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Garry's Mod

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For the British musician, see Gary Numan.
Garry's Mod
File:Garrysmod.png
Developer(s)Team Garry
Publisher(s)Valve Corporation
Designer(s)Garry Newman
EngineSource engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows PC
ReleaseNovember 29 2006
Genre(s)Physics sandbox
Mode(s)Singleplayer, multiplayer

Garry's Mod, or GMod for short, is a "sandbox" mod for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2. It allows the player to manipulate objects and experiment with the physics, often with interesting results thanks to the Havok physics engine. The construction of complex machines within the game can also be a contemporary spin on the Rube Goldberg machine principle.

The current (and final) version of Garry's Mod is version 10, which still receives regular updates via Steam. An older, unsupported version, 9.0.4, is available as a free download. Version 10, now known simply as Garry's Mod, has been available for purchase on Steam since November 29, 2006 for $9.95 (excl. tax.) It requires at least one Source engine game in the user's account to play, and therefore is offered in a reduced-price bundle with Counter-Strike: Source for those who do not meet that criteria.

Overview

File:De chateau0005.jpg
This image demonstrates Super Depth of Field and the ability to pose ragdolls within Garry's Mod. Models taken from Day of Defeat. The map, de_chateau, is from Counter-Strike: Source.

Garry's Mod is a game modification, created by Garry Newman, and a successor to JBMod the original sandbox Half-Life 2 modification[1]. While GMod does not possess any actual gameplay value in a traditional sense, it enables the player to freely manipulate all of the objects and features of the Source engine except for the background features. This has allowed an extensive community to build up and create mods and mini-games within GMod. GMod can be used as a map editing tool that interfaces with Valve Software's proprietary editor Hammer to add furniture and small items through its first person interface, letting users graphically interact with their map. GMod 9 is the last free version of the modification, and was last updated to version 9.0.4 on the 27th of November 2005[2]. Garry's Mod (previously known as GMod 10), the first commercial iteration of the mod, has been released through Valve Software's game management platform Steam, at a cost of $9.95 USD.[3] It was released on 29th November 2006.[4]

Garry's Mod

File:Source melon drag.jpg
In this multiplayer session of Garry's Mod, several players have been turned into physically simulated watermelons and are roped to a scanner NPC (also physically simulated). By rolling themselves around, the players are, with a coordinated effort, able to drag the NPC around the area.

The newest version of Garry's Mod was released on Steam, Valve's content delivery system, on March 17, 2007. Most players familiar with Garry's Mod previous to its commercial release refer to it as Garry's Mod 10. The game costs $9.95 (excl. tax,) however it requires a Source engine game to run. Garry's Mod is available as a bundle with Counter-Strike: Source for $24.95 USD. Essentially, almost all functionality within Garry's Mod (tools, constraints, shaders, menus, etc.) is powered by Lua and therefore can be customized or created by the player.

New features and changes include:

  • More versatile camera tool.
  • Appearance of thrusters can be altered, right down to the effects.
  • Player models now visible in vehicles.
  • Color-wheel within bloom and colour-gun toolmodes.
  • The Physics Gun is able to move any entity. (Except for other players and the map itself)
  • Improved client-server interaction.
  • Reworked motion-blur.
  • Hydraulic tool-gun.
  • Motor tool-gun: allows props to automatically rotate. Controllable with the number-pad.
  • Winch Constraint tool-gun: a constraint that allows control of a length of rope at set speeds with the number-pad.
  • Keep upright tool-gun
  • Hoverball tool-gun: attaches hovering balls to objects and hovers them at set heights. They will allow players to make more complex flying machines as well as aid in steering such objects.
  • Inflator tool-gun: allows different parts of ragdolls to be inflated or deflated.
  • A Morphing Effect that allows the player's view to be distorted, in a watermarked position on the screen, this is still beta.
  • A higher-quality Depth of field effect with a more intuitive interface. Can select the focal point by clicking at the point.
  • The new spawn menu has a configurable system of categories and filters from a base list of all of the resources available and will also automatically generate icons for spawnable items, eliminating both the need to produce icons for every object in the world and keep up with new releases, and concerns about not covering third-party creations.
  • From the videos and screenshots, it appears that the connections are now dynamic.

