Editing Heliopolis (section)

==History==
===Early development===
Heliopolis began development in 2020, and on 5 April 2022, MindCap showcased the layout of Heliopolis, a timing-based level designed to test the player's skill across every game-mode at the slowest possible speed, excluding the ship.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2f8XKjv2lg</ref>

On 30 August 2022, Mindcap uploaded a preview of the first 16% decorated, with the whole level to be decorated by [https://www.youtube.com/@StarkyTheSalad StarkyTheSalad].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtWZgWe1jY</ref> On 3 January 2023, MindCap uploaded another preview of the level, this time showcasing more of it, as well as mentioning people involved with the project—StarkyTheSalad, responsible for the level's design, [https://www.youtube.com/@Galaxxyss Galaxxyss] and [https://www.youtube.com/@YoonsrDynamix Yoonsr], responsible for effects, Zetex, responsible for recording the preview, and [[Pennutoh]], [https://www.youtube.com/@Spamdrew128 Spamdrew128], and [[Stormfly]] being the creators of the layout shown so far in that preview. On 10 May 2023, yet another preview was uploaded by MindCap, with him again mentioning the people involved in the project—Yoonsr and [https://www.youtube.com/@mag9954 Magpipe] being the new people responsible for the level's design, and [https://www.youtube.com/@licen00 Licen's] and [https://www.youtube.com/@Wespdx Wespdx's] layout being showcased in the preview, as Heliopolis was showcased almost in its entirety.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDPAxcgNGiA</ref> On 2 August 2023, MindCap uploaded the final teaser on his YouTube channel.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ERdfHZ1qX8</ref>

On 20 August, MindCap released a full showcase of Heliopolis.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yaKGl_2Dsw</ref> MindCap thanked StarkyTheSalad for helping decorate much of the level, as well as [https://www.youtube.com/@matty2003yt matty2003] and Magpipe, who joined the project after StarkyTheSalad quit.

===Verification race===
====Pre-open verification====
MindCap's full showcase of Heliopolis announced Pablohh as the verifier, saying he had already reached 27% on the level. MindCap also said that Pablohh wanted to verify it on 240Hz. On the same day, he uploaded his progress to his YouTube channel.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbDRkT0qx4</ref> On 31 October, he reached 36%<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SEl4jjpsCk</ref> and later set a record of 39%.

However, on 16 February 2024, MindCap announced that Pablohh had dropped the level and given the verification to Jif, who had achieved 46%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgKVwFJYYzE</ref> On 20 April, Jif announced he was kicked from the verification due to demotivation.<ref>https://x.com/JifStuff/status/1781649541139177896</ref> MindCap passed the verification to Draxit III, but he dropped it after being unable to do the last wave. MindCap then passed it secretly to another verifier.

On 14 November, MindCap revealed the secret verifier in a joke tweet, Thnnder, who has spent over 108,000 attempts on the level.<ref>https://x.com/MindCap/status/1856869317469495720</ref> Thnnder had teased his secret project six days before.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxGpe1O_UZRFgZZidnfx9n6iZHK8O2Ie47</ref> Later that day, Thnnder officially revealed his verification project and his progress run of 60-100% on the super-buffed version of the original unnerfed copy of the level.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G08eCti1e68</ref> He later achieved 17% and a run of 49-87%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQLEFiJ9a98</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-hg3r25hMs</ref>

However, after a stroke and accompanying finger pain, Thnnder temporarily quit the game on 8 March 2025 and dropped the level. Meanwhile, Abdieldevil picked up the level and began making progress, achieving a 27-50% run and a 48-100% run for the second time.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W_qyQmvfF0</ref> Before he picked up the level, he got 48-100% on Thnnder's version.

On 27 May, MindCap released a video showcasing the number of frame-perfects in the level.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et78md9-hoM</ref> Additionally, he announced up to three open verifier slots for anyone to join Abdieldevil for verification.

