Two months ago, I made a video reviewing Geometry Dash's newest level, Dash. I tried my best to look at everything from the lens of a game designer, as well as from the perspective of a player who might not be too familiar with the game. For forty minutes straight, I pointed out all the things I liked and criticized everything I didn't. The video did very well, and it got me thinking. Geometry Dash has changed a LOT in the past ten years, so how different of a level is Dash compared to something like the first level of the game? So in this video, I'm going to be breaking down the design of level 1 of Geometry Dash, Stereo Madness. Unlike Dash, I'll try my best to look at it from the eyes of someone who has never played or even SEEN Geometry Dash before. Imagine that you just randomly saw this game installed on your phone. How well does Stereo Madness actually teach you the game's mechanics? Is it too difficult? Are there some parts that could have been done better? Well, we're about to find out. So, when you boot up Geometry Dash for the first time, you're immediately presented with a lot of options. But, the very first thing you're probably going to click is the big play button in the center. Well, after agreeing to the game's terms I guess. From here, the game prompts you to choose a level. And seeing that you've made no progress so far, you're most likely going to start with level 1: Stereo Madness. One thing that's important to note is that Geometry Dash lacks any sort of tutorial. There's an old "how to play" screen tucked away in the settings menu, but let's be real, no one's clicking that. For the vast majority of the playerbase, this level right here is where they first got a feel for how to play Geometry Dash. Stereo Madness opens with a whole lot of nothing. The level starts completely empty, aside from the blue background, the attempt counter, and most notably, this triangle on the ground which stands out a LOT. Your icon slowly slides in from the left of the screen, and right off the bat something should be very clear. Blue background, square, triangle. It's just like the app icon! Whatever we're seeing right now, it is clearly what this game is all about. Alright, attempt 1, let's give it a shot. Oh, whoops, we never explained what this triangle actually does. You might have noticed it's giving off a subtle glow, which probably means it's important. Big surprise... it's probably a spike. But if it was a spike, wouldn't the sharp tip be the thing that hurts you? This part looks more like a slope you can slide up, so it's not immediately clear that this is a hazard. If this thing isn't ACTUALLY going to function as a spike, it might as well be just a red rectangle or something. But that's kind of stupid. Anyways, here goes attempt 2. Oh okay. You might have been aware that you need to avoid the spike, but how do you actually do that? Well, if you crash a second time the game will tell you! Just click the mouse, or press the spacebar, or simply tap anywhere if you're on mobile. The benefit of mobile is that the only thing you can do is tap the screen, but if you're playing on a computer... well, it could have been any of these buttons. So thankfully, the game steps in and makes this VERY clear. Except... There's a problem. This message is very helpful for inexperienced players, but why do you have to die twice to see it? You could argue that most players don't need this information and can figure out how to play on their own, but why implement this in a way that hinders everyone else? Losing in a game can really suck, and being forced to do so twice right off the bat can definitely be a little disheartening for new players. In general, you want to give beginners a punishment-free safe space to learn the mechanics of the game so that it's a less stressful experience. Alright, attempt 3, let's make sure to jump this time. Yeah, so funny story... there's no indication for where to actually jump. And because of this, you have no idea how high your jump is. Maybe you thought it could have been a big Mario leap or something? It's not like it tells you on the menu or anything, so really, you're left completely in the dark here. And I don't think that's very good game design. Fortunately, now you have all the info you need to pass the first object of the level. It's a little embarrassing that it took this long, but it's not my fault that the game's so inconsiderate. Anyways, your reward for clearing the first spike is... two more of them! That's right, now the length of the jump is DOUBLED. Seriously, what is going ON here? This is only the second obstacle of the level and it's already twice as hard! Single spikes are easy, but you have to be a LOT more precise for this one. And if you mess it up, back to the start you go. After that is two more spikes, but this time they're both full-sized. And now there's a square following it for some reason? And it has some kind of moving thing on top of it. Now, you're probably thinking "oh, maybe the square is a safe spot"! But like, look at the spikes! The only sharp part is the tip, and it kills you anyways. Squares have TWO sharp parts on top, so maybe they're twice as deadly! Nope, you