Geometry Dash[a] is a 2013 side-scrollingrhythmplatformvideo game developed by Swedish game developer Robert Topala and published by his company RobTop Games. It was released for iOS and Android on 13 August 2013, Windows Phone on 12 June 2014, and on Steam on 22 December 2014. The player controls an icon and must navigate through levels while avoiding obstacles. The game includes 26 developer-made levels: 22 are auto-scrolling, and 4 are platformer levels. The game includes a level editor, enabling players to design custom levels, share them online, and play levels created by other users.
Topala released his first game, Bounce Ball Thingy, on Newgrounds in June 2010. As he continued to develop games, he quit his civil engineering course to pursue his career as a game developer, releasing a handful of games prior to Geometry Dash. He began development of the game in early 2013, being inspired by other titles such as The Impossible Game and Super Meat Boy. He published Geometry Dash in August 2013 and it quickly gained popularity. Since its release, the game has seen numerous updates that have added new gameplay and design elements, levels, icons, and features.
The game has received mostly positive reviews from critics, highlighting the large variety of music, colorful visuals, and extremely difficult but rewarding gameplay. The level creation feature and the user-made levels it has spawned have also been the subject of praise and has allowed the game to bolster a large and growing community.
A free version of the main game, Geometry Dash Lite, was released a month after the original that removes features such as certain levels and icons and the level editor. Three spin-off games accompany the main series: Geometry Dash Meltdown, Geometry Dash World and Geometry Dash SubZero, featuring their own levels and music.
Gameplay
The beginning of Electroman Adventures, the 13th level in the game
Geometry Dash is a side-scrolling platformer.[1] The player takes control of an icon and must navigate through levels until reaching the end.[2] Classic gameplay[3] uses an auto-scrolling camera,[1] requiring the player to use a single button to complete each level.[2] The level restarts from the beginning if the player collides with an obstacle. A practice mode option allows checkpoints to be placed that the player can restart from, though this mode doesn't reward certain collectibles.[1][2][4] In platformer levels, players can move left or right without the auto-scrolling camera and can access preset checkpoints without using practice mode.[3]
Various gameplay elements can affect the movement of the player icon. Orbs allow the player to gain extra height in mid-air.[2][4] Some portals[5] (gates) can change the players gravity, while others can change the game mode. For example, the default Cube game mode allows the player to perform jumps, the Ball game mode lets the player change gravity, while the Ship game mode allows the player to fly.[2] The Dual game mode duplicates the icon, allowing the player to control both at the same time or each individually in Two-Player mode. Other elements may change the player's speed and size.[5]
Each level has an accompanying song. Timing and rhythm are crucial, and the music often synchronizes with a level's gameplay and design elements.[1][2][6]Geometry Dash includes 26 developer-made levels, four of which are platformer levels located in The Tower section of the game.[3][7] Each level is assigned one of six difficulties: "easy", "normal", "hard", "harder", "insane", and "demon".[8] Each developer level contains three secret coins, requiring the player to take an alternate pathway or complete a task to obtain them.[9][10] The player must obtain a certain number of secret coins before the demon levels can be played.[9]
There are several collectibles and currencies that can be obtained in various ways. Completing classic levels will award the player with stars, and platformer levels will award moons.[3] Levels will also award mana orbs, with 500 mana orbs rewarding a key. Keys can be used to unlock chests in the Treasure Room, which will give various rewards.[11] There are also daily chests which will award diamonds and may award shards, the former of which also being obtainable through completing quests and certain user-made levels.[12] Mana orbs and diamonds can be used in shops to purchase icon designs (skins).[13] Vaults can be unlocked after obtaining certain amounts of collectibles, where entering codes can unlock customization options for the player icon.[11][14] Collecting certain numbers of collectibles or completing certain tasks will give the player additional options for the icon, including its design, colors, and death animation.[13]
User-generated content
