Firstly, we have the cube. The cube is the main game mode for geometry dash and is the way that the player will start most levels. It uses a simple jump mechanic to move and interact with objects. it is also available to use in platformer mode.

The ship is the first game mode, besides the cube, that is introduced in geometry dash. First seen in Stereo Madness, the ship is an air game mode that features hold and release gameplay to move up and down. These controls can be reversed depending on the gravity. This style of gameplay has inspired many different techniques such as straight flying, which is where a player rapidly clicks in order to move the ship in a linear direction. In platformer mode, the ship turns into a jetpack.

The UFO game mode is another air game mode that is first shown in the 1.5 update on January 30th 2014, in the 12th level, theory of everything. The UFO plays by repeated and controlled clicking by the player. Clicking makes the UFO do an air hop, but it will fall back down if not clicked again. Like this ship, reversing gravity also reverses the direction in which the UFO moves towards.

The robot released on August 26th 2015, in update 2.0, introduced the level Geometrical Dominator, Deadlocked, and another ground game mode. This game mode preforms by a player holding the click button (or screen if on mobile) for a certain duration that determines how far and high the robot will jump along with how long it is airborne for. However, there is a limit to how long you can hold down the jump. 

The spider game mode released in the 2.1 update, which came out in January 2017. This playstyle works on surfaces by instantly reversing gravity and teleporting whenever a player click is registered. Creators have used this to come up with a variety of different challenges and gameplay obstacles.