Geometry Trash: Story Levels 

Finally a video that actually talk about the problem rather than sugarcoating the level. Back in the beginning of 2021, white space was initially a layout preview for my subscriber special video as a “fun” level type, (similar to Shards of Siberia a level built under 5 days), it has only become so ambitious after midway through the level to I guess, not disappoints people’s expectations from the project Dream Flower. Back then, my creating mentality has always been exploring more details inside the editor = more appreciation to the story, and thus gameplays were often left out, more or less it becomes transparent and separate from the visuals and not being part of the big ideas. By the time I’ve realised the issues, the level is already finished up the final climax, and me being just want to get this over with, (there were too many issues, bugs, object counts, frustration over creating on mobile devices) I choose go out with the cheapest gp just sync to the beats. What starting of a fun project, becomes a burden to my motivation, and I just couldn’t bring myself to feel satisfy with the end result that wasted so many opportunities over the years. However, I was glad that I am able to at least finished it and move on. With those collected experience and reflecting on mistakes. Lack of planning when creating a level will really ruins a high effort & ambitious project. Now, with my next upcoming project, even though there isn’t necessarily “story” related, I am delightful to inform that I haven’t had so much fun when creating a level for a long, long time, and I wish to deliver a great surprise to everyone for a new & different experiences!

I’ve always been one to marvel at Lonely Travel as a masterclass in storytelling. Glad to see someone else share that view!

the greatest story level is hungry humphrey

Doesn't matter how much time passes, Funnygame will always be the goat. I've never seen a creator who managed to master the level editor as much as him, nor have I seen a creator whose levels from 1.8 have aged like wine. Actual legend.

I feel like pretty much no travel level has nailed the feeling of journey Lonely Travel had. There's some that did a pretty good job at creating a unique and pretty envinroment, but the way Lonely Travel is crafted gives off a feeling of nostalgia that none of the travel levels managed to accomplish. Funnygame was so ahead of the time!

'a fishing trip' is unparalleled but unironically

lonely travel is such a good level, i’m glad you mentioned it as an example of what to do right in these levels

I had a heart attack when I saw Lonely Travel in the chapters. Don’t ever scare me like that again.

Best story level is larga espera

To me, white space is just a beautifully detailed masterclass in level editing, with a deeper meaning and nice moral behind it. The amount of text to read and details to look into don't take away from the gameplay, you just get more reason to play/watch it multiple times, which you never would on the average easy demon. The story is probably the worse part for me, but it doesn't make the level worse overall. White space is a 10/10 in my eyes, I get goosebumps every single time

bro really loves his atmosphere!

I think you summarised tmn's level perfectly. Great video as always. Personal satisfaction within certain limits is the ultimate way to achieve happiness.

Thoughtful art criticism disguised as a rant video? Splendid!

One my favorite story levels is the clouds give way. The message is short and sweet and simple, the song is beautiful, and the level conveys what's being said in the song very well. It feels satisfying to play and experience pushing through hard times to get to a brighter future. The best story levels are the ones that keep things simple and make the gameplay a part of the story. I don't like story levels with a complicated venty message or that try to bombard you with lore. I just want a simple feel-good message and a fun experience. Lonely Travel was a great example too.

I was so obsessed with cube stories, especially the ones by vrymer and omegafalcon back in the day

really good, thought-provoking video. the part about finding personal satisfaction in making art in particular really spoke to me. i spent a lot of last year feeling really bitter about my "status" in terms of followers or listeners or whatever and all it did was make me unhappy, and i'm glad that i was able to realise that it doesn't matter all too much - that's not to say making art is entirely personal because being able to share it with others is still really valuable to me, but i think focusing on social media numbers in particular is fighting a losing battle. i'm not sure if that last part really relates to the level that you were talking about, but the sentiment resonated with me a lot - the fact that this is a tangentially on-topic comment for a geometry dash video goes to show how far level creation has come in the last few years.

I don't think whyme's conclusions are meant to be true but rather I like to imagine it as the voice in the back of your head criticizing your every move and bringing the creative mind down in the fear of a rejection that might not even be there or at least is greatly exaggerated

I would love to see you make more videos about this topic, or just the types of levels this game has in general. You have a very good analytical approach to the desired intention versus the reality of that intention’s portrayal within a level, and I really respect you giving your full opinion. And I completely agree. I think seeing lonely travel in this video after so long made me realize how… simple it is. And yet, it doesn’t fail at its theme one bit. I feel like the game is missing more of those levels.

I'd love to see a follow up video of this, I think story levels are some of the best in the game, and ones that are actually executed well are very hard to make. I myself try to make levels with stories and as it turns out, I struggle a lot because I try pushing myself to do these complicated things that I have no idea how to do for the sake of it getting positive feedback from the community; I have dozens of ideas that I just never finished because I wasn't satisfied with how it turned out. I find that a lot of the best story levels are the ones that do what they want and don't focus purely on getting a rate or being seen as awesome by the community.

