Triggers are features in the Geometry Dash level editor used to manipulate surrounding objects in levels. All triggers other than the Start Position trigger are used in levels as an effect trigger. Triggers can be selected on the 13th tab, apart from the Letter triggers, represented by the colour trigger in Update 2.1, formerly split up into other triggers.
While the feature of triggers has been existent since being introduced in game release, object triggers have been formally introduced in Update 2.0.
There are 131 different types of triggers, all of which can be found in the table below.
Types[]
Letter triggers have special effects on specific forms under certain conditions. Unlike most triggers, they are found under the sixth tab of the level editor.
| Trigger | Description | Introduced |
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'D' (Dart) block: Suppresses the wave from receiving damage from platforms. | Update 2.1 |
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'J' (Jump) block: Suppresses the cube from performing a consecutive jump when input button is held. | Update 2.1 |
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'S' (Stop) block: Stops the effects of dash rings. | Update 2.1 |
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'H' (Hit) block: Suppresses the cube, robot and spider from receiving overhead damage. | Update 2.1 |
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'F' (Flip) block: Causes the player to flip gravity when hitting a block overhead. | Update 2.2 |
Changes the colour of the specified group or channel. The transition time from the original colour to the new colour is set with the 'Fade time' bar.
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Superseded triggers[]
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
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Move triggers are triggers that move certain groups of objects around in a level. To use this the player will have to know how to group objects under a specific group.
Once the player has given the group of objects a group ID, they may open the "Edit Object" menu while the move trigger is selected. The player will get a Move X input, a Move Y input, 2 checkboxes labelled "Lock to player X/Y", an Easing option, a moving time, a target Group ID, and the touch-triggered and spawn-triggered checkboxes. The Target Group ID controls which group of objects the player are currently going to be moving. Set the number equal to the number of the group that the player want to move. The player can then change the Move X and the Move Y to control the amount of movement the group will move.
The "Lock to Player X/Y" checkboxes will ignore the number inputted above them and will instead move the group perfectly to any move the player makes. It will look like the object is moving at the same speed of the player, or is just not moving at all depending on how much of the level the player see. Applying two locking to player X's will make the objects move twice the speed of the player. If enough objects are in the group and are used correctly, it can make it seem like the player is moving backwards through the level. The easing controls the distribution of movement across time. Some are easy to understand, such as “bounce”, but others are not as straightforward and if used creatively can achieve special effects (for example, the sine easing allows circular motion of objects). The move time controls how long it will take to complete the movement. As soon as that much time has elapsed, the group will be at the target destination and will stop moving, unless there is another move trigger. Similar to colour triggers, the time range is from 0.00s to 10.00s and can be set for more than that manually. Triggers and speed portals can only be moved vertically. Form portals' grids will not move with the portals, making it possible to make an offset of the grid. This trigger appears as magenta/pink in the level editor. |
Update 2.0 |
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The stop trigger terminates the functions of all triggers within a selected group. To do this, the player must input the group ID of a trigger they wish to stop in the text box labelled "Group ID," and place the trigger in a convenient location.
This trigger incorporates the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as maroon in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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Pulse Triggers will change a colour channel or group to one colour temporarily.
In the bottom-right of the screen, there should be a field marked "Channel ID". Right above it are two buttons, one labelled "Channel" and one labelled "Group". The channel button will cause all objects using or copying the specified channel to pulse, while the group button will do the same except it will affect all objects using a group. Above those two are two more buttons, one reading "Color" and the other "HSV". Colour should be automatically selected and will cause the colour wheel to appear. A colour may be chosen from there to cause the specified group/channel to pulse the chosen colour. The HSV is for selecting colours similar to another and will change when the source colour is changed. Below the HSV options/colour wheel, there are three sliders, one "Fade-In," one "Hold," and one "Fade-Out." These are self-explanatory; the values in the fields should match the time in seconds the colour should fade in, stay, and fade out respectively. Similar to Colour Triggers, there are two buttons labelled Copy and Paste in the top-right, both serving the same function. This trigger appears as yellow in the level editor. |
Update 2.0 |
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Alpha triggers are triggers that affect the transparency of a group of objects. Under the Group ID field, there are two sliders: FadeTime and Opacity. FadeTime is the time in seconds it should take for the specified group to reach the opacity selected using the Opacity slider.
