Editing Firework

{{IB-Level
 |image      = Firework.png
 |id         = 75206202
 |creator    = [[Cherry Team]] (team); Vernam (host) 
;Members/Contributors
Lilium, ORte, Buragoz, Lekvid, Crouley, Itami, Desumari, RealVet, Konsi, 00Zero, Hantein, and BurritoGamerX
 |verifier   = [[Trick]]
 |created    = [[Update 2.1]]
 |updated    = [[Update 2.2]]
 |difficulty = [[File:ExtremeDemon.png|x35px]]
 |stars      = 10
 |length     = 2m 7s (XL)
 |objects    = 165,202
 |copytype   = Password (234000)
 |downloads  = 4.3M+
 |likes      = 170.9K+
 |rating     = Starred
 |artist     = [https://rukkus.newgrounds.com NIGHTkilla (Rukkus)]
 |music      = [https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/502268 Classical VIP]
 |musicid    = 502268
}}
'''Firework''' is a 2.1 Extreme Demon mega-collaboration level hosted by Vernam and created by the members of Cherry Team, verified and published by [[Trick]] after 234,000 attempts on 29 October 2021.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBe5x2o9v2w</ref> The level has a monochrome colour scheme, presumably representing firework ashes as a juxtaposition to the colourful firework explosions, with its difficulty nearly entirely based on its use of tight timings in inventive ways. It was rated within the same day as [[Slaughterhouse]] and [[arcturus]], leading to the shortest duration at #1 on the [[Geometry Dash Demonlist|Demonlist]] at 18 seconds before being surpassed by Slaughterhouse.

==History==
===Development===
On 7 April 2019, Vernam, the leader of Cherry Team at the time, published a video on YouTube titled 'Firework is literally impossible in current state (Bad noclip and Broken sync)',<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8txbdNUcQ0</ref> showing the first ever preview of Firework. Vernam mentioned that Cherry Team members would decorate the level as the team's newest project. A few parts were completed two months after the first preview was posted: Lilium's first part, Konsi's part,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm9MGLffEVE</ref> Grayrain's part,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjkZ-k2l5bU</ref> and Desumari's two parts. Because the level's production was moving swiftly, Dolphy, the verifier at the time, published the first Firework preview to his channel, showcasing each of the previously listed parts.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8aoM-71Qy8</ref>

Shortly after the preview, several other creators uploaded their parts, including Deron,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzh1IiofTUU</ref> Buragoz's two parts,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuRguCB_ah4</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP1e5LPr8pQ</ref> Itami (who replaced Grayrain's part),<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM-w39jVh0o</ref> RealVet (who replaced Desumari's second part),<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5KLhM1hB4</ref> and OfficialFreck.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgGH-nj8xcg</ref> OfficialFreck, however, later got replaced by Crouley,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb1sETilPbQ</ref> as well as Deron by 00Zero. Some of the decorators were working behind the scenes and not releasing footage of their sections, but these parts were later exposed in a montage released by f3lixsram on Christmas 2019.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcq8XWspD0</ref>

A little more work was done behind the scenes before the level was properly merged and polished. Dolphy then posted a full-level showcase on New Year's Day 2020.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aW6xOpWzJo</ref>

===Start of verification===
Once Firework was finished, Dolphy began verifying it. He did not make much progress on it since he needed to work on [[Silent Circles (Zynvire)|Silent Circles]] by Zynvire, his other verification project. Realising this, Vernam gave Firework to Crazen, who, like Dolphy, made very little progress on the level. Vernam opted to have Firework placed into the servers as an open verification after realising that a standard verification without any nerfs would be incredibly tough to figure out.

Once Firework was released onto the servers, there was little progress, with only GMDomy (who obtained runs of 0-18%, 64-85% and 84-100%)<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AnJXWgnw-s</ref> and xPixel (who got the world record shortly after GMDomy) working on it.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnAME6SeDak</ref> Both players constantly streamed the level for about a month. However, on 4 October 2020, xPixel published an updated video.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2SUJqtomSI</ref> He noted that Firework was highly object-heavy, and his PC could not handle the amount of lag produced by the level when he streamed it. As a result, Vernam decided to create an LDM so that players like xPixel could play the level without lag. The LDM, however, was cancelled entirely for an unclear reason. The verification was formally returned to Dolphy after GMDomy stopped playing the level entirely. He set a record of 15% but quickly dropped out of the level.