After becoming the second victor of [[Every End]], garbag picked up the level soon after and joined the race. He quickly made progress from 0%. On 20 September, he reached 28%, becoming the first player to pass Spamdrew128's UFO part.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKBxvqtQyl4</ref> His current record was 31%, achieved on 17 December.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsiaBlobyOc</ref> Abdieldevil took back the record with 32% on the level on 19 December.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPIBzBpRMs</ref> Additionally, he set a record run of 38-95% on 29 January 2026.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFFZ9rKU0h4</ref> garbag tied the record at 32% on 18 February, although he failed earlier than Abdieldevil.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4iQIEBQU1c</ref> garbag extended the record by a fluke to 39% on 24 February.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VphXNq993xM</ref>

On 11 March, MindCap posted an update on Heliopolis's status. He implied he would make Heliopolis an open verification on 25 March to make up for the level's long release time, while also competing with other upcoming top levels (e.g., GRIEF, [[Angelicide]], KOCMOC Unleashed, etc.).

====Open verification and Zoink====
On 25 March 2026, MindCap uploaded a video announcing Heliopolis's open verification. He stated that it would be continually buffed to be harder than any other verified Top 1 until Heliopolis is verified.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoIN-hlHQk</ref> In addition, MindCap set a bounty starting at $2,000 USD for the verifier. The bounty was opened on a [https://ko-fi.com/heliopolis_bounty Ko-fi page] to allow community donations to raise the bounty with a maximum cap of $10,000 USD. The bounty reached $10,700 USD in less than a day and a half after MindCap released the video.<ref>https://x.com/MindCap/status/2037374541748412718?s=20</ref>

Since then, on 6 April, garbag extended the lead again, reaching a record of 47%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5aQmb7Ofw</ref> On 13 April, Abdieldevil achieved a run of 38-97%, nearly going from the second half of the robot to the end.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JKtUBz2VpQ</ref>

On 27 April, Zoink started playing Heliopolis and achieved runs of 34% and 49-100% within a week.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MtbPcNE8ls</ref> On 7 May, Zoink announced that he would officially try to verify Heliopolis.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owc8PE11J9I</ref> He later reached 37% and 40% in the next stream.

On 10 May, Zoink set a world-record run of 37-100%, making him the first player to beat Heliopolis in two runs.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U0NPdsK8s4&t=5872s</ref> He would get 39% twice and another 40% in the next two streams until 13 May, when he increased the record to 41% and then finally set a new world record, tying garbag's 47% record but going further by a few decimals.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjljMHsrgA&t=5342s</ref> He later set a new record of 27-73% in the next stream.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ChUgKt50U8&t=510s</ref>

On 17 May, he would attempt to play Heliopolis with the Click Between Frames (CBF) mod, as he did in the first stream. In that stream, he got another 47%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA_UBLKooaA&t=1052s</ref> On 28 May, Zoink took a break from streaming until 4 June, as he went outside his town.

Zoink returned to streaming and, on 7 June, set a new world record of 51%, becoming the first person to reach the spider part.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hld_6Bmzu8M</ref>

====Other people's progress====
[https://www.youtube.com/@theopex5468 theopex58], one of the last remaining participants in [[npesta|npesta's]] '100 Pros vs Heliopolis' event, would post his 26% run on 16 April 2026.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a_s0Bs3eS0</ref> Despite his elimination from the challenge, he kept grinding the level. On 28 April, he achieved 31% after 93,000 attempts.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbFDw6LdGU</ref> On 26 May, he uploaded a video in which he beat Heliopolis in four runs: 31%, 27-56%, 49-77%, and 77-100%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_mSmOzT5E</ref>

Another player, iIiLaseriIi, achieved a run of 48-100% on Heliopolis.<ref name="iIiLaseriIi">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAJ5duD7yo</ref>

Bradenbowl completed Heliopolis in three runs as of 9 August 2026.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NidHuhySUmg</ref>

