the design is literally PERFECT. gameplay design made me so happy and I appreciate all the thought put into the level as a whole. I also just adore the visual design! it's simple, but i feel like less is more with platformer level design and this was perfect
I want to share my personal experience with this level. I was playing it at school, and it felt pretty consistent for me. There are things that I couldn't figure out on my own, and I had a female friend help me with. She doesn't even play Geometry Dash, she just saw and figured out how the game worked. That's how player friendly it actually is, even if difficult. I'm not good at platformer, to be honest. It did take me like an hour to actually beat the level. I never played Celeste either, but it was still really really good. Every time I beated a part I got really excited, and every time I played I felt like I was doing some progress. And beating the whole level was probably the most satisfaction I got for any platformer level ever. Just for all of this I think this level truly deserves epic. It really could benefit from better decoration, but that's just a personal opinion.
congrats on the epic rate!! i tried this level for myself a while back and had a blast, unfortunately i didn't have the time to beat it but the first few levels reminded me a lot of custom celeste maps, and now i love moving platforms lol
15:55 YES! more people need to hear this advice, its extremely important in level design. the creator knows their level better than any player, so whatever difficulty you think it is will never actually match what you make. (unless its auto i guess) the simplest solution to this problem is rating your level 1 star higher than what you think it should be. for many levels i’d personally like them to be rated 2 stars higher, but 1 star is better than nothing. its funny you say this after the gd gem hunt level, when that level was requested as 7 stars… i think its safe to say you learned something after that level.
Celeste is by far my favourite game ever, no competition whatsoever. Seeing so many Celeste inspired level in geometry dash is genuinely awesome to see, and I'm glad that the game is getting more recognition.
WHEN GD COLON SAID “I recommend playing the level first” I SPENT ONE AND A HALF HOURS PLAYING THE LEVEL AND NOW I ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED EXIT WITHOUT BEATING IT, IMMA LITERALLY DIE! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
@GDColon what makes it worse was I had that setting on, it's just that the muscle memory of seeing that "are you sure you want to exit this level" message made me press "confirm" 💀
I've been wanting to comment on your level since the first day you uploaded it, as I had a lot of fun playing it! Long, not perfectly organized wall of text ahead, though. I am not familiar with Celeste yet, but I did play a handful of GD levels that were inspired by it, so from that perspective, Zip Lash reminds me a lot of other levels like the ones you mentioned. These kind of levels, especially those that make use of fast-moving platforms with momentum are challenging to both design and play due to the physics of this game, which feel somewhat inconsistent, but they can certainly make it work. As far as I gather, your level is the one that uses this aspect to the fullest extent, and in creative ways at that, so it was fun and satisfying to get past each room. So much so that I'd say that it was, for the most part, an enjoyable experience from beginning to end. The gameplay loop of trying dozens of times, getting a step forward, until finally getting past the challenge is one that I can certainly get behind as it does get satisfying. That said, this levels has some rooms, such as 9, 2, and 1, that are speedy and large designed to require constant input from the player. These ones in particular felt hard for me to get past at first due to having so little time to plan my next move once I got to the part I just lost, so that loop kinda worked against me, at least until I found some platforms to safely stand on. Due to that, I felt like it was better to do practice mode first to get the feeling of what's ahead. Counting down the rooms that exist in the level with each checkpoint is such a great idea. Some players expressed frustration over the length of some levels being longer than expected due to having no indication of how many rooms they had. Some addressed this issue by explicitly displaying the total number of rooms, but your approach is very organic, I love it. So... little rant incoming. Room 7, the dash orb and moving platform combo, is... something. It is certainly a cool part, but it also feels the least consistent, as it relies on using multiple elements of the somewhat unreliable GD physics, so I always lose many times at that part. The first time playing it made me feel frustrated to the point of having to leave the level for a moment, but at least it is designed with the quick trial-and-error plus "hard part at the former half section" approach in mind, I suppose. Part of what might make this room a bit problematic is that this combo is introduced in this complex way despite the player having no experience with it yet. If this combination were implemented prior to this room in a safer environment to allow the player to understand how it works, it might have worked better? Because I feel it's not necessarily the problem of this specific mechanic; room 2 also has this combo, and it feels more reliable as it leaves more leniency for the player to make the jump. Well, I say all of that, but I'm aware that I don't fully understand this aspect of GD's physics. Another nitpick, more than anything as a mobile player, part of the obstacles of the second coin room can be visually blocked by the controls and the player's fingers, which is typically the bottom left corner, the critical part where you need to be in between two of the moving platforms that shouldn't be touched, so this part becomes extra challenging because of that. Just commenting that as I believe it isn't a problem for controller or PC users. So yeah. From my perspective, the main selling point of this level is definitely the gameplay, as the music and visuals feel like are there to accompany that experience; not to overshadow it, which at the end of the day, is what makes any game fun. That said, considering that the level spans 15 rooms, the aesthetic can feel a little old by the end of it. The changes in music and colors, along with the many fun little references and details, help prevent that feeling, but I feel like the theme in general was just about to overstate its welcome at the very end, as if it was calculated. But overall, it is an incredible level that I'd recommend for its strong gameplay and level design.