In the meantime, xPixel continued to play with the copy on the servers, although not as an official verifier. He played Firework continuously, and he ended up with a precise no-clip run of 40% of the level,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nejWzmQfzB0</ref> 19% again (seven times soon after),<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cRTwx_g17s</ref> and 24%. Fortunately for xPixel, Dolphy dropped the level a month after reaching 15%, prompting Vernam to select xPixel as the official verifier because he was the only one making progress at the time. However, xPixel thought that this would be a bad idea, likely due to stress; therefore, he offered that Firework be verified by a German player named Kurumi (who achieved 84-100% on the public version of the level two months earlier<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXN3PhHahk</ref>).

===Kurumi controversy===
Vernam officially passed the verification to Kurumi, per xPixel's recommendation. Unlike the previous verifiers, Kurumi made speedy progress on Firework, quickly setting new best runs that no other verifier had done before. Kurumi eventually achieved 68% on a super-buffed version of Firework, catching much of the community's attention.

Despite much of the community supporting Kurumi, his rapid advancement drew the attention of Russian players Bytema and Eiriley, who accused him of cheating.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUc0CZloRWY</ref> They both released videos seeking to expose him, causing the majority of the Russian community, including the creators of Firework, to turn against Kurumi. According to Vernam, Kurumi became increasingly rude and refused to speak to him as his popularity grew. Vernam further stated that he was informed that Kurumi was harassing him and the other Firework creators on his streams while he was not present.

These instances, combined with Kurumi's slower progression on Firework after he reached 68%, enraged Vernam, who mistreated Kurumi on Discord and became overly aggressive. Furthermore, Vernam constantly fat-shamed Kurumi, threatening to kick Kurumi out of verification if he did not 'go to the gym'. (Vernam later remarked in 2022 that he felt guilty about all this and that he 'just had all this crap built up in me from all the days of his rudeness, constant ghosting and insults' throughout the incident.) Kurumi informed the community about Vernam's behaviour via the YouTube community tab, prompting the majority of the English-speaking community to back Vernam and accuse him of threatening Kurumi. Kurumi was also overwhelmed because every time he posted something unrelated to the level, he received a barrage of comments begging him to play Firework. It eventually got to the point where he questioned if the community cared more about his mental health than Firework. As a result of the community overwhelming him and the mistreatment from Vernam, he dropped Firework and abandoned [[Geometry Dash]] entirely.

===End of verification===
Some believed that Firework would never be verified, since only Kurumi could make progress. It took a long time for someone to beat Kurumi's 68% record after he dropped the level. The next verifier was Sid125, an Argentine player. He achieved a record of 64-96%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ7V_AQ5vbQ</ref> Regardless, he quickly dropped it due to unknown reasons. Vernam claimed in a YouTube video that he harassed Sid into quitting the game, but this has been proven false, as Sid beat Aronia shortly after dropping the level. Doli, a Belgian player, was the next verifier, who got a run of 84-100%. Soon after, he got three more good runs: 79-100%, 71-94%, and 65-82%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0ZOE7Hm-M</ref> However, he also dropped the level for unclear reasons. Vernam then discovered Trick, a previously unknown American player who had been getting strong runs on the public copy of the level just weeks before. He made Trick the official verifier after some consideration.

Trick made rapid progress with Firework, breaking Kurumi's previous record of 68% and several others set by other verifiers. He broke practically every prior verifier's record in two months, achieving 91%<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fAmY7DVRwM</ref> and a run of 24-100%<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK8ttV3XF4s</ref> in September 2021, as well as a no-clip accuracy run of 99.98%. He buffed the level more and more over time to ensure it was the most difficult level ever beaten, while he nerfed some timings to balance the level. On 29 October 2021, he got runs of 92%<ref>https://twitter.com/GmdTrick/status/1454227394395615232</ref> and 95%.<ref>https://twitter.com/GmdTrick/status/1454243803909525510</ref> He verified the level later that day,<ref>https://twitter.com/spadeuk/status/1454264491374428161</ref> following a 98% failure.<ref>https://twitter.com/spadeuk/status/1454255949271736324</ref> Trick's reputation as a player exploded as a result, and he is now regarded as one of the most skilled players in the game's history.

==Description==
''Note: The creators listed here are the level's decorators. The gameplay and layout were both created by ORte.''

