Editing Astral Divinity

{{IB-Level
 |image      = AstralDivinity.png
 |id         = 58811846 (Astral Divinity)<br>51775692 (God Eater, deleted)
 |creator    = [[knobbelboy]]
 |created    = [[Update 2.1]]
 |updated    = [[Update 2.2]]
 |difficulty = {{ExtremeDemon}}
 |stars      = 10
 |length     = 1m 30s (Long)
 |objects    = 147,434
 |copytype   = Password (1517)
 |downloads  = 8.11M
 |likes      = 287.1K
 |rating     = Epic
 |artist     = [https://liaquo.newgrounds.com/ lia;quo]
 |music      = [https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/732596 「Crystal Corruption」【Nightcore Edit】]
 |musicid    = 732596
}}
'''Astral Divinity''' (formerly known as '''God Eater''') is a [[Update 2.1|2.1]] Extreme Demon level by [[knobbelboy]]. knobbelboy verified the level as 'God Eater' on 6 January 2019,<ref name=":1">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgFPy9c_SnY&t=17s</ref> and it received an Epic rating on the same day. The level was removed from the [[Geometry Dash]] servers on 26 June 2019 due to copyright issues regarding the art and the level's name. knobbelboy replaced the copyrighted art, renamed the level 'Astral Divinity', and reverified the level on 22 December 2019,<ref name=":0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEzYofL2wuQ</ref> after which it was Epic-rated again that same day. Astral Divinity received high praise for its visuals but criticism for its gameplay and performance.

==History==
===Creation===
knobbelboy first revealed his new project, God Eater, to the public with a preview on 3 March 2017, showcasing roughly 25% of the gameplay and decorations already completed.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGLGxgVra18</ref> Over a month later, on 16 April 2017, he uploaded a second preview showcasing another ~30% of the completed gameplay and decoration.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCwQ1nAhOY</ref>

This project quickly went viral in the Geometry Dash community, with some saying it could be the best level ever. Unfortunately, this preview has become one of the most reuploaded videos in this game's space, prompting [[Sea]] to start his rant series. knobbelboy uploaded the third preview to avoid even more montages, and after some difficulties due to the object count, he finally finished the level.

===Verification===
knobbelboy then started the verification process and achieved 35% and 51% within a month. However, knobbelboy had to take a break to deal with a kidney stone and needed treatment. After recovering, knobbelboy resumed progress on God Eater and soon got a 95% fail. Nearly two years after the first preview on 6 January 2019, knobbelboy verified God Eater, and it was quickly rated.<ref name=":1" />

===Legal issues===
On 26 June 2019, God Eater suddenly disappeared from the servers. It was moved to the Legacy List of the [[Demonlist (Pointercrate)|Demonlist]]. All preview, progress, and verification videos for the level were removed from YouTube. Many speculated that knobbelboy had been hacked, and he made a community post saying he had not. He had removed all his videos about God Eater and asked [[Robert Topala|RobTop]] to delete the level from the servers, but he could not yet disclose the reason.

On 5 September 2019, knobbelboy announced that the level had been removed due to a legal dispute. The reason was that a bit less than a month before the level came out, the [[Wikipedia:God Eater 3|third instalment]] of the Japanese RPG franchise, ''[[Wikipedia:God Eater|God Eater]]'', was released in December 2018. When knobbelboy released the level roughly a month later, it drew the attention of the franchise's publishers, [[Wikipedia:Bandai Namco Entertainment|Bandai Namco]]. Upon its release, the level surpassed the ''God Eater'' game in YouTube viewership and overall attention. Considering how much more popular the level was than their own game release, and after noticing that the level included multiple segments of traced art from their game and technically used the game's name without permission, Bandai Namco filed a cease-and-desist letter against knobbelboy for copyright infringement in mid-July 2019. knobbelboy removed the videos, asked RobTop to delete the level and got a lawyer to represent him in the case, though how it went down was never revealed.