@@alineyoldi5428 he has a whole video about it but basically the game wasn’t designed well, it was a generic 2d platformer game that nintendo put the fate of the chibi robo series on, completely disregarding their previous mistakes with why the previous chibi robi games didn’t sell well, it just was an overall desperate attempt to “make another chibi robo game” and more of a cash grab, and he also doesn’t really like the name “zip lash”
This level was so fun to learn and complete, we need more levels that are inspired but not blatant ripoffs of other games. Good thing that you'd never do anything like that! Nice video Colon
I really really like seeing people use deco blocks how they were intended to be used; you could argue it's boring but tbh people avoid it so much that it's more interesting to me than making an original block design also THIS GAME BLOWS
I came back to this game after a couple months of it being untouched. I clicked the featured tab and clicked on the first level that popped up: Zip Lash. I didn't read the desc or anything just went right to it and I loved it and stuck with it for around 30 minutes until I beat it and oh man I was surprised when I saw the "By Colon" on the end screen. Holy, you did an awesome job on this and thanks for making the level that will get me back into this game.
Well, Colon has definitely redeemed himself after making Super GD Hotmess 64. This level is really great, and whilst I, a mostly mobile player, was personally a bit frustrated by it because the platform boosting is hella inconsistent in there, I must commend your design philosophy and decisions you made. You are, in the grand scheme of things, still a really solid game designer.
Huge fan of this level! I’m no GD pro, but I beat it in about an hour and a half, mainly because I enjoyed the level too much to quit! The main mechanic is used in a ton of fun and interesting ways, from gaining momentum to reusing platforms multiple times to having certain platforms to avoid touching. Binoculars (or any way to see ahead in the room) probably would’ve been helpful, but it’s only so easy to plan your movements with the moving platforms, and I found it easier to just “feel” what you were supposed to do. The coins were especially creative; a good blend of observation and challenge. The decoration is simple, yet effective. I’m glad this level got Epic since it proves that a level doesn’t have to be a visual masterpiece as long as the gameplay can make up for it! There’s a bunch of cool subtle details too, like the indicator dots lighting up as you pass them, the background gears spinning when you touch a platform, and all of the easter eggs and cute details in the various screens! (Otto showing your inputs, the icons flipping with your gravity, and the Generation Retro alien turning red when you die are my personal favourites. Also the Frums reference (at least I assume those smileys were the ones from Credits)) The sound design’s great too. The platforms make a nice “ding” when you touch them, and I like how the pitch increases for each new colour. The music progressing into new sections as you make progress in the level was a super nice touch as well. The level’s not perfect of course (most of my nitpicks just have to do with GD’s super inconsistent momentum physics), but it’s probably the most fun I’ve had with a GD level in a while. I’m even considering replaying it, which is super rare for me! Amazing job on this level, I hope you make more of this quality in the future! tl;dr this level does not blow
This level is AWESOME I love the level’s concept and the different ideas for the different rooms, and it looks REALLY good Let’s give this man a round of applause 👏👏👏
Honestly one of the most learny yet fun platformers I ever played. I even went back and managed to speedrun the level haha. Super fun and gets more consistent as you understand the platform mechanic.
I fell off with Geometry Dash a while ago, but I've always found your analysis on topics to be really interesting, so I stuck around on your channel. I specifically *really* enjoy your talk on game design and I think this level is such a great demonstration of that. I haven't even played the level, but still wanted to watch the video and it honestly looks great. I appreciate the minimalist approach on the decoration while keeping the gameplay as the main focus. The elements are introduced really well here and I think you make great use of them, and overall just really enjoy this level. This is really motivating to me, and I'm hoping some day I'll be able to pick up game dev up at some point and give it my own shot. But thank you again, and it's so cool seeing how much innovation theres been in GD with the new 2.2 features. Congrats!
my god i love watching developer commentaries on levels, getting creators' insights on their levels makes me appreciate them so much more. i beat this a while ago and thought it was pretty fun, and now that i've seen all the thought put into it, i really love the level even more :)
thank you so much for making the differntly colored zipper platforms have different shapes, really good for accessibility, hope more level makers realize colorblind people exist
honestly im a big fan of the deco. its a breath of fresh air to be able to see where you're going and not be distracted. as someone hates geometry dash platformers, the gameplay is actually super fun and reminds me a lot of games I used to play when I was little. you turned a very clunky physics system into something oh so satisfying. good stuff
I had a blast playing this level. This is one of those rare platformer level where I actually enjoy trying to speedrun (even tho I suck). Most of the time when I beat a platformer level I just beat it and never looked at it ever again but not on this level. I also love room 9. That room is so satisfying to pull off especially the red orb and dash orb combo
U know, my first demon was a platformer, and I actually really enjoy what I've played of this level. I personally like the decoration design, it feels very clean. I like the whole idea of dev commentary, because it provides a better look into the level itself. Keep up the good level designing and videos
Congratulations on getting epic and first page! Yeah the deco isn't great but the gameplay is probably some of the most fun I've played in a platformer gd level and that alone makes it worthy of epic. Its clear robtop really cares about the gameplay in a platformer level, hence why slash, the gungeon, tornado, and last fate got legendary despite using a bunch of default blocks and why Towerverse got mythic. Nice to see levels with cool gameplay gimmicks and immersion being rewarded even if they dont have insane deco
Zip Lash is definitely your best work yet. I'm not a great platformer player, and i expected to spend hours on a hard demon level. Yet I found myself really enjoying the level. The two simple mechanics were developed in such a satisfying way and you successfully utilised its potential. All the rooms were so fun to get through, even though the dash jump™ can get on nerves a bit. The decorations can be improved upon but I kind of love the simplicity of it all, as opposed to heavily decorated levels that just end up being an eyesore. In conclusion, super creative and all around great level, totally deserved the epic ranking.