According to The Steam Review, Valve has given Garry Newman, in exchange for 50% of the profits from Garry's Mod, the full Source engine source code to overcome the limitations of the free Source SDK.[3]

GMod 9

Gmod 9.0.4 is an older version of the mod, which has been superseded by Garry's Mod, and is still freely available although now it is unsupported. Several basic 'gamemodes' are included with the mod, with fairly self-explanatory names like "Build to the Top" and "Melon-racing". Lua Scripting has been implemented into the mod, which allows players to create their own gamemodes and weapons (SWEPs - Scripted WEaPons) by the Garry's Mod community.

Gmod 9 Mods

There are a very large number of Lua scripted 3rd party modifications for Garry's mod. These range from simple mods with increased life or speed, to incredibly complex gamemodes. For example, in a server running the Roleplay modification, you have money and tools which enable you to sell items on the map, or to interact with other players. Newer RP gamemodes have inventories and highly advanced capabilities including Item Combining and Stock Markets.

A scene from Concerned, a popular webcomic made using Garry's Mod.

GMod has also become a tool for users to create music videos, comics and other forms of Machinima. For example the web-comic Concerned, which parodied Half-Life 2, was made using GMod.

It is currently the most popular third party modification for Half-Life 2 with online player counts beating popular Half-Life mods such as The Specialists and Sven Co-op. [5] Many different "Mini Mods" have been made by users. An example is "Wooden Wars", where teams make vehicles or buildings out of wood, and then add weapons made up of anything from gas canisters with thrusters on, to shells launched from "home made" cannons. They then destroy the other team's work [6].

Community

Garry's Mod has a thriving internet community based around the game. This mainly consists of programmers who code new weapons, levels, tools for the game and other such items. Many GMod related sites (such as the Facepunch Studios forums) have a large area where map programmers can discuss their plans for levels. Other sites such as garrysmod.org serve as a download portal for custom content for the game.

Awards

Garry's Mod 9 has won three Mod of the Year awards:

  1. GameSpy: PC Mod of the Year 2005 (December 2005)
  2. PCGamer US - Best Mod 2005 (January 2006)
  3. ModDB: Mod of the Year! (January 2006)

Movie making

Many users on Garry's forums, Facepunch Studios, have used Garry's Mod to create movies.

There is also an upcoming movie, around 30-40 minutes long, named War of the Servers. However, instead of Garry's Mod 10, it will be made in Garry's Mod 9.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://gmwiki.garry.tv/index.php/JBMod
  2. ^ http://gmod.garry.tv/changelog.php
  3. ^ a b "Garry's Mod to be sold on Steam". The Steam Review. April. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=4000&/
  5. ^ http://www.steamgames.com/v/index.php?area=stats (click on "View detailed statistics by game")
  6. ^ http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3143251
Official
Garry's Mod official site
Garry's Mod official forum
Garry's Mod Official Wiki
Garry's Personal Blog
Garry's Mod Files - Includes a database of custom content for Garry's Mod
Community
Garry's Mod - German forums, IRC Chat, Wiki and database
GModCentral - Forums, Servers, IRC Chat (closed at the moment, reopening soon, presumable under a different name)
Garry's mod database - News, comics, awards and forums
MelonBrew.com Roleplaying - One of the largest (After Facepunch) and oldest Garry's Mod communities, dedicated to using Garry's Mod as a platform for roleplaying.
NoxiousNet.com A Garry’s Mod community with custom game modes such Capture The Flag and Zombie Survival.
Sigma Seven Roleplaying - A growing Garry's Mod roleplaying community
Taco and Banana - A Half-Life 2 roleplaying Community
Black Brains Role-playing - An open minded Garry's Mod community aimed towards fun and role-playing
FaceWAN Gaming Community - A Garrys Mod and Counter-Strike community
Trickys Tutorials - A tutorial page for Garrys Mod, and other addons.
Community News
GModNews - Community-authored news website dedicated to the community.
Press
Garry's Mod Releasing on Steam announcement
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