===Revival and rebrand===
Despite its removal, there was hope for God Eater. knobbelboy said that only the name and specific art were copyrighted. All the decorations were basically still his. Therefore, if he removed the copyrighted parts, he would be legally permitted to reupload the level to the servers. He asked the comment section of that video for a name and eventually settled on Astral Divinity.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9srjq6Sulok</ref>

On 13 December 2019, knobbelboy showcased the remade level, now renamed Astral Divinity.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wodMtL8I3e4</ref> He spent a few days verifying the level, and after a 95% fail, he verified it on 22 December 2019.<ref name=":0" />

On 15 July 2023, Astral Divinity received an optimization update created by GD Endy, reducing the number of objects from 294,675 to 147,432.<ref>https://x.com/knobbelnyu/status/1680293612158959616</ref>

==Description==
*'''0-11%:''' Astral Divinity begins with the player on a platform as a ship with a slow melody playing in the background. The decoration features rainbows and crystals throughout the screen. An LDM (Low Detail Mode) is available from the start, along with a ULDM (Ultra Low Detail Mode). The flying itself is moderately tight (straight-fly) and requires good manoeuvrability to pass. For a brief moment, things get mixed up with a yellow orb and a pair of gravity portals to mess up the player. About halfway through this part, the tune grows more sinister, and the player becomes a wave. This wave is not that hard compared to the level's overall difficulty. It switches between normal and mini sizes and dual mode a few times before entering the upcoming segment.
*'''11-27%:''' This part begins with the player, like a cube, jumping over a lava pit with both orb and regular timings, all while being chased by a giant monster, supposedly the 'God Eater' itself. This is then followed up by another similar section, but it is now played as a ball and the lava is replaced with water instead. This ball requires some well-timed clicks to get through, and the monster chasing the player does not make it any easier either. Transitioning via two green orbs, the player now plays as a robot in yet another similar part with acid as the floor this time. It yet again holds some tricky timings and gravity switching. As this ends, the player is taken to an auto section with a demonic face in the background, and the words 'Astral Divinity' and 'Good Luck' appear just before the Extreme Demon face appears, signalling the drop.
*'''27-46%:''' Here, the song gets a more upbeat tempo as the player enters a long four-part section, all with moons in the background. It starts with an extreme triple-speed ship sequence featuring many gravity portals, narrow passages, and a mini-portal at the end. Next comes a difficult fast wave with tight spaces and gravity portals scattered throughout this quarter. A very short auto follows as a dual-cube appears, starting with a few orbs right into a straight-fly quickly followed by a single ball input and a gravity-switching wave, all with insane timings. Next up is a long, straight-fly segment with some teleportation portals in the mix, followed by a dual-mini-cube section with a few difficult jumps leading into the next section of the level.
*'''46-61%:''' This part has many flashing lights and spikes on both the floor and the ceiling, beating to the song. The player is a ball and must perform some difficult and long timings. Coming up is another short auto with an eye-opening appearance in the background, following the player into the next segment. It is a unique part that contains large spinning objects, which now pose hazards to the player, who is playing as a ship. This flying is extremely difficult and requires pinpoint accuracy. Following is a transition with a ghost-like face in the background. Right before a long wave section with a very detailed spinning piece of art appearing in the background, resembling three dragons in a circle formation. The wave itself is tough and quickly switches size, then back, at the end of this part.
*'''61-82%:''' Next comes a short UFO section. Then, the player enters a cube sequence with a tattoo-like object in the background. Then, the tattoo's mouth opens up and turns into seven rainbow orbs. After the difficult cube, a ship flies through tight gaps and turns into a mini-ship later. Next, the very detailed Devourer of Gods wiggles through the background. The robot timing is difficult. After that, the player transforms into a UFO with a yellow portal above and many orbs. Next is a very tight wave part with a gravity portal at half-speed. The background looks like a CD with a pink colour scheme.
*'''82-87%:''' Next is a ball segment with slopes, a few orbs, and custom rotating saw blades. This part references the final palace Mementos in ''[[Wikipedia:Persona 5|Persona 5]]''.
*'''87-96%:''' After that is a dual-cube section with a few orbs and jumps and a single triple-spike jump. The background splits into two halves: the sun and the moon, rotating around each other. The block design follows this theme. Next, there are tons of straight-fly with orbs and portals, with three black swords against multiple colours.
*'''96-100%:''' In the final part, the dedications flash in the red background as the cube clicks many orbs in the white, glowing foreground. Finally, the player must do a double-spike jump while a monster flashes in the background. Then, the player launches from a pad to victory. The end screen features a gold monster replacing the copyrighted God Eater end logo.