Great video like usual. I think the best story level is probably save as as the gameplay actually serves the narrative well

your review on white space kinda part of my motivation for creating. gameplay is usually shafted as a story element in favor of visuals. i want my gameplay to be more intertwind with the feel of the level, not just the visuals i relized this after playing and beating Lit Fuse lmao, krmal is awsome

its honestly quite incredible how cw 2003 changed the view of text-based story levels which have always been regarded as pretty terrible up until now. its super interesting that hes been the only one (besides possibly pinecones) thats been able to do that im not sure if you know this already but cw2003's new level Only In Ohio Dawg not only shines as a pretty neat story level but is a completely accurate representation of Dante's Inferno and it has a lot of hidden detail towards exploring the circles of hell which unironically makes it my new favourite nine circles level LOL maybe you should check it out again if you get the chance - its got MUCH more detail and thought than what people see on the surface

i think something special about lonely travel that more people should talk about is the fact that it all is under the 2.0 object limit of 30,000 objects . back then it was a lot more uncommon for levels to go over the object limit , and funnygame rarely did this himself ; i believe he only ever did it in death moon . keeping this 6 minute long lvl under the object limit must have been a real challenge , and in the end i think the level really benefits from it since you can often see how he uses default objects in clever ways . if someone remade this level in high detail it wouldn't be nearly as charming ..... adding a ton of little details everywhere would just take the attention away from the more important details

very well put together video, thank you wherwin

to me, it's not necessairly the story itself that makes the level good, but how it feels and how it actually works with the player, just so it feels like a journey rather than just a level... something that takes the player with the level, combining basically everything to make the player engaged in the story: music, level intensity, color palette, context... i beat eternelle vehemence recently and welp, i'd say it does just that, builds up the intensity and then it goes all into you in the last 25%, playing with your emotions, going from stressed to anxious to hopeful and finally relieved, the level just doesn't feel bland, but also doesn't feel oversaturated... i don't really know if it has some story involved, but it has that vibe hard yet stressful story levels just hit harder than auto ones that just... make you kinda not care

this is your best video, good job i really enjoyed watching this and yes lonely travek is the best level in the game, it's so beautiful

Geometry Trash is back! Love it!

This is why Surge of Memories has always cleared WhyMe

Glad that I can come home from my last day of high school to watch a new WHErwin vid

i think theres one key point to get out of this: put gameplay in a story level if the gameplay represents something in the story. limbo is a great example where the player is between heaven and hell and doesnt know where to go, hence the memory aspect of the level. levels like white space have gampelay but it doesnt actually relate or represent the story. its just there so people play it instead of watch it

the unfortunate reality of the gd rates nowadays is that most people just look at a level and determine if its good or not, most dont even touch the level as someone who plays alot of extreme demons, i wish creators experimented with things more and added some sort of story in their level and tried expressing it through gameplay (like lonely travel and falling up did) but that rarely ever happens because people focus on the decoration and not how it makes you feel when youre playing it having pretty decoration is enough for someone to get a rate and thats frustrating because creators dont have to put thought into making gameplay thats well designed and thats sad gd levels could be so much more if creators used gameplay to express the levels theme and song, but people nowadays are more focused on how to get a rate instead of making something actually good

Removed submission is the best level in existence

I love the ball glitch in your White Space gameplay lmao

Say what you wanna say but dank travle is hands down the BEST story level ever conceived

The things you said here are really important, even when you're not telling a concrete "story". The biggest takeaway for me is that your gameplay deserves a theme just as much as your decoration does. A really good example of this that you might not have noticed is hell levels. We all know hell levels are overdone but that's useful because we can analyze them that much easier. When you see one of those layouts on RU-vid that are ridiculously difficult, you can tell by the gameplay that it's meant to be a hell demon.

Always appreciate when someone knows how to tell a story without using words

i remember a number of years ago you praised killbot alongside falling up for its use of story... so, with what you said about white space's gameplay making the story fall flat, i'm curious: what makes killbot's story succeed in your eyes despite the gameplay being something you dislike? (not trying to spark a killbot flame lmao, more so interested in what you believe sets it apart from other story levels enough to give it praise)

Dorabae Choose Way on top 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Nothing beats a good travel level

i think funnygame's 2.1 levels are honestly a masterpiece in their own regard i really like them and i think they are great

Honestly it would be so fun to watch a video of you making fun of shitty bossfight levels

OMFG IT RETURNED

removed submission is so epic

You forgot the *best* story level, Generation Retro

My favourite story levels are Hhyper's levels, especially Surgeragon and The mayhem war. Mainly because all of them takes place in the same universe. I do love travel levels though.

level that evokes special feeling for u

I totally relate to WhyMe and what Xender said along with it.

story levels are good, just they should be done with the atmosphere of the level and without any words

i think boss levels could play into gd's mechanics more by having the boss chase the player from behind, that way vision is not obscured and it reinforces the idea of the game being about speed

me when it's the cube story and the cube dies or something i dunno

"We are only human after all" best fact and funny music meme

wake up bae new wherein upload

i love wherwin video

I don't get the hate towards animated stories. Have you seen A Special Place?

