For almost as long Rob has given us the option to freely add custom text to our levels in 2.0, there has seemingly been this belief that including text in your levels can only hinder it, with some citing Geometrical Dominator’s, “Go!” as an example of how they believe text should be used in levels.

I have personally always loved the addition of text in levels, as I feel it can do a lot to give a level its own unique personality.

The release of space i guess by HipVillain recently reminded me of how a fair amount of people in this community view the use of typography in GD levels. Many people, including myself, loved how the level used text to its advantage, however some people didn’t seem to like it as much, finding it distracting from the playing experience.

So what do you think? Are there any examples of levels you think uses text really well? Are there any levels you think uses text poorly?

Me personally, I've never found a level that uses text to it's disadvantage. Text is a tool that can be used to tell stories, recite lyrics, credit, it can do so many things and I've never seen a level that I feel uses it too much/poorly! However sometimes, I feel text placement/font can get very repetitive sometimes, especially with the rise of newer 2.2 modern levels where they feel the need to all use the same font to recite lyrics and stuff. I think it can look good, and I usually do think it looks good! However, I think it's better to think more CREATIVELY with text, like how space i guess did it. While I don't think text can be used poorly, I think it can definitely grow stale from repeated use and new ideas to implement them should be used more often! You have the world at your fingertips!! Create new ways of having your text appear! Use different fonts! Have it move differently! You can do so much with it!

Personally my favorite use of text in a level is actually Six Paths of Pain, it's a very edgy styled level, so it only makes sense to have very edgy text! However, that's WHY I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! It paints itself as an edgy mess and the text fits it perfectly, saying things like "Those who can't understand TRUE PAIN, can never understand TRUE PEACE" and my personal favorite of "Open your third eye, you won't believe the TRUTH." It's the perfect text for a level like this and I couldn't imagine this level without it.

a lot of times it strikes me as a lazy attempt at song cohesion when the rest of the level isn't cutting it in that field, but obviously there's nuance to it and there is some really genius use scattered around out there. i think space i guess uses it pretty well for one

text can be really entertaining if used like in vam by flaaroni. it can also be really cringe if used like in whymewhymewhymewhyme