*'''0-3% (Lilium):''' Firework begins with a normal-speed cube. Even though this is the level's shortest segment, it is still quite difficult to pass, as it contains several precise timings with nearly no breaks in between. Once the player reaches the end of the part, the level accelerates to triple speed, sending the player into the level's true difficulty.
*'''3-14% (ORte):''' The following section alternates between many different speeds. It starts with a swift downward ship curve before taking a little break in the cube game mode. The level then speeds up again, and the player must perform two tight dual-ball clicks. Afterwards, the player goes through a brief ship segment and a cube transition into a tight wave section, where they must perform two tight dash orb timings along with a size change. After a fast cube transition, the player has to manoeuvre another tight ship curve before reaching another cube transition. Following that, the player must do two tight dual spider clicks. The section ends with an array of orbs in the cube game mode, in which the player alternates between double and triple speed.
*'''14-25% (Buragoz):''' The level continues to alternate between various speeds. This section begins with a quick upward swoop in the ship game mode, then launches the player out of a cube portal and into a robot part with precise clicks. The player will then enter a dual-UFO section, followed by a tight wave section. The player then hits a dash orb that leads to a ship section where they must fly upward and straight-fly while dodging numerous orbs. This section, like the previous one, concludes with an array of orbs in the cube game mode that alternates between double and triple speed.
*'''25-36% (Lekvid):''' The section begins in the spider transition with very tough timings before being thrown into a cube segment with two more timings. After hitting a black orb, the player is transported to a wave portal, where they must perform two dash orb timings, as seen at 7%. They must then perform two more dash orb timings while entering a slew of teleport portals in the ship game mode. After hitting a dash orb in the cube game mode, the player is transported to a dual-ship where one icon is large, and the other is small. The player must use both ships to hit several orb timings while navigating through various gravity portals. This section, like the previous two, concludes with a cube part containing numerous orb timings and gravity portals.
*'''36-45% (Crouley):''' The following section is entirely in cube game mode, leading up to the level's second drop. The first half is played at double speed, and every orb timing is synced to the music, remaining extremely tight. There are also numerous fake orbs to confuse the player. When the player reaches the second half, there are a few instances where the level will accelerate to triple speed for a brief moment before decelerating back down to double speed. The player will need to click many more times in this half, but the number of fake orbs has decreased. The final two seconds of the section are entirely in triple speed, and the player must time seven tight orbs before moving on to the drop section.
*'''45-55% (Itami):''' The player is launched through a ball portal at the start of the drop before reaching a cube portal. The player must perform two precise cube timings before reaching a brief ship segment with an upward swoop and a gravity portal. The player is then taken back to the cube game mode, where they must perform three precise orb timings before entering a difficult ship straight-fly. After the player hits two more cube timings, the level accelerates to quadruple speed while the player must rapidly spam through a wave corridor with many spikes. Following that, the level slows down briefly before the player must perform a cube timing into a ball portal, where another tight timing into a green orb awaits. Then, as a ship, the player must fly downward into a cube segment with two orb timings that lead to an easy ball click. The section concludes with a cube segment. The first half includes a mini-cube and an array of blue orbs, and the second half has a normal cube with six different orb timings.
*'''55-64% (Buragoz):''' The following section begins with two cube timings, followed by a UFO segment with a single jump. The UFO jump leads to a brief cube cluster containing a blue orb, followed by a robot segment with three simple timings. Once accomplished, the player must execute a perfect ball timing into a minuscule upward swoop ship corridor, followed by an extreme UFO timing into a wave portal. If the player survives the next wave manoeuvre, they will be confronted with the level's treacherous dual-spider segment. After that, the player can take a short break before emerging to meet an automatic UFO transition into a ball timing. If the player completes this ball timing, they will be met with two brutal robot clicks before arriving at a ship corridor that will end many runs. After passing this, the player must complete a series of claustrophobic ball timings before being confronted with an extreme handful of orb timings in the cube game mode, all in a matter of seconds.
*'''64-71% (Desumari):''' The following two sections, like the previous ones, are entirely in cube game modes. This first one begins at half speed and occasionally accelerates to triple speed. Despite being very in sync with the music, the section may kill the player due to nerves. The level accelerates up to normal speed once the player reaches the second half of the section. When the player reaches the end of this section, the level fades to black.
*'''71-79% (RealVet):''' As they travel, the player remains in the form of a cube. The player's nerves begin to build as the level gradually becomes easier, a situation many other players have already experienced. Given that the majority of it is at double speed and that the entire section is on an upward slope, this section moves along more quickly than the previous one. Towards the end of this section, a single brief blue pad section briefly accelerates the player to triple speed before slowing the remainder of the section down to normal speed.
*'''79-84% (Konsi):''' The level's climax then welcomes the player. It is one of the most challenging ship sections ever included in a rated Geometry Dash level, especially when the player's nerves become a factor. The player must navigate extremely narrow, half-speed corridors with nearly frame-perfect timing, as orbs are scattered throughout. It has many gravity portals. The player will be reduced in size and forced to move through an even narrower corridor if they can reach the second half of the section.
*'''84-93% (00Zero):''' After passing through the ship section, the player can take a brief break before encountering another double-speed cube section. This section relies heavily on memory and is as difficult as RealVet's cube section. The level will briefly slow down to normal speed near the end of this section before accelerating back up to double speed. When the player reaches the end, a large skull with the text 'VERIFIED BY TRICK' will appear on the screen.
*'''93-99% (Lilium):''' The level's final section is short and straightforward, but it is also very easy for mistakes to creep in. As the player must alternate between dash orb timings and tight jumps, it constantly switches between half-speed and normal-speed. The level accelerates to triple speed after the fourth dash orb, and the player downsizes. They must hit a synced, tight array of orbs, followed by an upside-down, slow ship section in which the player must fly through two sawblades before reaching the level's end.
*'''99-100% (Hantein, End Screen):''' The end screen of Firework features a giant detailed skull with spikes protruding from it on both sides.

