7_years_and_disappointment.html
The update to Geometry Dash 2.2 was undoubtedly the most highly anticipated event in the game’s history. RobTop, its developer, had worked on it for almost 7 years before it was finally released just a few days ago, on the 20th of December. The update had already had many release dates that it didn't come out on. Even just this year, it was announced that it would be released in October, which was then pushed to November, which was then, finally, pushed to December. I think many people didn’t even expect it to come out this year. Considering that, and the fact that we never got an exact date from RobTop, the release of 2.2 was also quite surprising.
This update is, putting it lightly, massive. I don’t have exact numbers of anything, but I’m pretty sure that it introduced almost as many new features as were already in the game, and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was even more than that. This is to be expected from an update that was actively worked on for so long.
Obviously, everyone was really excited about this update. I mean, I myself could hardly believe that it really had been released, when I woke up and saw a youtube notification of the announcement video.
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with Geometry Dash, then one thing you have to know is that it is, and has been for a long time, massively focused on its editor and community. It has a built in level creator, as well as the option to share levels online, in-game. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that, nowadays, there is a lot of effort put into the visuals of a level, not just the gameplay of it. A lot of people don’t create levels, but rather just play the online levels made by other creators. However I myself primarily worked on levels, in fact somewhat rarely playing levels made by others.
In honesty, I already had some doubts about this update before it was even released. One of the features it was going to add is platformer mode, an alternative game mode that… Well, completely changes Geometry Dash’s core gameplay. By default, Geometry Dash is a side-scrolling platformer game. This mode was going to get rid of the side-scrolling part, instead giving you buttons to move left/right like in more traditional platformer games. I was kind of annoyed about this feature being announced, because to me it felt like this is just another thing that will further the update’s release, and will shift the focus away from other features. And, quite frankly, I’m afraid I might have been right.
See, as soon as I was able to, I started trying things out in the editor. And at first I was really excited! I mean, there were so many new features that it was almost overwhelming. However, when I started making a more proper level instead of just testing things and messing around… I started running into issues.
One of the update’s first announced features was the reverse mode, which would let you reverse the direction the player is going in, in the regular sidescroller mode. I found this feature really cool and obviously I wanted to use it but… I found it to be… Nearly non-functional. It took me actual hours to get it to work at all and… Even then, it still had problems. In fact, it’s bugged, and severely so to the point that making what I wanted was close to impossible.
This… Infuriated me. I was, quite frankly, disappointed. These features that were announced so long ago, some of the ones I was most excited for were… Barely functional. I vented my frustrations and disappointment on the game’s discord repeatedly… Which people didn’t particularly like, I suppose. They were still excited and happy about the update…
I stopped trying to work on the level, but inevitably, like a day later or so I tried to work on it again anyway, because really, this update still is incredible, maybe I can try to work around the bugs somehow…
But then, I just ran into more bugs that I didn’t notice before. Bugs that make it seem as if some of the features weren’t even tested at all. And… Admittedly, the list of the bugs I found isn’t that long (probably mostly because I didn’t play around with the editor that much.) But they still almost prevented me from doing some things I’d have wanted to do so this was still… Incredibly frustrating.
The second worst part about all this is that I’d want to like this update. I mean, there are so many other features which do seem functional and which greatly increase the amount of possibilities for the kind of things you can make. But when trying to make a level, I just keep running into bugs that make me question whether they’ve even been playtested, and which prevent me from doing the things I want to… How can I enjoy those other features?
But the worst part for me is… How alone I seem to be with these feelings. Looking on youtube and discord and whatnot, there’s such an incredible aura of excitement. I mean, to say you’re disappointed is almost unimaginable for most (which I had witnessed myself.) Everyone seems to think the update is great and amazing but… I can’t share these feelings. I can’t even really get myself to work on anything in the editor. And I just keep thinking, did these people not notice all these horrible bugs? Do they just not care? Don’t they see that they should care, that these bugs are big and impactful and important?
I was still in elementary school when 2.2 was first announced. I waited 7 years, and I'm disappointed.