution in sight, because robtop knew that it would happen, and platformer mode is more important to him)
@@WHErwinI think NiS meant that the two modes can’t exist in the same level. You can’t have a level that’s part-platformer, part normal GD gameplay, they have to be separate. But I do agree, I think it’s silly to have what’s basically two different games sharing the same featured tab. I always assumed that platformer levels would be kept in a completely separate area of the game (I thought “The Map” would be used for this), and I was surprised to find out they’re just grouped together.
Geometry dash isn't a "jack of all trades", it is a rhythm platformer. Platformer mode was made to add onto that. I agree it would have been better as a spin off, but having it in the main game is not as big of a detriment as you are making it put to be because its completely seperate from normal geometry dash and is clearly not the priority. The tower is only found after scrolling through all the main levels and there doesn't appear to be any signs of moving away from that core. On the point of the game becoming less reliant on music sync, that is not entirely true. There are ways to sinc boss attacks and gameplay obsticles on music sync and though I will agree it is not great, I dont think it will be as bad as you say. Though platformer mode strays from the core intet of the game, it is hard to deny the positives and significantly increases the posibilities of the game and in time, it will unboubtably find its place.
Platformer gd being a separate game Imo sounds like a bad idea. It would further separate platformer and regular levels and lead to platformer mode most likely being left in the dust since creators would probably focus on one instead of the other.
@@TJ-hg6opbecause they are inherently separate and should not be forced together. What you said at the very end is WHY platformer mode does not belong in GD: creators creating platformer instead of normal and vice versa. It will divide the community.
@@TheInsane104 Having a divided community is somewhat how a community grows, look at minecraft, theres a community for speedrunners, builders, survivalists, casual, redstoners, despite that fragmented community, its still one and the same, yall are just gatekeeping the community to grow into other diverse things
@@TheInsane104 I said platformer would be left in the dust because people are still mostly used to regular GD and they would be forced to abandon their stats, levels, and everything to play on the spin-off. That’s why it would be left in the dust. This community has been divided for so long and that is not inherently a bad thing.
@@-fsa-3615 Yeah, people getting pissed that so many levels are platformers are just dumb. Like yeah, it’s a completely new way to play and create of course people are gonna want to explore it.
Damn i thought you as a Celeste player would like platformer mode. I was also skeptical of it at first but i’ve come to really appreciate the mode as it’s there when the classic game gets boring. Moon grinding also gives us something else to work for
@@WHErwin In Robs defense to that he recently did fix the “slipperiness” with platformer to make it feel more natural and in line with other games. I’m not sure how much you’ve tested that change or what your opinions are on it but i can at least commend Rob to trying to make the mode as good as possible
"Platformer mode will make creators worse at making regular levels" is an insane take, you did basically nothing to back it up. Making a standard GD level vs a platformer level are two entirely different experiences, they dont bleed into each other in any way. Nobody is going to try to make regular levels like platformer levels, and vice versa. They are entirely different skillsets.
I'm not exactly a fan of platformer mode, but I think it has some merits. It's more capable than something like mario maker, while being maybe more easy to use than something like Little Big Planet (though that's a big maybe tbh, but I'd say they are at worst at around the same level.) For what it's worth, I don't think plat mode's very existence is going to impact how regular levels are made too much. Though, I am worried about one thing and that is the SFX trigger. I've seen a few levels which use the SFX trigger in non-platformer mode, and that is something that I think is downright concerning. It's the worst when the SFX isn't even synced with the music. I haven't seen this too much admittedly, but I'm worried this could become a problem.
I agree, though with the sfx trigger i do believe it can be used in a good way. Its one of those features that people dont really know where to use yet so they just throw it in wherever they want. I think that the sfx trigger can be used to enhance the experience of some levels that are more on the thematic side of level creation
I think well-placed properly tuned sfx can do a ton for the level, as a song can be thematically restricting and sfx can bridge the gap between visuals and audio. The Poolrooms is a great level example of this I played recently.
I understand and relate to a lot of your frustrations here, but ultimately, i dont think gd will lose its identity Platformer is a new feature that everyone wants to mess around with right now, and while we wait for higher standards to develop for the mode, people are gonna continue to make platformer levels trying to essentially "figure it out" The original gd mode is referred to in gd as "classic mode" implying that it is in some way superior or prioritized over platformer mode. Robtop couldve called it auto scrolling mode or smth instead but he didnt which i think is telling Robtop also hid the platformer levels inside of the tower which is not exactly hard to find but it does demonstrate that classic mode is ultimately the priority in geometry dash Anyways to close this off i think if theres one thing ive noticed about the gd community it is that its just filled with an abundance of really creative people. I dont think it matters whether platformer mode feels special or distinct because this *community* is distinct and there is no better community to give all of these promising editor features to. Geometry Dash is still Geometry Dash, just with more creative potential than ever before, and if gd has an identity, auto-side-scrolling music-based 2D platformer comes second to its identity as a tool or outlet for artists and creatives
I dunno, I thought that "classic" implied "old" and "outdated", and I'm not the only one in the comments who thought that same way too. I think a better, unambiguous term for this would have been "regular" instead
I pretty much agree. I'm hoping that the recent push of platformer levels by RobTop is a temporary measure and that eventually things will go back to 50/50. Another thing that I think is interesting to mention is that platformer levels take much less time to make "feature worthy" because the decorating a few rooms is likely to take less time then decorating a minute+ classic level. Seems like for those who want to farm CP, platformers will be king.
That's very true, it's good for people trying to get their first creator points but honestly it just means that there's a possibility of an overabundance of these levels
Maybe I'm just jealous with my tiny (1) collection of anachronistic 1.9 levels, but it just makes me sad that this mixture of greed and the social standard that you must overdecorate your level collide in this way. Maybe it's fun for some to make intricate designs or cool effects, but those CP-grinders you are talking about don't even like the time they spend, do they. I guess we could blame the existence of CP. Maybe I'm even denying just how jealous I am, but I can't really imagine someone still yearning for more CP after like their 3rd featured level, because surely that gets boring, doesn't it? empathy 100
Maybe I'm just jealous with my tiny (1) collection of anachronistic 1.9 levels, but it just makes me sad that this mixture of greed and the social standard that you must overdecorate your level collide in this way. Maybe it's fun for some to make intricate designs or cool effects, but those CP-grinders you are talking about don't even like the time they spend, do they. I guess we could blame the existence of CP. Maybe I'm even denying just how jealous I am, but I can't really imagine someone still yearning for more CP after like their 3rd featured level, because surely that gets boring, doesn't it? empathy 100
I’ve just been grinding out both. Platformer demons are extremely fun imo and seem to have a lot of really cool gimmicks. I already have like 250 moons so that’s cool.
I think it's funny that even though platformer mode was never the game's original identity, it might become the main selling point of the game, and eventually become the best maker-style platformer out there. After all, geometry dash's editor is far more customizable than any other maker platformer, and the majority of players are in love with it right now. I understand the argument of it messing with the game's identity, but I can't see how something that the community is having so much fun with can be hurting the game itself. If anything, its likely to increase geometry dash's popularity and give it even more staying power. After all, in pre-2.2 gd, originality in levels was something you had to actively work for since the gameplay was inherently limited to a single input button. Now that we have greater creative freedom, the originality and quality of levels is only going to increase from here. Platformer mode is increasing geometry dash's scope of appeal, making it so that even more people can find something in the game they enjoy. It's healthy for the growth of the community as a whole, even if it means classic mode becomes a only a subsection of that community. So, I don't think platformer mode shifting the identity of the game is a bad thing especially because I believe in its potential to keep the community alive and invested for a long time to come.
It's possible that the new freedom is going to keep the game alive for longer, but interestingly if the game were a maker-style platformer from the start I think it would have never become popular as it is. It was geometry dash "limited" single input button that made it standout from other games in the beginning.
This is one of the few times i disagree with you but i did agree with some takes of your video. I think platformer mode is a great addition and i love what people are doing with it, i just wish the plaforming side of gd was better divided from the classic stuff. Robtop did a decent job with that when it comes to main levels, having the tower be its own subsection of the level select screen, but when it comes to user created levels it’s super messy. Plat levels are just thrown in with the classic stuff which makes it annoying for people who just dont care about it to enjoy new levels without having to filter through 20 platformer levels. Maybe an option to only see classic levels and/or classic levels would’ve been a great addition. To go back to you pancake analogy, we should instead be presented with the option to add salt and pepper to our pancake, not force it onto us :p The same thing goes for the editor. Like you mentioned, it was initially designed for music based level making and not platformer. I think robtop should add a newly designed editor for platormer mode instead of just flipping a switch in the same editor.
One thing about platformer levels is that they can incorporate ambient music in a better way than classic levels usually can. I've had some ideas for levels with ambient music that I ended up scrapping, bc it rarely fits the concept of constantly moving. But platformer mode gave these ideas a second chance, so why not have it?
I’ve always thought that “geometry” dash isn’t as geometry themed anymore. The theming sticks in early levels, but most levels don’t have anything to do with geometry. Although, the game would’ve had a hard time staying popular if it was purely geometry themed.
Im gonna be honest, while I think making it a separate game could have worked better, I still dont see the problem with it being in the game. I dont think it takes away anything from the base game at all personally and I like platformers, so GD having a platformer mode is just more fun. Sure, its not got the best controls, but they still feel perfectly fine. I also don't see how it will reduce the quality of non-plat levels. If anything, platformer levels are best to test the 2.2 features on.
I used to hold the same opinion when platformer mode was first announced but after trying it ingame, platformer levels super fun to play and also super fun to make. With my logic, something that's added to the game which I find fun is a good feature. Sure it doesn't invalidate your opinion but I really like platformer mode now as it opens up so many more possibilities for what can be made inside Geometry Dash. Plus, it won't stop good classic mode levels being made and I think that it'll balance out more once platformer mode gets older.
