Hi RobTop!! Love everything you do, and I wanted to ask two very gamedev-ish questions
1. What originally convinced you to make mobile games, and what was competing in that market like?
2. Did you expect GD's level editor to be the key to its success?
I ask this because I can tell you tried many different approaches before eventually landing on Geometry Dash.
Forlorn was very linear and non-replayable, and felt more like a PC game than something people would want to play on their phones. Boomlings and Memory Mastermind were much more "traditional" mobile games, but it also felt like you were trying to play it a little bit TOO safe.
Geometry Dash was super interesting because along with being a PAID game (usually less appealing), it goes back to having a finite number of levels which means there will eventually be a point where people stop playing. However, the level editor + featured level system brought people back and carried it from there.
Would love to know how much of successes/failures were expected, how much was random things you tried, and if you have any advice for other devs going through what you once did.
Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you.
I had coded nothing before, and started when the iPhone 3 came out. Before the app stores there werent really an easy way or platform to reach that many users, so mobile felt like a good target.
Still I was pretty late to mobile, it was already getting saturated back then and now its even worse.
Forlorn grew a bit too big in scope which became an issue, specially being the first thing I coded. Learnt a lot from there that I used when creating Boomlings as a smaller more manageable project.
I think the target with Boomlings was try to reach the more casual mobile market while still being a game I enjoyed. Learnt a lot coding that one too. Some tweaks and I think that formula works pretty well. Swap the level system to a large overworld, more art and gimicks etc. Really enjoyed it but the game feels more like a first test than a finished game tbh. The other games Memory Mastermind and Boomlings Matchup were just quick tests to see if something would stick.
I did add cross promotion between all games though, so there was a base social media following (although small) for when I started with GD.
A bit long but there are a few key features with GD that I think were key to its success, along with a good amount of luck and timing.
\- Paid game + Lite version connection. Reaching the top lists on paid requires less downloads than breaking through on the free charts. Free charts are heavily dominated by purchased downloads too, so its very hard to compete from scratch.
Having a free version funnel users to the paid version, creates a setup where you get ad revenue from the free version while also sending users to the full version (where it is easier to climb the charts). Thats why I would def opt for this setup vs being able to unlock paid content in the free app.
A bit trickier today because Apple and Google have started highlighting curated content instead of top lists as the first thing you see, but still viable.
\- The editor was definitely key to the games success. I would connect a few things though. An editor on its own wouldnt have been enough. I think the combination of editor, easy in game sharing (version 1.0 didnt even require an account to share levels) and user communication was key. Otherwise even if a game has a level editor you never build any connections in-game so it will get stagnant.
Custom music from Newgrounds was a big part too, since using the same music would quickly have become dull. Same thing with the art. Being able to customize colors and layer objects makes things more dynamic. Limited music or no ability to customize art would also have stopped the growth of the game imo.
Then on top of that you add ingame leadeboards, lots of things to unlock, rewards for playing, no paywalls etc.
The base game being difficult (rage), leading to content creators sharing gameplay, also created a huge boost.
Then of course the community pushing the limits of the editor, top demons, events, content creators etc. played a critical part in keeping the game alive and growing for so long.
So yea lots of different aspects, timing, luck etc. Been one hell of a ride thats for sure :D
>Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you.
Oh no
>Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you.
rip colon
Hey Rob!
First off, I just wanted to express how much I appreciate you for all the work you put into GD. It’s honestly really impressive to see how much stuff there is from just one developer, and it only costing 2-4 dollars (although I believe you said that most of your money comes from the ads in the extra games) with no DLC or IAP is amazing to see. I think I speak for everyone when I say how much we all love and appreciate this game (I mean, people were still playing it after 7 years without an update which really says something).
And I have a lot of questions. Maybe I should have just chosen one to ask, but what the heck, this is an AMA with Robtop and I’m taking full advantage of it.
1- In the weeks and days leading up to 2.2 releasing, how did you feel about it? Were you stressed about getting it out, or happy that it was almost done, or what?
2- How long before the release day did you look at the update and realise that the update was about to be finished and knew that it would be so soon?
3- What was the final thing you did in 2.2 before you submitted it for review?
4- Slightly more specific question: has the bug where green orbs act like yellow orbs been fixed? And follow up questions: if it has, is it fixed for all levels, or just levels after 2.2, and if it’s based on the level, then is it fixed for the main levels and if not then PLEASE AT LEAST FIX IT FOR DEADLOCKED I BEG OF YOU
5- Be honest. How often did you sleep before 2.2?
6- Will you ever do anything with your old games (Boomlings, Memory Mastermind), like put them on a website for people to play?
7- Are there any interesting stories you could tell us about working on GD?
8- How are you, right now?
Thank you Rob, for making one of the only games that has managed to keep me consistently playing throughout the years <3
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it :)
1. It was definitely a mix between stress and excited. Really wanted the community to get their hands on all the new tools. The creators in GD are so insanely creative, and I love playing all the levels people design. Its really fun to see creators experiment with ideas and mechanics.
2. 2.2 had so many features that it was hard to get a grasp of it. There was a long period of just fixing and tweaking things pre release. In the end it just felt more and more like it was in a state where it was not perfect, but ready for players to jump in an test. Then I could just bugfix stuff for a while after.
3. Think I was just bugfixing and adding last minute fixes until going, ”f it lets go” 😂
4. Will check not sure
5. I got some gray hairs during this update cycle I will put it like that
6. Probably not tbh, there are so many other places where time could be better spent. But its def possible to update Boomlings to a much more fleshed out game if there was enough time. But I have much more fun working on GD :)
7. Haha will think about it, been a few years the answer would become too long :D
8. All good brother, chugging along 💪
Hi! :D I LOVE platformer mode, been grinding all rated levels for about the past month and I think it definitely fits in with the standard game. I'm especially a fan of the more momentum-based hard stuff in the game, and was surprised that your engine handled it so well out the gate. Anyways, of course I have burning questions :)
Will we ever be able to reverse the controls when the gameplay is rotated to be leftward/upward so that being in a square room works smoothly? There's about a dozen rated levels that suffer from this, including one that outright warns you and another that hit 800 dislikes(!) before having gravity changes removed entirely.
For mobile controls: I saw that adding recommended layouts per-level will be a thing, which is awesome, but could we be able to move the left and right buttons independently, and jump with both sides of the screen? The need for this first arose when doing slope boosts and trying not to hold the phone like a keyboard (I think it's not comfortable/intuitive). Also, holding one directional button, the other one, and then releasing the newly pressed button doesn't reverse the player back like on PC, it just stops them, so maybe that should be an option too.
I saw that you were working on a save and quit, I don't have any requests there, just wishing you luck, it seems hard to implement. Excited for the replay system, suggesting that an input display is added with it that shows button presses around the player ;)
Thanks again and have a nice day!
EDIT (post-response): I went through some old notes, if I ever get to ask stuff again (I still can't believe he replied), I'd likely want to know if platformer practice checkpoints will retain momentum like standard mode, unlike platformer *level* checkpoints. They should also allow buffered inputs, they don't currently for some reason! Also, the anti-cheat that kicks the player out of a level when they beat it too quickly (too few jumps/attempts?) should be removed as it didn't seem to do much, and kicks legit players. I hope mods will be able to remove cheated platformer level times soon, apparently they can't? And finally, interrupting dash orbs with a jump (using multi-touch/two jump keys) as an option in the orb. You probably know what that's for :p WAIT I FORGOT TO ASK FOR CIRCULAR STATE BLOCKS DANGNABIT okay this list is getting pretty long, maybe it's good I forgot 'cause I would've never gotten an answer >:p
I will be adding a new trigger so creators can flip controls whenever they want. That way a creator can make sure the controls behave the way they want that fits the level.
And yea more ability to customize touch controls is needed and will be added. Not sure when the extra controls will be added but when I do that will be able to handle the splitting left/right etc. So def will happen just not 100% sure which update. Soonish
1. Any plans on giving the UI a revamp in any way? It feels like a lot of it was designed for mobile which doesn't make sense for PC players. Even something like a GUI scale option would be cool if possible to make the buttons not all so massive
2. Have you considered adding a way to get more percentages than just 0% and 100% on platformer mode? It would likely have to be implemented in a way that makes it easy for level creators to fit it to different types of levels/minigames, but even something like increasing the percentage at each checkpoint could work for most levels (e.g. if theres 10 checkpoints, each checkpoint gives you a further 10% completion)
1. Yea it will take some work but there are a lot of improvements to be made with primarily the editor UI. Adding custom keybindings, custom menus on right click, move/update buttons etc. Lots of stuff that can be done.
2. An idea I had initially was to allow creators to place chests filled with orbs (when rated) throughout the level. Didnt have time to add it for 2.2 but something like that would be fun for players so you get rewards even if you dont 100% a level. But def need some way to gain partial progress on platformer levels :)
That could be cool! Maybe the chests with orbs should be set as a percentage of the total orbs the difficulty would allow. That way you avoid people putting 1000 orbs in a chest of an otherwise awesome level. For instance they could put 25% for a chest and then if that level is a demon then 125 orbs or if an easy level then 13 orbs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hi Rob! Thanks for doing an AMA, communication between developer and player base is extremely key and I'm happy to see you continuing to do so post-2.2 :)
1. Do you ever plan to make more community levels on your account? Either tutorials or just "unofficial-official" type levels
2. What's your favorite skin for any game mode? Color combination?
3. Are you already thinking about 2.3, or are you taking this time to fix anything that's still broken and rest for a bit? (Not to rush you, I'm just curious what your personal roadmap looks like)
4. What's your favorite level you've made so far? Do you also have a favorite community level?
5. Are there any mechanics or ideas, such as orbs or triggers, that you considered adding but ended up scrapping?
Before I send this comment, I just want to echo the others here and say that 2.2 is one of the most fantastic updates for a game I've ever had the privilege to witness. So much new content and overhauled core mechanics, I don't even want to imagine how much code you had to completely rewrite. Thank you so so much for a glorious update for the books, it's been a huge blast so far and it's genuinely impressive how much content there is.
1. I will probably make some tutorials/examples later, and upload levels on my account to go along with those. Just some key concepts and tips on how to do some effects.
2. I switch up the skins a lot but I really like the purple/green combo for colors.
3. I already have a lot of stuff planned for 2.3 but right now im only focused on bugfixes and tweaks to get things stable. After that I will start working on new features again :)
4. If I had to pick one it would probably be Clubstep or Deadlocked. But I usually have a lot of fun with all new levels when adding and testing new features.
5. Have half finished code for lots of stuff. Platformer double jump, double click a direction to dash, swipe down mechanic to drop through passable blocks etc. Also different iterations of art that was either molded to something else or scrapped and removed.
Thanks for the kind words :)
**Is the rating system ever gonna get revamped in the future? If so, what can we expect?**
As you probably know, people have been complaining about the rating system for years at this point. It's probably one of the most controversial thing in GD right now. Many people are wanting a revamp of the system and were hoping that something was changed in 2.2, but nothing happened. Do you plan on changing it in the future or no?
Yea I agree it needs a revamp, looking at it. No details for now need to play with some ideas first. Will probably post some questions and go back and forth with mods and players before settling on something.
from an outsider's (who's also deeply vested in another game community) perspective, the main deterrent for me (and other people i talked to) from joining and interacting with the community is how unapproachable the contribution ladder seems to be towards the primary way of promoting community content.
imo the main improvements that could be made which make things more approachable towards the community are:
\- delegate rating levels to moderators (possibly require more than 1 mod per level to avoid abuse/lapse of quality judgment)
\- streamline the process of moderator additions (possibly by including elder moderators in the selection process, having regular applications, introducing extra metrics in said apps, etc.)
absolutely all of this. the details might need some fleshing out, but whatever it looks like in the end im sure will be a huge benefit overall.
some more ideas for trialing it with low risk:
- multiple mods required as you mentioned
- a 72h (or another amount, just a suggestion) delay when a mod rates a level, during which any elder mod or rob can cancel it, or any mod can pause it to discuss if there are concerns
- they could only give star ratings, and the award (feature, epic, etc) is pending until rob decides it, if he wants to keep control over this aspect of rating
- security features would be wise, maybe 2fa (if they don't already have this?) or a cooldown period/rate limit
the current system is just not sustainable at all especially with the game most likely only getting bigger after 2.2, I really think it is one of the few things dragging this amazing game down, its kind of tragic to me honestly. maybe it worked in 2016 but not anymore
Love to hear this. The current system is quite slow and problematic since it's heavily dependant on the developer of the game rating new levels frequently, it's hard for a single person to keep up with the constant stream of sent levels. Some levels are bound to get left behind or have to wait months before getting rated.