This trigger appears as cyan/light blue in the level editor. |
Update 2.0 |
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Toggle triggers completely (de)activate a group of objects. If the tick box "Activate Group" is left unticked, the group will immediately disappear when passing by the trigger and the player can go through any platforms or obstacles in this particular group. If it is ticked, then the opposite will happen: the group will reappear and the player will not be able to pass through the hazards and static objects.
Note that toggle triggers can take on two different colors in the editor depending on whether they are set to on or off. When it activates a group, it appears light green. When it deactivates a group, it appears lobster red. In the editor, it appears as the default lobster red. |
Update 2.0 |
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Spawn triggers activate a certain group of triggers that are marked "Spawn Triggered". When activated, the group to be activated will be triggered at the same time, regardless of horizontal placement. In Update 2.1 the trigger was updated with an option to delay the group's activation with a slider, with Update 2.2 adding increased precision to the delay. By default, the triggers activated by a spawn trigger can only be triggered once, even if the player passes by multiple spawn triggers activating the same triggers. This can be changed by checking the "Multi Activate" box in the triggers being spawn triggered.
This trigger appears as teal green in the level editor. |
Update 2.0 |
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Rotation triggers allow the player to rotate objects within levels. In this trigger's edit menu, there is a degrees slider, a Times 360 slider, 3 checkboxes labelled "Target Group ID," "Center Group ID," and "Lock Object Rotation," an easing option, a moving time, and the touch-triggered and spawn-triggered checkboxes.
The target group is the group of objects that are to be rotated; the center group is the object the target group will rotate around. As stated in this trigger's help text, only one object can be in the center group. The number of degrees the target group will rotate is circumscribed by the "degrees" slider, and the "Times 360" slider defines how many times the objects will rotate by 360 degrees alongside the amount determined by the "degrees" slider. Selecting "Lock object rotation" will keep the objects in their original position upon and throughout their rotation. Not selecting this will result in the rotation of the objects within the target group around their own axes, corresponding with the degrees each object rotates around the center group. The move time controls how long it will take to complete the movement. As soon as that much time has elapsed, the group will be at the target destination and will stop moving, unless there is another rotation trigger. Similar to move triggers, the time range is from 0.00s to 10.00s and can be set for more than that manually. The easing controls the distribution of movement across time. Some are easy to understand, such as “bounce”, but others are not as straightforward and if used creatively can achieve special effects. This trigger appears as cornflower blue in the editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The Scale Trigger is used to scale a specific Group ID. Its interface is seen below. After that, each option is described.
Target Group ID: The objects you want to scale. Center Group ID: The center the objects should scale from. This Group ID can only consist of a single object. Leaving this as 0 will result in all objects scaling from their own center. Duration: The duration you want the scaling to last. ScaleX/ScaleY: How much you want to scale the objects in the X and Y direction respectively. Div by Value X/Y: Divides the current scale by this number and uses this as the target value. If you want to scale an object and have it return to its original size, you can use "ScaleX/ScaleY" like normal on the first Scale Trigger, and simply tick the "Div by Value" boxes when scaling back on another Scale Trigger. For example, if you want to scale a block to 3.00, put "ScaleX" and "ScaleY" to 3.00. If you want it to return to 1.00 now, you would need to put 1/3 into the fields. This is not possible and leads to inaccuracies. By ticking the "Divide by Value" box, you divide the scale by 3.00, which brings you back to 1.00. This trigger appears as blue bell in the level editor. |
Update 2.2 |
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The follow trigger allows specific objects to follow other objects that are being moved with the move trigger. This trigger's edit menu includes 3 sliders and 2 selectors: "X Mod," "Y Mod," "Move Time," & "Target Group ID," and "Follow Group ID."
The "target" group is the objects that will follow the specified "follow" group. The target group will only follow the "follow" group if the objects in there are moving. The X-modification and Y-modification sliders define how abnormal the target destination will be in reference to the follow group's destination. Setting 1 as the X or Y-Mod will result in a complete movement to the X or Y-position the follow group is at. Therefore, the numbers are based on percentages: -1 would be a -100%, or exact opposite, movement; 0.5 would be a 50%, or half-finished, movement, and so forth. The X and Y-Mod ranges are from -1 to 1, but it can be set for more than manually. The move time controls how long it will take to complete the movement. As soon as that much time has elapsed, the group will stop moving, regardless of whether it is at the target destination or not, unless there is another follow trigger. Similar to colour, move and rotation triggers, the time range is from 0.00s to 10.00s and can be set for more than that manually. This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as melon with a hint of salmon in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The Animate Trigger is used to give custom animations to Monsters, and it can also be used to activate the animation of Animated Objects.
