Why You Can't Get A Rated Level In Geometry Dash 2.2. 

At 1:46 I meant to say the FLOOR instead of the ceiling for good levels, very important correction. Also before asking what a certain level is, look at the bottom left corner of the video, the ID is there for a short period of time for each clip.

I really wish there was a community rating system, the idea that a select few people are the only ones able to actually rate levels despite how many players rate it. It makes anyone that hasn't made a level before feel like it's impossible to even have a chance at getting rated with how many levels are being released

Now I feel old realizing 2017 was 7 years ago.

I honestly feel like it's a lot easier to get a rated level with 2.2 being released, especially if it's a platformer level. I made shiftleaf temple in just 2 days and it managed to get featured, while my 2 rated levels from 2.2 took a month to build at the very quickest. Obviously I'm a sample size of 1, but with so many new blocks and features that allow for unique level design, there's a lot less emphasis on having to create your own unique assets, and allows you to rely on newer features a lot more

The reason i Ieft gd in 2.1 was because levels got to the point where the decoration was more important than the gameplay. It still is and I'd rather have fun playing the game rather than have my eyes bleed out from epilepsy inducing effects. At least platformer levels are more gameplay focused so I've been having a way more enjoyable time with them.

Yes, i kinda agree with stuff in this video. But there is not only rating standarts thing that makes getting rate on your lvl harder, another bug thing is get enough luck to be noticed due to rating system. Even if you are good enough to get a rate on your lvl you still can wait months or years waiting the moment you get noticed, at the same time looking at popular creators who can even get rate without sending their lvl anywhere.

The main issue with legendary and godlike, is it didn't give more space for new creators to get rated, just made it more stressful for already good creators

Agreed. I played GD for 4 years now, and I gave up with the editor because of how complex it is.

I had a very similar thought before 2.2 came out. I saw these astonishing levels like change of scene and the like and I couldn't help but feel demotivated. And you are absolutely right. The core part of creating should always be the enjoyment. I just think there should be a seperate system for levels that are... okay. Levels that you can appreciate even if they definitely don't fit the current standard.

personally i think that mods should be able to star rate levels, and be able to send levels to rob if they think its worthy of something higher

The rating part on Godlike it was replaced by Mythic

Honestly, I toraly agree. As a "new" gd player(started early 2021), improving at the editor was pretty hard, but ,like you, I never expect to get rated level. Now I think I can make very good gameplay, however, deco is still not my best. I will learn in the future years. I just want to say thats, the biggest issue is not the quality of beginners's levels, but the rate system, a lot of insanely good level arent rated, cause creators are unknown. However this is very cool video.

i love how saying " back in my day " as a 2.0 user is valid due to how long its been

I have an idea on making creating something you don’t have to do for icons: make it more like a side quest for more orbs and diamonds, like the higher rating type a level gets the more orbs and diamonds you get, like 1000 for standard, 3000 for feature, 7500 for epic, so on and so forth.

Robtop has rated a variety of levels that aren’t the best. That doesn’t have ungodly amounts of decoration. Edit: Holy crap that’s a bit of likes

One thing that was a problem with even the average rate worthy level was that rob was only taking some parts of the day to rate a couple levels and now that he’s done with 2.2 he gets a break and can spend more time rating levels so there currently is a higher chance of getting your level rated

great video! this changed my mind about the new ratings; i originally thought they would just water down other ratings but I think I forgot how levels looked back when I started playing...

I tried making a 1.3-like level, got a sent from a single moderator ; results : 70% of "why is magic tab 💀", 20% of "imagine this gets rated", 8% of "gameplay is nice", 2% of "i'm gonna kms". I had fun making it, I also expected these kind of reviews due to the level being 1.3-like. Now I'm determined of making a game in GD, but since I cannot decorate, it may be not rated just for that (making a level with algorithms in it). I'm pretty sure that, if you want to get a creator point very easily, you need to collab with experienced builders, but going that way does not give me the recognition I would get if I did the whole thing alone.

i started noticing this since 2.1. and there is finaly a video talking about this, very well explained

Levels should be ratable regardless of deco (aside from obvious deco vomit). You shouldn't need a PHD in graphic design to get a basic non-awarded rate. Levels decorated like stereo madness and 1.0 should still be ratable as long as they play well. GD has long lost sight of its core value and it's a big reason why most people quit making levels, the standards are just too high

I think you make a great point about how putting the best levels in new higher tiers of ratings gives lowers standard levels more of a chance to be rated as they don't have to compete for the same rank as legendary lvls. I usually see more negative takes on these ratings.