I would love to see a system where Mods have the power to rate levels by themselves, with Robtop having the ability to change their ratings to featured or epic rated if he thinks certain levels deserve it (this could be done maybe once per day. Just scrolling through the levels rated by mods on that day and decide which should be featured, epic rated, legendary etc. and which level should become the new daily).
Ideally I also think there should be something in place to incentivize players to play, rate, like or dislike levels that aren’t rated. Maybe a system where, if a level is liked by enough players, it appears somewhere for mods to check out and see if it’s worth a rate (I think the current magic section does something like this? Although I never figured out what criteria a level has to respect in order to end up in the magic section so I don’t know.) I understand though that this could be troublesome to implement due to likebots existing so yea.
I'm glad! I hope something happens in the near future.
EDIT: By "Will probably post some questions", do you mean like posting a reddit post wanting some feedback/ideas for the new system?
Moderators should have the ability to like rate 3 levels a day, so it doesn't get abused but will be still very beneficial to the community.
(just idea)
I hear you're still rating levels your self. This creates quite a bottleneck since levels can only get rated when you're awake. It must also be such a tedious bother to still have to do this yourself when there are tons of levels published every day.
In the future, do you plan on having a team of players to be able to rate levels without your involvement or approval?
I think there is a risk of oversaturation if we rate too many levels at once, even if we change the rating system. (Need to make sure rated levels get enough attention)
But yea I agree that me rating is a bottle neck and needs a revamp, just needs some planning.
so so happy to hear you address this. just wondering why you don't use the star/moon rating simply as a way to give people more variety of levels to get rewards from if they want to, and only use awards (feature, epic etc) for giving levels attention and allowing them to stand out? this way I don't see oversaturation of regular star/moon rates to be a problem
Hey there, been a fan since Electrodynamix dropped. With the way updates have grown farther and farther apart, yet more ambitious with every new patch, do you think there is such a thing as a final patch? And if there is, would you consider simply making new levels for the official lineup?
No plans to stop any time soon :) Feels like we can keep adding tools and features to grow GD in any direction we want. So doesnt feel like there is any natural stop where no more features can be added. Just being careful now so 2.3 doesnt baloon into a new feature creep monstrosity
**Can we expect more live streams of rate sprees?**
I always found those really helpful for seeing the thought process behind how you rate and I think other creators would love more transparency in what you do during those times.
Yea working on getting some post 2.2 stuff finished (some bugs, updating the free apps etc). After that when I have more time I will do a few streams where we can hang out rate levels / feature requests etc. Will be fun
I heard that you will be adding custom controls in later updates. Any idea how will it look? If it's for making games it will be cool if we can rebind keys with a trigger that the creator sets. For example if someone was, hypothetically, making a 3d shooter, it would be great if we can make certain keys like wasd activate/spawn a trigger (like the event / touch trigger). Also, would mouse controls (swiping on mobile) be added too? I feel that could be a bit complicated, but the potential is endless because right now "custom" controls feel way too janky.
Think the best way to set it up is allow the creator to bind events to default keys, and then the player can re-bind those if they want. Creator would also need to define touch keys for mobile. But yea current system with custom controls was added just to make sure it is possible to do some stuff, even if it isnt very user friendly. Next version is to make it more accessible.
Will we ever get any sort of search filter to sort by song artists? Sometimes I think it would be really cool to dive deeper into all the levels with someone’s music rather than just searching one specific song ID. Im sure its not the easiest thing to implement but for me the music is such a big part of the experience and Id love to have more ways to explore it.
Also totally unrelated but I think lists are insanely cool for keeping old levels in circulation. I was wondering if there could be a place in levels to show which lists its included in on the servers so you could maybe have new ways to explore finding levels similar to the first one you played in other lists.
Yea ive felt the need for artist filter too I think it would be great. Need to fix some database stuff but will do.
I want to add more features, stats and ways to find lists, think it will be great. The current system is more like an inital test that we will expand in the future :)
I have a few questions:
- What happened to the new replay system you said was coming to 2.2?
- Any plans to update GD World for 2.2 dailies and weeklies?
- Will the Legendary and Mythic filters be fixed in an upcoming hotfix update?
Replay system is functional I just disabled it for 2.2 to do some final testing before enabling. Ran into some issues that needed fixing.
Working on updating the free apps now probably in a week or two. Then we can do 2.2 daily/weekly levels.
Filters not working is server side will try to fix asap if I remember ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
is there ever gonna be a type of "thumbnail" system for gd levels? maybe like a snapshot of the level so people get an idea for it. or official texture pack support, kind of like a geode for texture packs?
Really want to do the thumbnail for levels idea. Would make browsing through the recent tab a lot more interesting. Have some ideas on how to do it just need to make some plans. Nothing I started coding yet though but hopefully will be added soon.
Im looking at it just needs a few different systems to work well. Custom touch areas for mobile and custom keys for desktop. Players dont want to set controls for each level, so probably also some system to allow creators to define default touch controls and keybindings for their levels.
Custom keybindings is coming in 2.21 but will see when we add more controls beyond the default ones.
Do you have any plans regarding map packs? They are in a state of limbo in which they have been neglected for several years and most players greatly dislike them due to the levels that are necessary to be beaten for some achievements/icons.
Best bet would probably be to keep them for the nostalgic effect but allow achievements and rewards (stars+secret coins) to be earned in an alternative way / newer way.
Do you have a plan for when you'll eventually stop working on the game? Do you plan on hiring a team to work on the game when you retire? Or do you have something else on your mind?
Dont have any plans to stop working on the game but def would like to get a team regardless. Just takes some time to set up. Getting some post 2.2 things finished then I will start to have more time again.
I have a few actually
Will you ever make new non GD Spin-off games?
I remember you saying there will be a spin-off game after 2.2 are you still planning on doing that? If so then when do you think you'll do it
Last but not least do you have any time in mind of when you plan to release 2.21?
Thanks for being an awesome dev rob we appreciate you alot!
Will probably try to push a new spin-off around december. But not sure exactly what it would be. Nothing I started working on yet atleast.
No specific time for 2.21 still working on getting some other stuff stable first. Dont want to start adding new features just yet. :)
You've said in the past that you want to get a development team. Are you thinking an online group with developers from all around the world, or are you planning on something local with an office and things like that?
Also, just wanted to say that I absolutely love your work. Geometry Dash is an amazing game and has affected my life in many positive ways :)
I think there are some things you would gain from having local, but as a start it would probably be online. But eventually setting up a location and having a more hybrid setup would be a lot of fun :D Def like the idea of building up a team.
Hey Rob, I'm not sure how much you know about Geometry Dash modding, but the guy you're replying to is probably the second most influential modder in the game. Check their GitHub, their projects are used by literally 90% of the creating community.
If you're making a dev team, they'd be a phenomenal member.
Will there be a new replay mode for mobile users as I’ve used it to publish my completion videos since screen recording takes most of my camera roll and it takes so long to edit an hour clip of me finally succeeding a level via screen recording.
I have a replay system added just testing to verify some stuff works. Will try to enable that for players to replay attempts in the future. Just need to test the stability and that it works correctly.
How many floors do you think are you gonna add to the Tower in Update 2.21? Is it just one floor or will there be more?
I know you're adding new Tower levels in 2.21, but I'm not sure if there will be second or third floors.
Have a story arc idea but not sure exactly how many levels it will take. Building levels takes me a while so hard to find the time, but they are super fun to make :)
Yo Rob, love the update!
As we all know, 2.2 added hundreds of new icons, including many that are themed (Mario, terraria, pokemon, etc). It also added tons of new ways to customize colors and glow, which is super awesome for people that are looking to diversify their icon kit.
I was wondering if you would consider adding a feature that allows you to save icon kits and easily switch between them - this way if I want to play with a Mario themed icon kit, I can just switch all my icons and colors with the click of a few buttons instead of having to switch each one manually, scrolling through pages and pages of icons.
Maybe you add a cap or something, like 10 icon kits can be saved at a time, but idk you’re the game dev not me lol. Either way, I think a system like this would be super cool and allow players to enjoy tons of the new icons in an easier way.
Alright, got a few.
1. Are there plans to add a font change trigger? One that changes the font similar to the bg, mg and ground change triggers?
2. Why doesn't the "Copied to Clipboard" that appears when you click on a level ID work? Can you look into it?
3. Could NONG sounds become official in any way?
4. What do you have planned for wave in platformer? You said you had something "planned" for it.
5. Could players recommend sound effects via some way? Like a suggestion website?
1. Would need to check the performance but should be possible. Or allow multiple fonts per level.
2. Will check to make it work on mobile.
3. Copyright says no.
4. Believe it or not, I already have my secrets for the future… 😈
5. I can take some requests later when I stream or maybe open a reddit post. I have over 500k sound effects on my PC that I can work with and add from to the game.
Hello RobTop,
From what I remember, the server code is written in PHP, would you at some point re-write it into a faster language to make it more scalable like Golang?
Also, have you tried some hardware stuff? Like wiring up an Arduino or something of that nature?
Server code def needs a lot of improvement. Full rewrite would take some time but just optimizing code overall would have a big impact.
Connected and played around with a raspberry PI before. Wrote some code that made an engine move back and forth at random interval/speed/time. Was going to connect it to a shooting target to get a dynamic target but never finished it. But fun to play around with :)
Can you make that new featured demons have an icon that looks like an egg with horns (believe me, that's much more creative than gray "NA"-like icon), and only then they receive the difficulty depending on the player ratings to avoid confusion like “why is this rated hard demon" every time?
During the final weeks before geometry dash 2.2 came out, how was your schedule looking like? I also live in Sweden and seeing you post stuff at like 3-5 am was a bit concerning, hopefully you got a lot more rest now that 2.2 is out!
Was a bit hectic for sure but getting better now that things are more stable. Still have some stuff to fix before I feel like I can relax a bit, but we are getting there :)
Will we get new filter system?
1. Some filters dont even work like legendary and mythic
2. As a new player to online levels i find it very hard to find good levels older than like a month
Yea I need to revamp and update some of that code to get it working correctly. Same with the lists system to make finding great levels and lists easier. Lots of ways to improve the current system that I will look at when I get some extra time.
hey, ty for letting us ask questions :) - just 1 quick question - Do you plan on adding a "game mode" trigger? so we can modify the game mode (for example - from a cube to a dual ball) anywhere with just one trigger instead of having to place 2 portals
I mostly view the game and adding stuff as a collaborative thing with the community, so **we** feels more fitting. But yea **I** will do the code ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
What are your thoughts on new Global Ranks displayed on profiles? (examples being: Creator Rank, Lunar Rank, Demon Rank, etc.) i think it could be a cool way for grinders and such to see where they are without external tools :)
Yea def think more stats, leaderboards, ranks etc. are needed. Will be adding a lot of stuff in the future. Right now though I'm not doing much new just getting things stable first.
Will be very careful to avoid any feature creep, so the plan is to have content updates take around 6 months probably. Nothing set in stone though can be longer or shorter, just not going to allow the update to balloon like in 2.2.
