Artificial Ascent

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Artificial Ascent is a 2.0 Extreme Demon mega-collaboration level hosted and published by Viprin (the co-host/former host being LmAnubis) and verified by Combined on 11 December 2016. It was placed at #1 on the Demonlist soon after, surpassing Sakupen Hell, before itself being displaced a month later by Yatagarasu. It is the first installment of the Technology Trilogy, succeeded by Digital Descent and Cybernetic Crescent.

History

The video of the history of Artificial Ascent.

Artificial Ascent started as a solo remake of Cataclysm. According to LmAnubis, the original theme of the level was "an abandoned robotic factory coming to life," hence the name Artificial Ascent. The original level featured a song similar to the ones used in Cataclysm and Sakupen Hell. The decoration would have been mainly gray, with neon blue representing electricity. LmAnubis' goal was to "make a level similar to Cataclysm but with a slightly harder difficulty and a far more futuristic and scary atmosphere" that he could verify. LmAnubis had very high expectations for the level, so progress was extremely slow, as he was constantly remaking parts.

Around one month after the development of Artificial Ascent started, LmAnubis lost all the data on his device, as well as the original level. The original song was lost, and LmAnubis could not find it again. He would look for a replacement song on Dimrain47's YouTube channel and found Surface, which was completely unknown at the time. LmAnubis decided to turn Artificial Ascent into a mega-collaboration after some of his stream viewers suggested it.

The original theme was almost completely abandoned when the level became a mega-collaboration. After being invited by LmAnubis, Sanic would be the first to finish his part, and then Hinds. Zobros could not finish his part and left it half-finished, leaving LmAnubis to design the second half. The second half was themed around the UFO part in Bloodbath.

The next creator that LmAnubis would invite was Giron, but his part was cut because it was way too hard for the level. Anthrax was the next to finish, although the gameplay of the ship corridor at the end is unfinished in the final level. Crack originally had a part, but the part was cut as Viprin requested a ship part with more verticality but Crack had quit the game, although Crack's original part still exists above ZenthicAlpha's part in the final level. The next parts that were finished were Viprin's, Wamiq8's, and loogiah's. Manix648 then finished the second part in the level after the part went through multiple versions. At this point, LmAnubis had the first part, but he had trouble building it, so it was scrapped. According to him, the part resembled the first cube of Cataclysm.

The level would almost die as LmAnubis would go inactive for a long time. Since not many people knew about the level, he was thinking about leaving the level unfinished. Viprin asked if he could finish the level as the co-host, and LmAnubis accepted. Viprin added many new creators to the level: Codex, Michigun, ZenthicAlpha, nasgubb, AbstractDark, Etzer, Speed, Serponge, G4lvatron, and Terron. LmAnubis agreed to allow Viprin to upload the level to his account because of the amount of work he put into the level. The level was then verified by Combined.