Since I love watching your videos I decided to watch this after putting it off for a bit. And then halfway through I decided to beat the level so I could have “the recommended experience.” This might be the most fun platformer level in the game right now. It’s so satisfying to play. It’s as if Speedtek and Forsaken City had a baby. Those are two of my very favorite platformer levels and this one clears both. It took me 53 minutes to beat the level but it was so worth it. I might go back and beat it again to get the second and third coins. Oh and the background pulsing when you touched a block in the last three rooms was a really nice touch, don’t know why you didn’t say anything about that in the video
also, just wondering, gd colon: if you actually do play strawberry jam and didn't just take the footage from a gameplay video, i want to know; what lobby are you on, if you haven't already beaten all of them. I'm on the grandmaster lobby as of writing this.
Thank you for once again showcasing that gameplay >>>>> deco. Personally I think the visuals of this level are simple yet stylish! It has a unified look that has just enough detail to be recognizable among the sea of platformers. Also reminds me a little bit of another classic platformer demon, SpeedTek.
Just a side note, scale hacked objects are actually less optimized than normal objects, as GD isn't coded to recognise objects that exceed the scale limit in the game, and therefore struggles to render them, taking more power. About the level, I personally don't like playing videogames for more than 40 minutes straight, and this level took me an hour and 15 minutes; by that I mean that I am very biased in what I'm about to say, as I could have noticed the bad parts more than the good parts due to that. With that out of the way, the level was mostly enjoyable and the level design is ingenious, but I think momentum stuff in this game only works when it has more lenient platforming instead of precise timings; in this level it felt pretty jank in some sections. And about the "dying is part of the level" thing, I would completely agree if the big rooms had binoculars like Celeste or you were given more time to react, but because they don't they just aren't much fun to learn, they just feel like one of those games that expect you to bash your head against the wall over and over without much reason, and due to my limited time to plat games, I don't like this at all. Anyways, in the chance you bother reading this, I hope you enjoyed my dumb essay, and don't be discouraged by my criticism attempt, you could make a banger videogame if you wanted, as your game design knowledge is pretty solid already.
All good takes. I feel like "it's ok to die multiple times" is fine for a smaller scale level like this, but for future projects I'll definitely reconsider Also I played safe with scale hacking, max of like 6x for nearby details and ~10x for stuff that's usually out of bounds anyways. Well aware of the issues it has
It was a fantastic level ! The only down size that I have is that there is no way to show the level ahead. So it's often anoying to die at a part because you don't know where to go. Except that it is one of the best and fun plateformer that I play. Congratulation 👍
great map with cool level design! it's really nice to see gmd platformer mappers tackling things from a game design perspective rather than just trying to buff every jump to infinity, nice work
4:40 you talking about not feeling like your stuff is good enough is just how I feel. Just don’t put it past yourself and no matter where you are cut yourself some slack on it. Happy to know I’m not the only one. All I do is lower my standards so I can make anything with a finished product in any game. Just keep it up and then you won’t worry.
As someone who did play a lot of Celeste mods in the past, the level did give out quite a bit of a modded Celeste vibe, with some of its ideas and inspirations for mechanics. The gimmicks, puzzle platforming, a bit of trial and error, and the daunting long final room, all of it felt like if I was playing a custom Celeste map. The platforms could sometimes be a little wonky, but that's just GD's physics not being quite built for this kind of gameplay style, but pretty much near everything the level felt really consistent once you got the hang of the movement. Good stuff.
Very good level. But there is one thing the Celeste version of this mechanic has, that this does not. Celeste actually has a form of "momentum conservation" for moving platforms. When a platform stops and the player is on it if that player presses space, they will get the momentum as if they pressed space when the platform was at peak velocity. This is probably why some parts feel inconsistent.
I loved this level, but oh my god, I was do tired afterwards. It took me 4,5 (FOUR AND A HALF!!) hours to finish. The last room took 2,5h itself. If GD had replay mode with every death (Super Meatboy style), my computer would crash because of numbers of deaths on that little jump from green platform to red orb between spikes while moving in last room. I was howling. Anyway, it was super fun! Thank you, Colon~!
I haven't beaten this yet, but I've done a practice run and I had a lot of fun with it! This definitely deserved epic rating, because even though the deco isn't that amazing, the gameplay is super fun and creative! This is the type of hard platformer gameplay that I enjoy!
now i want to see Colon designing a Celeste map. SO many of the decisions and layouts and general ideas in here are EXTREMELY Celeste, i'd love to see him work with more Celeste mechanics ^u^
This level proves platformer mode in GD will never be able to replace Celeste. Every room has one or more clicks that are super annoying or way harder than the rest, and it's not because of the level design. The dash orb "wavedash" is a restrictive and less fun replacement for the versatile and smooth Celeste counterpart, and don't even get me started on momentum when jumping off the moving blocks. This level isn't an example of cool tech or neat ideas, it's an example of the limitations platformer mode has. If you like this level, you will like Celeste mods far more.