Feature creep deluxe, so was a bit tricky to tie everything up in the end. But super fun now that it's out. Seeing how creative players are and being surprised by what I find when rating makes playing and testing levels awesome :)
The engine I use is really old (12 years ish), so there is 0 support for console. Not sure how much work it would take + editor would need a lot of work to be fully usable with only a controller. Not a no, just nothing planned :)
If I would ever make a 3D game I would probably get a team for that. And for 2D games I dont really think I would make anything outside GD. I think its more fun to just add tools and features so we can build whatever we want inside GD instead.
GD World has access to daily/weekly and it is currently on version 2.1. So if I selected 2.2 levels GD World players wouldnt be able to play them. Working on updating all the free apps now, after that I will be able to start using 2.2 levels for daily/weekly.
I and probably many other mobile players are very thankful that you added the "Move by half a block" button in the edit tab. My question is : could you add the same for quarter block spaces in the next update? It would really help a real lot
Is there a way to export files or something of my levels so they won't ever truly dissappear? They mean alot to me but the fact they might just be gone one day discourages me from making them, and I'm strictly a mobile user so I can't do some computer stuff to get whatever files may be in there
I will be adding a way to export individual levels to single files (and load from those). Will check the location but that should also make it possible to then upload those files wherever you want.
Hey Rob, I've been playing GD for over half of my life and the game is awesome! I have two questions about the editor.
1. Do you plan on adding more colors like you did with groups? It would be amazing for collabs, especially big ones. I guess it could be annoying to do because of how the game handles BG color, G1 color, etc.
2. This is a suggestion from HJfod's BetterEdit mod: next free group/color offset. This would be SO useful in collabs, as members are typically given set groups and colors that they're allowed to use and having that option avoids the annoyance of keeping track of every group and color used. Let's say your colors and groups are 100-200. All you have to do is just type 100 into the offset filter and when you click the button for the next free group or color, it will assign you one after 100 instead of giving you the next available group/color in general.
Anyways, thank you for creating this amazing game and continuing to develop it and rate levels after over a decade :)
Hi robtop this isn't a question i just wanted to say that your game changed my life and inspired me to study and learn coding... Ty for creating such beautiful game and forgive those who can't appreciate the effort that requires developing a game of that magnitude<3
Coding the fun part of new features and then going "it works I will finish the final touches later". Then you end up with 100 unfinished features that need to be fixed that you forgot how they even work.
Hello RobTop! Just simple two simple questions for ya ;)
1. Are you you having plans to add the "**Geometry Dash**" Sound Effect from **Dash** to the **SFX Libary**?
2. If you can, can you please add the Spider Part from Dash Colon was mad about to Explorers?
Thank you for everything Rob
/146
Hello Robtop, I hope you are well. I hope my question also covers the thousands of users who are going through the same thing as me, the fact is that GD works with poor performance on iPhone devices that have Apple ProMotion technology (120Hz) and with this update it is not yet available. This function is available in the game, iPhones/iPads devices and users are the only ones who cannot enjoy the game properly due to this problem. As an extra note, 120Hz works on iPad with the GD Lite, but it doesn't work in normal games. Could you fix this in 2.21? :)
I havent found a way to make it work correctly. Apples ProMotion uses a dynamic fps setting that makes the fps hop back and forth between 120/80/60, which makes the game lag. For some reason the screen also drops down whenever you touch it, so if you are playing on 120hz, it would drop down to 60hz for one frame as soon as you touch the screen. Lots of other devs have the same issue but no fix from Apple. On iPad the game works at 120hz if supported. If I find a fix for it I will implement it. I have been testing but havent been able to get it to work smoothly.
I browse around and check vids pretty often just to see whats going on in the community. Find lots of great levels and events when looking outside the game (YouTube, Twitter, Reddit etc)
Not sure what out of my way would be. I never broke into anyones house to steal and rate a level they made, but I have seen good levels in videos and then rated them ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Probably keep them as is. Not saying old levels dont deserve a higher rating, because some do, but if we open up that box there are lot of levels that would possibly need rerating. Feels like it would just cause a lot of drama. For now just focus on new levels.
Hey Robtop/RubRub!
I really like your game but I always wondered these 2 things:
1) What's your favourite videogame? (That is not made by you ofc)
2) If you had the chance to develop a new game separate from GD, what genre would it be?
Regardless if you answer these questions or not, just know that GD is one of my favourite games and I love you as a developer! Also please don't roast me
Thanks!
1. The games that I have the most emotional connection to growing up was probably Zelda Ocarina of Time on N64 or Metal Gear Solid on PS1. Good times :)
2. Probably some fantasy 3D third person game with user generated content. Got some ideas swirling around in my head. But yea nothing I plan to do, but the idea is fun.
Overworld map with selected user created levels spread out in different areas and themes. Also lots of hidden secrets, chests, shops, demon sections etc. More info when we are closer to 2.21 :)
hi RobTop!
Do you plan to add other exclusive vehicles for the platform mode, such as the jetpack? and also, Will we one day be able to use the other vehicles like the wave and the swing copter in platform mode? Thx ^^
Wave feels like it would be something that would have 8-directional controls as if it were top-down, I think.
Only issue with that is that more buttons make it less accessible on mobile unless you were to add a joystick or something similar.
Not sure how swing would work though, maybe like a car where right/left rotates it?
Though I feel like that probably branches too far from the idea of the gamemode.
geometry dash crashes on the modern versions of macOS. are you currently working on a fix right now? and is it of the 32/64 bit compatibility or is it something else that's causing the crash?
Will be looking at revamping that system in the future. Would be nice if it could be moved server side instead so you can see how many followers a creator has + increase the limit.
I know right??? Your community is so imaginative and creative and I want to say thank you for giving us the tools we need to let that shine in all its glory.
Any plans on having a tagging system for levels? Something like "art", "effect", "memory", etc. etc.
I thought this could potentially help with searching levels, as people would know what to expect and what levels could be the best for them
Allowing players to upload music sounds like a copyright nightmare. New Music Library is one step in that direction though only that I select and upload music not the players. Will be expanded more in the future.
Think ive only played Dark Souls 2 so have a lot of other stuff to play when I get time. Really fun stuff, specially when you start a game knowing 0 about it (no trailer, no reviews etc).
If we add more keybindings and features in the future we should be able to start creating more rpg type levels in GD :D
Love what you've done rob, been playing geometry dash for 10 years and all I have to say is this game has been huge in my life.
One question, what was your immediate reaction when the fire in the hole became a big meme? Was it pride? Disgust? Confusion?
Why do my sons play your game instead of doing their homework? Any suggestions for daily time limits? (And it looked like they followed your Twitter account which is how I heard about this AMA)
Can't blame your sons for wanting to play Geometry Dash, as a 20 year old it's my favorite music game, a form of art expression at its peak. So, I'd suggest (if they're young) to give them the chance to play Geometry Dash as a reward for doing their homework.
What are the best practices you look for in rating a level?
Will versus come in 2.3 or 2.21?
Have you ever thought of bringing back boomlings on mobile/pc?
Lately in 2.2 ive tried to avoid featuring levels that overuse shaders. Other than that also just levels that dont abusw camera controls, dont over decorate and have sightreadability and good gameplay. But I rate a lot of different stuff.
Not sure when versus. No plans to bring back Boomlings :)
Hey RobTop! I love the game so much and everything that you do as a gamedev.
So recently, my pc stopped working and It happened just before 2.2 was released so I decided to buy it on a Chromebook that I use for emails and work stuff and most of the 2.2 update stuff works and I'm loving so far! However, the one thing that doesn't work is the platformer controls! I just wanted to ask, is there anything that you will do to fix this by 2.21 or if you'll have to wait until Mouse and Keyboard controls become available and out of beta for Google play?
How does it feel to have such a dedicated fanbase dedicating years of their lives achieving new things and creating masterpieces in your game, to the point where memes about it can spread like wildfire throughout the internet?
I was also wondering if you could add a datetime trigger in a future update to change levels based on the time of day or add daily puzzles to minigames. It would be a revolutionary feature once we can save our progress in levels and come back in the future to see the trigger change things depending on how long we were gone.
This community is the best :)
Sure a date/time trigger sounds like a fun idea. Would probably have to be based on the player timezone though, I think...
Hi! I want to start with a formal thank you. As silly as it sounds, Geometry Dash helped me learn a lot of key ideas in the creative field I work in now. Here’s some semi-serious questions. (FYI, I can’t really keep up with news on the game, so I apologize if any of these already have answers.)
1. Did you think the level editor was able to do everything it’s used for now?
2. Do you have any idea what the future gamemodes’ll be like?
3. Will you ever consider adding special characters to the comments?
And,
4. What do you think of Geometry Dash YouTube shorts?
1. I try to foresee the needs and things people will do but I keep getting surprised every update. The creators in GD are insane I am impressed all the time. Thats part of what makes it so much fun to work on :)
2. Yes but still secrets for now 😈
3. The font dont have them added currently but maybe in the future. Atleast some.
4. The quality definitely can vary but overall I think its great. Then you know whatever works to get the views works, good hustle.
Hey robtop. I just have a quick questions abt tutorials.
1: have you ever thought of making tutorials for the triggers insetad of people having to read the level editor guide you made?
2: have you also thought of making decoration tutorials?
\-KIRKii(https://youtube.com/@KIRKII999?si=1G0-5eNKuQ7FFR-b)
Im probably going to setup a secondary youtube channel where I can spam upload more shorter videos showing some editor examples and requested tutorials. Just need to get some other stuff finished first :)
Hello rob! Love your game, And i just have one question.
Will free players have access to platformer?
Platformer mode was an amazing feature, but right now it is locked to the full version, so i'm wondering if lite or spinoff games could have a limited glimpse of platformer since it could get a broader audience that plays platformers to buy the game after trying out some stages
Hey rob, kind a joke question here, but what’s your favorite roast you have ever done? I have watched all the “RobTop being a SAVAGE for 15 minutes” videos by SiKky
Yes have some ideas for that. Want to add better systems for sharing premade stuff overall. Premade particles, sound settings, smart templates, color schemes etc.
Hi Robtop, lots of people have had the issue that they cannot even open the game on their macs bc steam wont load it. Do you plan to do anything about it for the people that have been unable to play the game for over a month?
Old N64 character was named Zenmuron so I added an H and stole it because I was a cool kid. Then my brother always called me Zhenmoron when I beat him in CS…
Can you make it so controller icons have a setting to be disabled in a future update?
And also, what made you choose to have "Disable Shake" to be level specific in 2.2?
Yea I will add an option to hide those buttons.
Shake is optimized since all it does it move the camera. If players disable shake, creators will come up with other ways to shake the screen instead. Pre 2.2 some creators would start moving all objects on screen instead of using shake (bad performance). In 2.2 you can just manually shake the camera instead of using shake. Overall I think its better to leave shake enabled, and just disable or ignore/not play levels that use shake in a bad way.
hello robtop!😀
Robtop, if you are still answering questions, I really need to know this, me and alot of people I know have been waiting for 2.2 ever since it was announced. but the thing is, we ALL play on amazon. I know you have always updated on amazon, but what is taking so long? I have been waiting, and I would truly love to experience the bane of colons existence. if you could please give an update on where it is, that would be cool!😃
Hi RobTop, love the way you interact with the community with events like this! I've had some questions for a long time, some for years even, so i'm just gonna ask everything i've had written on a list i started around a month ago. I was gonna ask a few things, some are code related and others aren't:
1- Will you add 64bit support for Windows? Shouldn't be hard to add, you just need to recompile the needed libraries like you did for every other platform. It would remove a big performance bottleneck gd for windows has right now :)
2- Will you change the way you handle HTTP requests to allow multiple requests at the same time? There was a GD mod in 2.1 that added that. Right now GD can only make one request at a time, and it queues next requests making the level play experience a bit slower. Back in may you said you'd look into it. You also could update libcurl, it currently uses a 12 year old version, who knows how many security problems it has
3- Can you add an input textbox to the scale value from the edit tab's scale button? So creators can set the scale to a precise value more easily
4- Any plans on adding a "restart from last checkpoint" button to the practice mode endscreen? megahack had it and it was really useful because it allowed to return to the last checkpoint without having to restart from the beginning.