Gameplay

• 0-4% (Codex): The level starts with a half-speed cube section replacing Anubis' part. It is commonly seen as the easiest part of the level, featuring some easy timings and jumps along with some orbs to hit. This part contains mostly gray decorations as well as some yellow decorations in the form of small orbs floating in the sky.
• 5-13% (Manix648): Occurring at the drop, this part is a very tight mini-wave segment, which becomes a triple-speed normal wave and then a mini-ship sequence with a few green orbs and portals. A short mini-cube block maze follows, with Manix's name, then a ship sequence with a few gravity portals and a dual mini-ball. Next is another ship sequence comprised of narrow spaces and a mini-cube section with blue orbs to end his part.
• 13-18% (Sanic): Sanic's part starts with a double-speed ship sequence with a couple of gravity portals in a one-block flying space. It then changes into a mini-ball with some spamming and a yellow orb which requires precise timing as there is a spike in front of it. The mini-ball changes into a dual cube section with a single jump, and the bottom cube turns into a normal ship which requires precise timing to jump for the cube while still maintaining a straight-fly. It turns back into a single mini-UFO with hard timings. Next, it is a robot with difficult green- and blue orb timings. Finally, it turns into a regular wave segment containing tight spaces enclosed with spikes and then a mini-wave, which also has very tight spaces, and then it turns back into a mini-cube.
• 19-25% (Hinds): This part starts with a single-speed mini-cube section and then a wave segment that transitions into a triple-speed mini-wave with tight spaces. It then turns into a mini-ball with slight timing at the pink orb and some spamming at the blue orbs. This is followed by a mini-cube, in which the player must hit a blue orb and becomes an upside-down mini-ship that requires straight-flying and goes through a gravity portal. The player must then hit a green orb and become a mini-cube with a slight block maze.
• 25-28% (Zobros + LmAnubis): This part is claimed to be the hardest in this level (while still being the shortest). It starts with an asymmetrical dual ship sequence containing a yellow orb that one of the ships must hit while maintaining a straight-fly on the other ship, making timing more difficult for the player. Both ships hit the surface and are split apart by a yellow orb that makes them go through the portal. After that, a straight-fly section is needed for both ships and two yellow orbs, which each ship has to use respectively. Next is a UFO segment with slightly hard timings of the blue orbs the player must hit.
• 28-32% (Michigun): This entire part is noticeably decorated with blue and orange colors, making it stand out more compared to all of the other parts. It starts with a large block jump where the player must land on an invisible platform on top of a spike, then an elevated jump leading into a string of four blue orbs where the player must wait to tap for a brief moment. Then, there are two yellow orbs and a triple spike jump, often seen as the signature of Michigun. If the player crashes at the triple spike, Michigun's signature cube pops up, along with text saying "Michigun wins".
• 32-36% (Anthrax): This part contains a background pulsing in all kinds of colors and some very detailed block design. The gameplay of this part is completely played as a ship with some moderately difficult flying featuring orbs to hit and gravity portals to go through. The very end of this part is an auto segment placed as a short break for the player to regain their composure.
• 36-40% (ZenthicAlpha): Unlike the previous part, this one only uses one type of color, that being blue in many different shades. His part begins with a short block maze and a ship sequence requiring some timing to hit a yellow- and green orb consecutively. Then comes another slightly longer block maze containing more orbs than the first one, and to end the part is a short mini-UFO spam segment. Above this part in the editor is an old part made by Crack.
• 40-44% (Viprin): It starts with a ball segment. Here, the player must traverse numerous different platforms and a green orb which requires timing to allow it to go through a small tunnel. It changes into a mini-ball with a yellow bounce pad shooting it up and switches gravity which transitions into a mini-wave with tight spaces. It then switches into a big cube with a jump and a pink orb which requires precise timing due to a half spike underneath it. The cube then hits a normal speed portal, and a full triple spike jump is needed to pass the obstacle. It is followed with a simple green orb jump and ends with a moderately tight ship part section.
• 44-48% (loogiah): Starting with an insane short auto segment, the triple-speed ship sequence is begun, which features numerous gravity portals with very tight spaces to fly through and a yellow orb leading into a cube with a single jump before the player rapidly enters a wave portal. This wave is very tight and utilizes music sync, which can guide the player. Using a similar cube transition like the one before, the player must now perform a short UFO spam before a hard straight-fly segment.
• 49-53% (Wamiq8): His part starts with two spike jumps requiring some timing. After this, the player changes into a mini-cube with two jumps needed to proceed into the next segment. It transitions into a mini-ball part which requires extreme timing to go between the spikes. Lastly, it changes into a mini-robot with two jumps requiring minor timings, and lastly, enters a half-speed ship sequence, ending his part.
• 53-58% (nasgubb): The song now slows down as the player is transmitted into the part. This part begins with a half-speed ship sequence where high maneuverability is required, as it also switches to double speed for a moment. Then, a quick double-speed cube jump follows, which then goes into a half-speed wave segment with very similar gameplay to that of the ship sequence, and this time, it is designed for the wave. Throughout the part, all decorations change colors in the corresponding order: Blue-Green-Yellow-Red.
• 58-64% (AbstractDark): Much like ZenthicAlpha's part, this part utilizes only different shades of blue as its color. The part begins with a mini-cube featuring some difficult timing involved while jumping and hitting orbs. An equally difficult ball comes next with a bunch of orbs of different types to tap. Coming up is a mini-UFO with precise timings while changing size at some points. In the end, a straight-flying section appears containing both size- and gravity portals appearing to the beat of the song throughout it.
• 64-70% (Etzer): This part starts as a long, tight ship sequence with the player having to maneuver through tons of spikes on the way as well as moving rainbow obstacles possessing a large threat. It then progresses to a UFO, which quickly transforms into a tight wave segment and a ball with transparent blocks that fade in and out of visibility in the second half of his part. The entire part is mostly black and white and features many moving objects with numerous different rainbow decorations along the way. It is considered the most iconic part of the level.
• 70-77% (Speed): With the song gaining some of the "upbeatness" again, this part is mostly timing-based and features lots of orbs to hit, with purple being the main color choice of the part. It begins with a double-speed portal leading into some more orbs to hit along with a short straight-fly sequence featuring gravity portals throughout before going back to cube again. Then, the player will find a cluster of orbs where it is required to remember which ones to hit. A short UFO segment follows with some gravity portals, and then another cube segment where timing is crucial. The final moments are played as a narrow wave and a mini-cube section with a few jumps, as well as some yellow/blue orbs before ending.
• 77-83% (Serponge): This part frequently alternates between cube and robot, comprising of suspended platforms with a bunch of spikes and gears to avoid throughout the whole part. Timing is essential here as all different orbs are placed to mess the player up as much as possible. The blocks here are decorated with stripes going through them, along with a purple/pink/red moving background along with similar platform motifs. Two final jumps end his part and lead the robot into the second to last part of the level.
• 83-90% (G4lvatron): This part starts with a relatively difficult mini-ship straight-fly sequence featuring numerous yellow orbs to avoid mid-flight along with four green orbs to hit in succession. It transitions to a wave segment with some moderate difficulty to it (in this part, there is an Easter egg). After this, there is a relatively easy mini-UFO segment (compared to the rest of the level) with some timing to it. Following this is a small cube maze with a single green orb to hit guiding the player into another ship sequence quite similar to the first one. This entire part also features constellations flying past the screen, both in the foreground and background, giving it a spacious feeling.
• 91-100% (Terron): The last part of the level, Terron's part, features a very active background flashing in different shades of blue and pink throughout the part. It begins with a normal cube dual which rapidly becomes a mixed dual switching between all kinds of game modes, one after another. In the middle of the part, however, there is a mini-straight-fly before quickly returning to the intense mixed dual. This continues for a while before a final solo cube appears with two orb jumps requiring no timing, followed by text saying "Combined", "AncientAnubis", "Artificial Ascent", and "GG" before the end of the level.