I feel quite the contrary in 2.2 honestly. Standards going up is very true for normal classic levels, but it's not for other stuff and especially not platformer with all the new triggers. Currently you can get a rated level because you made something that is innovative and no one made before. Which is what happened to my first level, I got it rated not because it was particularly good I believe, but simply because I was the first one to make it That or you could see it like this: Before 2.2 you needed insane design and gameplay skills to get a level rated, now the range of skills you can show is much more varied

kinda gave up when tidal wave failed the mod vote because it didn't meet standards, if I ain't cooking up anything better than that why even bother

That's why I was in fear of 2.2 coming out anytime basically. If only we could have a legacy option for all the pre-2.2 levels.

Robtop has made a great decision by waiting to give godlike ratings out, and being sparing with legendaries. I’m hoping this will act as a kind of cushion so that when rate standard do rise, they have room to rise into, and thus it won’t effect the rate standards for rated, featured, and epic levels. 5:24

Good video. I still remember grinding for 2 years trying to get my first rated level 7 years ago. However, I'm not sure if i agree that the update will make creating harder to master. While i think that the editor has a lot more features now, I honestly am not too convinced that it'll be that much harder to pick up for new players than it previously was. there have been so many quality of life changes in 2.2, most notably the help buttons on triggers that make a lot of creating far easier to learn than it was. Every feature from 2.2 that i've interacted with so far I have been able to learn in minutes due to the better documentation, when in 2.1, I went years without having any idea how to use a lot of triggers.

i think there are 2 biggest issues here. the fact that robtop is 1 person and because of it you need luck for him to see, play and then deside to rate the level. second issue is that we dont know how good a level needs to be to get rated. it would really be nice if we could get clear directions to look at what needs to be done and use it to also cap the standarts to make them never go up. also yeah your example was a bit extreme. new player would not be able to make such a perfect level instantly like you did

splatoon music used, instant like

Yeah I definitely agree with most of this. As someone that has played the game since 1.8, I have made heaps of levels (like 100+) and they were all made just for fun (except one which I spent ages on to try and get rated which it unfortunately didn't lol). But looking back at the editor after a few years away from the game it is super overwhelming and honestly more confusing and badly laid out than it needs to be imo. It feels like the editor would have been good for what the game originally was - basically just blocks and spikes - but now that the game has grown so much I feel like the editor is massively due for an overhaul. But this is just coming from from the perspective of a programmer and game developer, the current state of the editor may actually be really convenient for people who have learnt it well

I tried to make a platformer level and ended with 150 downloads in a week. Now I feel demotivated :( Getting first CP at this point is very very hard

I feel like the opposite of this is true, so many platformers and newer 2.2 levels have been getting rated with very simple deco (like just pixel blocks n stuff) & so many people are getting their first rated levels with platformer

Wait im almost done with the vid and uust noticed the splatoon music

I hate how the standards have risen so much that it discourages people from making levels

So true, I had the 2.1 editor in my small finger, but now I feel as if its the first time making a level.

This is why i love making 1.9 lvs, i dont have to worry about movement triggers and such, and can focus more on making fun gp and deco

Good video explanation! I recently uploaded my first lvl and honestly was confused on how to get it rated. Hopefully it does get noticed later! Ill be happy with just a standard rating if possible.

I think the biggest reason for why the standards are so high is because only one person (that being robtop) can rate levels. That means that only so many levels are even given the chance to be rated. And robtop has proven plenty times before that his standards really arent that high. Its the mods that have the high standards. Personally I think elder mods should have the ability to rate levels. It would mean much more levels get that chance to be seen.

I love decorated levels but i also do love the standard old 1.0 style.

Love watching a nice and informative GD video while listening to the Splatoon music :))

To be honest, I think that creating a good level needs just as much skill as drawing pretty pictures, characters, or making great looking animation. Creating is a skill. A skill that is very hard to learn, and master. I do feel bad for newer players too, but if someone was really determined to quote on quote, "git gud", they would be a very great creator. I think it's great that little Jimmy's "awesome level" doesn't get rated, as it is far from good. But levels with decent looking gameplay and deco do get overlooked constantly. I'm not saying that the rating system is great. Far from it. I can't count the levels that go under the radar, which should've gotten atleast a star rate, but we need to acknowledge the fact that robtop is a single individual who can't rate as much levels as he wants to. This could be fixed with a team of moderators who are not only allowed to send levels, but also rate them, much like robtop. I have no clue why this isn't in place yet. It is very unfair.

there should be some kind of community ranking system for popular maps that are loved, similar to osu's loved map system. basically, if people like a map they can vote for it to be loved, and if a map receives enough votes, itd be sent to a moderator who would just look at the map to make sure it wasn't botted and if it's appropriate or somethin, and then just give it the loved rate if it meets those criteria (even if it's impossible) maybe maps in this system could give just orbs on completion, or diamonds instead of stars/moons or something but yea this would give more motivation to make maps for a lotta people and also help emerging creators get attention

this kinda makes me scared for trying to get a rated level

I was able to get my second set of creator points by making a platformer. I used a couple of tutorials, but I was shocked at how much I learnt just by experimenting with all the new triggers.