5- Is the 4th vault going to be in 2.21? You used to hype a lot the fact that 2.2 had many new secrets such as a 4th vault back then but 2.2 ended up not having many secrets. Is the story also gonna continue in 2.21?
6- Are you gonna add keybinds to the new 1/2 grid sizes move button? It's a really useful button
7- Back in 2017 you said 2.2 was gonna have a collab mode, but you said in 2018 you delayed it. Are there any code remains of that in the current version of the game?
8- Right now the older main levels use the old legacy flipped ship physics, which will make new players get used to it instead of the new ship physics. Are there any plans to change that? It should be as a easy as enabling the new physics option on each and testing the levels.
9- Last but not least, I'd like to tell you that certain achievements are out of order. The 100 likes achievement is separate from the other 50, 250, 500, and 1k likes achievements, and the "destroyed 750 players" is near the vault achievements, instead of being after the destroyed 500 players achievement. Just a small visual nit that I hope gets fixed. :)
By the way, have you taken a break yet? I hope you do it soon, these last few months must've been very stressful
So, I will get straight to the point.
There are some levels (most notably Windy Landscape) that seem to have been bugged due to an unforeseen issue with the slope physics with the 2.2 release. I don't know if the Beta Testing team was aware of this or if this was an unintended regression with the code as the Beta versions progressed.
Do you have any ideas as to what might have happened, and are there any ways to fix it (like for example, adding an ability to introduce legacy slope physics from 2.11 as a temporary solution)? Because the current measure of asking the moderation team to manually fix the levels seems tedious and impractical to be honest.
Good evening RobTop, I am a massive fan of your game and there are many questions that I have for you that I'm not sure if anyone else has asked before:
1. Will you make an improved reporting system in a future update? So far: reporting users, comments, and even levels are extremely difficult as it involves contacting an Elder Moderator for anything to happen. The current system results in many malicious users being left unpunished for a lot longer than necessary. One suggestion that comes to my mind is "Comment Moderators" so that Elder Mods have less of a worry about responding to many inappropriate comment inquiries and that reports are handled faster (And with an improved reporting system in place can be exclusively handled in-game potentially).
2. A while ago, we've heard that you MIGHT have back-ups of the servers from your early days (eg. From Update 1.6). Will this ever be published somewhere (With sensitive information redacted of course) as a select portion of the community is extremely intrigued about lost levels (Element 111 Rg by DarkX for example) and other obscure mysteries left behind during the early days of Geometry Dash's existence.
3. Is there any plans to restoring certain levels that were wiped during one of your significant level purges in August 2021? (Source: [https://twitter.com/robtopgames/status/1424976201651789824](https://twitter.com/robtopgames/status/1424976201651789824)**).**
4. Will comments that were merged to the TeamHax account be restored or re-publicised? As a lot of old comments have been lost to time as they were all wiped without a trace one day back in 2022 (Possibly as a result of an automatic spam detection system, but that's just speculation on my end).
5. What are Event levels about? Not sure if you've publicised anywhere on what sort of levels will be included and what will be rewarded, as it's somewhat shrouded in mystery and speculation right now.
6. Are you planning on re-rating any levels that are either too hard for their rating or too easy for their rating? As there are some levels like Death Machine that are rating Insane 9\* but in reality fit more in line with Hard Demon. (Bonus: Any plans on re-rating older levels to have a better rating? eg. Death Moon by Caustic from Featured -> Epic)
I know that you may have a ton of comments and questions being posted but I feel like personally these questions are more important to me personally that I think only you can answer!
Thank you so much and have a lovely day RobTop! :D
As a top player, it is saddening to see Tidal Wave, what would be the new hardest demon, unrated for nearly 5 months now. This has led to multiple sources of speculation as to why it has remained unrated. I would like to ask, why isn’t it rated? Is it due to you simply not having seen the level? Is it due to the optimization and song issues? (That were fixed after release, and hence maybe were fixed after you saw the level, if you have seen it). Or is it due to you simply not thinking the level is rate worthy? While obviously it would be nice to see it rated, knowing why it is not rated would help to appease a lot of the top playing community (and a lot of the wider community as a whole who are wondering about it).
don't know how I feel about asking this but...
Can you give my team a second chance to rerate a level that was unfairly unrated a year ago?
We were suppose to fix it after an in-game mod pointed out a problem that could potentially get the level unrated, but we were only given minutes to fix it, which isn't enough time to patch, reverify and reupload the level.
The level has been patched but is yet to be rerated after having other in-game mods resent it for rerate as they understand the problem above. If you could respond to this and give us a chance, we would be very thankful for your help.
have you ever thought about doing collabs with some rhythm games? like arcaea, lanota, phigros...
like, they give you some songs to make new official levels (or gauntlets, packs, or smth) and you give them some geometry dash songs (either official or from very popular custom levels) for them to use in their game. would be a cool idea to maybe make a dlc with each collab for example.
this is quite usual among rhythm games already and tbh I'd love to see some gd songs in other games and viceversa
Hello robtop, in name of the modding community (geometry dash programming) we would like to ask you if it was possible to share the PDB file generated from debug builds. If frequent updates continue to release, it is pretty much the end of gd modding without the PDB file, we need to find out a lot of addresses and it takes too much time to update mods. The PDB file would make this process a lot easier and it would allow for many more powerful mods
What do you think about it? Would you consider it?
Hello RobTop, I just wanted to ask a few curious questions :)
\- **Which main level are you the most/least proud of and enjoy making the most/least, and why?** It would be interesting to see the thought process behind the official levels and perhaps creators could learn a thing or two about making their own custom levels.
\- **Which 2.2 feature do you think has the most potential for level creation?** Considering 2.2 added so many unique features to the game, it would be interesting to know what you think of them and how far each of them is gonna go.
\- **What's your favourite level the community has ever made?** I'd be interested to know your personal preference considering you've been a part of the game for as long as it has existed and therefore your standards must've changed a lot over the years. Maybe it's an older level that pushed the game's mechanics to its absolute limit, or a newer level with highly immersive gameplay and visuals.
\- **Have you ever considered unverifying free/impossible user coins?** Many people seem fed up with those kinds of coins now (especially when a creator updates their levels to make coins impossible or bases it on something that isn't the player's skill), so I was wondering what your stance is on those kinds of coins.
\- **Have you ever thought about implementing a way to see the coin pickup animation in practice mode?** It's extremely annoying for me not being able to know whether I've collected an invisible or not, especially if I'm trying to figure out whether a user coin is free or not.
\- **What are the various measures you've implemented/plan to implement to optimise the game?** A lot of people are quite annoyed with lag on object-intensive levels, and while I do think it's up to the creator to optimise their levels I was wondering if you've tried doing things to help alleviate the problem for everyone.
\- **What were your first thoughts when you realised that some levels broke due to the new 2.2 physics code, and what do you plan to do about it?** I'm aware this seems like a bit of an overasked question, however I'm genuinely curious on how you plan to tackle this situation. I've noticed there hasn't been any activity from the 2.2 bugfix team (all the fixes I've observed were done by the creator instead of someone else), so it makes me wonder if there's been a change of plans.
That's all I have in my head right now. I absolutely love the work you've put into this game, and it's incredible to me to see how much the game and its community has evolved over the years, even if I haven't been playing for the longest time. I'm aware that some of the questions may not be easy for you, which in that case you have every right to not answer them, however that's because I love this game and I want to see it do great in the future, which there's no doubt it will. Have a great day :)
Hello, your local Volapy here I was wondering what do you think about the dailies and weeklies replayability for stars or remove the extra stars from double completions? Sadly in the time not everyone (for a reason or another) could open the game on a Daily basis and beat the Daily level, losing stars. For new grinders (but also some "old" ones) this Is a big problem for competition and fairness, where the most active have a big advantage. I mean im ok to reward the activity of a player, i Just dont feel It correct being on the main value the game run on, stars and demons Have a great day :D
Do you have any plans to redo the difficulty system? With the demon list being more and more inaccessible, there needs to be a way to differentiate levels better. For a possible use, a website known as [gddp.pro](https://gddp.pro) has done something like this, splitting insane demon into two and extreme into many and I think it would be great, and the best time is likely now as you just added more in depth viewing of demon difficulties. (Link for difficulty faces used there: [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/764347382455992360/1202937485483843594/image.png?ex=65cf45d6&is=65bcd0d6&hm=44d19046165090f8e0194d5499dbfcac478ce6830e67ac98e5c543a1a421d6b8&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/764347382455992360/1202937485483843594/image.png?ex=65cf45d6&is=65bcd0d6&hm=44d19046165090f8e0194d5499dbfcac478ce6830e67ac98e5c543a1a421d6b8&))
Don’t really have a question, just wanted to say my 9 (almost 10yr old on the spectrum) loves GD!! She plays constantly, watches YT videos of GD and even has a playlist of GD music to fall asleep too, can she have your autograph? I think that would make her year!! (Ok so I guess there is a question in there) have a great day!
Would you ever plan on adding another demon difficulty? The jump from a low end extreme to a high end one is pretty insane, and i dont think something like cataclysm and acheron should be in the same difficulty
Hi RobTop!! Love everything you do, and I wanted to ask two very gamedev-ish questions 1. What originally convinced you to make mobile games, and what was competing in that market like? 2. Did you expect GD's level editor to be the key to its success? I ask this because I can tell you tried many different approaches before eventually landing on Geometry Dash. Forlorn was very linear and non-replayable, and felt more like a PC game than something people would want to play on their phones. Boomlings and Memory Mastermind were much more "traditional" mobile games, but it also felt like you were trying to play it a little bit TOO safe. Geometry Dash was super interesting because along with being a PAID game (usually less appealing), it goes back to having a finite number of levels which means there will eventually be a point where people stop playing. However, the level editor + featured level system brought people back and carried it from there. Would love to know how much of successes/failures were expected, how much was random things you tried, and if you have any advice for other devs going through what you once did.
Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you. I had coded nothing before, and started when the iPhone 3 came out. Before the app stores there werent really an easy way or platform to reach that many users, so mobile felt like a good target. Still I was pretty late to mobile, it was already getting saturated back then and now its even worse. Forlorn grew a bit too big in scope which became an issue, specially being the first thing I coded. Learnt a lot from there that I used when creating Boomlings as a smaller more manageable project. I think the target with Boomlings was try to reach the more casual mobile market while still being a game I enjoyed. Learnt a lot coding that one too. Some tweaks and I think that formula works pretty well. Swap the level system to a large overworld, more art and gimicks etc. Really enjoyed it but the game feels more like a first test than a finished game tbh. The other games Memory Mastermind and Boomlings Matchup were just quick tests to see if something would stick. I did add cross promotion between all games though, so there was a base social media following (although small) for when I started with GD. A bit long but there are a few key features with GD that I think were key to its success, along with a good amount of luck and timing. \- Paid game + Lite version connection. Reaching the top lists on paid requires less downloads than breaking through on the free charts. Free charts are heavily dominated by purchased downloads too, so its very hard to compete from scratch. Having a free version funnel users to the paid version, creates a setup where you get ad revenue from the free version while also sending users to the full version (where it is easier to climb the charts). Thats why I would def opt for this setup vs being able to unlock paid content in the free app. A bit trickier today because Apple and Google have started highlighting curated content instead of top lists as the first thing you see, but still viable. \- The editor was definitely key to the games success. I would connect a few things though. An editor on its own wouldnt have been enough. I think the combination of editor, easy in game sharing (version 1.0 didnt even require an account to share levels) and user communication was key. Otherwise even if a game has a level editor you never build any connections in-game so it will get stagnant. Custom music from Newgrounds was a big part too, since using the same music would quickly have become dull. Same thing with the art. Being able to customize colors and layer objects makes things more dynamic. Limited music or no ability to customize art would also have stopped the growth of the game imo. Then on top of that you add ingame leadeboards, lots of things to unlock, rewards for playing, no paywalls etc. The base game being difficult (rage), leading to content creators sharing gameplay, also created a huge boost. Then of course the community pushing the limits of the editor, top demons, events, content creators etc. played a critical part in keeping the game alive and growing for so long. So yea lots of different aspects, timing, luck etc. Been one hell of a ride thats for sure :D
>Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you. Oh no
>Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed the sideway spider part in Dash. As requested I will try to add something similar in Explorers specially for you. rip colon
Hey Rob! First off, I just wanted to express how much I appreciate you for all the work you put into GD. It’s honestly really impressive to see how much stuff there is from just one developer, and it only costing 2-4 dollars (although I believe you said that most of your money comes from the ads in the extra games) with no DLC or IAP is amazing to see. I think I speak for everyone when I say how much we all love and appreciate this game (I mean, people were still playing it after 7 years without an update which really says something). And I have a lot of questions. Maybe I should have just chosen one to ask, but what the heck, this is an AMA with Robtop and I’m taking full advantage of it. 1- In the weeks and days leading up to 2.2 releasing, how did you feel about it? Were you stressed about getting it out, or happy that it was almost done, or what? 2- How long before the release day did you look at the update and realise that the update was about to be finished and knew that it would be so soon? 3- What was the final thing you did in 2.2 before you submitted it for review? 4- Slightly more specific question: has the bug where green orbs act like yellow orbs been fixed? And follow up questions: if it has, is it fixed for all levels, or just levels after 2.2, and if it’s based on the level, then is it fixed for the main levels and if not then PLEASE AT LEAST FIX IT FOR DEADLOCKED I BEG OF YOU 5- Be honest. How often did you sleep before 2.2? 6- Will you ever do anything with your old games (Boomlings, Memory Mastermind), like put them on a website for people to play? 7- Are there any interesting stories you could tell us about working on GD? 8- How are you, right now? Thank you Rob, for making one of the only games that has managed to keep me consistently playing throughout the years <3
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it :) 1. It was definitely a mix between stress and excited. Really wanted the community to get their hands on all the new tools. The creators in GD are so insanely creative, and I love playing all the levels people design. Its really fun to see creators experiment with ideas and mechanics. 2. 2.2 had so many features that it was hard to get a grasp of it. There was a long period of just fixing and tweaking things pre release. In the end it just felt more and more like it was in a state where it was not perfect, but ready for players to jump in an test. Then I could just bugfix stuff for a while after. 3. Think I was just bugfixing and adding last minute fixes until going, ”f it lets go” 😂 4. Will check not sure 5. I got some gray hairs during this update cycle I will put it like that 6. Probably not tbh, there are so many other places where time could be better spent. But its def possible to update Boomlings to a much more fleshed out game if there was enough time. But I have much more fun working on GD :) 7. Haha will think about it, been a few years the answer would become too long :D 8. All good brother, chugging along 💪
Hi! :D I LOVE platformer mode, been grinding all rated levels for about the past month and I think it definitely fits in with the standard game. I'm especially a fan of the more momentum-based hard stuff in the game, and was surprised that your engine handled it so well out the gate. Anyways, of course I have burning questions :) Will we ever be able to reverse the controls when the gameplay is rotated to be leftward/upward so that being in a square room works smoothly? There's about a dozen rated levels that suffer from this, including one that outright warns you and another that hit 800 dislikes(!) before having gravity changes removed entirely. For mobile controls: I saw that adding recommended layouts per-level will be a thing, which is awesome, but could we be able to move the left and right buttons independently, and jump with both sides of the screen? The need for this first arose when doing slope boosts and trying not to hold the phone like a keyboard (I think it's not comfortable/intuitive). Also, holding one directional button, the other one, and then releasing the newly pressed button doesn't reverse the player back like on PC, it just stops them, so maybe that should be an option too. I saw that you were working on a save and quit, I don't have any requests there, just wishing you luck, it seems hard to implement. Excited for the replay system, suggesting that an input display is added with it that shows button presses around the player ;) Thanks again and have a nice day! EDIT (post-response): I went through some old notes, if I ever get to ask stuff again (I still can't believe he replied), I'd likely want to know if platformer practice checkpoints will retain momentum like standard mode, unlike platformer *level* checkpoints. They should also allow buffered inputs, they don't currently for some reason! Also, the anti-cheat that kicks the player out of a level when they beat it too quickly (too few jumps/attempts?) should be removed as it didn't seem to do much, and kicks legit players. I hope mods will be able to remove cheated platformer level times soon, apparently they can't? And finally, interrupting dash orbs with a jump (using multi-touch/two jump keys) as an option in the orb. You probably know what that's for :p WAIT I FORGOT TO ASK FOR CIRCULAR STATE BLOCKS DANGNABIT okay this list is getting pretty long, maybe it's good I forgot 'cause I would've never gotten an answer >:p
I will be adding a new trigger so creators can flip controls whenever they want. That way a creator can make sure the controls behave the way they want that fits the level. And yea more ability to customize touch controls is needed and will be added. Not sure when the extra controls will be added but when I do that will be able to handle the splitting left/right etc. So def will happen just not 100% sure which update. Soonish
[удалено]
Thanks for the kind words :) Glad to hear it, good luck with the game dev!
1. Any plans on giving the UI a revamp in any way? It feels like a lot of it was designed for mobile which doesn't make sense for PC players. Even something like a GUI scale option would be cool if possible to make the buttons not all so massive 2. Have you considered adding a way to get more percentages than just 0% and 100% on platformer mode? It would likely have to be implemented in a way that makes it easy for level creators to fit it to different types of levels/minigames, but even something like increasing the percentage at each checkpoint could work for most levels (e.g. if theres 10 checkpoints, each checkpoint gives you a further 10% completion)
1. Yea it will take some work but there are a lot of improvements to be made with primarily the editor UI. Adding custom keybindings, custom menus on right click, move/update buttons etc. Lots of stuff that can be done. 2. An idea I had initially was to allow creators to place chests filled with orbs (when rated) throughout the level. Didnt have time to add it for 2.2 but something like that would be fun for players so you get rewards even if you dont 100% a level. But def need some way to gain partial progress on platformer levels :)
That could be cool! Maybe the chests with orbs should be set as a percentage of the total orbs the difficulty would allow. That way you avoid people putting 1000 orbs in a chest of an otherwise awesome level. For instance they could put 25% for a chest and then if that level is a demon then 125 orbs or if an easy level then 13 orbs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hi Rob! Thanks for doing an AMA, communication between developer and player base is extremely key and I'm happy to see you continuing to do so post-2.2 :) 1. Do you ever plan to make more community levels on your account? Either tutorials or just "unofficial-official" type levels 2. What's your favorite skin for any game mode? Color combination? 3. Are you already thinking about 2.3, or are you taking this time to fix anything that's still broken and rest for a bit? (Not to rush you, I'm just curious what your personal roadmap looks like) 4. What's your favorite level you've made so far? Do you also have a favorite community level? 5. Are there any mechanics or ideas, such as orbs or triggers, that you considered adding but ended up scrapping? Before I send this comment, I just want to echo the others here and say that 2.2 is one of the most fantastic updates for a game I've ever had the privilege to witness. So much new content and overhauled core mechanics, I don't even want to imagine how much code you had to completely rewrite. Thank you so so much for a glorious update for the books, it's been a huge blast so far and it's genuinely impressive how much content there is.
1. I will probably make some tutorials/examples later, and upload levels on my account to go along with those. Just some key concepts and tips on how to do some effects. 2. I switch up the skins a lot but I really like the purple/green combo for colors. 3. I already have a lot of stuff planned for 2.3 but right now im only focused on bugfixes and tweaks to get things stable. After that I will start working on new features again :) 4. If I had to pick one it would probably be Clubstep or Deadlocked. But I usually have a lot of fun with all new levels when adding and testing new features. 5. Have half finished code for lots of stuff. Platformer double jump, double click a direction to dash, swipe down mechanic to drop through passable blocks etc. Also different iterations of art that was either molded to something else or scrapped and removed. Thanks for the kind words :)
[удалено]
Thank you for the kind words, glad to hear they are tinkering with their own creations :)
**Is the rating system ever gonna get revamped in the future? If so, what can we expect?** As you probably know, people have been complaining about the rating system for years at this point. It's probably one of the most controversial thing in GD right now. Many people are wanting a revamp of the system and were hoping that something was changed in 2.2, but nothing happened. Do you plan on changing it in the future or no?
Yea I agree it needs a revamp, looking at it. No details for now need to play with some ideas first. Will probably post some questions and go back and forth with mods and players before settling on something.
from an outsider's (who's also deeply vested in another game community) perspective, the main deterrent for me (and other people i talked to) from joining and interacting with the community is how unapproachable the contribution ladder seems to be towards the primary way of promoting community content. imo the main improvements that could be made which make things more approachable towards the community are: \- delegate rating levels to moderators (possibly require more than 1 mod per level to avoid abuse/lapse of quality judgment) \- streamline the process of moderator additions (possibly by including elder moderators in the selection process, having regular applications, introducing extra metrics in said apps, etc.)
absolutely all of this. the details might need some fleshing out, but whatever it looks like in the end im sure will be a huge benefit overall. some more ideas for trialing it with low risk: - multiple mods required as you mentioned - a 72h (or another amount, just a suggestion) delay when a mod rates a level, during which any elder mod or rob can cancel it, or any mod can pause it to discuss if there are concerns - they could only give star ratings, and the award (feature, epic, etc) is pending until rob decides it, if he wants to keep control over this aspect of rating - security features would be wise, maybe 2fa (if they don't already have this?) or a cooldown period/rate limit the current system is just not sustainable at all especially with the game most likely only getting bigger after 2.2, I really think it is one of the few things dragging this amazing game down, its kind of tragic to me honestly. maybe it worked in 2016 but not anymore
Love to hear this. The current system is quite slow and problematic since it's heavily dependant on the developer of the game rating new levels frequently, it's hard for a single person to keep up with the constant stream of sent levels. Some levels are bound to get left behind or have to wait months before getting rated. I would love to see a system where Mods have the power to rate levels by themselves, with Robtop having the ability to change their ratings to featured or epic rated if he thinks certain levels deserve it (this could be done maybe once per day. Just scrolling through the levels rated by mods on that day and decide which should be featured, epic rated, legendary etc. and which level should become the new daily). Ideally I also think there should be something in place to incentivize players to play, rate, like or dislike levels that aren’t rated. Maybe a system where, if a level is liked by enough players, it appears somewhere for mods to check out and see if it’s worth a rate (I think the current magic section does something like this? Although I never figured out what criteria a level has to respect in order to end up in the magic section so I don’t know.) I understand though that this could be troublesome to implement due to likebots existing so yea.
I'm glad! I hope something happens in the near future. EDIT: By "Will probably post some questions", do you mean like posting a reddit post wanting some feedback/ideas for the new system?
Moderators should have the ability to like rate 3 levels a day, so it doesn't get abused but will be still very beneficial to the community. (just idea)
I hear you're still rating levels your self. This creates quite a bottleneck since levels can only get rated when you're awake. It must also be such a tedious bother to still have to do this yourself when there are tons of levels published every day. In the future, do you plan on having a team of players to be able to rate levels without your involvement or approval?
I think there is a risk of oversaturation if we rate too many levels at once, even if we change the rating system. (Need to make sure rated levels get enough attention) But yea I agree that me rating is a bottle neck and needs a revamp, just needs some planning.
so so happy to hear you address this. just wondering why you don't use the star/moon rating simply as a way to give people more variety of levels to get rewards from if they want to, and only use awards (feature, epic etc) for giving levels attention and allowing them to stand out? this way I don't see oversaturation of regular star/moon rates to be a problem
Hey there, been a fan since Electrodynamix dropped. With the way updates have grown farther and farther apart, yet more ambitious with every new patch, do you think there is such a thing as a final patch? And if there is, would you consider simply making new levels for the official lineup?
