FUNHOUSE
- isulf
- nstryder and MetaHumanBoi
- Candle
- Cyberwave Orchestra
FUNHOUSE is a 2.2 Insane level by rafer. It is the 18th Event Level. It is also the sequel to The Tempest, the sixth level of the Cubearth Saga, and an indirect sequel to Floodfall Caverns. The level's story follows a game show race that rafer and Alkali are forced into by a host who promises the victor free food.[1]
An upcoming spiritual sequel to FUNHOUSE and the seventh level was set on the mountains, but the plot is no longer set on rafer's storyline.[2]
Description
Main route
FUNHOUSE begins with the player entering a cannon. The Host counts down from three and the player gets shot into the level. The scenery transitions to a bright, flashy, and fun background. The player slides down slopes before jumping on flower orbs, then traverses the funhouse by climbing up more slopes. As the player progresses, they will be launched and get hit by doors that fling them. Turning into a ball, the player can either go up or down (with no effect on the chosen route) and will pop some balloons in sync with the music.
Next, the player gets pushed down by some pistons with spider orbs before being required to hit orbs that take them to a tower-like room, going down. The rooms and the game modes are random, with the player being either a ball, a swing, a ship, or a UFO. Then, the player must jump on some mushroom-like heads before flying upwards as a ship, where they get flung around. The music then drops.
The lights flash as the player hits multiple orbs and gets launched by more pistons. The player then briefly transforms into a ship and must fly straight into a cube portal. After a fake death, the player must hit several orbs as a ball, a robot, and a spider before jumping into another room, where the set starts exploding. The player must then jump almost immediately before the floor beneath them collapses. Next, the player transforms into a ship, where falling slopes try to push them down towards their doom as they fly and traverse obstacles, even while holding down the flight button to float. When the player survives, they turn into a swing and must pass through a target and fly inside a Clubstep-style mouth. Then, the player transforms into a ball, which they must go up and down via a helicopter and also hit an orb; otherwise, they will rise into a spike ceiling.
After being hit with a 'baseball bat', the scenery sends the player to a mob of angry fans. After a bit of auto, the player must jump in sync with the music beat while being 'slapped' by a hand. The player is then grabbed by the Host and transformed into a robot, where they must traverse a Ferris wheel and a theatre while avoiding spikes. After that, the player now moves sideways as they must jump over more spikes before going back upwards and doing some more orb jumps as a ball.
As the player runs into a fake level ending, the Host grabs out a cube that transforms into an entity. It sprouts a body with two antennae. It grows, and the scenery changes into a hellish lava background. As a robot, the player must jump over the lava attack before jumping upwards using orbs, knocking over other cubes within the crowd. The player then reaches a spider orb that follows them; they must strike the lava creature nine times to advance. After it falls, the player transforms into a ship and must navigate through walls that have spikes and lava. The monster reappears and roars as the screen brightens. The player must jump into more orbs as they turn into a ball, hitting more people with mushroom-like heads. Next, the player gets hit by people wielding baseball bats, accompanied by a series of red orbs, as the monster tries to eat them. Before getting hit, the player launches themselves into the monster, destroying it as they ram into it.
The player returns to the funhouse background, now upside down as a cube, and must hit more orbs and navigate the slope, just as at the beginning. After a quick gravity portal line, the player must jump into a cannon and cross a finish line to end the level. The songs' credits are shown here.
Epilogue
To be added soon
User coins
- Coin 1: The player must skip a spider orb in a robot part and jump on the platform, which shows more spider orb platforms that go higher every hit. It will lead the player outside the FUNHOUSE, where rafer and Alkali were in the prologue. Then the Manager of the FUNHOUSE appears to taunt you into retrieving the first coin before it transitions to a segment with the 'camioneta gamemode'. The song is '2ODIAC' by nstryder and MetaHumanBoi.
- Coin 2: There is a hidden orb inside the fourth spike before the transition to the ship part, leading the player to an alternate path where you're still the cube. Doing this path successfully will lead you to a minigame after getting hit by the 'baseball bat', where you have to collect 45 'silver cubes'. The song is 'Ramen Carnage' by isulf.