This is the reason I'm not a huge fan of the physics "fix". As weird as it was, it gave GD's platformer an interesting identity, now it's just a worse everything else
ive always thought this EXACT THING - none of this platformer thing is interesting to me and i think it's super disingenuous towards the core gameplay to have it just switch up on you like that. referring to krmal's reply, i love how in super mario maker, creators have their own language to tell you to spin jump or throw an item, etc. and i really hope this gets picked up in gd because sightreadability is suddenly an unfair and annoying procedure to try and figure out what the creator intended, and how they managed to communicate that with you (which doesnt feel that right towards the game either). anyway i was going to say that im stuck on that mirror temple c side in celeste and that video is exactly the right place i was struggling with so thanks for including that clip in there LOL
I 100% agree. TF2 has been having the same problem where the community was given more freedom when it came to map creation and instead just ended up remaking popular source minigames that dont fit into a team based shooter at all and now people are doing the same things in Geometry Dash. STOP THE SLOP
Honestly I agree. I hated the idea of platformer mode when it was announced, then when it came out I actually really enjoyed it, and now im still enjoying it but am starting to remember why I was so skeptical first My main issue is yes i enjoy platformer mode and actually quite enjoy how it controls and plays but i enjoy it in isolation- the enjoyment i get from it is completely disconnected from why I enjoy the main game. So when i play platformer levels in a gaming session i dont play standard levels, and same vice versa While it isnt a detriment to my enjoyment of the game, it really does feel weird having what is basically two disconnected games mashed into one. Should have just been a seperate game with account integration
I enjoy both styles of Gameplay, I do like classic mode more, but I mostly use platformer if like "oh I feel like platforming that day", or "oh I feel like doing classic mode". Its to add variety to playing the game so I can change it up to not get tired of playing just classic.
I believe in a year or so Platformer levels will be more rare, down to about 25%, because normal levels works better because the game is built that way. I like Platformer but I also think it should have been a seperate game.
bro im gonna be honest, you say "90% of all rated levels are platformers", not kidding under 30% of rated levels are platformers, the entire backbone of your point makes no sense when you actually click the awarded tab and look
I agree ... somewhat. I think over time the thing that makes the game special has shifted. Previously it was the music sync. Now it is the insane customization that the editor provides. No other good platformer has this amount of customization in a level editor (Celeste modding technically has unlimited customization because of code modding, but it's not official and has less stuff out of the box). In the video, you correctly compared the GD editor to a 2D game engine. However, there are a bunch of things that sets GD platformer mode apart from creating stuff with actual game engines. The by far most notable of these advantages for GD is the ease of distributing levels. If your level is good and gets rated, it will be played by a lot of other people because you can easily find/download great levels with the added motivation of statistics. Based on this, I don't think it's fair to really call GD simply a worse game engine. The platformer mode still has its unique place in the world of games. I still think that the direction of the game with platformer mode is bad, because it makes GD lose focus on what it's good at, as you described in the video.
the fact that platformer levels are both able to be featured and they have a different rewards system is also very frustrating, since it further complicates what doesnt need to be complicated and it severely impacts discovery of traditional levels. not to mention there are acheivements relating to collecting moons, so if youre someone who wants those unlocks, you HAVE to interact with them. and the worst part is that all of this is mostly irreversible! i hope that one day we as a community are able to mature to a point where platformer mode is used sparingly. levels like a new dawn or this co party are a good direction but i cant trust the majority of the community to not make slop levels that do nothing but crowd the featured tab.
I still remember hearing about platformer mode. I still remember feeling absolutely nothing about it when I heard about it. Even now I just don't care about it (I got pretty stoked when I found out a demon had been legendary rated that wasn't platformer). I still don't have all the coins from the tower and when I finally do I will likely never touch platformer mode again. It just isn't the same as original Geometry Dash. Could it be a good game? Perhaps, but it's not one I am interested in.
I disagree with pretty much everythingin the video. The way I see the platformer is a complete bonus. GD classic levels still exist it's not like their deleted. A lot of people also love the platformer. There are people who play the game just because of platformer. You can get 2 completely different experiences and something that kinda resembles a game engine in one game which for me and many others is amazing. I really love that I can play classic then platformer and back and forth and swtich the game style whenever I want. It's not Pancakes with salt and pepper on them. They are in a different cup that you can ignore if you want to.
Also some other things in the video I strongly DISAGREE are plat and classic be 2 different games and Plat is unnecessary because there are other Plat games that you could play. The first one is bad because it will divide the community in half. That's bad by itself because because it kills a lot of the growth potential. But when you factor in the people who love to play both and it will become harder for them because they are not in the same place it becomes tremendously bad. A lot of those people could loose interest in the game altogether. The second is silly like the fact that it's not that great doesn't make it unnecessary it will become better and people already start to make really good stuff with it. Not to mention the people that like it because it's simple that's another can of worms. Point is I think pretty much everything you said and the answers to those problems you brought are pretty bad with all my respect.
When i want to play classic gamemode, i search for tiny-xl, if i want to play platformer i search for plat, its really easy not to play one gamemode if you dont want
i have mixed feelings on platformer mode. honestly the thing i dislike most about 2.2 is the addition of pixel blocks, which completely destroys the incredibly unique aesthetic geometry dash has built up over the past decade
i definitely agree with the fact that its fundamentally a different core idea than what gd is intended to be, hence why i was very skeptical before the update released, but ive been having so much fun with platformer levels (props to rob for fixing the physics and making them less slidey, makes a huge difference) and have seen a lot of insanely cool ideas already, i honestly think it was a good addition. if the game continues to focus so much on them, more so than on classic levels, then id say thats potentially a bad thing, but i doubt itll be that way - its just a lot more fresh than classic gameplay at the moment. i think gd's editor is an amazing tool for platformer levels as well as classic levels, i havent really felt like its any less intuitive with having platformer. also appreciate the fact they give a separate collectible than regular levels, and the 2.203 demon menu helps make the demons separate too which is great the one part i REALLY disagree with, however, is the part about minigame levels. sure theyll be less impressive, but thats bound to happen with any new addition to the game. more things are possible, more things are simpllified, and standards change. if rob didnt add features just because they made previous levels less impressive, the game just wouldnt evolve. you can still make game recreations that are insanely impressive (Night Plus II is a good example), and theres more options and potential for creating fully original minigames, now with controls that dont make me rip my hair out (some examples ive recently played are Sometimes You Die, MS22 and quake goes brr, altho i needed a controller for the latter, potentially just a skill issue) i think the simplification of creating minigames, the better controls for them and the higher potential for them outweighs the issue of older ones not being as impressive by a long shot. great video as always!
Platformer levels have a lot of creative potential but the community hasn't yet harnessed it. The sent tab is full of these generic uninteresting platformer levels that were made in a few days. Furthermore, I think the pixel block art style is extremely odd and doesn't fit the classic geometry dash style in any capacity. Platformer levels are just easy cp for lazy creators and its the same issue with generic modern and glow where creators make something extremely boring and generic so they can get a rate, rather than make levels for personal fulfillment or as a creative outlet. I liked platformer at first but nowadays I dont even bother because theyre not fun to me. The music sync is entirely gone which takes away from a huge portion of the enjoyment for me. I dont think ill be using the mode much
While the RobTop levels were musically synced, it was always a choice. Either way id do feel slightly weird about the way these different gameplay styles are mish-mashed together. I think a possible solution is to add different "featured tabs" for both platformer and classic modes to exist separately, and just generally split the two so that it doesn't interfere with fans of the original GD.
Since you talked about the traits GD have. I want you to make video about "Is the charm of GD becoming lost". I want to see how you could elaborate my issue further. In 2018, when I started playing as 12 years old, which is 1 year after 2.1 release. At the time, GD is full of levels I remember, decoration and gameplay standards are not really a thing strictful in most creators. Now levels look like what you could see in recent rated tab (at least before 2.2), they don't feel special to me anymore, even if the quality is high.
Geometry dash user levels: garbage You: oh no, platformer will make levels garbage! They were already garbage. Now we just have fun platformer levels too for a change. Also it's so funny that your core argument is that geometry dash's identity is being a rhythmn game. No. It's been a platformer this whole time with music as an added bonus that *sometimes* syncs with the level. Levels that abuse music sync are the worst levels in the game.
I think this video really puts into focus why I'm personally not a huge fan of platformer mode, but I disagree with the point that platformer mode will ruin geometry dash. I agree with the fact that platformer loses the core identity of geometry dash, but I don't entirely agree with the whole "platformer mode is bad and robtop has lost sight of GD's core identity" thing. Unlike the comparison to Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, the core identity of Geometry Dash is still very much present in the game. The comparison would be more adequate if rob had removed classic mode altogether in favor of platformer, or released a new platformer game which he decided to support instead of continuing to support geometry dash. Because of this, people who primarily enjoy classic mode will continue to play it, and the people who enjoy platformer mode more will eventually have their niche of the community once things settle down. I do agree that platformers being 90% of the new rates is a problem, but as you said already, I think it'll settle down once the novelty wears off and rob stops doing that thing he does at the start of every new major update where he greatly favors levels that utilize the new mechanics when doing rates. It could also become an issue if rob starts to over emphasize platformer, so I hope that he kind of just finishes the tower and finishes touching up the platformer physics then primarily focuses on classic mode instead of attempting to support classic and platformer mode equally. I personally think it would be ideal if the level of classic mode to platformer support was an 80/20 split, since classic mode is really what makes geometry dash special in my opinion.
Slopes were changed in favor of making them work consistently In the short term it did break a lot of old levels yeah but in the long term it'll overall be a good change for the game since creators won't have to account for random slope bugs when making gameplay
@@solaraloe The majority of new slope bugs are not caused by making the physics consistent. The first slope in windy landscape wasn't bugged in any frame rate that people play, but with the update it became impossible for everyone. There are slope bugs because robtop made all slopes use the physics from platformer mode. Apparently no care was put into the decision, which shows Robtops priorities.
@@averesenso It was still changed for consistency, so people dont have to account for hz bugs, you seem to be just looking for any reason to hate on the guy that worked on this update for 7 years lol
Platformer is a great way to attract casuals, fast paced side scrolling game is not something everyone really even bothers to try and i feel that platformer can really be played by everyone because of the freedom it provides. The music not syncing with the level in platformer mode is barely even an argument because it doesn't meant to be synced, I mean yeah some areas / events in a platformer can be accompanied by a music change or a sound effect but its not the main purpose of the game mode. I can't predict how the game will go on but i really strongly believe that the classic and platformer GD will not be cannibalizing on each other but build each other up.