The game features the ability to upload and play user-made levels. These levels may use music from the developer levels or feature custom music imported from Newgrounds.[2] Players may also use music from 10 selected artists,[RT 1] as well as music from the British record label NoCopyrightSounds.[15] User levels of sufficient quality may be "rated" by Topala, which will set the official difficulty rating of the level.[16] User levels may be rated one of the six difficulties the developer levels have, or given the "auto" difficulty if user input is not required to complete the level.[RT 2] Only rated levels award collectibles.[16] Certain user levels are featured in collections known as "gauntlets" and "map packs", or individually as "daily levels", "weekly demons", or "event levels",[RT 2] which will reward players additional collectibles upon completion.[12][13] Some user levels also contain user (silver) coins, which are similar to secret coins.[14] User-made demon levels are divided into five additional difficulties: "easy demon", "medium demon", "hard demon", "insane demon", and "extreme demon", many of which are significantly more challenging than the three official demon levels.[17]
Through the level editor, players have created over a hundred million online levels.[b] Some players have recreated entire video games within the level editor, including Super Mario Kart, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Celeste, among others.[18] Some parts of the community are dedicated to making levels as difficult as possible. The community maintains a list of the 150 hardest rated levels in the game (known as the "demonlist"), which is regularly updated. The verification and completion of these levels are inspected by the list's moderators to ensure that they are not done illegitimately.[17]
Development
Geometry Dash was created by Swedish video game developer Robert Topala, known professionally as RobTop. On 6 June 2010, Topala created his first video game, Bounce Ball Thingy, on Newgrounds, developing it while he was studying civil engineering. He abandoned his course as he became more interested in the video game industry.[19] Topala operated Rune Digital with Niklas Dennerståhl and Daniel Rocque Bengtsson, developing the games Forlorn and Kingdom Escape. Both were nominees for the 2012 and 2013 Swedish Game Awards respectively.[20]Forlorn ended up winning the award for Best Mobile Game, but it and Kingdom Escape were eventually scrapped.[21] Topala founded RobTop Games in 2012.[22] The first video game he produced under RobTop Games was Boomlings, a puzzle video game released on 17 May 2012 for iOS.[23][24] Topala continued to create video games, releasing Memory Mastermind in January 2013[25] and Boomlings MatchUp in February 2013.[26]
According to Topala, Geometry Dash began as a platformer that could have moved in any direction. He wanted it to be a tribute to the "Super Mario Bros.–style" platformers he played when he was young, and remarked "there really was no detailed plan. It simply started as a template with a cube that could crash and jump". Other games such as The Impossible Game, Super Meat Boy, and Bit.Trip Runner inspired Topala to make Geometry Dash.[19] In the beta version, the game was called Geometry Jump.[RT 3] It was developed on the Cocos2d game engine[27] and took Topala about four months to create.[19] The official trailer was released on 2 August 2013,[RT 4] and the game would release on iOS and Android on 13 August.[c] The game would later release on Windows Phone and Steam the following year on 12 June 2014[RT 5] and 22 December 2014 respectively.[29]
Post-release
Since its release, the game has received several updates, adding new levels, game modes, player icons and other features. In August 2015, update 2.0 was released. The update introduced the user coin system, teleportation portals, the Robot game mode, and moving objects.[30][d] In January 2017,[32] update 2.1 was released, introducing the Spider game mode and the level Fingerdash.[33] It would be the game's last major update for nearly seven years. The next update, update 2.2, had been teased since November 2017,[RT 6] but was met with numerous delays. Topala's progress on the update was largely kept secret, with only occasional sneak peeks being offered; one such sneak peek was released in August 2021, showcasing many new gameplay features and mechanics, including platformer mode.[32] The update was teased again in August 2023 during a YouTube livestream celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the game, with the release date revealed to be in October,[RT 7] though this was met with another delay, with 2.2 being released on 19 December 2023.[18] It introduced the Swing game mode, the level Dash, and platformer mode with four platformer levels.[3] In 2024, Topala partnered with NoCopyrightSounds, adding their music catalog to the game.[15]
Reception
The game's music, along with its graphics, have been highly praised. An editor's review from Download.com complemented the game's visuals, describing them as smooth, vibrant, and captivating.[34] Andrei Dobra at Softpedia called the game "gorgeous-looking", praising the animations and vibrant colors.[1] David Ingrusee at Indie Hive said that the graphics have the potential to be "excessively beautiful", although that some levels' decoration was overly distracting.[2] The in-game music has been met with acclaim; Dobra described the music as "phenomenal", further praising how it "flawlessly" complements the game's action and level design, although stated that restarting a level many times makes some songs annoying.[1] Ingrusee further commented on the quantity of music available, writing that the player "could jump to the beat of literally any genre".[2]