My friend got his level sent by a mod 2 months ago and it hasn’t been rated

I made a level 2 years ago that I never had time to verify but only a month ago I verified it and sent it to a couple of mods and they all denied it, I think it looks pretty good considering it has 40,000+ objects and is over 2 years old. The standards for a level to get sent now are insane, like I spent more than a month building and another month verifying and it still got rejected.

I think the main problem with gd tutorials is that there's enough videos about how to use the triggers, but nothing about what you can use them for(((

I think I'm happy with getting every icon and color that doesn't have anything to do with touching the level editor tbh unless I have certain connections or be good enough at the game to be able to verify other people's stuff

as an experienced creator i agree with you. i hope that the community aspects of the game will allow newer creators to jump into things, and i think we're seeing this rn. simple levels will still be possible as they were possible in the later portion of 2.1, at least imo

An idea would be for robtop to have a section in the extra tab where you can submit a part of your level to be decorated by others throughout the platform and you have the opportunity to pick one that does your favour. Now although this sounds boring since people will be editing for nothing, a new currency can be used to reward people who’ve submitted a decorated part of a level that’s been requested and has been accepted to the level and that these currencies could be decor points which can be used to have cool icons or banners/avatars to your gd profile if robtop is willing to do it. Something similar

I have several things to say about this video. 1. I think new creators should definitely have a chance to get their levels rated easily so that they can be motivated the keep creating. When their levels get rejected, it demotivates them to become creators and be part of the community. Yeah new creators do need some experience in the editor, but that doesn’t mean they need to create things like Emerald Realm, or And Ever. Rob doesn’t want the ability to get levels rated to be so hard and wants it to be fun, not making it impossible and unfun. When it comes to having fun creating levels (with the expectation of it getting rated), the enjoyment should be up to their standard and not with the community’s standards, so that they can have the motivation to continue creating levels and can improve their skills the more attention and feedback they get overtime. 2. It shouldn’t matter what you create and what gets rated as long as it’s fun and doesn’t look like crap or something totally effortless. 3. I agree with every word you said! Creators should have the right to create what they want and have fun with it instead of what the community expects from players. Great video! I’m still learning all the new triggers, block design, and other features too, so it will definitely take me a while until I get my next creator point lol

Glad that I was able to figure most of it out in 2.1, now the only thing I need to learn are the 2.2 triggers

I recently started again on level creation and I spend like 3 hours trying and testing things out only to get a semi-good working level, and then now I am expected to spend the next 5 months minimum learning new building techniques and level designs to only then get a 1% chance to get my level rated

1921 was 9 years ago, thats insane

lmao all i can think is how well every level he plays in the bg syncs to sinktopated

A way to fix this would be to give levels a rate tier above their current equivalent. Featured levels become epic, legendary become muthical. Thus, normal rate becomes featured, and there now is a tier below featured, or modernly star rate. This can allow for more rates and better and more accessible standards.

The standard is way too high imo I dont think forcing players to spend an entire month to make a single epic level is healthy at all, but what do i know I hope it is like u said, and the new ratings allow more levels to get rated Since we are at it, mods should also revisit old 2.1 levels and change their rating to adjust them to modern standards, as to not confuse new players seeing levels with literally no decoration getting rated

1:37 The greatest Punchline ever

Another thing that bothers me as a player, since I don't dabble in creation, is that most levels focus so much on spectacle nowadays that they're extremely confusing. I'm no pro player, I'm missing out on three of the base game's insane levels (Clutterfunk, Electordynamix and Hexagon Force - I haven't beaten Dash either, but I'm not counting it because the reason for that is how the game drops to fractional fps when I reach the ship part), but I can't for the life of me beat any recent level rated higher than hard. All the flashing lights are painful to look at and the excessive movement makes sight-reading anything virtually impossible. It's definitely possible to implement 2.1 and 2.2's features in fun ways, just look at Meltdown and Subzero's levels, but it seems to me most custom levels just want to be flashy and pretty to look at while neglecting gameplay. The 2.0 issue with repetitiveness still very much exists, it's just harder to notice because it's hidden under five different layers of vanity effects.