I agree, platformer levels are nice, and i did have fun playing a few of them, but at the end of the day it's not the reason why i play this game, and it makes me kinda upset when i wanna check out the featured section to find new classic levels to play only to find it filled with platformer levels instead
-Although I don't dislike platformer, I agree with a lot of what is said in this video. As you said, platformer mode does violate GD's core identity of a one-of-a-kind rhythm-based platformer. It tries to throw away the legacy that the game has had for a (non autoscroller) platformer, which plenty of games like Celeste do a much better job at. And of course, platformer mode is a playstyle choice: you either treasure it amongst the various platformers on a site like coolmathgames, or you don't particularly want to touch it if you have a choice. -One thing I don't agree with though is that platformer mode should have been separated into a spinoff game. What exactly does it accomplish? Most of the spinoff games are meant to be a preview of the upcoming update for the main game (2.0 Meltdown, 2.1 World, 2.2 Subzero). Separating the games would mean that Robtop would have to work on and support both games, unless he would want to drop the new platformer entirely. Not to mention, dividing the game IS dividing the playerbase/community. You either love the platformer version with all your heart, or you hate it and will never touch the spinoff. There's also a thing regarding price, would the platformer game be free to download or paid access? The game would have to be running off of community creations, something only present on the main full version of GD. Do we make a copy of practically the same game (yes i know it's not 100% but you get the point) with all* the features of the paid version and set it out there for free? No. Then you are forced to make it paid access. At that point, platformer turns into a DLC for GD, while leaving behind everything that has made up GD (the historic past levels). People aren't going to want to pay for 2 versions of Geometry Dash that are pretty much almost identical just because one of them is less "restricted". There really isn't a good reason to just split the game in half because platformer mode is reflecting the game's core identity. -For the record, I do however agree that adding Moons as a separate statistic from Stars was kind of a mistake, though you probably know the reasons why so I won't dive in on that. end of thought This is probably a very messy and unpolished comment, will look over and polish it later.
what bothers me the most about platformer mode is that gd was not built with having one in mind, this is the same issue why the editor looks so cluttered with stuff, gd wasn't originally built to be a game engine, the reason slopes broke was because they had to be remade to work with platformer mode, robtop now has to account how new stuff affects both gamemodes, and thats without mentioning platformer mode is the main reason 2.2 took more than twice as long as it should have, so platformer DOES negativelly affect "classic" mode
What the fuck?! I thought the slopes were broken because of the physics overhaul (to fix the TPS and FPS bug), not because of platformer mode?! If that’s true, then FUCK platformer mode for ruining normal levels!
I feel like platformer mode deserved its own game. Introducing platformer mode into base GD makes things way more confusing and bloated. I hate to complain about free content but having this amalgamation of two games means issues one become issues with the other. If it was a standalone title it'd have it's own development cycle which would be so much healthier. BTD and BTD Battles come to mind as an example.
7:42 I get your point, but then the update would be useless cuz almost every single editor feature is centered around the platformer mode and making it a spinoff will make it so noone will play it. Honestly I don’t like poatformer mode but there is nothing we can do. I think I will stick to playing 2.1 until I can’t… And also thank you for pointing out the key features of the gd editor because now I know what is best for my level c:
2.2 adds the swing gamemode, purple jump rings, camera controls and a bunch of other new triggers that all work great independent of platformer. Take platformer out of the update and you still have plenty of content to fill an entire update, imo
I agree with the sentiment but I gotta say the pancake analogy was very inaccurate, can't eat the pancake without eating the salt and pepper, but you can 100% play GD without playing platformer levels. Besides, have you tried salt and pepper on a pancake? Thought not.
even putting aside rob's haphazard fusion of these two game genres, gd does not translate well into a free-moving platformer at all. the physics are fine, but i don't want to play a platformer that feels "fine." i want the satisfaction of a well-timed hyperdash- i want the impact of slamming the floor with a ground pound- i want to feel like holding the jump button is the only thing standing between me and the constant addition of downward velocity. playing coaster mountain just made me wish i was playing celeste.
the music sync is actually something that really appeals to me about geometry dash, but it’s not really made impossible in platformer mode, just that few people think to make an attempt at integrating sync into their levels im currently experimenting with “flood escape” levels which force the player to move as fast as possible, thereby enabling a reasonable degree of sync. this mechanic is seen in many roblox flood escape maps, and i feel will eventually become a well-explored genre in gd platformers
I've had this opinion from the very start and felt like the only one. IWBTG felt like the culmination of everything wrong with platformer mode as well. Even the sidescroller mode being called "classic" now is downright insulting, like it is now a legacy option and no longer meant to be the original appeal with GD, when that is why I came to Geometry Dash. If I wanted a regular platformer, I can just play Mario or something, but it isn't fun to me. The platformer levels by RobTop aren't fun to me, oft unbalanced. The online ones aren't fun to me. And what's worse is to get all coins, you need to play the levels Rob made, and even speedrun them. There is no way I ain't speedrunning the boss when I can't even beat the boss. It's frustrating in all the wrong reasons and it's not even a mode I want to get better at. So, I've just been focusing on the regular levels. Best for my sanity.
I 100% agree. People keep telling me that platformer levels are good, which they maybe are, but for me its just not geometry dash. Also i definitely agree that it should have been a spinoff game like subzero.
One Argument I have is the fact that Platformer Mode gives you more things to do. I think the mystery aspect of, "oh hey, this is something that i never expected" compliments the game a lot. It does have the unfortunate outcome of the game, losing its identity but i also loved the idea that rob wants the game to be, whatever he decides to plan for it. And the more it sounds like as if its being moved into a game that's all about art and creativity. It doesn't probably work, when it comes to game designing but I like that this is something that is basically unheard of. But thats my opinion. A personal view that I got from platformer mode being added was the fact that geometrydash did change it's identity, but it formed a new identity that seems to resonate with me and quite the significant portion of the community.
This video made me realize how strongly I'd abstracted away the gamemodes of GD from any sort of feeling of music sync, to the point where how platformer mode plays with their mechanics was far more interesting, and the reason I came back to the game. To me, the emphasis of GD lied more in that the gameplay would fit with what the music "feels like", even if it's not the correct rhythm at all. Because of this, having multiple songs and sound effects to suit a wider breadth of moods in general still feels (to me, at least) like a very GD thing to do. I definitely feel the absence of that feeling in platformer now that it's mentioned outright, but I doubt that the way the game is structured will cause it to disappear from relevance. A filter on the featured tab would be great though, yes.
Geometry Dash could honestly benefit from a revert to 1.9. Yes, I love 1.9 but I don't feel this way because of nostalgia towards specifically 1.9 but rather because 1.9 had a lot of limitations but not enough of them for levels to be boring. I remember when 1.9 came out, levels felt so different simply because of custom music so I think that's an example of a GOOD change. With a lot of limitations, creators don't go crazy and instead use the editor and the game for what it was designed to do. Nowadays we praise creators for making levels that don't feel like Geometry Dash and even in 2.0 we were heading in this direction (look at Serponge levels for example or those awful levels that locked a sprite to the player position), but I can't help but miss levels that were just fun *Geometry Dash* levels, not bad Mario levels or even just ridiculous levels like HOW that make Geometry Dash something it wasn't designed to be and shouldn't be. Just plain fun levels about jumping over spikes.
i lost interest in playing GD a long time ago but the music intergration remains something i still love about it. i started playing again a bit upon 2.2s release and platformer mode just doesnt really feel right to me. it doesnt feel like GD - at least the GD i like
this is why i want to see more time-based platformer levels. levels that kill you off if youre too slow which forces you to sync your jumps with the music
imo its good that there are more platformers than normal levels right now! There are 250,000+ stars to collect and only like 2000 moons... when there are like 50,000+ moons to collect i think people will move back to autoscroll.
Personally, I really admire how Geometry Dash became a unique way of expressing art. GD levels are like a music video(game) for a chosen song, and the visuals and gameplay are both based on that. The gameplay of GD itself is also really unique, and people underappreciate how complex the mechanics are and how well they work to improve the simple concept of having to click to make a square jump to the song. I think platformer mode is cool and all, since it uses Geometry Dash's mechanics to create a new game that's also fun, but by mixing it with the classic levels, it removes what made Geometry Dash unique in the first place, both gameplay-wise and artistically. I also think platformer mode should be it's own game, since it's still good and has a right to exist, but it's not what makes "Geometry Dash" Geometry Dash to me, and is not a game I personally care about
Disagree with pretty much everything but valid points i guess When i play platformer i still feel like im playing geometry dash. Afterall, GD was never just a rhythm game like people used to think back then, but also a 2d platformer so having that in the game really makes sense if you think about it. The thing of ruining the identity of the game will happen dont matter the update or even the game. Its obvious that in games like Minecraft the identity has changed after 15y of the game existing and obviously with GD it would be the same. I highly doubt that back in update 1.0 Rob would ever expect the game to look something like 1.9 and i also doubt that back in 1.9 Rob would expect the game to look like 2.1. Changing directions can be bad sometimes but in this case i legit dont know how it could be bad. If anything, it just creates a new subgenre of the game that can also bring more players that are interested in 2D platformers, just like GD originally brought a lot of Osu/etc players because of the music based gameplay. But yeah i honestly really love platformer, the new physics are really good and i always look foward for the next huge level coming, actually, i kinda just want to complete more and more platformer demons in my skill range, theyre super fun. Also, the idea of making platformer a seperate game is really, really bad imo Not only Rob is a 1 man team but i dont know how that could possibly improve the game. If anything it would just divide the community completely and it would be a mess to deal with due to the servers and obviously the updates. The way it is, is honestly fine, mainly because platformer levels wont be weekly or daily levels so it literally is something optional
I’m not sure this is framed correctly. Because of platformer mode, I don’t think there really isn’t “the game” as much as there are two games packaged as one. I agree it would make more sense to release platformer mode as a spinoff title. But I don’t think there’s much material difference between releasing it as a spinoff and releasing it as a new facet of the original. We functionally have two games either way, either in reality or virtually. Maybe there is a key difference that I’m missing, and if you think there is, please tell me. But because I don’t see much of a difference, I don’t see how Geometry Dash’s identity is uniquely eroded with platformer’s inclusion alongside the original game in a way that wouldn’t also happen if it was released as a spinoff.