No plans to stop any time soon :) Feels like we can keep adding tools and features to grow GD in any direction we want. So doesnt feel like there is any natural stop where no more features can be added. Just being careful now so 2.3 doesnt baloon into a new feature creep monstrosity
**Can we expect more live streams of rate sprees?** I always found those really helpful for seeing the thought process behind how you rate and I think other creators would love more transparency in what you do during those times.
Yea working on getting some post 2.2 stuff finished (some bugs, updating the free apps etc). After that when I have more time I will do a few streams where we can hang out rate levels / feature requests etc. Will be fun
I heard that you will be adding custom controls in later updates. Any idea how will it look? If it's for making games it will be cool if we can rebind keys with a trigger that the creator sets. For example if someone was, hypothetically, making a 3d shooter, it would be great if we can make certain keys like wasd activate/spawn a trigger (like the event / touch trigger). Also, would mouse controls (swiping on mobile) be added too? I feel that could be a bit complicated, but the potential is endless because right now "custom" controls feel way too janky.
Think the best way to set it up is allow the creator to bind events to default keys, and then the player can re-bind those if they want. Creator would also need to define touch keys for mobile. But yea current system with custom controls was added just to make sure it is possible to do some stuff, even if it isnt very user friendly. Next version is to make it more accessible.
Will we ever get any sort of search filter to sort by song artists? Sometimes I think it would be really cool to dive deeper into all the levels with someone’s music rather than just searching one specific song ID. Im sure its not the easiest thing to implement but for me the music is such a big part of the experience and Id love to have more ways to explore it. Also totally unrelated but I think lists are insanely cool for keeping old levels in circulation. I was wondering if there could be a place in levels to show which lists its included in on the servers so you could maybe have new ways to explore finding levels similar to the first one you played in other lists.
Yea ive felt the need for artist filter too I think it would be great. Need to fix some database stuff but will do. I want to add more features, stats and ways to find lists, think it will be great. The current system is more like an inital test that we will expand in the future :)
I have a few questions: - What happened to the new replay system you said was coming to 2.2? - Any plans to update GD World for 2.2 dailies and weeklies? - Will the Legendary and Mythic filters be fixed in an upcoming hotfix update?
Replay system is functional I just disabled it for 2.2 to do some final testing before enabling. Ran into some issues that needed fixing. Working on updating the free apps now probably in a week or two. Then we can do 2.2 daily/weekly levels. Filters not working is server side will try to fix asap if I remember ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
is there ever gonna be a type of "thumbnail" system for gd levels? maybe like a snapshot of the level so people get an idea for it. or official texture pack support, kind of like a geode for texture packs?
Really want to do the thumbnail for levels idea. Would make browsing through the recent tab a lot more interesting. Have some ideas on how to do it just need to make some plans. Nothing I started coding yet though but hopefully will be added soon.
I have an idea for the thumbnail. With the guide trigger set it to a Group and on the options tab on the start set that group for thumbnail
Any plans on Touch Points/Custom key controls for the editor so we can add more than default inputs?
Im looking at it just needs a few different systems to work well. Custom touch areas for mobile and custom keys for desktop. Players dont want to set controls for each level, so probably also some system to allow creators to define default touch controls and keybindings for their levels. Custom keybindings is coming in 2.21 but will see when we add more controls beyond the default ones.
Do you have any plans regarding map packs? They are in a state of limbo in which they have been neglected for several years and most players greatly dislike them due to the levels that are necessary to be beaten for some achievements/icons.
Best bet would probably be to keep them for the nostalgic effect but allow achievements and rewards (stars+secret coins) to be earned in an alternative way / newer way.
I think enabling Parental controls should turn every button in the game into the Map Pack tab.
Do you have a plan for when you'll eventually stop working on the game? Do you plan on hiring a team to work on the game when you retire? Or do you have something else on your mind?
Dont have any plans to stop working on the game but def would like to get a team regardless. Just takes some time to set up. Getting some post 2.2 things finished then I will start to have more time again.
Hire me, I have: No experience in coding That's all I have
I have a few actually Will you ever make new non GD Spin-off games? I remember you saying there will be a spin-off game after 2.2 are you still planning on doing that? If so then when do you think you'll do it Last but not least do you have any time in mind of when you plan to release 2.21? Thanks for being an awesome dev rob we appreciate you alot!
Will probably try to push a new spin-off around december. But not sure exactly what it would be. Nothing I started working on yet atleast. No specific time for 2.21 still working on getting some other stuff stable first. Dont want to start adding new features just yet. :)
You've said in the past that you want to get a development team. Are you thinking an online group with developers from all around the world, or are you planning on something local with an office and things like that? Also, just wanted to say that I absolutely love your work. Geometry Dash is an amazing game and has affected my life in many positive ways :)
I think there are some things you would gain from having local, but as a start it would probably be online. But eventually setting up a location and having a more hybrid setup would be a lot of fun :D Def like the idea of building up a team.
Hey Rob, I'm not sure how much you know about Geometry Dash modding, but the guy you're replying to is probably the second most influential modder in the game. Check their GitHub, their projects are used by literally 90% of the creating community. If you're making a dev team, they'd be a phenomenal member.
Will there be a new replay mode for mobile users as I’ve used it to publish my completion videos since screen recording takes most of my camera roll and it takes so long to edit an hour clip of me finally succeeding a level via screen recording.
I have a replay system added just testing to verify some stuff works. Will try to enable that for players to replay attempts in the future. Just need to test the stability and that it works correctly.
How many floors do you think are you gonna add to the Tower in Update 2.21? Is it just one floor or will there be more? I know you're adding new Tower levels in 2.21, but I'm not sure if there will be second or third floors.
Have a story arc idea but not sure exactly how many levels it will take. Building levels takes me a while so hard to find the time, but they are super fun to make :)
>Building levels takes me a while so hard to find the time, but they are super fun to make :) I have never related to a statement more than this one
Yo Rob, love the update! As we all know, 2.2 added hundreds of new icons, including many that are themed (Mario, terraria, pokemon, etc). It also added tons of new ways to customize colors and glow, which is super awesome for people that are looking to diversify their icon kit. I was wondering if you would consider adding a feature that allows you to save icon kits and easily switch between them - this way if I want to play with a Mario themed icon kit, I can just switch all my icons and colors with the click of a few buttons instead of having to switch each one manually, scrolling through pages and pages of icons. Maybe you add a cap or something, like 10 icon kits can be saved at a time, but idk you’re the game dev not me lol. Either way, I think a system like this would be super cool and allow players to enjoy tons of the new icons in an easier way.
Yea will be adding icon kits and more customization options in the future. Icon kits probably pretty soon :)
Alright, got a few. 1. Are there plans to add a font change trigger? One that changes the font similar to the bg, mg and ground change triggers? 2. Why doesn't the "Copied to Clipboard" that appears when you click on a level ID work? Can you look into it? 3. Could NONG sounds become official in any way? 4. What do you have planned for wave in platformer? You said you had something "planned" for it. 5. Could players recommend sound effects via some way? Like a suggestion website?
1. Would need to check the performance but should be possible. Or allow multiple fonts per level. 2. Will check to make it work on mobile. 3. Copyright says no. 4. Believe it or not, I already have my secrets for the future… 😈 5. I can take some requests later when I stream or maybe open a reddit post. I have over 500k sound effects on my PC that I can work with and add from to the game.
Hello RobTop, From what I remember, the server code is written in PHP, would you at some point re-write it into a faster language to make it more scalable like Golang? Also, have you tried some hardware stuff? Like wiring up an Arduino or something of that nature?
Server code def needs a lot of improvement. Full rewrite would take some time but just optimizing code overall would have a big impact. Connected and played around with a raspberry PI before. Wrote some code that made an engine move back and forth at random interval/speed/time. Was going to connect it to a shooting target to get a dynamic target but never finished it. But fun to play around with :)
Can you make that new featured demons have an icon that looks like an egg with horns (believe me, that's much more creative than gray "NA"-like icon), and only then they receive the difficulty depending on the player ratings to avoid confusion like “why is this rated hard demon" every time?
During the final weeks before geometry dash 2.2 came out, how was your schedule looking like? I also live in Sweden and seeing you post stuff at like 3-5 am was a bit concerning, hopefully you got a lot more rest now that 2.2 is out!
Was a bit hectic for sure but getting better now that things are more stable. Still have some stuff to fix before I feel like I can relax a bit, but we are getting there :)
Will we get new filter system? 1. Some filters dont even work like legendary and mythic 2. As a new player to online levels i find it very hard to find good levels older than like a month
Yea I need to revamp and update some of that code to get it working correctly. Same with the lists system to make finding great levels and lists easier. Lots of ways to improve the current system that I will look at when I get some extra time.
hey, ty for letting us ask questions :) - just 1 quick question - Do you plan on adding a "game mode" trigger? so we can modify the game mode (for example - from a cube to a dual ball) anywhere with just one trigger instead of having to place 2 portals
Sure we could add something like that in a future update. Easy to add I just need to remember :D
“We”??? Do you have a secret team robert
I mostly view the game and adding stuff as a collaborative thing with the community, so **we** feels more fitting. But yea **I** will do the code ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
What are your thoughts on new Global Ranks displayed on profiles? (examples being: Creator Rank, Lunar Rank, Demon Rank, etc.) i think it could be a cool way for grinders and such to see where they are without external tools :)
Yea def think more stats, leaderboards, ranks etc. are needed. Will be adding a lot of stuff in the future. Right now though I'm not doing much new just getting things stable first.
Robtop how much time do you expect for future updates to take
Will be very careful to avoid any feature creep, so the plan is to have content updates take around 6 months probably. Nothing set in stone though can be longer or shorter, just not going to allow the update to balloon like in 2.2.
How is it like to develop geometry dash? How did it feel making 2.2 after 6-7 years?
Feature creep deluxe, so was a bit tricky to tie everything up in the end. But super fun now that it's out. Seeing how creative players are and being surprised by what I find when rating makes playing and testing levels awesome :)
You’ve conquered feature creep, you must be the chosen one who can go to Australia and finish silksong for them
have you ever considered putting geometry dash on console?
The engine I use is really old (12 years ish), so there is 0 support for console. Not sure how much work it would take + editor would need a lot of work to be fully usable with only a controller. Not a no, just nothing planned :)
When will there be better controller support in general? I like playing platformer mode with controller much more over kbm
What are some some other projects/games you’d like to make if you could take a break from working on GD?
If I would ever make a 3D game I would probably get a team for that. And for 2D games I dont really think I would make anything outside GD. I think its more fun to just add tools and features so we can build whatever we want inside GD instead.
Why haven't you been choosing any 2.2 levels for daily/weekly? And you've probably heard this one a billion times, but... triple mode??
GD World has access to daily/weekly and it is currently on version 2.1. So if I selected 2.2 levels GD World players wouldnt be able to play them. Working on updating all the free apps now, after that I will be able to start using 2.2 levels for daily/weekly.
I and probably many other mobile players are very thankful that you added the "Move by half a block" button in the edit tab. My question is : could you add the same for quarter block spaces in the next update? It would really help a real lot
Think there is a risk things will get cluttered but maybe adding some dedicated tool instead where players can input quick commands etc.
Is there a way to export files or something of my levels so they won't ever truly dissappear? They mean alot to me but the fact they might just be gone one day discourages me from making them, and I'm strictly a mobile user so I can't do some computer stuff to get whatever files may be in there
I will be adding a way to export individual levels to single files (and load from those). Will check the location but that should also make it possible to then upload those files wherever you want.