I agree other then the physics of the horizontal moving blocks being different form celeste (which made some jumps huge chokepoints for me ) really fun level (except for the 2 jumps after the big boost in the final screen which I’m still stuck on. I’m playing on mobile witch it works fine on [no mobile weirdness] asides for being awkward to control I also have a skill issue) Definitely deserves epic rating 9/10 Btw the person I’m replying to is being to harsh
yes, you're correct. because they have different physics, and you aren't used to them. thus using it as a example. but, I will agree, this is like making a fangame of let's say, Mario. it will never be the same and never act the same.
This level became my favorite platformer by far ! I have a 4:09 time and I want a sub 4 min. It's super fun and extremely well-made. Well done GD Cologne
hi this is just a quick dev commentary video for my new level i uploaded, real stuff soon!!! got lots of cool ideas planned
real stuff *after i'm back from miku expo
Hi
Yeah
Hi colon!
lmao
the design is literally PERFECT. gameplay design made me so happy and I appreciate all the thought put into the level as a whole. I also just adore the visual design! it's simple, but i feel like less is more with platformer level design and this was perfect
I want to share my personal experience with this level. I was playing it at school, and it felt pretty consistent for me. There are things that I couldn't figure out on my own, and I had a female friend help me with. She doesn't even play Geometry Dash, she just saw and figured out how the game worked. That's how player friendly it actually is, even if difficult. I'm not good at platformer, to be honest. It did take me like an hour to actually beat the level. I never played Celeste either, but it was still really really good. Every time I beated a part I got really excited, and every time I played I felt like I was doing some progress. And beating the whole level was probably the most satisfaction I got for any platformer level ever. Just for all of this I think this level truly deserves epic. It really could benefit from better decoration, but that's just a personal opinion.
That's so awesome to hear!!
25 likes and only 1 reply?? Imma fix that.
@@lailoutherand these comments are so unnessecary
holy comment, big one
Female friend, my favorite rare especie
congrats on the epic rate!! i tried this level for myself a while back and had a blast, unfortunately i didn't have the time to beat it but the first few levels reminded me a lot of custom celeste maps, and now i love moving platforms lol
RIN
BOSSSAUCE
Colon has now proven his level design knowledge is peak
No
Perchance
GD will become a game engine the second we can use item IDs as values for triggers
@@GDColonjolen, you cant just say perchance holon
he made super gem hunt 64
15:55 YES! more people need to hear this advice, its extremely important in level design. the creator knows their level better than any player, so whatever difficulty you think it is will never actually match what you make. (unless its auto i guess)
the simplest solution to this problem is rating your level 1 star higher than what you think it should be. for many levels i’d personally like them to be rated 2 stars higher, but 1 star is better than nothing.
its funny you say this after the gd gem hunt level, when that level was requested as 7 stars… i think its safe to say you learned something after that level.
Finally colon actually helping us rather than yapping about stereo madness
😂😂😂
Woof woof
To be fair listening to him yap about the most random things in this game is actually entertaining lmao
@@ChrisZKidd345 I know
@@ChrisZKidd345fr
Celeste is by far my favourite game ever, no competition whatsoever. Seeing so many Celeste inspired level in geometry dash is genuinely awesome to see, and I'm glad that the game is getting more recognition.
This level's decoration is amazing, i love how you incorporated the background to use... as a background. most people would cover it up
less work for me and it looks cool :)
Seriously. It's a background people, not a neon canvas to take your anger out on.
OI ITS BEEN ONE MONTHHHHHH
@@archietheadorablehusky6254 ?
WHEN GD COLON SAID “I recommend playing the level first” I SPENT ONE AND A HALF HOURS PLAYING THE LEVEL AND NOW I ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED EXIT WITHOUT BEATING IT, IMMA LITERALLY DIE! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Settings -> Confirm exit, thank me later
Hopefully your next run doesn't really as long now that you have the muscle memory
@GDColon what makes it worse was I had that setting on, it's just that the muscle memory of seeing that "are you sure you want to exit this level" message made me press "confirm" 💀
this is why platformer saves is a good mod
i was on checkpoint 7, and i accidentally clicked exit
@@doodlepoodle5509 OOF
Good job on the epic rate colon!! Really well deserved!
Agree really cool platformer
no
No lol
@@Horbiflorbinyes lol
@@gurcharnsingh2422yes
7:04 colon predicted nullscapes
7:38 ive never related more to the suggestion of a mechanic in a level
It's a great mechanic!
@@GDColon oh yeah no its a great mechanic I meant the idea of building it being way too difficult lol
@@GDColon i think so(omg colon can u rate my level? 98620182)
@@sdslayer100 oh it’s you sdslayer
@@sdslayer100hi
I've been wanting to comment on your level since the first day you uploaded it, as I had a lot of fun playing it! Long, not perfectly organized wall of text ahead, though.