Platformer is just not GD and that's it. Add a flight simulation mode to a racing game, make it as good as it can possibly be and it will still sucks, because it's not what the game is supposed to be and that's as simple as that. Sometimes I feel like people want GD to be EVERYTHING and forget what make this game so special. The fact that as you explained levels are able to entirely sync up with it's music is truly wonderful. Maybe it's a stupid comparison but from all the movies I watched, my favorite scenes are always tied up with amazing music, like the docking scene in Interstellar, the Avengers Assemble in Endgame or Thor entrance in Wakanda and the list could go on. Hate Sonic Wave or not, but the way the music goes crazy at the drop with the Circles effect at the same time make it super intense, and super iconic. People smh get angry when I call gd a rythm based game, but that's what it is. I don't know, I'm just a bit afraid to see GD changing so much form what made it so great. One more thing, people often say that the community kept the game alive during 2.11 since we had to wait a very long time before 2.2, but to be fair if creators have been able to create more and more amazing things it's also because the game allowed them to do so. 2.11 was an amazing update that allowed people to enjoy the game for years. I'm not an amazing creator, but I do have experience with the editor. The GD editor has always been hard to work around, and it's even worse now. I'm afraid 2.2 is going to make it even harder for new creators to learn the editor and all its features, only making the gap between the "hardcore" community and the more casual side even bigger. I still love the update and enjoy the game, but as you explained, the more you like a game, the more likely you are to worry when you see it shift to something entirely different.
I love platformer mode to death but the amount of soulless, annoying, and trash levels that are released way too often. All the difficult levels just end up sucking to play due to lack of checkpoints or unfun gameplay that just makes you want to rip your hair out
The fact that one of the old screenshots in the Google Play store says about “One-tap game” has completely thrown out of the window. The game was meant to be a one button game but with the new update. That’s is completely gone now and now it’s both a hybrid of a unique game like a music sync gameplay to an existing concept like platformer. I still like having both in my opinion but I rather play classic mode more than platformer. I treat it as a way to chillax after beating a hard level in classic mode. The only major complaints I have is that the features tab are mixed with both platformer and classic but due to the new update. It’s been mostly platformer. A way to seperate them would be nice.
I agree with some of your points, but honestly, i disagree with this take. I think platformer mode is a great addition to this game. Its a fresh take on the game imo, and i just dont get the feel the game is losing direction. I think its a cool concept and a welcome addition imo.
Although I disagree with the most parts of the video, I can see the point you're making when you're saying "Replica of minigames are no longer impressive." In my opinion, what made minigames in 2.1 so good are their technicalities. Those levels pushed what was possible in Geometry Dash at the time, especially how limited it was in terms of the selection of triggers you can use. Now that we're in 2.2, everytime I see a minigame or a fully-fledged replica of a game being recreated inside the game, I don't feel the "Wow" factor anymore. It just doesn't feel as good as knowing that the creator's intention aren't to push limits, but recreating it purely for clout. What made those 2.1 minigames good are how the creator approached and solved those problems, they have a great inside knowledge of the game and I know they felt fulfilled once they finished their minigame knowing that they expanded upon what they thought the game's limits.
Loved the video! It shouldn't have, but that "or dash, even" pun destroyed me. I agree a ton with what you say, platformer doesn't feel like Geometry Dash with how it plays at all, I now have to press 3 buttons? Way to complex man... I feel the better direction to go with platformer as well would be to take it out of Geometry Dash and make it it's own game. If we keep going in this direction, I feel like we might have what happened to Fortnite happen again.
Platformer mode, once the hype dies out, will likely become much less of an issue than it is now. It will never not be an issue, but it will fizzle out. Geometry Dash also has more than just the music representation going for it. In my opinion, it’s the diverse gimmicks of the various gamemodes that make it so fun for me. WHICH IS WHY IT SUCKS THAT YOU CANT USE WAVE OR “SWING” IN PLATFORMER MODE! Taking away a core aspect of the game, and limiting another, doesn’t justify any creations made with this new tool.
even if i like classic levels more, platformer mode is just chill and laidback and moongrinding and speedrunning are just more things to do in the game
I identify with this opinion, not 100% but the most important thing is the platform mode and the identity of GD. It bores me to play GD 2.2 levels because they are very annoying with all the effects and particles they have, which I personally find unnecessary because the level itself already looks pretty. I find the "classic" style levels more fun than the current levels, simple, fast and easy to understand.
Thanks for this video, good to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. It feels like the game's trying really hard to lean into the idea of being able to just make literally whatever you want, versus making a really cool music game level. I'm torn on it, because the latter is definitely the only appeal of the game for me and always has been, but I just know as a kid I would've loved having a game with this many ways to fuel creativity. But yeah, "lost the plot" is the best way I've thought to describe it. Beyond even just the mode itself, things like the art direction (since 2.1 even) or how new gameplay concepts (direction changes, ending the level wherever you want etc) all have NO universal symbols or objective language for the player to pick up on, all feel like the game's fighting against my interest. I'm still excited to see what genuinely cool things people come up with though, in both modes.
If it's gotta exist at all, I think it's fine to have it in the main game, though. My biggest complaint when actually playing it right now is just that the free movement opens the floodgates for all kinds of platformer game design pet peeves, which I thought died when Flash did, but I guess that just comes with the territory of giving a level editor to kids, lol. I'm sure it'll get better with time.
Personally I have had so much fun making platformers and playing them too, but I have grown a bit more weary of it over time. I will still produce more but classic levels will return to being my focus. I think you go into some of the issues I have with it too here
Yeaaaah... I HATE the lack of universal symbols for new gameplay mechanics too. I'll be using a rotated speed changer to signal direction changes in ALL of my levels, and I hope that more people do this (people haven't even used gravity portals to signal a dash orb stop, so I don't have much hope in this, sadly)
I don't think that the art direction since 2.1 has been bad actually, EXCEPT for the new backgrounds. They all look so cheap, ugly and unfitting with the rest of the game
I'm very glad more people agree with me
Same
Platformer and classic mode levels are going to even out after a few months, since currently RobTop actually needs a lot of them, since there's achievements tied to moons and he needs creators to build things in order for those achievements to be doable. After a while, I think there will be more or less a similar ratio of both gamemodes.
I originally disliked the idea of platformer mode, but it's warmed up to me a lot. You know why? The change of pacing. Playing classic mode after a while can get tiresome, as in order to play (especially demons) a classic level, you need to focus a lot on the gameplay, and you can only play for so long unless you have great stamina to not completely lose focus after a while. Platformers are a fun break to me and they greatly increase the replayability of the game, and it probably does for others. It's an interesting way to keep people involved with the game. A lot of games end after a handful of hours, but GD is still a game that people can play for a while whenever they feel like due to its unlimited content.
Also I don't think platformer mode is gonna completely remove the sync and musical aspect of the game, at least once people get better at creating it over time. In platformer mode it's still perfectly doable to create synced gameplay, it just takes a different approach to it, and some creators have already managed to do that. This gamemode might have a looser focus on music sync, but I don't think it will completely disappear.
The MU effect
I also think that most platformers will have visuals that sync with the music. At least thats what I did with my level.
i agree completely with thjs
I completely agree with this comment.
Honestly, I feel like platformer mode levels are much less common, NO They literally are less common just very popular
The idea of a platformer with gd mechanics is actually a super promising one imo so I can see why Rob would be excited to add it. And there are some valid reasons not to put it in its own game. But it really does need to be it's own fleshed out game, it's severely held back by the core gd physics and limitations and it ends up holding back gd itself for the reasons you stated.
would it cost money? would it use the same servers? like I have so many questions against that argument
Sporks are the pinnacle of multi-faceted practicality and applicability what do you mean they're overrated?
ever tried to eat soup with a spork
What you gotta do is stick the end with some piece of food so it acts as a barrier against the soup pouring out
@@WHErwinhe’s got a point 🤷♀️
@@MagooAPnot all soups have big pieces of soup inside tjem, or if they do not everyone likes these big pieces of food
@@ohadishand then it would therefore not be necessary to use a utensil at all (for the sake of the argument) you could just drink it out of a bowl or use a straw (for the sake of the argument)
I disagree completely, I don't really see why platformer and regular GD can't coexist and why having platformer in the game damages regular GD. The only bad thing I can think of is the community becoming fragmented, but honestly it already was (list grinders, star grinders, creators) and is inevitable for a game with a community so large. I respect your opinion though and can understand your point about the game losing its identity. I don't think these are really major issues though, I care significantly more about having fun playing the game than the image of the game
I love both ngl, regular if I want to learn and master a level, and platformer for a more slow and laid back experience .
Star/moongrinding the last couple weeks has been really fun. I think the only real complaint I have is that the featured page is a mix of both. There should be a classic- and platformer featured page. And it does seem that classic levels have been a bit deprioritized
@Hyban123
This, my friend, is a comment I've been waiting for all the time! I totally agree and I play the game since early 2014
They’re both good but the reason I and many others were excited for 2.2 is to see what kind of “classic”levels the community would make 🙁
Personally I think it's interesting to see the game change like this. I was kind of lukewarm about platformer too when it was first announced because of the same reasons you mentioned about music sync and representation, but over time I've definitely warmed up to it simply because of how many creative possibilities it opens up for creators. There's already been a lot of really cool ideas implemented through platformer, and I'm excited to see how creators will innovate on all of the new tools, whether they're making platformer or classic levels.
No way bro is calling normal mode classic mode 💀
@@ad1340yt What is bro talking about? The "Normal" levels are classic, and they aren't even the normal at this time since, like said in the video, 90% of featured levels are platformers.
I personally think it was a great addition because for me personally if i want to put a still art image in my level you can really take time to appreciate it in platformer rather than scrolling past it and forgetting it. Not to mention platformer will completely expand whats possible for GD and i personally think it will help the games lifespan. For example making a horror level in classic mode is basically impossible I'm sorry but its true, like collab level was probably the closest thing to an actual horror level but its only creepy the first time you play it. Although i do agree platformer levels should've just been stars instead of a moon system like not everyone wants to play platformer and vice versa some people dont enjoy auto scroll. But since icons are locked to one or the other people will be forced to play both if they want them. But overall Definitely not unhealthy for the game since this already bringing in tons of new creators and players. Not to mention it brings so much more stuff to really do, like pretty much one of the few things that kept this game alive for so long was "oh new top one" which got so repetitive and draining. Now you have harder platform levels, speedrunning, and just the vast possibilities of platformer. thats all sorry for rant
I don’t agree with this, the problems you stated such as the horror stuff are not solved by platformer mode. It is still just as hard to make a good horror level with the original mode. Platformer mode is fundamentally a different game meaning the horror experience we want/expect from a normal gd level can’t be created in platformer mode, its not the same experience.