The gameplay was also met with generally high regards. Download.com described the gameplay as "addicting",[34] with Ingrusee adding that players "would sink in hours into Geometry Dash" in order to complete a level.[2] Its high difficulty, however, has been criticized, with Download.com stating that the precise timing required can be frustrating, and Dobra finding the game potentially too hard for some players to enjoy.[1][34] Rob Rich at 148Apps also felt the game to be frustratingly difficult, although argues "that's sort of the point", and that the satisfaction of completing a level still made the experience worth it.[4] Dobra similarly expressed that the game can feel too difficult at times, but that it never felt unfair.[1]
The level editor feature and the user-generated content was met with approval. Ingrusee enjoyed the amount of variety, calling the amount of user levels "uncountable".[2] Dobra commented that the level editor was "pretty solid" and that the user levels offered "really imaginative experiences".[1] Download.com highlighted the new mechanics that many user levels offer, although stated that the game may become repetitive over time.[34]
Sales
Geometry Dash quickly gained popularity after its release. In June 2014 it had become the most popular paid iPhone app in Canada[35] and topped the paid iPhone games charts for three weeks in January 2015.[36][37][38] In February 2015, Topala reported the game had reached nearly 80 million downloads.[RT 8] By September 2018, the mobile version had earned an estimated $21 million in revenue and received 242 million downloads.[39] By April 2025, it had earned an estimated $34 million in revenue and has surpassed 530 million downloads.[40] In 2019 Breakit reported that RobTop Games had earned kr75,200,000 in profit the previous year, and a total profit of kr313,000,000 for the previous four.[41] The number of concurrent players on Steam has been steadily rising, reaching over 9,000 after the release of update 2.1[42] and peaks of 15,000 in 2021 and 16,000 in 2022. Geometry Dash saw a particular spike in popularity after the release of update 2.2 in December 2023, pulling in over 88,000 concurrent Steam players after its release.[43] In December 2025, this record was broken during a sale, reaching over 92,000 concurrent players.[44] This continued to rise into January 2026, when the concurrent player count reached over 100,000.[45]
Spin-offs
Release timeline
2013
Geometry Dash
Geometry Dash Lite
2014
2015
Geometry Dash Meltdown
2016
Geometry Dash World
2017
Geometry Dash SubZero
Along with a free version of the game, Geometry Dash Lite, three spin-offs have been published by RobTop Games since the release of the original. Unlike the original, the spin-offs and Lite are free to play and contain ads.[e]
Geometry Dash Lite
Geometry Dash Lite is a free version of the game released on 12 September 2013.[50]Lite only includes some of the levels in the original game and a few selected user levels. It also has a significantly more limited selection of character customization options, lacking many icons, colors, and other content in the full game.[50][46]
Geometry Dash Meltdown
On 16 December 2015, Topala announced his first spin-off game, Geometry Dash Meltdown,[RT 9] which was released on 19 December 2015 for iOS and Android. It includes three levels featuring songs by F-777.[51]
Geometry Dash World
On 21 December 2016, Topala announced a second spin-off game, Geometry Dash World, saying it would come out on the same day.[RT 10] It includes ten levels featuring music from Dex Arson, Waterflame and F-777. It also features a selection of user levels, including weekly demons, event levels, and a select list of featured levels.[52]
Geometry Dash SubZero
On 12 December 2017, Topala announced a third spin-off game, Geometry Dash SubZero,[RT 11] which was released on 21 December 2017. It contains three levels with music from BoomKitty, MDK, and Bossfight.[53]
↑Pugliese, Thomas (2 January 2016). "Sfida al quadrato". Multiplayer.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 June 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
↑Often abbreviated by the playerbase as GD or GMD.
↑Based on the most recent in-game level ID values.[RT 2]
↑The official trailer on YouTube states the release date for iOS and Android as 13 August 2013.[RT 4]Metacritic gives the release date on iOS as 13 August 2013.[28] A review on 148Apps, conducted a day after its release on 14 August 2013, states that the game was available on both platforms.[4]
↑There were other updates released prior to this.[31]
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 14March2026(2026-03-14), and does not reflect subsequent edits.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