can stand on them. Also, what are these weird pulsing things? Based on the fact that they're the only moving object, they're probably important. But it doesn't look like anything happens when you touch them. Maybe they're coins, but you have to pick them up with a different button? There's no way to tell, because it doesn't say. Spoiler alert, these rods do absolutely nothing. They're just kind of... there. But if they're useless, why put them there in the first place? It just adds unnecessary confusion! If you wanna decorate the level, then please, do it in an unobtrusive way. But filling level 1 with this stuff is just plain uncool. Similarly, you see these big spikes over here? They don't actually kill you! Only the dark ones at the bottom do. Chances are if you fall into that pit you're dead anyways, but why is the game lying to you about it? I just... don't understand. Decorations aside, this part introduces back to back jumping. All you have to do is click each time you land, and you might even accidentally stumble into the fact that you can hold down the button to keep jumping. This is relatively unusual for a platformer game, but in Geometry Dash I can definitely see it coming in handy. After that little staircase you get some time to rest, but then you're slammed with another double spike. This time taller than the last. This is easily the hardest obstacle you've encountered so far, so putting it after a break is quite the rude awakening. Hopefully your past few attempts helped you get a feel for the game so that you can clear this jump, because if not, it's once again back to the start. Otherwise, the level finally lifts you off the ground and formally introduces this tileset you'll be seeing a LOT of. Despite looking different from the squares that showed up earlier, these blocks don't have any extra properties and behave exactly the same. So I'm not sure why two different designs were necessary, but it certainly is a decision. Also, since your character is constantly running forward, I wouldn't suggest running into these blocks. Because it apparently hurts. You'd think the game would tell you this, but it clearly hates you. Jumping ahead a little, this part introduces these floating half slab blocks which definitely look like they're going to fall or do SOMETHING differently. But nope, they're just platforms. Which begs the question, why aren't they squares like the other ones? It's not like you can interact with the bottom half in any way, so all this does is trick you into thinking that these platforms work differently! In fact, these useless pulsing things make a return so you're almost encouraged to fall here! Like, why weren't they placed ABOVE the platforms to encourage players to follow them? After that, you reach the next section where you have to use those platforms to stay above some spikes, then go underneath them. This finally gives you a chance to see how the undersides of the platforms work. But if you jump... you just die! So yes, the platforms CAN kill you... but only sometimes! It's such a strange decision... why would hitting a block from below be dangerous? Is it because it has spikes above it? Maybe these platforms actually copy the properties of whatever's on top. But there's no tutorial, and it's not introduced, so you'll never know for sure. Next up, you have to jump on these platforms again, but the game does something truly evil. If you keep jumping, you end up landing on a spike that was deliberately placed to mess with you. You jump so many times that it lures you into this false sense of security... only to immediately shatter that trust for no good reason! When I first started Geometry Dash, this part messed me up so many times, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one. So if everyone is falling for it, why keep it? It's such a terrible decision! And what's worse is that now every time you reach this part, you're gonna be super paranoid because you have to figure out which platform you're supposed to stop jumping at. I hate that spike so much. it is truly ridiculous. When you finally pass that part, you get some time to rest as you go through this long mysterious corridor. Just don't bonk your head, or you're one again taking a trip all the way back to the first spike. The background darkens, and you approach this mysterious purple portal. It definitely looks important, and you have no choice but to run into it. Next thing you know, you exit the portal riding on top of some sort of rocket. There's no animation which is kind of lame, and I'm just wondering why this was done with a portal. Last time I checked, portals take you places. In this section, the first thing you'll probably notice is that you can't jump anymore. Trying to click will just nudge you up a little, but if you hold down the button you'll quickly realize that you can actually fly freely. That's right- the central mechanic of the game, jumping over spikes, has been completely thrown out the window in favor of being able to fly! Like, imagine how easy the beginning of the level would have been if you could just fly over everything. And you're telling me that the game is just... letting you do that now? It's