I agree with you. The platformer mode made the lifespan of the game way bigger, different players with different skillsets are coming to the game and with the amount of inputs it has (6), you can do way more things than in classic mode. As an example we have SemiQuaver, Dead Signal, Rainbow Kart etc. I'm all for it
@@Clebb_GD Horror literally won’t work in classic because the main issue is that you’ll die and see the same jumpscare again and again so it where’s out it’s welcome. In platformer you have the ability to make something that chases you, or build up an ambience that you can’t do in classic because it’s just repetitive so I have to completely disagree with your disagreement. Checkout serponges other level and whatnot.
@@shiver8082 I don't disagree that auto scroll horror levels are bad, I disagree that platformer is the answer to fix it. After all, gd wasn't made for horror gameplay, so adding an entire new game mode to accommodate, at the expense of the original seems silly.
@@Clebb_GD what? You just said before that it’s not any easier to do it in platformer?? Do you even know what you’re arguing about? To put things in simple terms platformer mode expands upon the limitations of what auto scrollers can do and allows creators to make new things and create more variety in the game. Which just logically is a great thing 💀 I don’t understand how it’s this hard to understand. Alot of this is starting to just feel like nostalgia cope. “Too much change is scary and I love the past”. There’s no reason to be negative abt something that isn’t in your control because it’s not gonna change anything other than you being unhappy. It’s just part of the game now no point in whining.
I personally rlly like it bc playing normal levels get boring over time and platformer mode is just for something else to do. Both modes are equal imo.
if i get bored of normal levels ill just play a different game. Geometry Dash doesnt have to be the Everything game
@@WHErwin Yeah you are right
The mu effect
@@WHErwinthe point is that its a good addition if you want to play something different from a classic level
@@danelrosen5461then play Super Mario Maker instead
My take on it is this.
I like platformer mode, I think it was a good addition.
Like I agree with everything you’re saying but the way the implementation is it doesn’t feel like traditional levels are being replaced by platformer levels. It feels more like geometry dash and geometry dash platformer are two different games. Sort of an NES two games on 1 cart type thing.
I agree that if these two things blend badly that would be bad. But I think the existing separation makes me ok with this.
That's just the thing though, there really isn't that much seperation at all. They both show up in the same featured tab, they're both made in the same editor, the only real difference is that one gives you moons and the other gives you stars
Wherwin explains that the two games cannot co-exist because creators will "lose sight of geometry dash". As long as he doesn't make a more detailed, convincing argument about *how* that would happen, one can reply back "no, I think they can co-exist" and no one's mind will ever change. For example, do the new platfomer features clutter the editor to the point creating regular geometry dash levels has much more friction?
Another commenter mentioned slopes got messed up with the update, and I think that's the quintessential example of the platformer mode stepping on the original game, breaking old levels. (and there's still no complete solution in sight, because robtop knew that it would happen, and platformer mode is more important to him)
@@averesensoslopes didn't change because of platformer mode, and this change was also massively needed due to physics inconsistencies
@@WHErwinI think NiS meant that the two modes can’t exist in the same level. You can’t have a level that’s part-platformer, part normal GD gameplay, they have to be separate.
But I do agree, I think it’s silly to have what’s basically two different games sharing the same featured tab. I always assumed that platformer levels would be kept in a completely separate area of the game (I thought “The Map” would be used for this), and I was surprised to find out they’re just grouped together.
Geometry dash isn't a "jack of all trades", it is a rhythm platformer. Platformer mode was made to add onto that. I agree it would have been better as a spin off, but having it in the main game is not as big of a detriment as you are making it put to be because its completely seperate from normal geometry dash and is clearly not the priority. The tower is only found after scrolling through all the main levels and there doesn't appear to be any signs of moving away from that core. On the point of the game becoming less reliant on music sync, that is not entirely true. There are ways to sinc boss attacks and gameplay obsticles on music sync and though I will agree it is not great, I dont think it will be as bad as you say. Though platformer mode strays from the core intet of the game, it is hard to deny the positives and significantly increases the posibilities of the game and in time, it will unboubtably find its place.
Platformer gd being a separate game Imo sounds like a bad idea. It would further separate platformer and regular levels and lead to platformer mode most likely being left in the dust since creators would probably focus on one instead of the other.
@@TJ-hg6opbecause they are inherently separate and should not be forced together. What you said at the very end is WHY platformer mode does not belong in GD: creators creating platformer instead of normal and vice versa. It will divide the community.
@@TheInsane104 Having a divided community is somewhat how a community grows, look at minecraft, theres a community for speedrunners, builders, survivalists, casual, redstoners, despite that fragmented community, its still one and the same, yall are just gatekeeping the community to grow into other diverse things
@@TheInsane104 I said platformer would be left in the dust because people are still mostly used to regular GD and they would be forced to abandon their stats, levels, and everything to play on the spin-off. That’s why it would be left in the dust. This community has been divided for so long and that is not inherently a bad thing.
@@-fsa-3615 Yeah, people getting pissed that so many levels are platformers are just dumb. Like yeah, it’s a completely new way to play and create of course people are gonna want to explore it.
Damn i thought you as a Celeste player would like platformer mode. I was also skeptical of it at first but i’ve come to really appreciate the mode as it’s there when the classic game gets boring. Moon grinding also gives us something else to work for
I think you have it backwards. Part of the reason I don't like platformer mode is because I also mplay Celeste, which feels much better to play
@@WHErwin In Robs defense to that he recently did fix the “slipperiness” with platformer to make it feel more natural and in line with other games. I’m not sure how much you’ve tested that change or what your opinions are on it but i can at least commend Rob to trying to make the mode as good as possible
@@kxenyy I honestly didnt notice a difference lol
@@kxenyy "fix"
@@badpiggs Yes the slippery physics are gone from platformer, not sure what you mean.
Of course it isn’t healthy. Just look at the thumbnail robot’s posture!
"Platformer mode will make creators worse at making regular levels" is an insane take, you did basically nothing to back it up. Making a standard GD level vs a platformer level are two entirely different experiences, they dont bleed into each other in any way. Nobody is going to try to make regular levels like platformer levels, and vice versa. They are entirely different skillsets.
I'm not exactly a fan of platformer mode, but I think it has some merits. It's more capable than something like mario maker, while being maybe more easy to use than something like Little Big Planet (though that's a big maybe tbh, but I'd say they are at worst at around the same level.) For what it's worth, I don't think plat mode's very existence is going to impact how regular levels are made too much.
Though, I am worried about one thing and that is the SFX trigger. I've seen a few levels which use the SFX trigger in non-platformer mode, and that is something that I think is downright concerning. It's the worst when the SFX isn't even synced with the music. I haven't seen this too much admittedly, but I'm worried this could become a problem.
I agree, though with the sfx trigger i do believe it can be used in a good way. Its one of those features that people dont really know where to use yet so they just throw it in wherever they want. I think that the sfx trigger can be used to enhance the experience of some levels that are more on the thematic side of level creation
Yeah the sfx just ruin the vibe in classic levels.
i dont think sfx in classic levels is inherently bad, but yeah it does tend to feel awkward a lot of the time
SFX should be used only sparingly in classic levels imo
I think well-placed properly tuned sfx can do a ton for the level, as a song can be thematically restricting and sfx can bridge the gap between visuals and audio. The Poolrooms is a great level example of this I played recently.
Yeah i dont think its healthy for the robot to go in that position they need to go see a doctor about it
I understand and relate to a lot of your frustrations here, but ultimately, i dont think gd will lose its identity
Platformer is a new feature that everyone wants to mess around with right now, and while we wait for higher standards to develop for the mode, people are gonna continue to make platformer levels trying to essentially "figure it out"
The original gd mode is referred to in gd as "classic mode" implying that it is in some way superior or prioritized over platformer mode. Robtop couldve called it auto scrolling mode or smth instead but he didnt which i think is telling
Robtop also hid the platformer levels inside of the tower which is not exactly hard to find but it does demonstrate that classic mode is ultimately the priority in geometry dash
Anyways to close this off i think if theres one thing ive noticed about the gd community it is that its just filled with an abundance of really creative people. I dont think it matters whether platformer mode feels special or distinct because this *community* is distinct and there is no better community to give all of these promising editor features to.
Geometry Dash is still Geometry Dash, just with more creative potential than ever before, and if gd has an identity, auto-side-scrolling music-based 2D platformer comes second to its identity as a tool or outlet for artists and creatives
I completely agree with you!!
I dunno, I thought that "classic" implied "old" and "outdated", and I'm not the only one in the comments who thought that same way too. I think a better, unambiguous term for this would have been "regular" instead
Why can't the game be good at multiple things? The game isn't just about sync you know, it's much more than that. Platformer mode is here to stay.
I pretty much agree. I'm hoping that the recent push of platformer levels by RobTop is a temporary measure and that eventually things will go back to 50/50. Another thing that I think is interesting to mention is that platformer levels take much less time to make "feature worthy" because the decorating a few rooms is likely to take less time then decorating a minute+ classic level. Seems like for those who want to farm CP, platformers will be king.
That's very true, it's good for people trying to get their first creator points but honestly it just means that there's a possibility of an overabundance of these levels
I find it much harder to make platformers than classic ones
@@jwjustjw8946 same
Maybe I'm just jealous with my tiny (1) collection of anachronistic 1.9 levels, but it just makes me sad that this mixture of greed and the social standard that you must overdecorate your level collide in this way. Maybe it's fun for some to make intricate designs or cool effects, but those CP-grinders you are talking about don't even like the time they spend, do they. I guess we could blame the existence of CP. Maybe I'm even denying just how jealous I am, but I can't really imagine someone still yearning for more CP after like their 3rd featured level, because surely that gets boring, doesn't it? empathy 100
Maybe I'm just jealous with my tiny (1) collection of anachronistic 1.9 levels, but it just makes me sad that this mixture of greed and the social standard that you must overdecorate your level collide in this way. Maybe it's fun for some to make intricate designs or cool effects, but those CP-grinders you are talking about don't even like the time they spend, do they. I guess we could blame the existence of CP. Maybe I'm even denying just how jealous I am, but I can't really imagine someone still yearning for more CP after like their 3rd featured level, because surely that gets boring, doesn't it? empathy 100
I’ve just been grinding out both. Platformer demons are extremely fun imo and seem to have a lot of really cool gimmicks. I already have like 250 moons so that’s cool.
