By Kieron Gillen on December 5th, 2008 at 10:39 am.
Reading Qt3 I was pleased to hear news about Garry’s Mod. It’s been on Steam for two years. And it’s sold… well, take it away, Garry…
The popularity took me and Valve by surprise. As soon as it went on sale the steam servers were temporary knocked out, due to the demand. On the first day it sold 5,729 copies. Wowzer. I kind of expected that it would sell a big number of copies for the first day, then sell very few after that. I was kind of wrong, because over the next 2 years it went on to sell 312,541 copies. Which has totally knocked my socks off.
Gosh. 312,541! Sock-removing success indeed. And success born of a reasonable ten-dollar price and feeding into gamers’ endless desire to move G-man into homosexual trysts for comedy screenshots is the best kind of success. Still available, if you want to be 313,542 or similar. And here’s some things people have made in G-mod from their front page alone. Flying gnomes, etc!
The Gnome Tornado Gun!
The Laser-stool!
Er… Punching!
Hurrah!
05/12/2008 at 10:42 Meat Circus says:
At $10 a pop, that’s THREE MEEEEELLION DOLLAAAAARS.
05/12/2008 at 10:55 Paul Moloney says:
That’s cool. I bought it too, but never progressed much beyond setting up exploding barrels and cackling.
P.
05/12/2008 at 11:35 rei says:
The human propensity for Just Messing Around can’t be overestimated.
05/12/2008 at 11:44 teo says:
wtf is that laser thing supposed to be
05/12/2008 at 11:52 Yiorgos says:
Better than LittleBigPlanet in my opinion…
05/12/2008 at 11:58 Bobsy says:
Well yes Meat, but of course Steam takes a reasonable cut for distribution costs (and possibly support). But you knew that already.
05/12/2008 at 11:59 Saflo says:
I imagine a lot of the sales come from it being packaged with CS and TF2 on the cheap. That’s what nudged me into buying it and I couldn’t have been happier.
05/12/2008 at 12:00 Nilocy says:
Gmod has to be one of the bestest mods out there right now. Even though it is a stand alone. Did you know that people have acctually created their own operating system INSIDE gmod. You can do all sorts of crazy stuff, such as one mans goal to play Gmod inside Gmod :D
05/12/2008 at 12:06 Pags says:
Fuck Gmod. I will forever associate it with the downfall of my beloved Gamer Snap.
05/12/2008 at 12:19 Paul Moloney says:
“The human propensity to Just Messing Around can’t be overestimated.”
I’m many hours into Fallout 3 and the VATS system still hasn’t gotten old, especially once you get Bloody Perk. I’m not sure would a headshot actually result in one eyeball going in one direction, the other in the opposite, while the target’s leg explodes. But it is jolly good fun for all the family.
P.
05/12/2008 at 12:20 manintheshack says:
I concur, Pags, although I think PCG’s willingness to print such vast amounts of buggery may not have helped. I mean, I sent in some pretty arty stuff and… nada.
05/12/2008 at 12:22 Jim Rossignol says:
The fall of Gamer Snap was a sad thing.
05/12/2008 at 12:23 SKACE says:
90% of players gmod are suckers taht can only move ragdolls or place wheels on box… Thanks god that Iam in that 10% of people who knows how to work with special tools (for example wiremod)
05/12/2008 at 12:24 qrter says:
I love how the fist guy wants to add a personal, explanatory note – but why all these fist attacks, this unusual propensity for melee..?
Ah! He has a love for it!
05/12/2008 at 12:25 Malagate says:
I have heard of G-mod, but I still have no idea what it does other than help make interesting source based screenshots. I am so going to get it though, after I heard mention of G-mod having “Melon Racing” in it I couldn’t resist.
05/12/2008 at 12:26 manintheshack says:
SKACE: I don’t know what to say…
05/12/2008 at 12:27 qrter says:
It’s like all those people who buy a video game and then they Don’t Play It Right.. I pity the fools!
05/12/2008 at 12:33 Ben Abraham says:
And lets not forget the ever wonderful, “Half Life: Full Life Consequences” featuring Gordon Freeman’s brother John Freeman!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxyZaZlaOs
05/12/2008 at 12:34 Kieron Gillen says:
Jim: The fall of Gamer Snap was consistent from inception. It was born low and only got ever lower.