- Coin 3: The player must spam click when the Host grabs the player (either in the angry fans section of the normal route, or when transitioning after the second coin route) until the cube used to transform into the lava creature is dropped from the Host. They will then click when hitting the cube that appears during the robot part. The disappearance of the lava creature will cause the Host to angrily open a new route in the ground during the fake level-ending section. This section is the 'Alkali Route'. The song is 'Guessing Games' by Candle.
Finally, the two endings for the third coin depend on whether the previous two coins were collected in a single attempt, unlike rafer's previous levels.
If the player collects none or only one of the previous two coins (or if a Practice Mode checkpoint is detected) and takes the third-coin route, the Host will get furious at Alkali and the player before Alkali grabs the Host and throws him away. Then a custom orb labelled 'Click To End' appears. If they click the orb and it thanks the player, a gravity-affecting helicopter suddenly falls from the sky, killing Alkali before the player floats towards the finish line, ending the level normally. If the player waits too long without hitting the orb, the helicopter kills them instead, and they have to start over.
If all three coin routes are successfully taken in a single attempt, the Host gives in from his anger and ends the race in a draw between the player and Alkali. As everyone celebrates, the Host shoots his microphone pistol into the sky and accidentally hits the TV, exposing the Host and the Manager's theft of the audience's money they bet on the show. This exposure causes the entire audience to riot against the Host, as in the animation's epilogue, as he fights them back before the riot is interrupted by the Manager. As the Host and Manager begin firing their pistols to execute the player and Alkali, it cuts to the Host and Manager being defeated, severely injured by the audience's riot, while the player and Alkali escape the FUNHOUSE alive and finish the level in the Perfect Ending.
Gameplay
Trivia
- FUNHOUSE uses five songs and 108 sound effects (SFX).
- FUNHOUSE was nominated for Best Intermediate Classic in The Geometry Dash Awards.
- There are some references to rafer's previous levels in FUNHOUSE, including using the spider orb to stomp on the lava creature similarly to the level SLAM.
- Before the release of FUNHOUSE, the epilogue section of Floodfall Caverns hinted at the next level.
- Sometime during the events of FUNHOUSE, there is a note to J735, hinting at a next sequel set in the mountains:
“Dear J,
If you're reading this, then my blue friend as free me from the grass but the selfish wholesome called themselves "Pirates". If all goes according to plan, they were heading over to Topalia City, with the release of 2.2. You don't have to worry about me anymore; I'm in good hands. Now spare your energy and go back to your home. Your family would be relieved to see you after leaving so suddenly.~ Cheers, alkali.
- FUNHOUSE's coin routes use different music and mini-level-styled gameplay, similar to the previous Event Level Space Invaders.
- Both levels even used Practice Checkpoint detection; this time, the detection in FUNHOUSE prevents players from triggering the 'Perfect Ending' in Practice Mode and instead triggers the alternate coin route ending, where the helicopter will fall up.
- The Host and Manager's roles during the coin routes and their endings are inspired by the Cursed Thorn-like character Snargaleblin from the level list Chill Dash.
- The Host's Goblin Demon Angry Grunt 04 sound is even used at the end of the fight scene in the animation's epilogue, and is also used in rafer's YouTube short where he found an impersonator on TikTok.
- During the Perfect Ending, the end section of Guessing Games syncs with the game's Level Complete sound, similar to some of the Chill Dash levels.
- The second half of the animation epilogue's fight, when Alkali and rafer were able to use the StartPos triggers to defeat the Host and Manager, uses a leitmotif of Jolyne Cujoh's theme from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.
- In some parts of the animation for FUNHOUSE, Norcda Childa and Colon (as Prelude Guy while his original cube also appears separate), alongside the location Topalia City, make an appearance there. It confirmed that Prelude is further connected with rafer's Very Unfortunate Events/In Silico storyline.
- Coin 3 originally used data%20mosh by Desx and Ranipla.
- The time period between the release of the Ramen Carnage by isulf and FUNHOUSE is the longest time period between a song and an Event Level that uses it.
- There used to be a 'big robot' part, but rafer cannot execute it.
- FUNHOUSE is one of the shortest-lasting Event Levels, only lasting 15 days. This is unique compared to more recent Event Levels, which generally last around a month.
- FUNHOUSE took three years to be created.[3]
- FUNHOUSE was first teased with a post by rafer in September 2022, which revealed the Host's design.[4]