I like story levels like hhypers level and xandera levels (hi Xander) but the problem is I often only like them because of the visuals and not the story, often the story is unclear or just basically doesn't exist, which sucks cus what story I have seen about white space is really interesting, but I haven't been able to look further, (mostly cus I'm lazy af) but I still like em, and INSERT CONCLUSION HERE

From my experience with White Space, I found the gameplay to be pretty uninspired for the most part. I actually think that it would be good to compare White Space to Dream Flower here. I think the best way to compare the two is that throughout all of Dream decoration, gameplay, and song all work together. What I mean is that they match each others' energy, and one part where I feel like Dream Flower does this perfectly is with the dual. The gameplay here is not terribly fun on its own, but when the decoration and song are added in, this becomes one of my favorite parts in any level of all time. White Space on the other hand doesn’t really have this. I feel like here, the gameplay and decoration are pretty separate with the only through line being the song. One example is the start of the drop, where I feel that there is a complete disconnect between the gameplay, song, and decoration. I feel like the gameplay doesn’t quite match the energy of the song. The decoration, although fitting the grandness of the song feels to stagnate, which I believe was entirely intentional given the story, and I feel that the song at this part doesn't compliment this more slow paced decoration and gameplay. I woukd say that there are definitely moments where the decoration, gameplay, and song all work together, for example: the last ship part before the drop, the hand part, the ufo at 50, and the wave, ufo, and ball during the more dubstepy part of the song. These are some of my favorite parts of the level, because I feel like they do the best job at bring the decoration, gameplay, and song together, mainly through them all having similar energies. I think that White Space's main problem is that its gameplay and decoration don't match each other and the song in terms of energy. Not to say that White Space is a terrible level, I think that the fact that Xender created the decoration in the first place is worthy of praise in of itself. Another level besides Dream Flower that nails the connection between gameplay, decoration, and song is HeLL by Serponge. Although I have my own problems with the gameplay in this level, I cannot deny how satisfying it is to complete this level and watch it. I feel like this is one of the few levels that can have annoying gameplay but I still love it. Another thing that saw for the comments in this video was someone mentioning that they wish creators would put more thought into their gameplay, and I would have to agree there. Some of my favorite levels ever are Cant Let Vulc, Polyatomic, Fratura, and Toxin Lab III, and the main reason I love those levels is because of the gameplay, not because of the decoration.

Lmaoooooo i forgot cube story

Where requiem ?

if only falling up's gameplay didnt suck ass, it wouldve been such a good level

Definitely would like to see you cover ascension to heaven.

bawsed.

Please cover drawing circles, the discord gauntlet level

few things: 1. those 2.0 auto story levels were peak fiction and i love them they're so funny 2. in my opinion, trying to use basically any form of text to tell a story in gd, even if it's in an auto level, is HORRIBLE. in my opinion, every great artistic level in the game has omitted the use of text in favour of telling its story through the gameplay, environments, progression, and colours. 3. lonely travel has been for over 7 years now been my favourite level of all time. it is so, so nice and no other level is like it in my eyes

common wherwin w

best youtuber

mountain climb > all

new wherwin video new bAsEd opinion

banjo kazooie thumbnail

there seems to just be something inevitably lame about levels that scream their narrative at you via text, though i don’t know if i could articulate what that something is. i much prefer levels where the storytelling is implicit like night life.

amazing acting

I didn't realize geometry dash players were so existential lol

This video doesn't deserve to be put in the Geometry Trash series

This is literally Me when 🪑

Lonely Travel, and Dem Travel by Serponge are the only good travel levels. Every other I have seen are so bad. I really like that FunnyGame and serponge could do something special, with that length and object count. The others are just a long generic art level, they might as well be a normal 90 sec level.

TMN's level is kinda cringe to me, tbh.

Hol up lonely travel is a story level?

i watch geometry dash videos for the story

i thought you were going to talk about skeleton war ngl..

I feel like this should be a video about using Geometry Dash as an artistic medium rather than story levels but good video nonetheless.

Hey all

Fernanfloo 3

5:05 "you need to stop worrying, you need to stop thinking like that" brother I think you outlined a main reason why the level was created. Because you have done what tons of people can't, your opinion is a little out of touch. He is reaching to those that have NEVER completed a level but always have put the hours in just to get demotivated and to never come close to completion. It can be a mental struggle, and telling people to just stop thinking so negatively is like telling someone to stop being depressed. Sorry.

the only good one is the dog one

Art is geometry dash is always a balancing act, as it is with a lot of games where story and art arent necessarily the primary focus. I think that well executed story levels often take extreme effort to communicate simple themes for minimal payoff unless they go the movie route, but the gimmicky nature of gd levels as stories l holds a lot of those back from having genuine potential as creative projects instead of just “quite cool that they made that in GD ig”

Best story level: only in ohio dawg

geometry dash