KG
05/12/2008 at 12:37 Ging says:
I still don’t entirely understand the attraction of GMod – I’ve tried a couple of versions of it, spent a while playing with the tools… but it’s never grabbed me.
I’m also driven away somewhat by the vocal section of their community, who I’ve butted heads with a couple of times about using our content without permission.
Fair play to Garry for the success though, 300,000+ sales is impressive indeed!
05/12/2008 at 12:43 Del Boy says:
Oi! Gillen, Rossignol, Walker!
You still owe me a set of speakers from my winning Gamer Snap entry…..ooh….ten years ago.
It was a screen from the pit-stop of Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix 3, with a speech bubble from one of the pit crew….
“Yeah, it’s your gears innit! Wednesday’s the best I can do”.
Hilarious I’m sure you’ll agree…….now where are my F*#*@NG speakers?!
I’ve been waiting in for the postman every day for nearly ten years!
05/12/2008 at 12:44 Saflo says:
SKACE: I don’t know what to say…
A groan or dramatic sigh would suffice.
05/12/2008 at 12:45 Mr Pink says:
I completely agree. Guess the game is a superior feature! (although it may help that my picture of a Spore penis won me a sackful of games)
05/12/2008 at 12:48 manintheshack says:
I always got pipped at the post, by some shitty entry.
I gave up when the Rainbow Six team clipping through a wall beat my Quake 3 screeny amazingly spliced with the UT HUD to highlight the conflict between the two games on release.
05/12/2008 at 12:52 Tei says:
I ***LOOOOVEE**** Garrys Mod. My main problem is the community and the players. The community is good in a 4Chan style. But some players are awnfull… for some reason (GM is cheap?) it attract pre-teens and some people are a disgrace to play with.
You could say.. play offline, yea.. but thats remove almost half of what make GM awesomenes condensed.
05/12/2008 at 12:56 Tei says:
The Internet Trynity are: 4Chan, SomethingAwfull and Garrys Mod. Everything else exist so these guys can create the next internet meme.
I say.
05/12/2008 at 13:04 Matt says:
@ Ben:
“You are headcrab zombie!” has been my msn screen name for 3 years or so, from back when I used to change it weekly… I still ain’t bored of it. The flash movies of HL:FLC are also immense.
05/12/2008 at 13:08 Fat says:
I bought this back about 18 months ago (i think, ish) and probably only played it for a matter of hours, lots of fun though. I keep telling myself i will go and mess around on it, but i know how easily it reeled me in when i played it the other times, so i keep spending my time with other games instead.
Is addictive, good value though. Like cheap crack for gamers!
05/12/2008 at 13:19 Matt says:
I know that the profit share was 50/50 with valve
so garry’s made him self a cool 1.5million… bastard :P
05/12/2008 at 13:26 Kieron Gillen says:
Gary claims he hasn’t, by the way. Presumably the deals reduce that. Also, there’s other people on the team, who presumably get paid. But he is financially solvent, which is kinda awesome.
KG
05/12/2008 at 13:37 drewski says:
I thought that Full Life Consequences thing was a genuine piece of absurdist humour, but it isn’t. Just as hilarious regardless.
05/12/2008 at 13:39 Down Rodeo says:
On his blog he talks about buying a flat and having to go through various checks to prove that he wasn’t a drug dealer. It must be nice, being able just to buy a flat. Just like that [/Tommy Cooper].
05/12/2008 at 13:51 Ging says:
He’s also bought way too many cars in the space of about a year!
So yeah, it may not be 1.5 million, but it’s certainly enough to allow him to do basically whatever he wants for a while.
05/12/2008 at 13:54 Matt says:
All the news posts around the time suggests the profit split was even between garry/garry’s team and valve.
I believe valves cut was so high because he didn’t pay to licence the engine from valve hence their large profit take.
05/12/2008 at 14:08 shon says:
Weird timing on the article as I just bought it yesterday. I was looking for a decent wallpaper of a Soldier and I figured it would be easier to make my own. I’ve been really surprised by how much is crammed into it.
05/12/2008 at 14:10 JakeB says:
Note to all, Valve’s cut is around 50% due to the fact of Garry not having to pay a license for full use of the Source Engine.