==Gameplay==
{{VC|Qz1inlFlOBg}}

==Trivia==
===General===
*Astral Divinity's password is 1517, while God Eater's password was 282019.
*Before the optimization update on 15 July 2023, Astral Divinity had 294,675 objects and 120,875 objects in Low Detail Mode. The update reduced the object count to 147,434 in High Detail Mode and 43,152 in Low Detail Mode.
**Astral Divinity has one of the highest object counts in any solo Extreme Demon, a record that was then held by [[Dark Odyssey]].
*Astral Divinity was ranked #90 in GDToday's '100 Greatest Levels of All Time' list.
*knobbelboy's second preview video of the level made the community upload montages of the level.
*Sea has made a rant video about God Eater. It is not about the level, but how people stole and edited knobbelboy's God Eater videos together for views and revenue.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qaxD5U6whA</ref>
**This video later influenced knobbelboy to start blocking said videos.
*Unfortunately, the full level was leaked by Monoxide405 (at a time when God Eater was far from finished). The leaked version was called 'God Eater 2018 leak' and had the description 'I just want to trigger Sea, don't sue me'. This occurrence sparked a large backlash and drew widespread hatred toward the creator.
**The leaker's wish came true when Sea uploaded a video called 'The New God Eater', discussing the leak but showing a copy by 'Cyclic 1' rather than the original upload (which was on, at the time, an unregistered account).<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOiReLJs5Xs</ref>
*knobbelboy predicted the finished level to have more than 400,000 objects, but he overestimated, as the fully completed God Eater had 294,218 objects.
*It took knobbelboy 450–500 hours to finish building God Eater fully.
*God Eater contained over 500 different colour channels.
*God Eater took six months to verify.
**It was also up for only about as long.
*On Discord, knobbelboy said that due to the huge lag, 'it [God Eater] can't be played on mobile, and it probably never will'. However, it was technically possible to play on mobile devices, especially on high-end smartphones.
*For a short time after God Eater's release, the level had a secret way at 16%, letting the player skip to the end of the level. Many people took advantage of this secret by using 'Force Smooth Fix' to slow down the gameplay and access the secret way. However, it was quickly patched.
*Former reupload-based Geometry Dash YouTube user Droid 1415 reuploaded God Eater after reposting the original verification video.
*In his quest to beat the Extreme Demon Roulette, Astral Divinity is the only level that [[npesta]] has skipped a percentage on, getting 25% instead of the required 24% due to the auto-section.
**If npesta had used the first skip on Astral Divinity, the level he would have rolled for 100% would have been Carnage Mode, as an example (a level that he has already beaten).
*Some art pieces of the level are based on the game ''[[Wikipedia:Terraria|Terraria]]'', and several backgrounds are from the game ''God Eater''.
**It may be one of the reasons why knobbelboy asked RobTop to remove God Eater from the servers, citing copyright infringement.
*God Eater is now known as 'Old Astral Divinity' by some people.
*The four individual parts at the drop are all based on the celestial pillars from ''Terraria'' and presented in the following order: Nebula (purple), Solar (orange), Stardust (cyan) and Vortex (green).
*The eye midway through the level shows a striking resemblance to the 'Eye of Sauron' from [[Wikipedia:The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' movies]].
*Another art piece showing some resemblance to something else is the ghostly face right before the wave segment at ~60%. Its appearance is very similar to that of the final boss of [https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_Generations ''Sonic Generations'']: '[https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Eater Time Eater]'.
*At around 70-74%, the [https://calamitymod.wiki.gg/wiki/The_Devourer_of_Gods Devourer of Gods] (boss from the ''Terraria'' mod [https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/calamity-mod.44065/ ''Calamity Mod'']) can be seen.
**knobbelboy has also made a speed build of the Devourer of Gods.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF3VI7Wr0FU</ref>
*At around 82-85%, the titans Bionis and Mechonis (from Xenoblade Chronicles) used to be able to be seen. They were replaced by a new part featuring decoration inspired by ''Persona 5'' when Astral Divinity was finished.
**This is possibly knobbelboy's most object-heavy art, consisting of around 5,000 objects.
**knobbelboy also did a speed build of this art.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fha1y8m1oE</ref>
**GGTVCHANNELTV made and uploaded a version of God Eater. The ID was 57128110.
*The song for the level was removed from Newgrounds, though lia;quo (the original composer) reuploaded the Nightcore edit (without reverb) to her Newgrounds account.
**When her songs became usable in Geometry Dash in October 2018, knobbelboy switched the deleted song to the official reupload.
*A composer named Keany has uploaded the non-nightcore version to his account, which has since been removed.
**OblivionOfficial has also uploaded the original non-Nightcore version of the song, which remains more popular than Keany's remaster but has since been removed.
*There were rumours around knobbelboy cancelling God Eater due to the ban of the music (Crystal Corruption (Nightcore Edit) by lia;quo) from Geometry Dash. However, knobbelboy had never mentioned its cancellation.
**This rumour was completely disproved on 2 October 2017 when knobbelboy streamed himself drawing the official design for 'The God Eater' from a hand-drawn drawing converted into Photoshop. He finished it that same day, and the finished design is currently available on his Twitter account.<ref>https://x.com/knobbelnyu/status/914962357859880960</ref>
*Astral Divinity was in [[EricVanWilderman|EricVanWilderman's]] 12 Demons of Christmas 2024 Community Series, as Demon #11, being completed by [[AeonAir]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xF65p02DAk</ref>
**Astral Divinity also appeared again in the 12 Demons of Christmas 2025 Community Series, as Demon #12, being completed by EricVanWilderman himself.