painfully obvious that this was made with no regard for game balance and is probably just there to look cool. Last time I checked, flying is cheating. So I really can't believe that it's what the game WANTS you to do. Also, this rocket section is completely empty! Like hello, did you forget to build the rest of the level? And when you finally reach an obstacle, it's just a little stick hanging off of the ceiling! Fortunately, once you go a little further you actually do have to... press a button. Interestingly enough, you wouldn't be able to make this jump without your rocket, so it actually does serve a purpose other than just letting you cheat. The section continues like this for a little, until you eventually reach another corridor with a green portal that changes you back to normal. It's certainly jarring, but not as much as the other one. Here, gameplay continues as normal but you pass by this mysterious spinning coin on the way. It definitely looks too important to be a decoration, and something like this was hinted at on the level select page. But how do you get to it? You can't just run into these blocks, can you? Well, guess what. The way you get this coin is by RANDOMLY falling through this wall. Because for some reason it just doesn't kill you. The other walls in the level still do, it's just these two specifically, because they lead to a coin. What sort of stupid decision is this? Why do I have to go weirdly out of the way to get a coin? All of the walls you go through could have just been deleted, but for some reason this extra layer of confusion has been added to PURPOSELY make this more difficult. Seriously, how were you supposed to know to fall here? It's truly one of the worst things we've seen so far. Oh, and one other thing! If you die at any point here, whether you're trying to get the coin or not. You get sent ALL the way back to the start of the level. Not to the last portal, but all the way back, meaning that you have to play everything again. This means that when you're trying to beat this level, most of that time will just be spent doing the same thing over and over again. It's a completely unfair and unfun way of making this level take longer to beat, and when you finally get back to where you died, you're gonna be so nervous that you're just gonna mess up again! Why are there no checkpoints here? It's ridiculous! If you can beat the beginning once, you shouldn't have to do it again. It's a waste of time, and most players just wanna get on with the rest of the game. So anyways, after this part, things remain fairly straightforward. You just have to look ahead and figure out when you should and shouldn't jump. You jump up these pillars, fall down these half slabs, there's a short spider part, but it's not that bad, and then the background turns an ominous shade of red. And while you're probably expecting that to mean something, there's no difference. That is, until we reach what's arguably the crux of the level... the triple spike. You may have been able to clear two spikes in a row, but trust me, three spikes is infinitely harder. I'm not kidding when I say that you only have a couple of frames to make this jump, and this is on LEVEL ONE! Not to mention, it takes about a minute of your life to even reach this point... only for you to miss by a fraction of a second and lose everything. How does something this unforgiving end up in the first level of the game? Was there any playtesting done at all? Or was the developer just like <font color="#FFFF00">"oOoh hArd leVeLs ArE fUn!!!!11"</font> <font color="#FFFF00">"I'm gonna be completely unreasonable just so players suffer more!!!!!"</font> <font color="#FFFF00">"GET TROLLED!!!!!!!"</font> It is absolutely ridiculous. When I play a game, I expect it to be enjoyable and well designed. Geometry Dash is neither of those. And honestly, I don't even know if I want to be supporting a game that can barely even handle the fundamentals of good game design. So you know what? No more Geometry Dash! I'm done! Welcome to The Impossible Game! It's just like Geometry Dash, but it came out a couple years earlier. And last time I checked, this game actually knows what it's doing. For one, there's a very clear "how to play" button on the main menu. It tells you how to jump, as well as what happens when you fail. Much like Geometry... Trash, level 1 opens with a single spike. There's still no tutorial or jump indicator, so it might take an attempt or two to actually pass it. After that is two spikes in a row, which, wait, I think that's actually harder than the one in Geometry Dash. Then you have to land on this block to jump over a small gap, but like, if you jump too late you'll still fall in. This is some pretty tricky timing for level one. Okay, in this part you just endlessly jump upwards, but once again that last one trolls you! I don't think that's very- wait is that a triple spike IMMEDIATELY after it? No! What is this game doing! Is this game just as bad? It might even be worse! Okay, everything's fine, there's plenty of other stuff to talk about. This is Celeste. Arguably one of the best designed platformer games of all time. Trust me, this thing is a MASTERPIECE, I could