appreciating the Splatoon Music

I never made a level before and uploaded it to the server until the 2.2 has appeared. I just wanted to make my very first level it is called "The Quiet Atlantis" and I used the editor for more than 30 hours to make that level, because I didn't have experience. The gameplay is good and I used the 2.2 features without being too gimmicky or to interfiere to what the players think. It git rated but it has inly 26 downloads and I realized that the standards are very high and I try the level that I'm making to be at least in the trending section.

at 6:22, i am also on the same boat, i only make layouts on songs i like because i am too lazy to make such masterpieces, however i still feel proud of all the layouts i've made because they are well-synced and worthwhile to just vibe with the songs. everyone has their own unique skill level whether its to play extreme demon levels, be an amazing platformer completionist, speedrunner, epic creator. happiness is created by us, not something to wait for. as long as you're happy, there's nothing to worry about.

Rob still very much appreciates basic decoration . If you can tie his block design, use a shader block. Simple and good gameplay can make a good featured level. The basic requirements though would need to be use of 3 or More gameplay modes, object count isn't necessarily required because you can make gimics with like 10 objects. Is at least long. And has good sync

I honestly hope the rating standards not neccesarily go up, but change, because people could spend a hundered hours on a level and not get rated, but then some kid makes a pixel dungeon platformer as his first level and it gets rated in an hour

Appreciate the use of Splatoon music

I am not that into building, but I do want to get all the achievements some day and one of the achievements requires you to have a rated level. This is gonna be really difficult for me since I don't really have experience with the editor at all

Bro even robtops level guide won’t get you a ratedlevel💀 HIS OWN GUIDE!!

Sort of unrelated: I feel like just star rates on levels aren’t that noticeable, all that’s there is the star. I think that difficulty names (below the face) should be coloured. My friend’s level “Be Awake Again” got rated, but I didn’t know until I read the comments (I should have seen the orbs tho)

I’ve already given up on getting a level rated and getting Creator points out of it back in 2.1. It’s in my dreams if I want to try again NOW in 2.2. Since I’ve given up, I’ve just been creating layouts using my favorite songs, and I like that.

Blus really said “back in my day”

I got my first rated level 3months ago and from that experience, you should know the editor first and have a LOT i mean a LOT of patience to get a rated level

I'm trying to built a platformer level, but there's some schenanigans with the "ignore timewarp" option in the time trigger (it doesn't work) and I think that when he'll fix that.. my idea of the level would be already out of the rated league 🥺

I want to get rated but my expectations are critically low of me getting a single rate

So true, I struggled with decorating, but tutorials help a lot and now I can make feature worthy levels😄

im wondering if osu ranking system can be implemented on gd rating system

What robtop should do now: - Rate Almost all levels sent to him - Feature what would previously get only rated - Epic feature what would previously get a normal feature - Legendary what would previously get eoic - Godlike would still be bear impossible

I played geometry dash when it was really popular in 2016, I keped losing and didnt touch it since.

I guess it's really hard for new players to catch on because when they start improving what older creators would have made even more intense stuff. But this is the same thing for pretty much any competitive game, the ones who have been playing the longest gets the advantage while the newer ones slink behind. But I kinda feel nostalgia each time I play some 2017 featured/epic level, it's such a breath of fresh air. Whenever you see those featured levels these days they are always full of intense decoration that is impressive, but just by looking at it makes me want to look away. It's like fun gameplay isn't a thing anymore and it's just how decorated it is and how many new features it uses

5:51 I feel like the legendary rate isn't looks like that, I think it's purple fire like in coaster mountain, and I never know there is godlike with blue fire, that was impressive

IDEA: community ratings: basically, the normal ratings give you creator points, but these give you community points, it’s basically so that if a level is really good but robtop won’t rate it, the community can (yes if you get a community and normally rated level on the same level, you get both)

6:23 literally me. I love making layouts that i know will never get rated

I love how he puts in splatoon music :)

I think with 2.2 it just made things sort of easier but kind of difficult too. With Legendary and Godlike's addition, not only has it made the expectations bigger, but lower, since I've been noticing the rise of star-rated levels, or levels that I personally think have basic decoration. At the end of the day, you still need to have luck with the moderators and Robtop himself if you ever want to get a rated level. But fun is most important. After a year of inactivity I returned last year by September to return releasing levels. And man how fun it turned to be. And with 2.2 it's even better. But enough about me. It all boils down to whether you enjoy making levels or not. Never force yourself or do levels mainly for Creator Points, otherwise you'll burn yourself. Not sure if this message made any sense, I just woke up 30 minutes ago. 😅

as a newer gd player myself, I can confirm that it's confusing to figure out how people create these mind blowing levels.