I am not familiar with Celeste yet, but I did play a handful of GD levels that were inspired by it, so from that perspective, Zip Lash reminds me a lot of other levels like the ones you mentioned.
These kind of levels, especially those that make use of fast-moving platforms with momentum are challenging to both design and play due to the physics of this game, which feel somewhat inconsistent, but they can certainly make it work.
As far as I gather, your level is the one that uses this aspect to the fullest extent, and in creative ways at that, so it was fun and satisfying to get past each room. So much so that I'd say that it was, for the most part, an enjoyable experience from beginning to end.
The gameplay loop of trying dozens of times, getting a step forward, until finally getting past the challenge is one that I can certainly get behind as it does get satisfying.
That said, this levels has some rooms, such as 9, 2, and 1, that are speedy and large designed to require constant input from the player. These ones in particular felt hard for me to get past at first due to having so little time to plan my next move once I got to the part I just lost, so that loop kinda worked against me, at least until I found some platforms to safely stand on. Due to that, I felt like it was better to do practice mode first to get the feeling of what's ahead.
Counting down the rooms that exist in the level with each checkpoint is such a great idea. Some players expressed frustration over the length of some levels being longer than expected due to having no indication of how many rooms they had. Some addressed this issue by explicitly displaying the total number of rooms, but your approach is very organic, I love it.
So... little rant incoming. Room 7, the dash orb and moving platform combo, is... something. It is certainly a cool part, but it also feels the least consistent, as it relies on using multiple elements of the somewhat unreliable GD physics, so I always lose many times at that part. The first time playing it made me feel frustrated to the point of having to leave the level for a moment, but at least it is designed with the quick trial-and-error plus "hard part at the former half section" approach in mind, I suppose.
Part of what might make this room a bit problematic is that this combo is introduced in this complex way despite the player having no experience with it yet. If this combination were implemented prior to this room in a safer environment to allow the player to understand how it works, it might have worked better? Because I feel it's not necessarily the problem of this specific mechanic; room 2 also has this combo, and it feels more reliable as it leaves more leniency for the player to make the jump.
Well, I say all of that, but I'm aware that I don't fully understand this aspect of GD's physics.
Another nitpick, more than anything as a mobile player, part of the obstacles of the second coin room can be visually blocked by the controls and the player's fingers, which is typically the bottom left corner, the critical part where you need to be in between two of the moving platforms that shouldn't be touched, so this part becomes extra challenging because of that. Just commenting that as I believe it isn't a problem for controller or PC users.
So yeah. From my perspective, the main selling point of this level is definitely the gameplay, as the music and visuals feel like are there to accompany that experience; not to overshadow it, which at the end of the day, is what makes any game fun.
That said, considering that the level spans 15 rooms, the aesthetic can feel a little old by the end of it. The changes in music and colors, along with the many fun little references and details, help prevent that feeling, but I feel like the theme in general was just about to overstate its welcome at the very end, as if it was calculated. But overall, it is an incredible level that I'd recommend for its strong gameplay and level design.
Congrats on your first epic level, Colon! Hope you will keep growing as a UA-camr and player!
Rryy
@@Lightquazar31what?
And creator
cologeenhhmnge*
@@maybellx3 the fact that that translates to cologne……….
Congratulations, Colon! This level is such well designed and creative! Love the Gen Retro references aswell lol.
The deco is amazing. I love the “Scott’s generation retro” joke. :)
Same
What’s with Scott and Zip Lash?
@@alineyoldi5428scott the woz hates chibi robo zip lash for the nintendo 3ds
@@Jarran2R i meant whats the reason for his hatred. Why does he hate it
@@alineyoldi5428 he has a whole video about it but basically the game wasn’t designed well, it was a generic 2d platformer game that nintendo put the fate of the chibi robo series on, completely disregarding their previous mistakes with why the previous chibi robi games didn’t sell well, it just was an overall desperate attempt to “make another chibi robo game” and more of a cash grab, and he also doesn’t really like the name “zip lash”
For anyone wondering what's at 8:15, it's just a room with rattledashes everywhere and a heart in the middle.
Thank you!
I really love the green icons background decoration.
Also I honestly prefer your minimalist style over overdecorated levels, looks better
10:26 "It's a long story", bro gonna explain a whole war in there.
12:27 "its not actually as tight as it looks" proceeds to show the most frame perfect impossible top 1 timing ever
You can hug the wall
@@milli-ns You can't, because the wall wouldn't be there when playing normally.
I think if they think its frame perfect they have skill issue.
lol
gives me "it's actually surprisingly simple" *proceeds to show the most complex thing ever* vibes, from spu7nix
4:11 "someone who hasn't even left the parking lot yet" I see what u did
THE CAR
This level was so fun to learn and complete, we need more levels that are inspired but not blatant ripoffs of other games. Good thing that you'd never do anything like that! Nice video Colon
hey hottie
I would never 🤞
(anymore)
I cried playing this level, both tears of joy and rage
Matmart!!!
my previous reply got deleted
I really really like seeing people use deco blocks how they were intended to be used; you could argue it's boring but tbh people avoid it so much that it's more interesting to me than making an original block design
also THIS GAME BLOWS
I came back to this game after a couple months of it being untouched. I clicked the featured tab and clicked on the first level that popped up: Zip Lash. I didn't read the desc or anything just went right to it and I loved it and stuck with it for around 30 minutes until I beat it and oh man I was surprised when I saw the "By Colon" on the end screen. Holy, you did an awesome job on this and thanks for making the level that will get me back into this game.