===Demonlist===
*God Eater was placed at #36 on the Demonlist on 22 January 2019, above Asmodeus and below [[SubSonic]].
**The original addition of God Eater pushed both Silentium Gradas and Electrosonic into the Extended List and the Legacy List for the first time, respectively.
***God Eater was removed from the list on 27 June 2019 due to copyright infringement, and both Epsilon and Kurumi City returned to the Main List and the Extended List, respectively.
****God Eater was previously at #52 on the Demonlist before it was removed, above [[Infernal Abyss]] and below SubSonic.
****Nowadays, when Pointercrate was edited in 'Time Machine' mode between 22 January and 27 June 2019, it shows 'God Eater' as missing.
**Astral Divinity was placed at #63 on the Demonlist on 30 December 2019, above SINGULARITY and below Audio Expulsion.
***The newer addition of Astral Divinity pushed both Mystic and Volume into the Extended List and the Legacy List for the second time, respectively.
*Many people say that while the decoration and song are superb, the gameplay is extremely frustrating, with [[Technical]] giving it an enjoyment rating of 7/100.
*God Eater is one of five levels pulled to the bottom of the Demonlist.
**The others are Entwined Room, DoomsDay, lezicuv, and Sadism.
***When God Eater got removed from the servers, it got moved down to the very bottom of the Legacy List and remained there for a couple of months.
*The movement of Berserk on 9 December 2021 pushed Astral Divinity into the Legacy List of the Demonlist.

==Videos==
{{VC|TOsZ8KVaNwk
 |cpt1= Comparison (Astral Divinity vs God Eater)
}}

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Demon List levels]]