===npesta's Heliopolis event===
On 1 April 2026, which coincidentally is April Fools' Day, npesta announced the start of his event called '100 Pros vs Heliopolis', aimed at getting Heliopolis verified faster.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxFUe0zD0_Z5q3c0A0MpDGHO2ofm63FdES</ref><ref>https://x.com/zNpesta__/status/2039368628361904156</ref> The event works in a way that every day each player must improve their current best record by 1%, so on day 1, everyone must get 1%, on day 2, 2%, and so on. If a player gets beyond that, they must try again to crash at the exact percentage; for example, if a player gets 10% on day 9 but did not get 9% beforehand, they must still fail there, even though they have already passed that point. Despite this criterion, practising further beyond is always allowed. In his YouTube and Twitter posts, npesta left a Google Docs form for players to fill out to join the event.<ref>https://x.com/zNpesta__/status/2039368630522024137</ref> However, only players who beat a list Demon placed on the [[Demonlist (Pointercrate)|Demonlist]] at the time, and players who did not beat a Top 10 were allowed to join. Despite initially aiming to gather 100 players, the number of participants was increased to 260.<ref>https://x.com/Andryfrr/status/2041543198586147069</ref>

At the start of the challenge, npesta gave all the competitors three opportunities to skip a day. When a player skips, they no longer need to reach a certain percentage on the day they skipped, and the skip moves them to the next day. Once Day 10 of the Heliopolis race arrived, players had only one chance to skip. However, once only five players remained in the challenge, no skips remained.

{{Togglebox
 |header = Contestants who took part in npesta's event
 |body   = <nowiki />
*Day 0: 260 remaining
*Day 1: 251 remaining - 9 eliminated - 9 total eliminations
*Day 2: 243 remaining - 8 eliminated - 17 total eliminations
*Day 3: 233 remaining - 10 eliminated - 27 total eliminations
*Day 4: 222 remaining - 11 eliminated - 38 total eliminations
*Day 5: 201 remaining - 21 eliminated - 59 total eliminations
*Day 6: 179 remaining - 22 eliminated - 81 total eliminations
*Day 7: 161 remaining - 18 eliminated - 99 total eliminations
*Day 8: 150 remaining - 11 eliminated - 110 total eliminations
*Day 9: 136 remaining - 14 eliminated - 124 total eliminations
*Day 10: 119 remaining - 17 eliminated - 141 total eliminations
*Day 11: 92 remaining - 27 eliminated - 168 total eliminations
*Day 12: 73 remaining - 19 eliminated - 187 total eliminations
*Day 13: 55 remaining - 18 eliminated - 205 total eliminations
*Day 14: 44 remaining - 11 eliminated - 216 total eliminations
*Day 15: 38 remaining - 6 eliminated - 222 total eliminations
*Day 16: 26 remaining - 12 eliminated - 234 total eliminations
*Day 17: 22 remaining - 4 eliminated - 238 total eliminations
*Day 18: 19 remaining - 3 eliminated - 241 total eliminations
*Day 19: 14 remaining - 5 eliminated - 246 total eliminations
*Day 20: 12 remaining - 2 eliminated - 248 total eliminations
*Day 21: 10 remaining - 2 eliminated - 250 total eliminations
*Day 22: 8 remaining - 2 eliminated - 252 total eliminations
*Day 23: 7 remaining - 1 eliminated - 253 total eliminations
*Day 24: 4 remaining - 3 eliminated - 256 total eliminations
*Day 25: 4 remaining - 0 eliminated - 256 total eliminations
*Day 26: 3 remaining - 1 eliminated - 257 total eliminations
*Day 27: 1 remaining - 2 eliminated - 259 total eliminations (Winner - [[Komet01]])
}}
Spreadsheet used to track players of the event: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y0YsVZVfvHspEbsjRPZ1xp8za8vDBy5YvOBKZUpLpG0/edit?gid=0#gid=0

[https://www.youtube.com/@hstorm hstorm], one of the last remaining competitors, provided all the updates through YouTube Shorts and live streams about the number of players left, his own progress, and answered frequently asked questions about the level and the event.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RC05NOR3eEE</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzzX_h_6PRI</ref> Aside from that, hstorm used the skip ability only once on Day 24.