5:58 HE MISSED THE COIN

i spent days working on my first ever fully original level and finally released it a few days ago and it got barely any attention and isnt rated at all. its extremely unmotivating, and I had a really cool idea for a level but now I'm too worried that I'll spend a lot of time making it for no real reward

When I bought geometry dash (about a year ago) I was so excited to be working on my first level, and it was fun at first but later in making of that level, I had come up with another level that had a song I liked that was going to have a lot more detail and polish, with really cool mechanics as well. I had made a small snippet of it but I was still making my first level at the time so I said to myself "If I start working on a more complex level, the second half of the level I'm working on now will be inconsistent. I won't start working on the next level until I'm done with this one." which and I was aware of, somewhat demotivated me from working on the first level. I would remember Geometry Dash, work on the level for 4 days not making too much progress, then forget about it for another month. I eventually had to stop using my computer for 7 months and when I heard 2.2 released, I had to start playing again. I linked my account on another device about a week ago and finished the first level but I'm not sure if limiting myself was the best idea. One thing for certain is now working onto that snippet I made in back in 2.1 with all the 2.2 features now available will make the level a lot easier to make. If you wanna make another level in the middle of one, go ahead, it's completely fine.

All of the splatoon music in the background is triggering nostalgia

6:26 Yea, literally me. I have tons of fun creating some silly layouts with nong music just to play them myself, never even uploading them

there are two things that I never thought would happen: 2.2 coming out and me getting a rated level. Not only did 2.2 come out and I love it, but shortly after I got my 1st rate since I became a creator 7 years ago (yes ive been waiting that long). I am saying this because I want to give people hope for a rate, It feels as good as getting #1 on the leaderboards.

Man, I'm never gonna get a level rated anytime soon guess i just gotta get better at the editor step by step or its because i just dont try

The real problem is how lucky you need to get for robtop to see your level

This is SOO true. I am an experienced creator, and I made a level in late 2.1 with more than 50 k objects. But it was not rated. I think rob should give a chance to aspiring and new creators by at least giving it a base rating, so that they get encouraged and make better levels.

ID for the level "Awesome Level" seen in the video?

The only thing single handedly holding us back from this are the legendary and mythic ratings. The levels with much in it are getting those, thank goodness

i swear rob just rates random levels no matter the decoration or gameplay, also its so hard to get levels seen by mods if you dont already have a bunch of rated levels, ive been trying to get my level sent but no mods have even seen it despite me going in a bunch of level request streams, there are just so many levels being requested

Here are some words of advice from someone that got their first CPS in 2.2 : Improve on 1 aspect at a time, and most of all enjoy what you're doing. If you can't make complex designs, go with pixel art. if you cant make pixel art, use modern art. If you can't make that, then you might prefer the programming aspect of the editor. Get wild with it. Learn the triggers and how you can use them in fun ways. Remake games in gd, but always add twists! Personally I suck at building designs, but I recreated VVVVVV in geometry dash using some of VVVVVVs art and it got featured. Just as long as you enjoy what you're doing, you will eventually get better, and eventually maybe have an idea that nobody had before, or create something worth robtop's notice... And remember, if you genuinely think your level is of similar quality to some star rated levels (or better), ALWAYS go to level request streams from mods. You can find them in the gd discord, and if they think your level is good enough, they will send it to Robtop! :D

Getting a rated level is hard because RopTop doesn't even see 25% of the levels that are sent by mods

I tried but kinda gave up on the new editor. In 2.1 I could make interesting layouts without spending too much time learning new triggers but now I spend way more time troubleshooting than designing

Having a standard star rating be so far off from the highest rate can make it so much better for those who aren’t as skilled with the editor or that just focus more on playing the game than making it. It can bring back the feeling of easy access to level creating with the potential to have 1000s see your work. The same thing already happens with levels, like icdx should be considered an extreme demon as it will act as a good gateway into a harder set of levels.

I honestly think that decoration shouldn't be a requirement at all for a level to get rated or featured. It doesn't affect the gameplay experience much besides making it look cool. Don't get me wrong, many levels are masterpieces because of great decoration alone, but a level not being considered a good level for the sole reason that it has bad or no decoration is dumb.