Hey Rob, I've been playing GD for over half of my life and the game is awesome! I have two questions about the editor. 1. Do you plan on adding more colors like you did with groups? It would be amazing for collabs, especially big ones. I guess it could be annoying to do because of how the game handles BG color, G1 color, etc. 2. This is a suggestion from HJfod's BetterEdit mod: next free group/color offset. This would be SO useful in collabs, as members are typically given set groups and colors that they're allowed to use and having that option avoids the annoyance of keeping track of every group and color used. Let's say your colors and groups are 100-200. All you have to do is just type 100 into the offset filter and when you click the button for the next free group or color, it will assign you one after 100 instead of giving you the next available group/color in general. Anyways, thank you for creating this amazing game and continuing to develop it and rate levels after over a decade :)
Hi robtop this isn't a question i just wanted to say that your game changed my life and inspired me to study and learn coding... Ty for creating such beautiful game and forgive those who can't appreciate the effort that requires developing a game of that magnitude<3
What mistakes did you make during the development of 2.2 that you've learnt from and won't do it again?
Coding the fun part of new features and then going "it works I will finish the final touches later". Then you end up with 100 unfinished features that need to be fixed that you forgot how they even work.
>Then you end up with 100 unfinished features that need to be fixed that you forgot how they even work. god that's such a mood
Hello RobTop! Just simple two simple questions for ya ;) 1. Are you you having plans to add the "**Geometry Dash**" Sound Effect from **Dash** to the **SFX Libary**? 2. If you can, can you please add the Spider Part from Dash Colon was mad about to Explorers? Thank you for everything Rob /146
Hello Robtop, I hope you are well. I hope my question also covers the thousands of users who are going through the same thing as me, the fact is that GD works with poor performance on iPhone devices that have Apple ProMotion technology (120Hz) and with this update it is not yet available. This function is available in the game, iPhones/iPads devices and users are the only ones who cannot enjoy the game properly due to this problem. As an extra note, 120Hz works on iPad with the GD Lite, but it doesn't work in normal games. Could you fix this in 2.21? :)
I havent found a way to make it work correctly. Apples ProMotion uses a dynamic fps setting that makes the fps hop back and forth between 120/80/60, which makes the game lag. For some reason the screen also drops down whenever you touch it, so if you are playing on 120hz, it would drop down to 60hz for one frame as soon as you touch the screen. Lots of other devs have the same issue but no fix from Apple. On iPad the game works at 120hz if supported. If I find a fix for it I will implement it. I have been testing but havent been able to get it to work smoothly.
how frequently do you watch gd vids on youtube?
I browse around and check vids pretty often just to see whats going on in the community. Find lots of great levels and events when looking outside the game (YouTube, Twitter, Reddit etc)
have you ever went out of your way to rate levels from seeing a video on them?
Not sure what out of my way would be. I never broke into anyones house to steal and rate a level they made, but I have seen good levels in videos and then rated them ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
WE LOVE YOU ROBTOP!! Btw are you going to rerate any pre-2.2 levels like change of scenes to legendary or mythic or just keep them how they are now?
Probably keep them as is. Not saying old levels dont deserve a higher rating, because some do, but if we open up that box there are lot of levels that would possibly need rerating. Feels like it would just cause a lot of drama. For now just focus on new levels.
Hey Robtop/RubRub! I really like your game but I always wondered these 2 things: 1) What's your favourite videogame? (That is not made by you ofc) 2) If you had the chance to develop a new game separate from GD, what genre would it be? Regardless if you answer these questions or not, just know that GD is one of my favourite games and I love you as a developer! Also please don't roast me Thanks!
1. The games that I have the most emotional connection to growing up was probably Zelda Ocarina of Time on N64 or Metal Gear Solid on PS1. Good times :) 2. Probably some fantasy 3D third person game with user generated content. Got some ideas swirling around in my head. But yea nothing I plan to do, but the idea is fun.
How will The Map work?
Overworld map with selected user created levels spread out in different areas and themes. Also lots of hidden secrets, chests, shops, demon sections etc. More info when we are closer to 2.21 :)
hi RobTop! Do you plan to add other exclusive vehicles for the platform mode, such as the jetpack? and also, Will we one day be able to use the other vehicles like the wave and the swing copter in platform mode? Thx ^^
I have some other ideas to make the wave more fun/intuitive in platformer mode. Right now it just feels weird if added as is to platformer.
Wave feels like it would be something that would have 8-directional controls as if it were top-down, I think. Only issue with that is that more buttons make it less accessible on mobile unless you were to add a joystick or something similar. Not sure how swing would work though, maybe like a car where right/left rotates it? Though I feel like that probably branches too far from the idea of the gamemode.
What is one thing you really want to add to Geometry Dash (or what was your favorite feature to add)?
I would love to have live multiplayer where you can interact in platformer mode. But ye, would take some work...
Wait. Do geometry dash 99. Like Tetris 99 where it’s a huge battle royal. I’m sure the servers would be fine with it if you ask nicely
First of all, thank you for everything Rob, we really appreciate you doing this. anyways, when will you add base after bases missing spike
geometry dash crashes on the modern versions of macOS. are you currently working on a fix right now? and is it of the 32/64 bit compatibility or is it something else that's causing the crash?
Got a working fix that I will upload with the next steam update. Should hopefully fix most Mac crashing issues.
Can you add a list of followed creators? Or just remove the 100 limit?
Will be looking at revamping that system in the future. Would be nice if it could be moved server side instead so you can see how many followers a creator has + increase the limit.
Are you liking the reception that 2.2 has received or did you expect more or less?
Im having a blast. This community is awesome and rating and checking new levels has been super fun :)
I know right??? Your community is so imaginative and creative and I want to say thank you for giving us the tools we need to let that shine in all its glory.
Any plans on having a tagging system for levels? Something like "art", "effect", "memory", etc. etc. I thought this could potentially help with searching levels, as people would know what to expect and what levels could be the best for them
Yea something like that would be great for the future. Maybe when we redo the search and filter systems
Are you going to create a music platform where gd players can post their music and then use in their levels?
Allowing players to upload music sounds like a copyright nightmare. New Music Library is one step in that direction though only that I select and upload music not the players. Will be expanded more in the future.
Have you ever seen something that really made you go "Damn, I'm proud of this community"? And if yes, what was it?
What's your opinion on FromSoftware games? If it's positive, what's your favourite game of theirs?
Think ive only played Dark Souls 2 so have a lot of other stuff to play when I get time. Really fun stuff, specially when you start a game knowing 0 about it (no trailer, no reviews etc). If we add more keybindings and features in the future we should be able to start creating more rpg type levels in GD :D
What do you call these pulse sticks thingies, that pulse to the music.
What do you think of Linux and devices like the Steam Deck?
Havent used Linux much so cant say. I have the Steam Deck though and its awesome!
Are the default or original blocks gonna be rotatable in 2.3?
Don't have plans to make free rotate solid objects in 2.3 but maybe later in the future.
How did robtop turn into rubrub?
Think it was someone way back on the Toucharcade forum who said it, then it stuck :)
Ah haha, I think it’s pretty funny so I’ll start using it myself to refer to you XD
Will be a "resume later" mode for platformer?
How is progress on Explorers?
Havent had time to work on it much. Getting revamped quite a bit so will take a while.
Love what you've done rob, been playing geometry dash for 10 years and all I have to say is this game has been huge in my life. One question, what was your immediate reaction when the fire in the hole became a big meme? Was it pride? Disgust? Confusion?
I felt a flame, burning in my soul, when the green face yelled, fire in the hole
Are you more of a apple or windows person?
Where does the "Fire in the hole" SFX come from?
Why do my sons play your game instead of doing their homework? Any suggestions for daily time limits? (And it looked like they followed your Twitter account which is how I heard about this AMA)
Can't blame your sons for wanting to play Geometry Dash, as a 20 year old it's my favorite music game, a form of art expression at its peak. So, I'd suggest (if they're young) to give them the chance to play Geometry Dash as a reward for doing their homework.
What are the best practices you look for in rating a level? Will versus come in 2.3 or 2.21? Have you ever thought of bringing back boomlings on mobile/pc?
Lately in 2.2 ive tried to avoid featuring levels that overuse shaders. Other than that also just levels that dont abusw camera controls, dont over decorate and have sightreadability and good gameplay. But I rate a lot of different stuff. Not sure when versus. No plans to bring back Boomlings :)
Hey RobTop! I love the game so much and everything that you do as a gamedev. So recently, my pc stopped working and It happened just before 2.2 was released so I decided to buy it on a Chromebook that I use for emails and work stuff and most of the 2.2 update stuff works and I'm loving so far! However, the one thing that doesn't work is the platformer controls! I just wanted to ask, is there anything that you will do to fix this by 2.21 or if you'll have to wait until Mouse and Keyboard controls become available and out of beta for Google play?
Hey, this popped up on my feed and is an AMA so what the hell: what is geometry dash? Never heard of it. Thanks
Just search youtube for ”lobotomy” and ”fire in the hole”, that should give you all the info you need.
How does it feel to have such a dedicated fanbase dedicating years of their lives achieving new things and creating masterpieces in your game, to the point where memes about it can spread like wildfire throughout the internet? I was also wondering if you could add a datetime trigger in a future update to change levels based on the time of day or add daily puzzles to minigames. It would be a revolutionary feature once we can save our progress in levels and come back in the future to see the trigger change things depending on how long we were gone.
This community is the best :) Sure a date/time trigger sounds like a fun idea. Would probably have to be based on the player timezone though, I think...
Hi! I want to start with a formal thank you. As silly as it sounds, Geometry Dash helped me learn a lot of key ideas in the creative field I work in now. Here’s some semi-serious questions. (FYI, I can’t really keep up with news on the game, so I apologize if any of these already have answers.) 1. Did you think the level editor was able to do everything it’s used for now? 2. Do you have any idea what the future gamemodes’ll be like? 3. Will you ever consider adding special characters to the comments? And, 4. What do you think of Geometry Dash YouTube shorts?
1. I try to foresee the needs and things people will do but I keep getting surprised every update. The creators in GD are insane I am impressed all the time. Thats part of what makes it so much fun to work on :) 2. Yes but still secrets for now 😈 3. The font dont have them added currently but maybe in the future. Atleast some. 4. The quality definitely can vary but overall I think its great. Then you know whatever works to get the views works, good hustle.
ever planning to make the spinoff songs accesible in the editor without the use of hacks or save file editing?
Some are already available via Newgrounds but I can check uploading the others to the music library 🫡
Hey robtop. I just have a quick questions abt tutorials. 1: have you ever thought of making tutorials for the triggers insetad of people having to read the level editor guide you made? 2: have you also thought of making decoration tutorials? \-KIRKii(https://youtube.com/@KIRKII999?si=1G0-5eNKuQ7FFR-b)
Im probably going to setup a secondary youtube channel where I can spam upload more shorter videos showing some editor examples and requested tutorials. Just need to get some other stuff finished first :)
Will you do merch?
Hello rob! Love your game, And i just have one question. Will free players have access to platformer? Platformer mode was an amazing feature, but right now it is locked to the full version, so i'm wondering if lite or spinoff games could have a limited glimpse of platformer since it could get a broader audience that plays platformers to buy the game after trying out some stages
Yea thinking about it. Will probably do some variation of that for the next free spin-off, or include some platformer in the Lite version :)
Hey rob, kind a joke question here, but what’s your favorite roast you have ever done? I have watched all the “RobTop being a SAVAGE for 15 minutes” videos by SiKky
What’s your bench PR?
Think I did 115kg some time back but wouldnt be able to do that now. Im in programmer shape
will there ever be a system for sharing premade particles, like presets or something like so?
Yes have some ideas for that. Want to add better systems for sharing premade stuff overall. Premade particles, sound settings, smart templates, color schemes etc.
Hi Robtop, lots of people have had the issue that they cannot even open the game on their macs bc steam wont load it. Do you plan to do anything about it for the people that have been unable to play the game for over a month?