Well, Colon has definitely redeemed himself after making Super GD Hotmess 64. This level is really great, and whilst I, a mostly mobile player, was personally a bit frustrated by it because the platform boosting is hella inconsistent in there, I must commend your design philosophy and decisions you made. You are, in the grand scheme of things, still a really solid game designer.
Huge fan of this level! I’m no GD pro, but I beat it in about an hour and a half, mainly because I enjoyed the level too much to quit!
The main mechanic is used in a ton of fun and interesting ways, from gaining momentum to reusing platforms multiple times to having certain platforms to avoid touching. Binoculars (or any way to see ahead in the room) probably would’ve been helpful, but it’s only so easy to plan your movements with the moving platforms, and I found it easier to just “feel” what you were supposed to do. The coins were especially creative; a good blend of observation and challenge.
The decoration is simple, yet effective. I’m glad this level got Epic since it proves that a level doesn’t have to be a visual masterpiece as long as the gameplay can make up for it! There’s a bunch of cool subtle details too, like the indicator dots lighting up as you pass them, the background gears spinning when you touch a platform, and all of the easter eggs and cute details in the various screens! (Otto showing your inputs, the icons flipping with your gravity, and the Generation Retro alien turning red when you die are my personal favourites. Also the Frums reference (at least I assume those smileys were the ones from Credits))
The sound design’s great too. The platforms make a nice “ding” when you touch them, and I like how the pitch increases for each new colour. The music progressing into new sections as you make progress in the level was a super nice touch as well.
The level’s not perfect of course (most of my nitpicks just have to do with GD’s super inconsistent momentum physics), but it’s probably the most fun I’ve had with a GD level in a while. I’m even considering replaying it, which is super rare for me! Amazing job on this level, I hope you make more of this quality in the future!
tl;dr this level does not blow
Thank you!!!
Oh what a nice short comment *clicks read more* OH MY GO- agreed
@@GDColon It's also a nice change from you yapping about stereo madness or constantly denying your a furry.
This level is AWESOME
I love the level’s concept and the different ideas for the different rooms, and it looks REALLY good
Let’s give this man a round of applause 👏👏👏
Honestly one of the most learny yet fun platformers I ever played. I even went back and managed to speedrun the level haha. Super fun and gets more consistent as you understand the platform mechanic.
I fell off with Geometry Dash a while ago, but I've always found your analysis on topics to be really interesting, so I stuck around on your channel. I specifically *really* enjoy your talk on game design and I think this level is such a great demonstration of that. I haven't even played the level, but still wanted to watch the video and it honestly looks great. I appreciate the minimalist approach on the decoration while keeping the gameplay as the main focus. The elements are introduced really well here and I think you make great use of them, and overall just really enjoy this level. This is really motivating to me, and I'm hoping some day I'll be able to pick up game dev up at some point and give it my own shot. But thank you again, and it's so cool seeing how much innovation theres been in GD with the new 2.2 features. Congrats!
my god i love watching developer commentaries on levels, getting creators' insights on their levels makes me appreciate them so much more. i beat this a while ago and thought it was pretty fun, and now that i've seen all the thought put into it, i really love the level even more :)
This level blows
Very good job colon !
love watching more personal videos like these, where you're proud of your own creation :)
keep up the INSANE work up colon!!
thank you!!
thank you so much for making the differntly colored zipper platforms have different shapes, really good for accessibility, hope more level makers realize colorblind people exist
as a colorblind person myself i do in fact exist
I was so excited for this video after I played it. I'm a massive celeste fan and I feel that you captured the energy so well!
honestly im a big fan of the deco. its a breath of fresh air to be able to see where you're going and not be distracted. as someone hates geometry dash platformers, the gameplay is actually super fun and reminds me a lot of games I used to play when I was little. you turned a very clunky physics system into something oh so satisfying. good stuff
I had a blast playing this level. This is one of those rare platformer level where I actually enjoy trying to speedrun (even tho I suck). Most of the time when I beat a platformer level I just beat it and never looked at it ever again but not on this level.
I also love room 9. That room is so satisfying to pull off especially the red orb and dash orb combo
Thank you for inspiring me for my platformer level, AND CONGRATS FOR YOUR 1ST EPIC LEVEL!!!!
Congrats on congratulating him
U know, my first demon was a platformer, and I actually really enjoy what I've played of this level. I personally like the decoration design, it feels very clean. I like the whole idea of dev commentary, because it provides a better look into the level itself. Keep up the good level designing and videos
I put this on in the background if I’m trying to fall asleep and I do it like every day you’re welcome*Pats Colon’s head*
2.2 really unlocked your potential as a creator. I really enjoyed this level, good job man 👍
I absolutely love this idea!