On Day 19, the host of the event itself, npesta, was eliminated because he was unable to reach the percentage he was supposed to reach that day.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auUMuEbWVmk</ref>

On Day 24, four players remained in the event for Day 25: [[Komet01]], [https://www.youtube.com/@theopex5468 theopex58], [https://www.youtube.com/@KJ8ishere KJ8ISHERE], and previously mentioned hstorm. npesta gave all the players a break from playing that day.

All four players survived Day 25, but theopex58 was eliminated on Day 26. KJ8ISHERE almost got eliminated but came in clutch, getting 26% with two minutes left before the deadline. Ultimately, KJ8ISHERE and hstorm would be eliminated on Day 27, crowning Komet01 as the event winner.

On 18 May 2026, MindCap released a video recapping the community progress on Heliopolis over the past 50 days since the open verification. He thanked everyone for their donations and for raising a total of $10,700 in bounty for Heliopolis. He also showed that most top players did not think even this amount was worth the difficulty of Heliopolis. He also showed footage of Top 25 players who got the farthest on the level in npesta's '100 Pros vs Heliopolis' event, and iIiLaseriIi, who got a 48-100% run on 9 April.<ref name="iIiLaseriIi"/> Later in the video, MindCap mentioned Zoink and how quickly he completed the level in two runs.

===Update reversion and reinstatement===
In the same community progress video, MindCap also said he believed the version of Heliopolis that Zoink was verifying was only barely harder than the Top 1 level, [[Thinking Space II]], at the time.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCYnWyd8Ec</ref> For this reason, MindCap decided to buff Heliopolis to settle the ambiguity, specifically the easier second half of the level.

However, two hours later, MindCap released a follow-up video announcing that he had decided to revert the buff-date. He explained that it would be unfair to deprive all upcoming Top 1 verifiers of their potential titles, including Taiago with Sweeping Demon II and [[Doggie]] with GRIEF, admitting that he was being selfish. MindCap now believed Heliopolis might already be hard enough to claim the top spot, since it took Zoink as much time to reach 47% on Heliopolis as it did to reach 97% on [[Amethyst]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icb32LXHsMc</ref>

During his first stream beating Snowbound on 15 July 2026, Zoink mentioned that Heliopolis would receive an update in August with buffs and fixes.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHi5p7nACps&t=1325s</ref> MindCap finished the update on 9 September, which was intended to be harder than [[Society]], the newly verified Top 1 level, albeit easier than GRIEF.<ref>https://x.com/MindCap/status/2097852746556682285</ref> MindCap had players who had Heliopolis in four runs or less assist with the update, including fixing CBF bugs and maintaining specific buffs from his cancelled 'emergency' update.

After finishing [[Antarctic Lights]], Zoink picked up Heliopolis again to try the newly buffed version, with his first stream reaching 36% and a 49-94% run.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO7lX_RcrXE</ref> In the next stream, he managed 50%, almost back to his original best of 51%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_jyqd1NnB4&t=10448s</ref> The very next stream, he tied his new best, getting 51% on the buffed version and beating his original best by a few decimal places.<ref>https://x.com/gdzoink/status/2101067918868144420</ref> Afterwards, he finished off the run of 49-100% in the next stream.<ref name="49-100%" /> He later set a new record run of 16-80%.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgxdJVm4FOg&t=8452s</ref>

On 21 September, Zoink finally surpassed his record, reaching 66% and passing the spider part.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQxqqF2xroc</ref> On 1 October 2026, Zoink achieved 85%, fluking from 66%.<ref name="85%" /> However, GRIEF was ultimately verified on 5 October as the new Top 1 level.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB8slBPlOjc</ref> Zoink began streaming on 6 October to try to beat GRIEF because he wanted to gauge its difficulty in comparison with Heliopolis as he waits for another upcoming buff update.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9uL1Tnkeuw</ref>