==Gameplay==
{{VC|A94BiKHs_S4}}

==First 10 victors==
{| class="wikitable"
 !Victor #
 !Player
 !Date Completed
 !Total Attempts
 !Furthest Fail
 !Video
 |-
 |'''Verifier'''
 |'''Trick'''
 |30 October 2021
 |~234,000
 |?
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBe5x2o9v2w YouTube]
 |-
 |1
 |[[Crisis]]
 |26 December 2021
 |46,678
 |95%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNjkbqdxYE YouTube]
 |-
 |2
 |Gokill
 |27 December 2021
 |41,213
 |97%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keVlE1KsJDE YouTube]
 |-
 |3
 |Hover
 |30 December 2021
 |~58,000
 |?
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfZq2Jpa1YE YouTube]
 |-
 |4
 |Artify8
 |13 January 2022
 |280,897
 |80%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZX18fDvdyc YouTube]
 |-
 |5
 |Thnnder
 |4 February 2022 
 |29,887
 |?
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2IMUsfTTr8 YouTube]
 |-
 |6
 |[[Denni]]
 |16 February 2022
 |100,788
 |96%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiBl_y31ixs YouTube]
 |-
 |7
 |Kyasshukodo
 |21 February 2022
 |?
 |?
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5HdModmKs YouTube]
 |-
 |8
 |LordVadercraft
 |24 March 2022
 |251,527
 |92%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5KHMz39-k YouTube]
 |-
 |9
 |12_Kelvin
 |26 March 2022
 |?
 |92%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96B_c_Rhulk YouTube]
 |-
 |10
 |Victurkey
 |31 March 2022
 |140,351
 |96%
 |[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxVxAYh1PTw YouTube]
|}

==Trivia==
===General===
*The password for Trick's version of Firework, 234000, is the same number of attempts he took to verify.
**The password for Cherry Team's old version of Firework is 001441.
*When Firework, Slaughterhouse and arcturus were all rated on 29 October 2021, there was some commotion regarding the Demon ratings of the levels. First, Firework and Slaughterhouse both received an Easy Demon rating. However, the levels swapped ratings, with arcturus being an Easy Demon and Slaughterhouse and Firework both being Extreme Demon levels. arcturus finally received an Extreme Demon rating an hour later.
*Trick's 234,000 attempts were once the highest number of attempts ever spent on a verification project, surpassing the previous record made by Diabolic ClubStep, verified by its creator Sevant in 171,000+ attempts.
**Although Trick has had the highest attempt count in a verification project, it had been only behind Zupreme's 270,843 attempts of his [[Cognition]] completion before this record was surpassed by Demishio's 500,000+ attempts of Kyouki verification.
*The player niftyboii has already spent over 1,000,000 attempts trying to complete Firework.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-_MDa6ZHXc</ref> Since then, however, they have not been uploading any new update videos.
***However, the real attempt record in that period was Muffy450's ~634,000 attempt count record on [[Sonic Wave]].
*OfficialFreck and Deron used to have parts in the collaboration, with OfficialFreck's part being at 36-45%,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgGH-nj8xcg</ref> and Deron's part being at 84-93%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzh1IiofTUU</ref> However, they were replaced by Crouley and 00Zero, respectively.
*Firework went through several verifiers. Crazen was the first person set to verify. However, xPixel was the first to make notable progress, setting a world record of 19% before dropping the level. The verification was passed to Dolphy, achieving a 15% record before being removed from verification for being too slow. It was passed on to Kurumi, who made outstanding progress, reaching 68%, the former world record on the level. After Kurumi dropped, it was passed on to Sid125, who made a run of 64-96% before dropping it. It was passed on to Doli, who also made a few runs before dropping the level and passing it on to Trick, who eventually verified the level on 29 October 2021.
**Firework had seven verifiers, tying with [[Blade of Justice]] as the level with the fifth most verifiers to verify a single level, after Sonic Wave Infinity (9 verifiers), [[Aerial Gleam]] (10 verifiers), Quicksand (12 verifiers), and Forever Asleep (15 verifiers).
*A '60hz Fix' custom orb at about 1.5% moves a blue orb ahead slightly down to make it possible on 60 FPS.
*The level Waterfall was initially intended to be a sequel/antagonist to Firework, but this idea was later scrapped.

