Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
While I would’ve appreciated some more time to let my ideas develop naturally before 2.2 threatened to render this project obsolete, I’m excited to finally present to you my 100th level and my farewell to 2.1: Updatophobia. It’s yet another gimmicky memory insane demon, as you’ve probably come to expect from me by now.
Having been around for the long haul in Geometry Dash, I’ve always found it particularly interesting how so many people seem to have such a unique affinity for 1.9. No other past update has a bustling private server community, and I constantly hear from creators and players alike that the game peaked in 1.9 and has been on the downhill run ever since. There are even people who didn’t play the game in 1.9 who still religiously swear by its legacy as the Golden Age of Geometry Dash. Maybe they're right, but this is really fascinating to me because out of all the updates I’ve been around for, 1.9 is by a long shot the update I’ve enjoyed the least. The levels were annoying, the lack of editor QOL features was inconvenient, the community was edgy, and unless you were part of one small friend group it was nearly impossible to get your work out there. While it’s quieted down gradually over the years, I’m still occasionally reminded that there are people who harbor resentment for 2.0 and 2.1 for bringing an end to the supposed glory of 1.9, whatever that means. Furthermore, there seems to be a fear looming over the community that 2.2 will also change the game so violently that it will kill all that we hold dear about the current state of the game.
One day, this idea occurred to me as a cheeky way to breathe life into this vitriol for the changes that 2.0 and 2.1 brought to the game and its conventions, and this overwhelming fear of moving on. Surely a little change isn’t gonna kill you.. but what if it did? Updatophobia explores a concept I’ve never even seen executed before: every feature implemented into the game after 1.9 kills you on contact. You can't touch any post-1.9 object, you can’t touch anything that isn’t 1.00x scale, you can’t touch custom backgrounds, you can’t touch any moving objects, you can’t play either of my favorite game modes, there’s no H, D, or J block gameplay, I didn’t even include any dual parts so that you couldn’t use a post-1.9 icon and then intersect with yourself. I put a lot of thought into it, but there’s still a lot that can be done with this concept that I didn’t explore or even think of, and I’d love to see what other people could do with this in the future.
As a disclaimer, I’ve taken some liberties for the sake of making this level a better experience for you to play, and for me to build. Here's what I DIDN'T do:
- I don’t punish you for touching objects colored with color 5 and beyond, because that’s not information you’re given while playing.
- I don’t punish you for touching objects that break 1.9’s uncustomizable preset-per-object Z-layering, because that just wouldn’t be fun to have to think about.
- I don’t punish you for touching any fully invisible object, because ew.
- I made the stylistic choice to only punish you for touching post-1.9 orbs if you click on them, so that it would sting harder when you fall for the fakes.
- Sometimes I used post-1.9 tricks for optimization's sake (i.e., pulse triggers instead of color triggers, alpha triggers on blending objects instead of making the color darker and copy pasting stuff on top of itself over and over to make it bright), because there’s no reason to waterboard our computers over indistinguishable technicalities.
My end goal was to make this a fun and practical experience for you as you explore this goofy gimmick with me, so I avoided doing anything that would make either of us tear our hair out. Well, tear our hair out too quickly, at least.
I'll fix the small layering errors I just now noticed in a future patch-fix when someone inevitably breaks it.
ID: 97090315
SONG: Creo - Apex (newgrounds.com/audio/listen/623714)
Showcase (Normal Route): 0:00 - 1:04
Verification (Coin Route): 1:05 - 2:52
Swag Route: ???
While I would’ve appreciated some more time to let my ideas develop naturally before 2.2 threatened to render this project obsolete, I’m excited to finally present to you my 100th level and my farewell to 2.1: Updatophobia. It’s yet another gimmicky memory insane demon, as you’ve probably come to expect from me by now.
Having been around for the long haul in Geometry Dash, I’ve always found it particularly interesting how so many people seem to have such a unique affinity for 1.9. No other past update has a bustling private server community, and I constantly hear from creators and players alike that the game peaked in 1.9 and has been on the downhill run ever since. There are even people who didn’t play the game in 1.9 who still religiously swear by its legacy as the Golden Age of Geometry Dash. Maybe they're right, but this is really fascinating to me because out of all the updates I’ve been around for, 1.9 is by a long shot the update I’ve enjoyed the least. The levels were annoying, the lack of editor QOL features was inconvenient, the community was edgy, and unless you were part of one small friend group it was nearly impossible to get your work out there. While it’s quieted down gradually over the years, I’m still occasionally reminded that there are people who harbor resentment for 2.0 and 2.1 for bringing an end to the supposed glory of 1.9, whatever that means. Furthermore, there seems to be a fear looming over the community that 2.2 will also change the game so violently that it will kill all that we hold dear about the current state of the game.
One day, this idea occurred to me as a cheeky way to breathe life into this vitriol for the changes that 2.0 and 2.1 brought to the game and its conventions, and this overwhelming fear of moving on. Surely a little change isn’t gonna kill you.. but what if it did? Updatophobia explores a concept I’ve never even seen executed before: every feature implemented into the game after 1.9 kills you on contact. You can't touch any post-1.9 object, you can’t touch anything that isn’t 1.00x scale, you can’t touch custom backgrounds, you can’t touch any moving objects, you can’t play either of my favorite game modes, there’s no H, D, or J block gameplay, I didn’t even include any dual parts so that you couldn’t use a post-1.9 icon and then intersect with yourself. I put a lot of thought into it, but there’s still a lot that can be done with this concept that I didn’t explore or even think of, and I’d love to see what other people could do with this in the future.
As a disclaimer, I’ve taken some liberties for the sake of making this level a better experience for you to play, and for me to build. Here's what I DIDN'T do:
- I don’t punish you for touching objects colored with color 5 and beyond, because that’s not information you’re given while playing.
- I don’t punish you for touching objects that break 1.9’s uncustomizable preset-per-object Z-layering, because that just wouldn’t be fun to have to think about.
- I don’t punish you for touching any fully invisible object, because ew.
- I made the stylistic choice to only punish you for touching post-1.9 orbs if you click on them, so that it would sting harder when you fall for the fakes.
- Sometimes I used post-1.9 tricks for optimization's sake (i.e., pulse triggers instead of color triggers, alpha triggers on blending objects instead of making the color darker and copy pasting stuff on top of itself over and over to make it bright), because there’s no reason to waterboard our computers over indistinguishable technicalities.
My end goal was to make this a fun and practical experience for you as you explore this goofy gimmick with me, so I avoided doing anything that would make either of us tear our hair out. Well, tear our hair out too quickly, at least.
I'll fix the small layering errors I just now noticed in a future patch-fix when someone inevitably breaks it.
ID: 97090315
SONG: Creo - Apex (newgrounds.com/audio/listen/623714)
Showcase (Normal Route): 0:00 - 1:04
Verification (Coin Route): 1:05 - 2:52
Swag Route: ???