go on about it forever. So the game starts with a little opening cutscene telling you to just, breathe. This is a good game, and there's nothing to be afraid of. There's a safe area to move around and practice the controls, and there's no spikes for you to automatically run into. You even get this cute little car. Once you feel comfortable, you can start moving forward. You'll have to make a couple of simple jumps that will lead you towards the You have got to be kidding me. You have GOT to be kidding me. Okay, Cuphead. This game is a CLASSIC. Just look at how absolutely gorgeous the art style is. It starts by teaching you the basics, like running, jumping, crouching, but then it introduces some other mechanics that will be really important. For example, your player has a dash which allows them to- Sorry, just hold on a second. Okay, so you have to like- Damn it! Okay, that is some REALLY tight timing for a tutorial level. What is it DOING here? Look, I'm a pretty credible guy, I know a lot about game design, but that first jump is... too hard. For me. And if I can't do it, that means it's really really unbalanced. Would not recommend it. So uh, in this game you control an army of monkeys and you gotta pop all of the balloons that come their way. So you'll see I can place this guy here, and then he should start popping all of the wait what he's literally right next to them Who is designing these games, don't they know anything? Okay, this game's kind of like Geometry Dash. I really like the simplistic art style they're going for here. All you gotta do is jump when there's a cactus. That is NOT a cactus. Okay, this one's a classic. It's an arcade game from a completely different generation. So you control this little ship guy, and you have to shoot all the aliens. But they're also shooting at YOU, so you either have to dodge their bullets or hide behind these bunkers. This game is a true staple of the bullet hell genre, and would go on to inspire many other popular titles. What makes this game so brilliant is that there's a lot of really cool interactions, like being able to destroy enemy bullets, or friendly firing your own bunkers. It does a very good job at testing your skills in a fair and balanced way, while also providing an opportunity to They put fixed hitboxes in this game, that's bad design. Alright next game. I'm gonna go corner. Okay, they're not gonna see this, watch this. hmmm alright Well I can block them over here.... Well then I have to go there... Wait, it's not even possible to lose this game unless you're stupid! What kind of idiot designs a game where it's impossible to even You didn't see that. Okay, I found a maze on the back of this cereal box. So you can see that it starts by teaching the player how to move, and once you learn the controls you gotta figure out how to get all the way to the unicorn over here. So for example, I'm gonna head off in this direction which should hopefully lead me to Wait, did I just loop around? OKAY, that was placed SPECIFICALLY to troll you. How are new players supposed to sightread that? WHO THE HELL IS MAKING THESE STUPID BADLY DESIGNED GAMES??? You know, I'm starting to think that I'm never gonna find anything with "good game design", so to speak. It almost feels like my idea of a good game is wrong! Like it has to handhold you through everything and never give you a single challenge. But games are supposed to be fun, not frustrating! I don't understand why people would make things intentionally difficult! Is there some sort of thrill to that? Because I don't see it. What I want is a fair game that anyone can pick up and learn with nothing to get in their way. But does such a game even exist? Unless... the answer was with us from the very beginning. Maybe it's Geometry Dash! Sure, there's some hard or confusing parts scattered across the levels, but you can practice them! And each attempt, you'll get a little bit better. If the levels are too easy, you'll never truly feel proud of what you've accomplished. Maybe it is worth dying to those triple spikes, if it ends up meaning that you'll celebrate harder when you DO beat the level! But the best part is, even if you really don't like a level, there's an endless number of other ones to try. If the classic game feels too punishing, try a platformer level with checkpoints! If things are too easy, try a level above the usual difficulty you play. Geometry Dash isn't perfect, but it doesn't NEED to be. It's just a fun little way to spend your time. And it's difficult to judge the game design, because you can be the one that decides it! You can choose how hard it is, or what the gameplay is like, or if it's good or not. Don't waste your time forming opinions based on some random angry fox on the internet. This game is truly whatever you make of it. Ehhhhhh actually probably not, there's gotta be something better than this. Let's see, what other games has this guy... NO. WAY. And that, my friends, is the story of how I became a Boomlings channel. Seriously, look how good of a run I'm having here. No other game gives you this level of thrill. I've never been more proud to be a true boomer. Thanks for watching, and happy April Fools.