Wins

• Luqualizer is the first 60hz victor of Artificial Ascent on 3 February 2019.
• Coopersuper is the first to beat Artificial Ascent on mobile on 30 December 2020 in 31,613 attempts one of his highest attempt counts in any of his beaten levels.
  • On 1 March 2021, Artificial Ascent swapped positions with Sunset Sandstorm on the Low Refresh Rate Mobile Demonlist, with Sunset Sandstorm being #1 and Artificial Ascent being #2. It lasted #1 for 59 days.
  • Coopersuper beat this on a 60hz mobile device, while Noxop is the first High Refresh Rate victor of the level on 144hz on 2 September 2021.

Trivia

General

• The level is free to copy.
• The level contains 96,327 objects.
• The level is 2m 24s in length.
• The level was nominated for Best Demon Megacollab in the 2.0 The Geometry Dash Awards.
• The level was ranked #14 in GDToday's 100 Greatest Levels of All Time list.
• Artificial Ascent is the only level in the Technology Trilogy to not use a Creo song.
• Giron and Crack were both replaced by Michigun and ZenthicAlpha respectively.
  • Crack's old part still exists above ZenthicAlpha's part in the editor, as if it still formed part of the level.
• If the player crashes at Michigun's triple spike segment, Michigun's cube icon will appear and add "Wins" or "King" to Michigun's name, and the spaced-out triple spike will compress to normal.
  • With precise timing, it is possible to jump late enough to trigger the text to appear but still survive and continue the level as normal.
  • Similarly, if the player times their jump and dies on the upper half of the first spike, they will die, but the text will not appear.
• The level was originally hosted by LmAnubis before the level was managed by Viprin.
  • LmAnubis had no hand in the final level aside from decorating the second half of Zobros's part.
• The name is inspired by Bloodbath and Cataclysm because BB is short for Bloodbath, and CC is short for Cataclysm; the level was named Artificial Ascent to be AA.
  • Despite that, BB is also short for Black Blizzard and CC is also short for both Cyber Chaos and Cybernetic Crescent.
    • Cybernetic Crescent is also the third and final level of the Technology Trilogy.

Demonlist

• The level was initially placed at #1 on the Geometry Dash Demonlist on 4 January 2017, above Sakupen Hell (#2).
  • Right after the official Demonlist was created, it stayed on the #1 spot for ten days until it was dethroned by Sonic Wave along with Yatagarasu on 14 January 2017.
  • It is currently #22 on the Low Refresh Rate Demonlist, above Low Death (#23) and below The Reaper (#21).
  • It is currently #57 on the High Refresh Rate Mobile Demonlist, above Totem (#58) and below Sinister Incision (#56), and #20 on the Low Refresh Rate Mobile Demonlist, above Quantum Processing (#21) and below The Reaper (#19).
• Coincidentally, four people (Smokes, Theo, Slypp, and xander) beat Artificial Ascent on the same day - the first day of 2018.Template:Cite
• Sunix at one point was tasked to be the verifier, as Combined had issues with his computer. After getting it fixed, Sunix returned the level to the original verifier as he found verifying the level boring compared to Sonic Wave as he's practicing the latter.
• Zobros, Michigun, and AbstractDark's parts are claimed to be the hardest.
• SuperFX has a record of 92% as his first ever level he'll beat except for the official levels, he has an attempt to jump from Stereo Madness.
• Artificial Ascent is the 23rd former Top 1 in the game's history.
• This level was pushed out of the Top 5 twice by Digital Descent; first when it was initially placed, and second when it was moved back above Artificial Ascent after its buffdate.
• The placement of untitled unmastered on 13 September 2022 pushed Artificial Ascent to the Legacy List of the Demonlist.
  • Artificial Ascent beats Bloodbath's 1,997-day record for the longest-standing level before being pushed into the Legacy List being 2,078 days.
  • This also makes it the first level of the Technology Trilogy to fall off the list.

Gallery

• 
  The end-screen of Artificial Ascent.
• A design from the original Artificial Ascent, created by LmAnubis.
  A design from the original Artificial Ascent, created by LmAnubis.
• Giron's cut part in Artificial Ascent.
  Giron's cut part in Artificial Ascent.

Videos

VerificationPreview

File:ARTIFICIAL ASCENT 100% -LEGENDARY DEMON- - VIPRIN & MORE!

The verification of Artificial Ascent. Credits to Combined.

File:Artificial Ascent (preview) - AncientAnubis, Zobros, Viprin (me) & many more!

The official preview of Artificial Ascent showing the original nine parts. Credits to Viprin.