'Soar' (Demon) by Puueds | Geometry Dash 2.11

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Puueds was one of the creators in Down Unda, and from what I could tell, he made some really good stuff there. The host of that, DanZmeN, recommended his new level to me, which I was excited to try out considering his contributions to that megacollab. This did not disappoint. It's a very good modern level, and the gameplay is quite fun too. This stays consistent for nearly 3 minutes. The length was definitely a bit surprising as it's rare to see levels this long, but it's always a good surprise when the quality stays this good.

As Puueds says in the level's description, this is based around the Ship gamemode, and that's obvious both from playing and watching. Ship parts take up the majority of this level. Usually, that may result in repetitive and/or boring gameplay, but he did a good job of keeping it varied. There's a lot of good orb usage, and some good Dual parts as well. The visuals are also quite varied throughout the level, which keeps it interesting. It feels like you're travelling around the world, or to fit the level's name better, soaring around the world. The backgrounds, block designs, decorations, and colors change completely from part to part, but Puueds's style and gameplay still keeps it consistent and cohesive.

My only complaint about this level is that some parts feel a bit too static. There's a lot of places where more movements could have synchronized nicely to the song, but this level doesn't have too much of that. None of the structures move much, for example. It's a minor complaint overall, but it's something that could have improved this level. All in all, I think this deserves an Epic Medium Demon rating. Some parts are a bit tricky to get down, and beating it takes some practice due to its length, but I'd say it's fun to learn.

- VIDEO INFO -
Game (version): Geometry Dash (2.11)
Level: Soar by Puueds
ID: 81764520
Music: -Welkin Wing- by Waterflame

- OTHER -

#modern

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Hey, it's Puueds. I got a lot to say when it comes to this level but first off: HOLY SHIT THANK YOU FOR SHOWCASING MY LEVEL! I am writing right after I just woke up at 7am here and I also want to thank Danzmen for recommending the level to you. Good man, and watched him play soar right when it released like 8 hours ago.

So about Soar, yep it was designed around the idea of soaring/flying by using the ship game mode as the vehicle to sell that idea. I wanted to make it more simpler compared to today's demons of ship gameplay, being either really weirdly made to the point that not a lot of people don't want to touch or so basic the gameplay was extremely underwhelming. I also wanted to emphasise on the ship's non-linearity in this level because of Robtop's main levels having that aspect of avoiding objects that you don't see that well simply made nowadays. Though, Soar didn't really achieve that due to its speed, orbs and design of obstacles, the non-linearity aspect is still kinda there which is good. Also had to make sure it didn't feel like a gimmick, like the levels that base their entire premise on one game mode. The reason I didn't want that was because it felt extremely surface level, even with its exploration of the game mode. Not using other game modes is fine, and of course having variety within a 2min 40 second level is probably needed, but in my eyes, Soar was made to ensure that players can get a break from the ship game mode being as extensive as is to keep the level's pacing in check. A lot of levels have pacing issues whether you die too much in a few parts leading to the level feeling too long, or it keeps a level of intensity for too long or short. So Soar, from the ground up, was designed to be an adventure that holistically tied in flying with the ship game mode while feeling like you're on a real journey.

So about those animations. Word of advice: Never do them. It looks hella cool, but when you get into it, you will realise you took the pen and fill tool for granted. There are about 30+ animation frames within the ending alone. One frame containing both the player's ship and icon and the sea particles, both of which are gruelling to make. It probably took 20-30+ hours just making that perspective animation alone and yes, it was worth it, and I would stubbornly keep doing animations but man, in my eyes, that was the only good part lol. The perspective animation was also hard to pull off, it was my first attempt at something like this. So, of course there's some tiny qualms I have with it, but in the end it was worth it. There were a lot of components to the animation I'll list out:
- Perspective of player + pedometer (this was the most bitchy element of them all, there's only 4 frames of this thing and it shows)
- Sea particles
- Clouds
- Thrust effect
- Lens flare

The player colours were also a bitch to manage for the animation, you have no idea if someone will decide to use the weirdest or worst player colour combinations and the animation just falls apart in visual design. That was a huge challenge in the pedometer and pedal animations, making sure they both were clear regardless of chosen player colours. Yeah, it still kinda stunk.

There were also some other slightly unnoticeable things (which is fine and good) about the rule that were laid as some rules:
- No transitionary effects (flash bangs or fade to black), I wanted the level to feel and be seamless because at the end of the day, you don't experience these effects in the real world unless you had no other option to tell the time and just look at the sun. Of course there was the clouds at the end of the sky part and that animation too, but ehhhh they're kinda non-issues here.
- It followed a morning - late afternoon cycle. The morning aspect was scuffed because that was me trying to get back into the game and it shows with the first part. But the rest of the level did that pretty well in my eyes. Really adds on to that journey experience that players may experience themselves.

And the complaints, yeah I agree with them now. Movements could've definitely helped, but that would've made designing the visual clarity a lot more of a bitch and it's also a bitch regardless with moving into place with platforms. Still, I'll take that into consideration for my future levels and sequel that will be entirely different to what you expect from the context of this level (still will keep that flying and journey aspect).

And that's all my thoughts on Soar, thanks again for showcasing!

Puueds

I really love it when levels keep only the most important details and colors, rather than having tons of designs that appear messy. Love the clean atmosphere and colors!

SmitN

The ending animation is so cooool!! Great modern level, looks fun! ^-^

MrBenjiii

1:23 THERE I AM!!!! Banger level Puueds! Hope to see this rated, and thank you for including me in this sick level!! :)

Misterbeff

Frame-by-frame animations are quite a pain to build in the gd editor, but they end up looking so cool. Such a nice level!

msm_

I love this. It is so simplistic and charming.

SamiLB_

A pretty nice level in my opinion I like how it is composed in general, the designs are simple but very neat which I like a lot as well as its modern style which is very showy and adorable combining a very appropriate song, likewise some effects and animations give a quite cohesive feeling, the gameplay remains very good visually even fun to play even if I'm not doing it myself at the moment, overall beautiful level!

adnaygd

I love minimalist levels, this one in particular is very creative and very well set and comfortable to play, reminds me a bit of Overdefo levels!.

hutnixgd

This is so funky, the ideas mixed with the gameplay makes it feel cohesive even when the level consists of mostly one gamemode (ship). Very cool :>

jamesramirez