Group ID: The Group ID of the objects you want to animate or change the animation of. Animation ID: Only used for Monsters. Check the information box in-game to get information about what "Animation ID" refers to what monster. |
Update 2.1 |
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This trigger is a variation of the Follow Trigger; it allows selected objects to follow the player in the Y-axis. In this trigger's edit menu, there are 3 sliders, 2 input boxes, and 1 selector: "Speed," "Delay," "MoveTime," "Offset," "Max Speed," "Target Group ID,".
The Speed slider is the multiplier of the target group's velocity when following the Player's Y axis position, the max being the player's Y velocity. The Delay slider controls how much time it should pass before the target group goes to the Player's Y-Axis current position. The "Move time" slider is how long the function should take effect. The "Offset" input box tells what position the target group should be (Positive number being above the player, negative being below) This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as vanilla/light yellow in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The touch trigger may be configured to make tapping/holding the screen (or the mouse) (de)activate a group of objects. In this triggers edit menu, there is 1 selector and 4 tick boxes: "Group ID," "Dual Mode," "Hold Mode," "Toggle On," & "Toggle Off."
If the "Dual Mode" tick box is left unticked, the trigger works for both of the icons if the player is in dual mode. If it is not, the trigger only works with the original icon. If the player checks the tick box labelled "Hold Mode," the trigger functions as long as the player is holding down on their mouse, screen, or spacebar, and the player's icon is past the trigger or within it (if the touch-triggered tick box is ticked). "Toggle On" and "Toggle Off" determines whether or not holding/tapping/clicking will toggle the specified group on or off. If left unchecked, continued tapping will cycle between toggle on and off. In "Hold Mode", holding will toggle on and releasing will toggle off, but if "Toggle On" is selected, the actions are reversed. This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as blue bolt in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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Count triggers are used to trigger actions after the player has collected a specific amount of items. In this trigger's edit menu, there are 3 selectors and 2 tickboxes: "Item ID," "Target ID," "Target Count," and "Activate Group," and "Multi Activate."
The target group is the group that is to be (de)activated; the item group is the group of items that are deemed the collectables; the target count is the amount of items needed to (de)activate the target group. The player may select whether or not achieving the target count deactivates or activates the target group with the "Activate Group" tick box (ticked = activates; unticked = deactivates). In correspondence with this trigger, there is a live object counter that shows the player's progress regarding how many of the specific items they have collected. This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as light-pink in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The instant count trigger serves as a secondary, conditional Count Trigger. This trigger's edit menu is almost identical to that of the Count Trigger's, there are 3 selectors and 4 tick boxes: "Item ID," "Target ID," "Target Count," and "Activate Group," "Equals," "Larger," & "Smaller."
The target group is the group that is to be (de)activated; the item group is the group of items that are deemed the collectables; the target count is the number of items that determines when the target group will be (de)activated. The tick boxes, "Equals," "Larger," and "Smaller", determine when the target group will be (de)activated.
The player may select whether or not achieving the target count deactivates or activates the target group with the "Activate Group" tick box (ticked = activates; unticked = deactivates). This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as lightish-pink in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The pickup trigger serves as a secondary count trigger. There are 2 selectors in this trigger's edit menu: "Item ID" and "Count." The item ID is the ID given to an object counter and the "count" selector defines which number the counter should begin counting on.
This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as vermilion/orange in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The collision trigger sets off an action upon two selected collision block's encounter. It uses a special block called "Collision block"
The player is to assign IDs to 2 blocks (block A/B), which are the blocks that are to collide. Keep in note that one of the said blocks must have the "Dynamic Block" box checked in order to work. The player may determine whether block A and B's collision shall make the target objects activate or deactivate. The player must also input the "Target ID," which is the Group ID of the object(s) the player wishes to (de)activate. If the "Trigger On Exit" tick box is checked, the trigger will function when both blocks were but are no longer within each other's hitbox. When the trigger functions, the target group will be (de)activated, and it will work as a Spawn trigger to the same group; every "Spawn-Triggered" trigger in the group will be activated (if the player chose to activate the target group). This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as light blue in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
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The On Death Trigger triggers an action upon the player's icon's death. The player must first entitle the trigger to a group of objects with an ID. Then, the player may choose to either activate or disable the group of objects.