===Demonlist===
*Firework was accidentally placed at #2 on the Demonlist on 4 November 2021, above [[Sonic Wave Infinity]] and below [[Tartarus]] (it was supposed to be placed at #1).
**This addition pushed Celestial Force into the Extended List and [[SubSonic]] into the Legacy List.
***This also pushed the final level of [[Viprin|Viprin's]] Sonic Series off the list.
***This addition also pushed [[Spacial Rend]] out of the Top 50 after almost three years.
**Firework was briefly shifted to the #1 spot past Tartarus in a rush on the same day, taking the #1 spot and becoming the hardest level in the game before [[Slaughterhouse|Slaughterhouse's]] addition 18 seconds later.
***This change ended the reign of Tartarus at #1 on the Demonlist for almost two years, except for the three-month and the 105-day reign of [[The Golden]] from 31 May 2020 to 12 September 2020 in between.
***This change also prevented Slaughterhouse from robbing Firework's #1 spot.
***During this time, Pointercrate also went down due to high traffic, as one of the list editors attempted to add Slaughterhouse to the Demonlist. They accidentally added the level multiple times, resulting in multiple copies of the level placed from #1 to #9.
*Firework is the 34th former Top 1 in the game's history.
**However, due to [[spaceuk|spaceuk's]] cheating scandal, Firework would have been Top 1 for presumably 45 days from 4 November 2021 until [[Doggie|Doggie's]] completion of Slaughterhouse on 19 December 2021.
*The movement of Firework on 23 November 2025 pushed itself out of the Top 25 of the Demonlist.
{{Togglebox
 |header = Notable completions
 |body   = <nowiki />
*[[Crisis]] is the first victor of Firework, completing it on 26 December 2021.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNjkbqdxYE</ref> 
**The first victor of Firework was initially thought to be [[spaceuk]], who claimed to have beaten it on 20 November 2021, but it was later discovered that he hacked all his achievements.
*Artify8 had beaten Firework on 11 January 2022, jumping from Nine Circles.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZX18fDvdyc</ref>
**Following this, Serbian player Openix jumped from [[Thanatophobia]] to Firework with 110,000 attempts on 2 December 2022.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1yb5Y9x_Qg</ref>
*DTDom used to have the lowest attempt count on Firework, with 27,863 attempts, and also an 88% fluke.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAHlcfqkp2g</ref>
**l1nxxd is the current holder of the title for the lowest attempt count on Firework, with 6,211 attempts.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGlorLcRIjM</ref>
*[[wPopoff]] has achieved the biggest fluke on Firework, with his furthest crash being at 62%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-GgIwTP-Xg</ref>
**On the other hand, the player abb2k has the highest attempt count on Firework, with 391,136 attempts.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk3uTWCcfl8</ref> They have also played the level for 671 days.
*On 29 October 2024, Deji jumped from [[Sonic Wave]] to Firework.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfzXtUHichQ</ref>
*Firework is currently the hardest level to be completed on a controller, being beaten by 12_Kelvin on 23 March 2022.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96B_c_Rhulk</ref>
*On 25 May 2025, Firework was beaten on a 144Hz mobile for the first time by MAXDASH, with best runs of 97% and 3-100% before the completion.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwT2ukn3y6Y</ref> This completion became the new hardest Demon beaten on mobile, surpassing MAXDASH's previous Top 1 mobile verification of [[Hard Machine]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY_S64sQ5Yk</ref>
**This achievement was also done on the same day as the verifications of [[Thinking Space II]] and [[Amethyst]].
*Asian Kid became the 100th victor of Firework on 17 March 2025.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cPBczyqQeM</ref>
}}

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
FireworkEndScreen.png|End screen
</gallery>

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