I think it's funny that even though platformer mode was never the game's original identity, it might become the main selling point of the game, and eventually become the best maker-style platformer out there. After all, geometry dash's editor is far more customizable than any other maker platformer, and the majority of players are in love with it right now. I understand the argument of it messing with the game's identity, but I can't see how something that the community is having so much fun with can be hurting the game itself. If anything, its likely to increase geometry dash's popularity and give it even more staying power. After all, in pre-2.2 gd, originality in levels was something you had to actively work for since the gameplay was inherently limited to a single input button. Now that we have greater creative freedom, the originality and quality of levels is only going to increase from here. Platformer mode is increasing geometry dash's scope of appeal, making it so that even more people can find something in the game they enjoy. It's healthy for the growth of the community as a whole, even if it means classic mode becomes a only a subsection of that community. So, I don't think platformer mode shifting the identity of the game is a bad thing especially because I believe in its potential to keep the community alive and invested for a long time to come.
It's possible that the new freedom is going to keep the game alive for longer, but interestingly if the game were a maker-style platformer from the start I think it would have never become popular as it is. It was geometry dash "limited" single input button that made it standout from other games in the beginning.
This is one of the few times i disagree with you but i did agree with some takes of your video. I think platformer mode is a great addition and i love what people are doing with it, i just wish the plaforming side of gd was better divided from the classic stuff. Robtop did a decent job with that when it comes to main levels, having the tower be its own subsection of the level select screen, but when it comes to user created levels it’s super messy. Plat levels are just thrown in with the classic stuff which makes it annoying for people who just dont care about it to enjoy new levels without having to filter through 20 platformer levels. Maybe an option to only see classic levels and/or classic levels would’ve been a great addition. To go back to you pancake analogy, we should instead be presented with the option to add salt and pepper to our pancake, not force it onto us :p The same thing goes for the editor. Like you mentioned, it was initially designed for music based level making and not platformer. I think robtop should add a newly designed editor for platormer mode instead of just flipping a switch in the same editor.
1:20 not knowing about BIT.TRIP RUNNER and how influential the series was for indie games is kinda crazy
whoops
BIT.TRIP runner is different. In runner you aren’t really syncing to the music as much as you are MAKING the music as you run.
One thing about platformer levels is that they can incorporate ambient music in a better way than classic levels usually can. I've had some ideas for levels with ambient music that I ended up scrapping, bc it rarely fits the concept of constantly moving. But platformer mode gave these ideas a second chance, so why not have it?
I don't think I'm able to see your point
I’ve always thought that “geometry” dash isn’t as geometry themed anymore. The theming sticks in early levels, but most levels don’t have anything to do with geometry. Although, the game would’ve had a hard time staying popular if it was purely geometry themed.
People really don't grasp how special the classic gameplay of Geometry Dash is.
ok omegafalcon
Im gonna be honest, while I think making it a separate game could have worked better, I still dont see the problem with it being in the game. I dont think it takes away anything from the base game at all personally and I like platformers, so GD having a platformer mode is just more fun. Sure, its not got the best controls, but they still feel perfectly fine. I also don't see how it will reduce the quality of non-plat levels. If anything, platformer levels are best to test the 2.2 features on.
I used to hold the same opinion when platformer mode was first announced but after trying it ingame, platformer levels super fun to play and also super fun to make. With my logic, something that's added to the game which I find fun is a good feature. Sure it doesn't invalidate your opinion but I really like platformer mode now as it opens up so many more possibilities for what can be made inside Geometry Dash. Plus, it won't stop good classic mode levels being made and I think that it'll balance out more once platformer mode gets older.
This is the reason I'm not a huge fan of the physics "fix". As weird as it was, it gave GD's platformer an interesting identity, now it's just a worse everything else
I think it’s fine. Creators will go back to making normal levels cuz that’s why they play the game
ive always thought this EXACT THING - none of this platformer thing is interesting to me and i think it's super disingenuous towards the core gameplay to have it just switch up on you like that. referring to krmal's reply, i love how in super mario maker, creators have their own language to tell you to spin jump or throw an item, etc. and i really hope this gets picked up in gd because sightreadability is suddenly an unfair and annoying procedure to try and figure out what the creator intended, and how they managed to communicate that with you (which doesnt feel that right towards the game either). anyway i was going to say that im stuck on that mirror temple c side in celeste and that video is exactly the right place i was struggling with so thanks for including that clip in there LOL
I 100% agree. TF2 has been having the same problem where the community was given more freedom when it came to map creation and instead just ended up remaking popular source minigames that dont fit into a team based shooter at all and now people are doing the same things in Geometry Dash. STOP THE SLOP
I kind of like the remakes imo. The cookie clicker levels are pretty fun imo and the worlds hardest game is cool too
overdramatic
Honestly I agree. I hated the idea of platformer mode when it was announced, then when it came out I actually really enjoyed it, and now im still enjoying it but am starting to remember why I was so skeptical first
My main issue is yes i enjoy platformer mode and actually quite enjoy how it controls and plays but i enjoy it in isolation- the enjoyment i get from it is completely disconnected from why I enjoy the main game. So when i play platformer levels in a gaming session i dont play standard levels, and same vice versa
While it isnt a detriment to my enjoyment of the game, it really does feel weird having what is basically two disconnected games mashed into one. Should have just been a seperate game with account integration
isolation? gd reference
if you don't like it, then don't play it, it's that simple bro. Damn
@@advance64bro fr bro
1:48 Rayman Legends has levels where the player dashes forward constantly, their movements in time with the music.
I enjoy both styles of Gameplay, I do like classic mode more, but I mostly use platformer if like "oh I feel like platforming that day", or "oh I feel like doing classic mode". Its to add variety to playing the game so I can change it up to not get tired of playing just classic.
I believe in a year or so Platformer levels will be more rare, down to about 25%, because normal levels works better because the game is built that way.
I like Platformer but I also think it should have been a seperate game.
My main problem are chceckpoints, platformer levels just feel grindy as a limited practice. And the difficulty of them feels weird because of that.
bro im gonna be honest, you say "90% of all rated levels are platformers", not kidding under 30% of rated levels are platformers, the entire backbone of your point makes no sense when you actually click the awarded tab and look
I agree ... somewhat. I think over time the thing that makes the game special has shifted. Previously it was the music sync. Now it is the insane customization that the editor provides. No other good platformer has this amount of customization in a level editor (Celeste modding technically has unlimited customization because of code modding, but it's not official and has less stuff out of the box). In the video, you correctly compared the GD editor to a 2D game engine. However, there are a bunch of things that sets GD platformer mode apart from creating stuff with actual game engines. The by far most notable of these advantages for GD is the ease of distributing levels. If your level is good and gets rated, it will be played by a lot of other people because you can easily find/download great levels with the added motivation of statistics. Based on this, I don't think it's fair to really call GD simply a worse game engine. The platformer mode still has its unique place in the world of games. I still think that the direction of the game with platformer mode is bad, because it makes GD lose focus on what it's good at, as you described in the video.
the fact that platformer levels are both able to be featured and they have a different rewards system is also very frustrating, since it further complicates what doesnt need to be complicated and it severely impacts discovery of traditional levels. not to mention there are acheivements relating to collecting moons, so if youre someone who wants those unlocks, you HAVE to interact with them. and the worst part is that all of this is mostly irreversible! i hope that one day we as a community are able to mature to a point where platformer mode is used sparingly. levels like a new dawn or this co party are a good direction but i cant trust the majority of the community to not make slop levels that do nothing but crowd the featured tab.
it's fine to me, I feel like you're just bring overdramatic about it
I still remember hearing about platformer mode. I still remember feeling absolutely nothing about it when I heard about it. Even now I just don't care about it (I got pretty stoked when I found out a demon had been legendary rated that wasn't platformer).
I still don't have all the coins from the tower and when I finally do I will likely never touch platformer mode again. It just isn't the same as original Geometry Dash. Could it be a good game? Perhaps, but it's not one I am interested in.
I disagree with pretty much everythingin the video. The way I see the platformer is a complete bonus. GD classic levels still exist it's not like their deleted. A lot of people also love the platformer. There are people who play the game just because of platformer. You can get 2 completely different experiences and something that kinda resembles a game engine in one game which for me and many others is amazing. I really love that I can play classic then platformer and back and forth and swtich the game style whenever I want.
It's not Pancakes with salt and pepper on them. They are in a different cup that you can ignore if you want to.
Also some other things in the video I strongly DISAGREE are plat and classic be 2 different games and Plat is unnecessary because there are other Plat games that you could play.
The first one is bad because it will divide the community in half. That's bad by itself because because it kills a lot of the growth potential. But when you factor in the people who love to play both and it will become harder for them because they are not in the same place it becomes tremendously bad. A lot of those people could loose interest in the game altogether.
The second is silly like the fact that it's not that great doesn't make it unnecessary it will become better and people already start to make really good stuff with it. Not to mention the people that like it because it's simple that's another can of worms.
Point is I think pretty much everything you said and the answers to those problems you brought are pretty bad with all my respect.
When i want to play classic gamemode, i search for tiny-xl, if i want to play platformer i search for plat, its really easy not to play one gamemode if you dont want
i have mixed feelings on platformer mode. honestly the thing i dislike most about 2.2 is the addition of pixel blocks, which completely destroys the incredibly unique aesthetic geometry dash has built up over the past decade
i definitely agree with the fact that its fundamentally a different core idea than what gd is intended to be, hence why i was very skeptical before the update released, but ive been having so much fun with platformer levels (props to rob for fixing the physics and making them less slidey, makes a huge difference) and have seen a lot of insanely cool ideas already, i honestly think it was a good addition. if the game continues to focus so much on them, more so than on classic levels, then id say thats potentially a bad thing, but i doubt itll be that way - its just a lot more fresh than classic gameplay at the moment. i think gd's editor is an amazing tool for platformer levels as well as classic levels, i havent really felt like its any less intuitive with having platformer. also appreciate the fact they give a separate collectible than regular levels, and the 2.203 demon menu helps make the demons separate too which is great
the one part i REALLY disagree with, however, is the part about minigame levels. sure theyll be less impressive, but thats bound to happen with any new addition to the game. more things are possible, more things are simpllified, and standards change. if rob didnt add features just because they made previous levels less impressive, the game just wouldnt evolve. you can still make game recreations that are insanely impressive (Night Plus II is a good example), and theres more options and potential for creating fully original minigames, now with controls that dont make me rip my hair out (some examples ive recently played are Sometimes You Die, MS22 and quake goes brr, altho i needed a controller for the latter, potentially just a skill issue) i think the simplification of creating minigames, the better controls for them and the higher potential for them outweighs the issue of older ones not being as impressive by a long shot.
great video as always!