This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options and appears as a brick red in the level editor. |
Update 2.1 |
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|
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Shake triggers shake the view of the screen. Upon editing this trigger the player will see 3 selectors: Shake, Interval, and Duration. These allow the player to alter how intense the shaking is, the rate at which the shaking gets more intense, and how long the shaking lasts.
This trigger includes the Spawn-Triggered and Touch-Triggered options. It also looks very distinctive from the other triggers; it appears in the level editor as a zig-zagged line with the word "Shake" above it (most likely relating it to seismographic data). |
Update 2.1 |
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The secondary trail is a copy of the player's primary colour in the shape of the icon at its current position that is repeated as the other copies fade away behind the player.
The Enable Trigger enables the secondary trail left by a player. |
Initial release |
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The Disable Trigger disables the secondary trail left by a player. | Initial release |
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Disables hiding of the icon enabled by the Hide Icon Trigger. | |
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Hides the icon and any particle effects stemming directly from the icon (but not those produced by interactions with other objects) | |
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Background Effect On triggers enable the particles the player's cube (if grounded), ship, UFO and/or wave exerts. If the Background Effect Off was in use beforehand, the Background Effect On trigger nullifies the elimination thereof. | |
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Background Effect Off triggers eliminate the particles the player's cube (if grounded), ship, UFO, and/or wave exerts. | |
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TimeWarp triggers modify the speed of the game. | Update 2.2 |
Camera triggers adjust the game's camera, which follows the player by default.
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
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Zoom triggers adjust the size of the camera's visible area, zooming it in or out. A larger value zooms the camera in, while a smaller value zooms it out. The default zoom amount is 1. | Update 2.2 |
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Static triggers fix the camera on an object with a certain group. The camera can be freed by using another Static trigger with the "Exit Static" option enabled. When the follow option is enabled, moving the target object also affects the camera. | Update 2.2 |
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Offset triggers move the camera a certain amount across the vertical or horizontal axis. | Update 2.2 |
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Gameplay offset triggers change the amount of space between the player and the camera's center. The default offset for both the X and Y is 25. | Update 2.2 |
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Camera rotate triggers rotate the camera to a specified angle, or rotates it by a certain amount of degrees if "Add" is enabled. | Update 2.2 |
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Edge triggers fix the selected camera edge to an object with a certain group. The camera can be freed by using another Edge trigger with a target group of 0. | Update 2.2 |
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Camera mode triggers toggle free-flying mode in forms that create walls on the top and bottom of the screen. | Update 2.2 |
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Guide triggers do not affect the level itself, instead acting as a way to preview the effects camera triggers have on a level. Camera settings for zoom and offset can be inputted. When in the editor, a visual guide appears that outlines the visible area that results:
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Update 2.2 |
Shader effect triggers control visual post-processing effects.
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
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Shader triggers limit the effects of other shader effect triggers to a specific range of object layers. The "Disable All" option can be used to disable all active shader effects at once. | Update 2.2 |
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ShockWave trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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ShockLine trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Glitch trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Chromatic trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Chromatic glitch trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Pixelate trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Lens Circle trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Radial blur trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Motion blur trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Bulge trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Pinch trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Gray scale trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Sepia trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Invert colour trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Hue trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Edit colour trigger. | Update 2.2 |
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Split screen trigger. | Update 2.2 |
Wip
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
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Song. | Update 2.2 |
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Edit Song. | Update 2.2 |
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SFX. | Update 2.2 |
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Edit SFX. | Update 2.2 |
Transition triggers affect how objects enter and exit the screen. This is cosmetic and does not affect physical gameplay (except the inaccessible in editor one).