Celeste is one of my favorite games, so seeing someone taking effort in making something familiar in GD is awesome
Congratulations on getting epic and first page! Yeah the deco isn't great but the gameplay is probably some of the most fun I've played in a platformer gd level and that alone makes it worthy of epic. Its clear robtop really cares about the gameplay in a platformer level, hence why slash, the gungeon, tornado, and last fate got legendary despite using a bunch of default blocks and why Towerverse got mythic. Nice to see levels with cool gameplay gimmicks and immersion being rewarded even if they dont have insane deco
Very interesting! Awesome level.
You know what, everyone’s forgot about gd gem hunt 64 (which I loved) and now you’re once again an amazing creator
Colon:
doesn't like invisible secrets
Also Colon: 8:15
lol
it's an easter egg that leads nowhere meaningful
@@GDColon oh my god!! i cant belive you actually replied..🤩🤩 i was just joking around..
@@GDColonPlease GD cologne can you make a generation retro remake in your terms of GD
Whats the secret?
Zip Lash is definitely your best work yet. I'm not a great platformer player, and i expected to spend hours on a hard demon level. Yet I found myself really enjoying the level. The two simple mechanics were developed in such a satisfying way and you successfully utilised its potential. All the rooms were so fun to get through, even though the dash jump™ can get on nerves a bit. The decorations can be improved upon but I kind of love the simplicity of it all, as opposed to heavily decorated levels that just end up being an eyesore.
In conclusion, super creative and all around great level, totally deserved the epic ranking.
2:53 this is art man
Can't wait to Watch 1 entire decade and 7 years worth of content of roasting his level!
what
Since I love watching your videos I decided to watch this after putting it off for a bit.
And then halfway through I decided to beat the level so I could have “the recommended experience.”
This might be the most fun platformer level in the game right now. It’s so satisfying to play. It’s as if Speedtek and Forsaken City had a baby. Those are two of my very favorite platformer levels and this one clears both.
It took me 53 minutes to beat the level but it was so worth it. I might go back and beat it again to get the second and third coins.
Oh and the background pulsing when you touched a block in the last three rooms was a really nice touch, don’t know why you didn’t say anything about that in the video
It’s good to see this video 53 seconds ago instead of “11 Months ago”
lol true
Deez
Nuts
As a Celeste player who has logged over 500 hours in Celeste, I really liked the inspiration for this level being taken from Celeste!
also, just wondering, gd colon: if you actually do play strawberry jam and didn't just take the footage from a gameplay video, i want to know; what lobby are you on, if you haven't already beaten all of them. I'm on the grandmaster lobby as of writing this.
good strawberry demon level
Hi
I loved
9:12 the bird opening its mouth in sync with the dash orbs 😂
Smh colon doesn’t appreciate my masterpiece of a slope that I made in 30 seconds 😂.
I don't think the level is very fun to play given it's nature
But the level remains a work of art. I love what it stands for
probably my favorite gd level ever, well done! (and congrats on epic, very much deserved)
Hey all, Colon Here! -Scott the Woz probably
Thank you for once again showcasing that gameplay >>>>> deco. Personally I think the visuals of this level are simple yet stylish! It has a unified look that has just enough detail to be recognizable among the sea of platformers. Also reminds me a little bit of another classic platformer demon, SpeedTek.
THIS LEVEL IS SO !!! GOOD JOB :D
this level is so colon colon fox guy !!! GOOD JOB 😃
@@Matteorozi that’s what I said… just without the member emojis.
@@Matteorozi how did you get a heart from him but not me…
@@JaydenGamer48 PAY2LOSE!!! NICE MODEL :O
@@JaydenGamer48pay 2 lose 😮😮😮😮😮😮
Just a side note, scale hacked objects are actually less optimized than normal objects, as GD isn't coded to recognise objects that exceed the scale limit in the game, and therefore struggles to render them, taking more power.
About the level, I personally don't like playing videogames for more than 40 minutes straight, and this level took me an hour and 15 minutes; by that I mean that I am very biased in what I'm about to say, as I could have noticed the bad parts more than the good parts due to that. With that out of the way, the level was mostly enjoyable and the level design is ingenious, but I think momentum stuff in this game only works when it has more lenient platforming instead of precise timings; in this level it felt pretty jank in some sections.
And about the "dying is part of the level" thing, I would completely agree if the big rooms had binoculars like Celeste or you were given more time to react, but because they don't they just aren't much fun to learn, they just feel like one of those games that expect you to bash your head against the wall over and over without much reason, and due to my limited time to plat games, I don't like this at all.
Anyways, in the chance you bother reading this, I hope you enjoyed my dumb essay, and don't be discouraged by my criticism attempt, you could make a banger videogame if you wanted, as your game design knowledge is pretty solid already.
All good takes. I feel like "it's ok to die multiple times" is fine for a smaller scale level like this, but for future projects I'll definitely reconsider
Also I played safe with scale hacking, max of like 6x for nearby details and ~10x for stuff that's usually out of bounds anyways. Well aware of the issues it has
Insta-clicked this
same
did bro use 5 minute crafts to insta click this
Creo - dimension
Ikr, I love gd cologne
Same actually
Really fun seeing you in action, as expected very clever game design.
And great video as per usual rectum
It was a fantastic level !