Platformer levels have a lot of creative potential but the community hasn't yet harnessed it. The sent tab is full of these generic uninteresting platformer levels that were made in a few days. Furthermore, I think the pixel block art style is extremely odd and doesn't fit the classic geometry dash style in any capacity. Platformer levels are just easy cp for lazy creators and its the same issue with generic modern and glow where creators make something extremely boring and generic so they can get a rate, rather than make levels for personal fulfillment or as a creative outlet.
I liked platformer at first but nowadays I dont even bother because theyre not fun to me. The music sync is entirely gone which takes away from a huge portion of the enjoyment for me. I dont think ill be using the mode much
I found a wild zewind :0
Im gonna make a single platformer level to get a creator point easily and then forget about the whole damn thing
While the RobTop levels were musically synced, it was always a choice. Either way id do feel slightly weird about the way these different gameplay styles are mish-mashed together. I think a possible solution is to add different "featured tabs" for both platformer and classic modes to exist separately, and just generally split the two so that it doesn't interfere with fans of the original GD.
why are your opinions always so relatable mister wherwin
i like patformer mode i spork the platformer mode, they make good destroy the game, don't like the racism, the game of sporks
Since you talked about the traits GD have. I want you to make video about "Is the charm of GD becoming lost". I want to see how you could elaborate my issue further.
In 2018, when I started playing as 12 years old, which is 1 year after 2.1 release. At the time, GD is full of levels I remember, decoration and gameplay standards are not really a thing strictful in most creators. Now levels look like what you could see in recent rated tab (at least before 2.2), they don't feel special to me anymore, even if the quality is high.
Geometry dash user levels: garbage
You: oh no, platformer will make levels garbage!
They were already garbage. Now we just have fun platformer levels too for a change.
Also it's so funny that your core argument is that geometry dash's identity is being a rhythmn game.
No.
It's been a platformer this whole time with music as an added bonus that *sometimes* syncs with the level. Levels that abuse music sync are the worst levels in the game.
I think this video really puts into focus why I'm personally not a huge fan of platformer mode, but I disagree with the point that platformer mode will ruin geometry dash. I agree with the fact that platformer loses the core identity of geometry dash, but I don't entirely agree with the whole "platformer mode is bad and robtop has lost sight of GD's core identity" thing.
Unlike the comparison to Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, the core identity of Geometry Dash is still very much present in the game. The comparison would be more adequate if rob had removed classic mode altogether in favor of platformer, or released a new platformer game which he decided to support instead of continuing to support geometry dash. Because of this, people who primarily enjoy classic mode will continue to play it, and the people who enjoy platformer mode more will eventually have their niche of the community once things settle down.
I do agree that platformers being 90% of the new rates is a problem, but as you said already, I think it'll settle down once the novelty wears off and rob stops doing that thing he does at the start of every new major update where he greatly favors levels that utilize the new mechanics when doing rates.
It could also become an issue if rob starts to over emphasize platformer, so I hope that he kind of just finishes the tower and finishes touching up the platformer physics then primarily focuses on classic mode instead of attempting to support classic and platformer mode equally. I personally think it would be ideal if the level of classic mode to platformer support was an 80/20 split, since classic mode is really what makes geometry dash special in my opinion.
Robtop broke slopes in old levels in favor of platformer mode.
Slopes were changed in favor of making them work consistently
In the short term it did break a lot of old levels yeah but in the long term it'll overall be a good change for the game since creators won't have to account for random slope bugs when making gameplay
@@solaraloe The majority of new slope bugs are not caused by making the physics consistent. The first slope in windy landscape wasn't bugged in any frame rate that people play, but with the update it became impossible for everyone.
There are slope bugs because robtop made all slopes use the physics from platformer mode. Apparently no care was put into the decision, which shows Robtops priorities.
@@averesenso It was still changed for consistency, so people dont have to account for hz bugs, you seem to be just looking for any reason to hate on the guy that worked on this update for 7 years lol
@@-fsa-3615 Well that's not the part I'm saying is bad. You're thinking the update is perfect just because a guy worked on it for 7 years
1:32 LFGG THE BEST DONKEY KONG LEVEL OF ALL TIME BIG UPS 💯
Platformer is a great way to attract casuals, fast paced side scrolling game is not something everyone really even bothers to try and i feel that platformer can really be played by everyone because of the freedom it provides. The music not syncing with the level in platformer mode is barely even an argument because it doesn't meant to be synced, I mean yeah some areas / events in a platformer can be accompanied by a music change or a sound effect but its not the main purpose of the game mode. I can't predict how the game will go on but i really strongly believe that the classic and platformer GD will not be cannibalizing on each other but build each other up.
Thanks for not calling nuts and bolts a shit game haha
Platformer mode feels like if the mode didn't existed nothing will impact the game
I agree, platformer levels are nice, and i did have fun playing a few of them, but at the end of the day it's not the reason why i play this game, and it makes me kinda upset when i wanna check out the featured section to find new classic levels to play only to find it filled with platformer levels instead
-Although I don't dislike platformer, I agree with a lot of what is said in this video. As you said, platformer mode does violate GD's core identity of a one-of-a-kind rhythm-based platformer. It tries to throw away the legacy that the game has had for a (non autoscroller) platformer, which plenty of games like Celeste do a much better job at. And of course, platformer mode is a playstyle choice: you either treasure it amongst the various platformers on a site like coolmathgames, or you don't particularly want to touch it if you have a choice.
-One thing I don't agree with though is that platformer mode should have been separated into a spinoff game. What exactly does it accomplish? Most of the spinoff games are meant to be a preview of the upcoming update for the main game (2.0 Meltdown, 2.1 World, 2.2 Subzero). Separating the games would mean that Robtop would have to work on and support both games, unless he would want to drop the new platformer entirely. Not to mention, dividing the game IS dividing the playerbase/community. You either love the platformer version with all your heart, or you hate it and will never touch the spinoff. There's also a thing regarding price, would the platformer game be free to download or paid access? The game would have to be running off of community creations, something only present on the main full version of GD. Do we make a copy of practically the same game (yes i know it's not 100% but you get the point) with all* the features of the paid version and set it out there for free? No. Then you are forced to make it paid access. At that point, platformer turns into a DLC for GD, while leaving behind everything that has made up GD (the historic past levels). People aren't going to want to pay for 2 versions of Geometry Dash that are pretty much almost identical just because one of them is less "restricted". There really isn't a good reason to just split the game in half because platformer mode is reflecting the game's core identity.
-For the record, I do however agree that adding Moons as a separate statistic from Stars was kind of a mistake, though you probably know the reasons why so I won't dive in on that.
end of thought
This is probably a very messy and unpolished comment, will look over and polish it later.
what bothers me the most about platformer mode is that gd was not built with having one in mind, this is the same issue why the editor looks so cluttered with stuff, gd wasn't originally built to be a game engine, the reason slopes broke was because they had to be remade to work with platformer mode, robtop now has to account how new stuff affects both gamemodes, and thats without mentioning platformer mode is the main reason 2.2 took more than twice as long as it should have, so platformer DOES negativelly affect "classic" mode
What the fuck?! I thought the slopes were broken because of the physics overhaul (to fix the TPS and FPS bug), not because of platformer mode?! If that’s true, then FUCK platformer mode for ruining normal levels!
I feel like platformer mode deserved its own game. Introducing platformer mode into base GD makes things way more confusing and bloated. I hate to complain about free content but having this amalgamation of two games means issues one become issues with the other. If it was a standalone title it'd have it's own development cycle which would be so much healthier. BTD and BTD Battles come to mind as an example.
This video, made me wanna cry, but even so, I DO RESPECT YOUR ONION!
7:42 I get your point, but then the update would be useless cuz almost every single editor feature is centered around the platformer mode and making it a spinoff will make it so noone will play it. Honestly I don’t like poatformer mode but there is nothing we can do. I think I will stick to playing 2.1 until I can’t…
And also thank you for pointing out the key features of the gd editor because now I know what is best for my level c:
2.2 adds the swing gamemode, purple jump rings, camera controls and a bunch of other new triggers that all work great independent of platformer. Take platformer out of the update and you still have plenty of content to fill an entire update, imo
according to the rules, you're not allowed to play older versions of gd to take advantage or else leaderboard mods will ban you
nah i disagree platformer is fire and people are still going to make and enjoy classic mode
I agree with the sentiment but I gotta say the pancake analogy was very inaccurate, can't eat the pancake without eating the salt and pepper, but you can 100% play GD without playing platformer levels.
Besides, have you tried salt and pepper on a pancake? Thought not.
even putting aside rob's haphazard fusion of these two game genres, gd does not translate well into a free-moving platformer at all. the physics are fine, but i don't want to play a platformer that feels "fine." i want the satisfaction of a well-timed hyperdash- i want the impact of slamming the floor with a ground pound- i want to feel like holding the jump button is the only thing standing between me and the constant addition of downward velocity. playing coaster mountain just made me wish i was playing celeste.
the music sync is actually something that really appeals to me about geometry dash, but it’s not really made impossible in platformer mode, just that few people think to make an attempt at integrating sync into their levels
im currently experimenting with “flood escape” levels which force the player to move as fast as possible, thereby enabling a reasonable degree of sync. this mechanic is seen in many roblox flood escape maps, and i feel will eventually become a well-explored genre in gd platformers
I've had this opinion from the very start and felt like the only one. IWBTG felt like the culmination of everything wrong with platformer mode as well. Even the sidescroller mode being called "classic" now is downright insulting, like it is now a legacy option and no longer meant to be the original appeal with GD, when that is why I came to Geometry Dash. If I wanted a regular platformer, I can just play Mario or something, but it isn't fun to me. The platformer levels by RobTop aren't fun to me, oft unbalanced. The online ones aren't fun to me. And what's worse is to get all coins, you need to play the levels Rob made, and even speedrun them. There is no way I ain't speedrunning the boss when I can't even beat the boss. It's frustrating in all the wrong reasons and it's not even a mode I want to get better at. So, I've just been focusing on the regular levels. Best for my sanity.
I 100% agree. People keep telling me that platformer levels are good, which they maybe are, but for me its just not geometry dash. Also i definitely agree that it should have been a spinoff game like subzero.
1:26 some other rythm/music based platformers would be flood escape 2, tria.os, liquid breakout and more in roblox! can’t forget celeste too :3
If the powerful players stop talking about it, the sheeple masses will not question it
What?