| Trigger | Description | Introduced |
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No transition other than objects fading in and out as they enter and exit the screen | Initial release |
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Objects enter downwards and exit upwards | Initial release |
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Objects enter upwards and exit downwards | Initial release |
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Objects enter rightwards and exit leftwards | Initial release |
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Objects enter leftwards and exit rightwards | Initial release |
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Objects enter expanding and exit shrinking | Initial release |
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Objects enter shrinking and exit expanding | Initial release |
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Objects enter diagonally downward and rightwards and exit diagonally leftward and upwards | Initial release |
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Objects enter diagonally downward and leftwards and exit diagonally rightward and upwards | Initial release |
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Objects above the icon enter downwards and exit upwards and objects below the icon enter upwards and exit downwards | Initial release |
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Objects above the icon enter upwards and exit downwards and objects below the icon enter downwards and exit upwards | Initial release |
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Like two triggers listed above at once. | Update 2.2 |
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No transition | Update 2.2 |
| Trigger | Setup menu | Description | Introduced |
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Start Position sets the point the icon spawns from when playing the level, overriding the original spawn position at the beginning of the level. Includes options for setting the starting form, speed, size, direction of gameplay, and dual mode. | Initial release |
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Item counters are used in conjunction with count triggers as a counter display. | Update 2.1 |
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Collision blocks are used in conjunction with collision triggers as a means of toggling objects on or off when a pair of collision blocks are in contact with each other. One of the blocks in the pair must be set as dynamic. | Update 2.1 |
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The options trigger acts as a way to control several miscellaneous properties in a level:
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Update 2.2 |
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The teleport trigger teleports the player to a given group ID when activated, with options to change the velocity of the player after being teleported. It also has an orb version, which teleports the player after being clicked, and a portal, which looks identical to the blue teleport portal, however it is not attached to an orange portal. An orange teleport portal decoration is available, however. | Update 2.2 |
Touch Triggered and Spawn Triggered[]
All triggers but the transition triggers have a "Touch Triggered" option. Enabling this will give the trigger a hitbox; the trigger will be activated only if the player enters the hitbox.
Every trigger mentioned before here excluding the transition triggers also have a "Spawn Triggered" option. Enabling this will make the trigger not activate at all (not even if the player goes past it) until it is spawned using the spawn mechanic found in spawn, touch, count, and collision triggers.
Trivia[]
- Before Update 2.2, almost every trigger added in Update 2.1 had either unfinished or placeholder help text such as "X trigger help" or "X trigger command help."
- To compensate for the unfinished help text, RobTop created two levels named "Editor Examples 002" and "Editor Examples 003", which demonstrate the functions of the new 2.1 triggers.
- In Update 2.0, infinite colour channels were introduced, allowing players to now use far more colors in various background objects and tiles, unlike before in 1.9, when players are limited to only four colour channels. As of Update 2.1, the max amount of colour channels is 999.
- The square-shaped custom ring in the editor serves as a toggle trigger: it can activate or deactivate a group upon tapping.
- The item pickups may also serve as touch toggle triggers: it can activate or deactivate a group upon being touched.
- The player may disable the effects of shake triggers in Options, where they may select "Disable Shake Effects."
- In Update 2.1, the triggers that changed the line, ground 1, ground 2, background, object colour, and 3DL were merged into a new trigger, the colour trigger.
- The player can navigate to the "+" symbol in the Colour trigger, thereby opening the "Special Colour Select" to acquire the ability to change a special colour.
- The "Tint Ground" option is exclusive to the background colour trigger. It would change the ground 1 colour to the same colour as the background.
- This doesn't work in the editor's play test mode.
- The original special colour triggers (BG, G, G2, LINE, OBJ, 3DL) can be used by copying one of them as a special object or adding them to the player’s custom objects in/from a level made before Update 2.1 was released.
- There is an unused counter trigger texture accessible by selecting it on custom delete.
- The solid start position was a "level end" object that did nothing in 1.0.
- In Update 2.2, an end trigger was added, acting how the unused trigger is suspected to have worked, ending the level upon activation.
- If a Spawn trigger is configured to spawn a Stop trigger with more than 0 delay and the Stop trigger is configured to stop the Spawn trigger, the game crashes.
- SPAWN Group 2 (in Group 1) --> STOP Group 1 (in Group 2)
- Fixed in Geometry Dash World 2.2.11.
- Spawning a trigger that is spawn triggered, touch triggered and multi activate (obtainable by editing level data) makes it no longer touch triggerable.
- But not in Geometry Dash World 2.2.11.
- Some colors of the background, ground and others have colour channels too, being (since 2.2):
- 1000 - BG
- 1001 - G1
- 1002 - Line(L)
- 1003 - 3DL
- 1004 - Object
- 1005 - P-Col 1
- 1006 - P-Col 2
- 1007 - Light BG
- 1009 - G2
- 1010 - Black
- 1011 - White
- 1012 - Lighter
- 1013 - MG
- 1014 - MG2
Any more than 1014 will only return "N/A".