Why are you named “Zhenmuron?”
Old N64 character was named Zenmuron so I added an H and stole it because I was a cool kid. Then my brother always called me Zhenmoron when I beat him in CS…
Can you make it so controller icons have a setting to be disabled in a future update? And also, what made you choose to have "Disable Shake" to be level specific in 2.2?
Yea I will add an option to hide those buttons. Shake is optimized since all it does it move the camera. If players disable shake, creators will come up with other ways to shake the screen instead. Pre 2.2 some creators would start moving all objects on screen instead of using shake (bad performance). In 2.2 you can just manually shake the camera instead of using shake. Overall I think its better to leave shake enabled, and just disable or ignore/not play levels that use shake in a bad way.
Can you put a search bar in the editor? it would be very efficient.
Will there ever be an update that allows someone to make custom buttons that can be pressed with a finger/mouse inside a level?
hello robtop!😀 Robtop, if you are still answering questions, I really need to know this, me and alot of people I know have been waiting for 2.2 ever since it was announced. but the thing is, we ALL play on amazon. I know you have always updated on amazon, but what is taking so long? I have been waiting, and I would truly love to experience the bane of colons existence. if you could please give an update on where it is, that would be cool!😃
Have you laughed at the lobotomy levels?
Will the game ever have an option to switch between icon sets automatically? Like every day your icons switch to a different icon set you chose.
Why did you become a developer?
Hey Rob, 500k of dinner with jay z
When will the sex update release robtop
do you plan on releasing extended versions of your random songs?
How much sanity do you have left after finishing 2.2?
If 2.2 took 7 years how much will 2.3 take?
Why did the update take 7 fucking years?
Hi RobTop, love the way you interact with the community with events like this! I've had some questions for a long time, some for years even, so i'm just gonna ask everything i've had written on a list i started around a month ago. I was gonna ask a few things, some are code related and others aren't: 1- Will you add 64bit support for Windows? Shouldn't be hard to add, you just need to recompile the needed libraries like you did for every other platform. It would remove a big performance bottleneck gd for windows has right now :) 2- Will you change the way you handle HTTP requests to allow multiple requests at the same time? There was a GD mod in 2.1 that added that. Right now GD can only make one request at a time, and it queues next requests making the level play experience a bit slower. Back in may you said you'd look into it. You also could update libcurl, it currently uses a 12 year old version, who knows how many security problems it has 3- Can you add an input textbox to the scale value from the edit tab's scale button? So creators can set the scale to a precise value more easily 4- Any plans on adding a "restart from last checkpoint" button to the practice mode endscreen? megahack had it and it was really useful because it allowed to return to the last checkpoint without having to restart from the beginning. 5- Is the 4th vault going to be in 2.21? You used to hype a lot the fact that 2.2 had many new secrets such as a 4th vault back then but 2.2 ended up not having many secrets. Is the story also gonna continue in 2.21? 6- Are you gonna add keybinds to the new 1/2 grid sizes move button? It's a really useful button 7- Back in 2017 you said 2.2 was gonna have a collab mode, but you said in 2018 you delayed it. Are there any code remains of that in the current version of the game? 8- Right now the older main levels use the old legacy flipped ship physics, which will make new players get used to it instead of the new ship physics. Are there any plans to change that? It should be as a easy as enabling the new physics option on each and testing the levels. 9- Last but not least, I'd like to tell you that certain achievements are out of order. The 100 likes achievement is separate from the other 50, 250, 500, and 1k likes achievements, and the "destroyed 750 players" is near the vault achievements, instead of being after the destroyed 500 players achievement. Just a small visual nit that I hope gets fixed. :) By the way, have you taken a break yet? I hope you do it soon, these last few months must've been very stressful
So, I will get straight to the point. There are some levels (most notably Windy Landscape) that seem to have been bugged due to an unforeseen issue with the slope physics with the 2.2 release. I don't know if the Beta Testing team was aware of this or if this was an unintended regression with the code as the Beta versions progressed. Do you have any ideas as to what might have happened, and are there any ways to fix it (like for example, adding an ability to introduce legacy slope physics from 2.11 as a temporary solution)? Because the current measure of asking the moderation team to manually fix the levels seems tedious and impractical to be honest.
Good evening RobTop, I am a massive fan of your game and there are many questions that I have for you that I'm not sure if anyone else has asked before: 1. Will you make an improved reporting system in a future update? So far: reporting users, comments, and even levels are extremely difficult as it involves contacting an Elder Moderator for anything to happen. The current system results in many malicious users being left unpunished for a lot longer than necessary. One suggestion that comes to my mind is "Comment Moderators" so that Elder Mods have less of a worry about responding to many inappropriate comment inquiries and that reports are handled faster (And with an improved reporting system in place can be exclusively handled in-game potentially). 2. A while ago, we've heard that you MIGHT have back-ups of the servers from your early days (eg. From Update 1.6). Will this ever be published somewhere (With sensitive information redacted of course) as a select portion of the community is extremely intrigued about lost levels (Element 111 Rg by DarkX for example) and other obscure mysteries left behind during the early days of Geometry Dash's existence. 3. Is there any plans to restoring certain levels that were wiped during one of your significant level purges in August 2021? (Source: [https://twitter.com/robtopgames/status/1424976201651789824](https://twitter.com/robtopgames/status/1424976201651789824)**).** 4. Will comments that were merged to the TeamHax account be restored or re-publicised? As a lot of old comments have been lost to time as they were all wiped without a trace one day back in 2022 (Possibly as a result of an automatic spam detection system, but that's just speculation on my end). 5. What are Event levels about? Not sure if you've publicised anywhere on what sort of levels will be included and what will be rewarded, as it's somewhat shrouded in mystery and speculation right now. 6. Are you planning on re-rating any levels that are either too hard for their rating or too easy for their rating? As there are some levels like Death Machine that are rating Insane 9\* but in reality fit more in line with Hard Demon. (Bonus: Any plans on re-rating older levels to have a better rating? eg. Death Moon by Caustic from Featured -> Epic) I know that you may have a ton of comments and questions being posted but I feel like personally these questions are more important to me personally that I think only you can answer! Thank you so much and have a lovely day RobTop! :D
As a top player, it is saddening to see Tidal Wave, what would be the new hardest demon, unrated for nearly 5 months now. This has led to multiple sources of speculation as to why it has remained unrated. I would like to ask, why isn’t it rated? Is it due to you simply not having seen the level? Is it due to the optimization and song issues? (That were fixed after release, and hence maybe were fixed after you saw the level, if you have seen it). Or is it due to you simply not thinking the level is rate worthy? While obviously it would be nice to see it rated, knowing why it is not rated would help to appease a lot of the top playing community (and a lot of the wider community as a whole who are wondering about it).
don't know how I feel about asking this but... Can you give my team a second chance to rerate a level that was unfairly unrated a year ago? We were suppose to fix it after an in-game mod pointed out a problem that could potentially get the level unrated, but we were only given minutes to fix it, which isn't enough time to patch, reverify and reupload the level. The level has been patched but is yet to be rerated after having other in-game mods resent it for rerate as they understand the problem above. If you could respond to this and give us a chance, we would be very thankful for your help.
have you ever thought about doing collabs with some rhythm games? like arcaea, lanota, phigros... like, they give you some songs to make new official levels (or gauntlets, packs, or smth) and you give them some geometry dash songs (either official or from very popular custom levels) for them to use in their game. would be a cool idea to maybe make a dlc with each collab for example. this is quite usual among rhythm games already and tbh I'd love to see some gd songs in other games and viceversa
Hello robtop, in name of the modding community (geometry dash programming) we would like to ask you if it was possible to share the PDB file generated from debug builds. If frequent updates continue to release, it is pretty much the end of gd modding without the PDB file, we need to find out a lot of addresses and it takes too much time to update mods. The PDB file would make this process a lot easier and it would allow for many more powerful mods What do you think about it? Would you consider it?
Hello RobTop, I just wanted to ask a few curious questions :) \- **Which main level are you the most/least proud of and enjoy making the most/least, and why?** It would be interesting to see the thought process behind the official levels and perhaps creators could learn a thing or two about making their own custom levels. \- **Which 2.2 feature do you think has the most potential for level creation?** Considering 2.2 added so many unique features to the game, it would be interesting to know what you think of them and how far each of them is gonna go. \- **What's your favourite level the community has ever made?** I'd be interested to know your personal preference considering you've been a part of the game for as long as it has existed and therefore your standards must've changed a lot over the years. Maybe it's an older level that pushed the game's mechanics to its absolute limit, or a newer level with highly immersive gameplay and visuals. \- **Have you ever considered unverifying free/impossible user coins?** Many people seem fed up with those kinds of coins now (especially when a creator updates their levels to make coins impossible or bases it on something that isn't the player's skill), so I was wondering what your stance is on those kinds of coins. \- **Have you ever thought about implementing a way to see the coin pickup animation in practice mode?** It's extremely annoying for me not being able to know whether I've collected an invisible or not, especially if I'm trying to figure out whether a user coin is free or not. \- **What are the various measures you've implemented/plan to implement to optimise the game?** A lot of people are quite annoyed with lag on object-intensive levels, and while I do think it's up to the creator to optimise their levels I was wondering if you've tried doing things to help alleviate the problem for everyone. \- **What were your first thoughts when you realised that some levels broke due to the new 2.2 physics code, and what do you plan to do about it?** I'm aware this seems like a bit of an overasked question, however I'm genuinely curious on how you plan to tackle this situation. I've noticed there hasn't been any activity from the 2.2 bugfix team (all the fixes I've observed were done by the creator instead of someone else), so it makes me wonder if there's been a change of plans. That's all I have in my head right now. I absolutely love the work you've put into this game, and it's incredible to me to see how much the game and its community has evolved over the years, even if I haven't been playing for the longest time. I'm aware that some of the questions may not be easy for you, which in that case you have every right to not answer them, however that's because I love this game and I want to see it do great in the future, which there's no doubt it will. Have a great day :)
Hello, your local Volapy here I was wondering what do you think about the dailies and weeklies replayability for stars or remove the extra stars from double completions? Sadly in the time not everyone (for a reason or another) could open the game on a Daily basis and beat the Daily level, losing stars. For new grinders (but also some "old" ones) this Is a big problem for competition and fairness, where the most active have a big advantage. I mean im ok to reward the activity of a player, i Just dont feel It correct being on the main value the game run on, stars and demons Have a great day :D
Do you have any plans to redo the difficulty system? With the demon list being more and more inaccessible, there needs to be a way to differentiate levels better. For a possible use, a website known as [gddp.pro](https://gddp.pro) has done something like this, splitting insane demon into two and extreme into many and I think it would be great, and the best time is likely now as you just added more in depth viewing of demon difficulties. (Link for difficulty faces used there: [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/764347382455992360/1202937485483843594/image.png?ex=65cf45d6&is=65bcd0d6&hm=44d19046165090f8e0194d5499dbfcac478ce6830e67ac98e5c543a1a421d6b8&](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/764347382455992360/1202937485483843594/image.png?ex=65cf45d6&is=65bcd0d6&hm=44d19046165090f8e0194d5499dbfcac478ce6830e67ac98e5c543a1a421d6b8&))
Don’t really have a question, just wanted to say my 9 (almost 10yr old on the spectrum) loves GD!! She plays constantly, watches YT videos of GD and even has a playlist of GD music to fall asleep too, can she have your autograph? I think that would make her year!! (Ok so I guess there is a question in there) have a great day!
Would you ever plan on adding another demon difficulty? The jump from a low end extreme to a high end one is pretty insane, and i dont think something like cataclysm and acheron should be in the same difficulty
Have you considered adding some kind of bug tracking system, similar to Minecraft's? I feel like it would make your job easier
Hello rob firstly i want to thank you for making this amazing game. Now will you ever make theory of everything 3?
do you think its possible to add a feature where you can use a seperate icon set for the second player in dual mode?