Platformer levels don't sync with music. Beat Ninja: Was that a challenge??
One Argument I have is the fact that Platformer Mode gives you more things to do. I think the mystery aspect of, "oh hey, this is something that i never expected" compliments the game a lot.
It does have the unfortunate outcome of the game, losing its identity but i also loved the idea that rob wants the game to be, whatever he decides to plan for it. And the more it sounds like as if its being moved into a game that's all about art and creativity. It doesn't probably work, when it comes to game designing but I like that this is something that is basically unheard of.
But thats my opinion. A personal view that I got from platformer mode being added was the fact that geometrydash did change it's identity, but it formed a new identity that seems to resonate with me and quite the significant portion of the community.
This video made me realize how strongly I'd abstracted away the gamemodes of GD from any sort of feeling of music sync, to the point where how platformer mode plays with their mechanics was far more interesting, and the reason I came back to the game. To me, the emphasis of GD lied more in that the gameplay would fit with what the music "feels like", even if it's not the correct rhythm at all. Because of this, having multiple songs and sound effects to suit a wider breadth of moods in general still feels (to me, at least) like a very GD thing to do. I definitely feel the absence of that feeling in platformer now that it's mentioned outright, but I doubt that the way the game is structured will cause it to disappear from relevance.
A filter on the featured tab would be great though, yes.
Geometry Dash could honestly benefit from a revert to 1.9. Yes, I love 1.9 but I don't feel this way because of nostalgia towards specifically 1.9 but rather because 1.9 had a lot of limitations but not enough of them for levels to be boring. I remember when 1.9 came out, levels felt so different simply because of custom music so I think that's an example of a GOOD change. With a lot of limitations, creators don't go crazy and instead use the editor and the game for what it was designed to do. Nowadays we praise creators for making levels that don't feel like Geometry Dash and even in 2.0 we were heading in this direction (look at Serponge levels for example or those awful levels that locked a sprite to the player position), but I can't help but miss levels that were just fun *Geometry Dash* levels, not bad Mario levels or even just ridiculous levels like HOW that make Geometry Dash something it wasn't designed to be and shouldn't be. Just plain fun levels about jumping over spikes.
i lost interest in playing GD a long time ago but the music intergration remains something i still love about it. i started playing again a bit upon 2.2s release and platformer mode just doesnt really feel right to me. it doesnt feel like GD - at least the GD i like
Yes it is and it's here to stay
this is why i want to see more time-based platformer levels. levels that kill you off if youre too slow which forces you to sync your jumps with the music
I also thought about that, but at this point, why not just use the regular auto-run mode?
@@TelPhi_ being able to control your movement could allow for more interesting gameplay
people love platformers because of it not being that.
imo its good that there are more platformers than normal levels right now! There are 250,000+ stars to collect and only like 2000 moons... when there are like 50,000+ moons to collect i think people will move back to autoscroll.
7:35
Ok.
But, would the spinoff be paid?
Personally, I really admire how Geometry Dash became a unique way of expressing art. GD levels are like a music video(game) for a chosen song, and the visuals and gameplay are both based on that. The gameplay of GD itself is also really unique, and people underappreciate how complex the mechanics are and how well they work to improve the simple concept of having to click to make a square jump to the song. I think platformer mode is cool and all, since it uses Geometry Dash's mechanics to create a new game that's also fun, but by mixing it with the classic levels, it removes what made Geometry Dash unique in the first place, both gameplay-wise and artistically. I also think platformer mode should be it's own game, since it's still good and has a right to exist, but it's not what makes "Geometry Dash" Geometry Dash to me, and is not a game I personally care about
Disagree with pretty much everything but valid points i guess
When i play platformer i still feel like im playing geometry dash. Afterall, GD was never just a rhythm game like people used to think back then, but also a 2d platformer so having that in the game really makes sense if you think about it. The thing of ruining the identity of the game will happen dont matter the update or even the game. Its obvious that in games like Minecraft the identity has changed after 15y of the game existing and obviously with GD it would be the same. I highly doubt that back in update 1.0 Rob would ever expect the game to look something like 1.9 and i also doubt that back in 1.9 Rob would expect the game to look like 2.1. Changing directions can be bad sometimes but in this case i legit dont know how it could be bad. If anything, it just creates a new subgenre of the game that can also bring more players that are interested in 2D platformers, just like GD originally brought a lot of Osu/etc players because of the music based gameplay. But yeah i honestly really love platformer, the new physics are really good and i always look foward for the next huge level coming, actually, i kinda just want to complete more and more platformer demons in my skill range, theyre super fun.
Also, the idea of making platformer a seperate game is really, really bad imo
Not only Rob is a 1 man team but i dont know how that could possibly improve the game. If anything it would just divide the community completely and it would be a mess to deal with due to the servers and obviously the updates. The way it is, is honestly fine, mainly because platformer levels wont be weekly or daily levels so it literally is something optional
I’m not sure this is framed correctly. Because of platformer mode, I don’t think there really isn’t “the game” as much as there are two games packaged as one. I agree it would make more sense to release platformer mode as a spinoff title. But I don’t think there’s much material difference between releasing it as a spinoff and releasing it as a new facet of the original. We functionally have two games either way, either in reality or virtually. Maybe there is a key difference that I’m missing, and if you think there is, please tell me. But because I don’t see much of a difference, I don’t see how Geometry Dash’s identity is uniquely eroded with platformer’s inclusion alongside the original game in a way that wouldn’t also happen if it was released as a spinoff.
Platformer is just not GD and that's it. Add a flight simulation mode to a racing game, make it as good as it can possibly be and it will still sucks, because it's not what the game is supposed to be and that's as simple as that. Sometimes I feel like people want GD to be EVERYTHING and forget what make this game so special. The fact that as you explained levels are able to entirely sync up with it's music is truly wonderful. Maybe it's a stupid comparison but from all the movies I watched, my favorite scenes are always tied up with amazing music, like the docking scene in Interstellar, the Avengers Assemble in Endgame or Thor entrance in Wakanda and the list could go on. Hate Sonic Wave or not, but the way the music goes crazy at the drop with the Circles effect at the same time make it super intense, and super iconic. People smh get angry when I call gd a rythm based game, but that's what it is. I don't know, I'm just a bit afraid to see GD changing so much form what made it so great.
One more thing, people often say that the community kept the game alive during 2.11 since we had to wait a very long time before 2.2, but to be fair if creators have been able to create more and more amazing things it's also because the game allowed them to do so. 2.11 was an amazing update that allowed people to enjoy the game for years. I'm not an amazing creator, but I do have experience with the editor. The GD editor has always been hard to work around, and it's even worse now. I'm afraid 2.2 is going to make it even harder for new creators to learn the editor and all its features, only making the gap between the "hardcore" community and the more casual side even bigger. I still love the update and enjoy the game, but as you explained, the more you like a game, the more likely you are to worry when you see it shift to something entirely different.
I love platformer mode to death but the amount of soulless, annoying, and trash levels that are released way too often. All the difficult levels just end up sucking to play due to lack of checkpoints or unfun gameplay that just makes you want to rip your hair out
The platformer mode is too good
That's isn't exclusive to platformer at all, how many map pack and gauntlet levels people dislike again?
The fact that one of the old screenshots in the Google Play store says about “One-tap game” has completely thrown out of the window.
The game was meant to be a one button game but with the new update. That’s is completely gone now and now it’s both a hybrid of a unique game like a music sync gameplay to an existing concept like platformer.
I still like having both in my opinion but I rather play classic mode more than platformer. I treat it as a way to chillax after beating a hard level in classic mode.
The only major complaints I have is that the features tab are mixed with both platformer and classic but due to the new update. It’s been mostly platformer. A way to seperate them would be nice.
Flipswap factory is such a good level tho, some of the most fun things i have done in gd
I agree with some of your points, but honestly, i disagree with this take. I think platformer mode is a great addition to this game. Its a fresh take on the game imo, and i just dont get the feel the game is losing direction. I think its a cool concept and a welcome addition imo.
Although I disagree with the most parts of the video, I can see the point you're making when you're saying "Replica of minigames are no longer impressive." In my opinion, what made minigames in 2.1 so good are their technicalities. Those levels pushed what was possible in Geometry Dash at the time, especially how limited it was in terms of the selection of triggers you can use. Now that we're in 2.2, everytime I see a minigame or a fully-fledged replica of a game being recreated inside the game, I don't feel the "Wow" factor anymore. It just doesn't feel as good as knowing that the creator's intention aren't to push limits, but recreating it purely for clout. What made those 2.1 minigames good are how the creator approached and solved those problems, they have a great inside knowledge of the game and I know they felt fulfilled once they finished their minigame knowing that they expanded upon what they thought the game's limits.
mastergame. i rest my case
I’m okay with plat.s, but JUST PLEASE THE DOMINANT SIDE MUST STAY SIDESCROLLER
Loved the video! It shouldn't have, but that "or dash, even" pun destroyed me. I agree a ton with what you say, platformer doesn't feel like Geometry Dash with how it plays at all, I now have to press 3 buttons? Way to complex man... I feel the better direction to go with platformer as well would be to take it out of Geometry Dash and make it it's own game. If we keep going in this direction, I feel like we might have what happened to Fortnite happen again.
I don’t even kno how to get the controls right
sporks are cool
guess what? games can grow, change, develop, and innovate. it doesn't have to stay the exact same for 10+ years
Me before watching the video: "lol funny random description"
Short answer:
Womp womp
i have to say: we are already familiar with the classic gamemode, but now? Yes we have a platformer gamemode
Platformer mode, once the hype dies out, will likely become much less of an issue than it is now. It will never not be an issue, but it will fizzle out.
Geometry Dash also has more than just the music representation going for it. In my opinion, it’s the diverse gimmicks of the various gamemodes that make it so fun for me. WHICH IS WHY IT SUCKS THAT YOU CANT USE WAVE OR “SWING” IN PLATFORMER MODE! Taking away a core aspect of the game, and limiting another, doesn’t justify any creations made with this new tool.
even if i like classic levels more, platformer mode is just chill and laidback and moongrinding and speedrunning are just more things to do in the game
I identify with this opinion, not 100% but the most important thing is the platform mode and the identity of GD.
It bores me to play GD 2.2 levels because they are very annoying with all the effects and particles they have, which I personally find unnecessary because the level itself already looks pretty.
I find the "classic" style levels more fun than the current levels, simple, fast and easy to understand.