The only down size that I have is that there is no way to show the level ahead. So it's often anoying to die at a part because you don't know where to go.
Except that it is one of the best and fun plateformer that I play. Congratulation 👍
great map with cool level design! it's really nice to see gmd platformer mappers tackling things from a game design perspective rather than just trying to buff every jump to infinity, nice work
9:21 lol that’s the room that actually fought me consistent wavedashing in Celeste
4:40 you talking about not feeling like your stuff is good enough is just how I feel. Just don’t put it past yourself and no matter where you are cut yourself some slack on it. Happy to know I’m not the only one. All I do is lower my standards so I can make anything with a finished product in any game. Just keep it up and then you won’t worry.
will check it out!
Thanks for your tips on game design! I've had playtesters in my games before but I never physically watch them play, so I will keep this in mind.
8:41 this jump is inconsistent because when you enter it there are many different momentums the player could have by pressing D at different times.
The coin room is my favorite! Very creative with the big platform
GD Colon getting an epic rated level is just perfect.
I like the celeste styled level! Keep up the good work
10:04 The bad platforms being blue is an accidental subversive commentary on the concept of "blue good red bad"
Cool to hear some of the thoughts behind this great level!
I gotta check this level out!
As someone who did play a lot of Celeste mods in the past, the level did give out quite a bit of a modded Celeste vibe, with some of its ideas and inspirations for mechanics. The gimmicks, puzzle platforming, a bit of trial and error, and the daunting long final room, all of it felt like if I was playing a custom Celeste map. The platforms could sometimes be a little wonky, but that's just GD's physics not being quite built for this kind of gameplay style, but pretty much near everything the level felt really consistent once you got the hang of the movement. Good stuff.
Very good level. But there is one thing the Celeste version of this mechanic has, that this does not. Celeste actually has a form of "momentum conservation" for moving platforms. When a platform stops and the player is on it if that player presses space, they will get the momentum as if they pressed space when the platform was at peak velocity. This is probably why some parts feel inconsistent.
I loved this level, but oh my god, I was do tired afterwards. It took me 4,5 (FOUR AND A HALF!!) hours to finish. The last room took 2,5h itself. If GD had replay mode with every death (Super Meatboy style), my computer would crash because of numbers of deaths on that little jump from green platform to red orb between spikes while moving in last room. I was howling. Anyway, it was super fun! Thank you, Colon~!
I LoOoOoOVE gD ColON
Cool video, I like the format. I think a cool idea for a video is to explain the gd servers like how they work, what they do, ect.
i dont love gd cologne.
i REALLY love gd cologne.
I haven't beaten this yet, but I've done a practice run and I had a lot of fun with it! This definitely deserved epic rating, because even though the deco isn't that amazing, the gameplay is super fun and creative! This is the type of hard platformer gameplay that I enjoy!
By the fact that the zippers dont automatically move back, id say they are swap blocks not zippers
now i want to see Colon designing a Celeste map. SO many of the decisions and layouts and general ideas in here are EXTREMELY Celeste, i'd love to see him work with more Celeste mechanics ^u^
This level proves platformer mode in GD will never be able to replace Celeste. Every room has one or more clicks that are super annoying or way harder than the rest, and it's not because of the level design. The dash orb "wavedash" is a restrictive and less fun replacement for the versatile and smooth Celeste counterpart, and don't even get me started on momentum when jumping off the moving blocks. This level isn't an example of cool tech or neat ideas, it's an example of the limitations platformer mode has. If you like this level, you will like Celeste mods far more.
I agree other then the physics of the horizontal moving blocks being different form celeste (which made some jumps huge chokepoints for me ) really fun level (except for the 2 jumps after the big boost in the final screen which I’m still stuck on. I’m playing on mobile witch it works fine on [no mobile weirdness] asides for being awkward to control I also have a skill issue)
Definitely deserves epic rating 9/10
Btw the person I’m replying to is being to harsh
yes, you're correct. because they have different physics, and you aren't used to them. thus using it as a example. but, I will agree, this is like making a fangame of let's say, Mario. it will never be the same and never act the same.
I got to the last level after 6 hours and accidentally opened practice mode. great level colon!
So, when is the day that we try to crash robtops servers because we have to rate more online levels now for icons
it's great that there's a reliable creator on here that I enjoy watching that knows game design and can talk about it, it's very helpful for college
i keep thinking of this one qoute: "celeste is just the game gd players wish they were playing instead"
when i saw the level name my mind immediately jumped to scott the woz and im glad he was an inspiration and you mentioned him.
Also this level blows!
14:03 Nuh pesta 😂
dude, I LOVE this level, it is the most enjoyable platformer yet, I love the ending levels, there epic.
3:27 Mario taught us that WAY before any other game could
Wow, this seems like a really cool platformer level! I'm sure this creator has another very good and uncontroversial platform level!
5:15 I WAS IN THAT COLLABBBB
What!!
Really cool!!! The stuff u do with the platforms is awesome.
6:45 god i love and hate you so much
This level became my favorite platformer by far ! I have a 4:09 time and I want a sub 4 min. It's super fun and extremely well-made. Well done GD Cologne
thank gee dee coleman
I really liked that you took a concept and made the best out of it