05/12/2008 at 14:22 Nehr says:
Uh, yeah, we got that JakeB. It’s been said plenty of times already. Idiot.
05/12/2008 at 14:26 Pags says:
Too mean, Nehr! Too mean.
05/12/2008 at 15:01 I Am Thermite says:
JBMOD 4 LYFE
cough.
The hardcore comic-makers got all mad when he changed the way ragdolls worked, the coders get mad whenever he secretly made a change to the Garry’s Mod code that messes everything up, and the community is such a size that it breaks the “smart people to dumb people” ratio.
And yet I still play it… with my friends, of course.
05/12/2008 at 15:14 Skurmedel says:
I used to be quite active in the community and what not. But I got so tired of all the childish manners there. It was like a Eurogamer XBox vs PS3 thread times 100, in every fucking discussion. I got tired of it all and left. I’ve better things to do than bicker with some idiot about who’s got the biggest e-balls.
I still play Garry’s Mod now and then though. It’s great for making cheesy photos.
05/12/2008 at 16:37 Smurfy says:
If you do the sums it’s 3 million dollars, but Valve takes exactly half of that.
Seems evil, but it was either Valve get half the revenue or Garry licenses the Source engine, which would have cost a shit load.
05/12/2008 at 16:40 Bhazor says:
Strange selection of highlights. I have one word for you.
300foottallwalkingrobotmechmadefromHL2scrap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLLFkTNkImA
05/12/2008 at 17:16 Man Raised By Puffins says:
@ Mr Pink: Buggeration, I forgot they did prizes for Guess the Game. I got a hasty scrawl of Armageddon Empire printed some months ago and they’ve not sent a sausage. I’ll have to pester them about that methinks.
Also, congrats Garry.
05/12/2008 at 17:20 Nick says:
I think it is important to note that Valve take a 50% cut of the profits.
¬_¬
(RIP Gamer snap, homosexual positions were more amusing when they were due to random bugs or real effort)
05/12/2008 at 17:29 Ginger Yellow says:
” I think PCG’s willingness to print such vast amounts of buggery may not have helped. ”
I always wondered whether they printed so many because that’s all that people sent in, or if they actually slanted it in that direction themselves.
05/12/2008 at 17:35 Pags says:
I was gonna say, PCG did complain often about only ever receiving buggery pictures taken in Gmod. It was funny when it was coincidental death animations intermingling with bad clipping, but when you could pose the buggery yourself it was really just a minor step up from drawing some stickmen indulging in sodomy on MSPaint.
05/12/2008 at 19:02 AlexW says:
Full Life Consequences really got its start when the epic narration was done (around the time the eBaum epic narrations were being done, if I recall correctly) on YTMND. It was later given video, but I actually prefer the audio-only version, myself. I think it’s better to let your imagination come up with the abstract and absurd scenarios itself.
And I’ve never really done much with GMod. I love the build-to-the-top/other-side modes, but I’ve only ever had basically one good game of it. It’s rather difficult to get a team of strangers in GMod to cooperate.
Also, War of the Servers. Not the most interesting piece of machinima Lit Fuse has done, but truly epic in length (as it’s actually only about half an hour shorter than a proper War of the Worlds movie).
05/12/2008 at 19:27 EyeMessiah says:
The fall of Gamer Snap was preordained. Do not concern yourself overmuch.
05/12/2008 at 19:38 Heliocentric says:
Your comments suprise me. I know you have cause to resent the pcg staff but what of all the innocents that suffered?
05/12/2008 at 20:32 Theory says:
50% is more than an average developer who release a game on store shelves would get.
05/12/2008 at 22:33 mrrobsa says:
@Bhazor:
It’s a good GMod robot, but I think this one wins:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CP-NMpKh2Rw
It fires shipping containers! =D
06/12/2008 at 09:08 Calistas says:
What’s the “play” part of Gmod?
06/12/2008 at 12:47 Davee says:
I read this earlier on his Blog, but anyways – Grats, Garry!
Iv’e always loved Gmod. And Iv’e played it since V6 (long before it was relaeased on Steam). What some of you say is more or less right though, theres accually quite a big bunch of idiots playing it – but It’s a part of the game now – wouldnt be the same whitout somebody to mess around with. And you can always get some resonable players onto a password-protected server of your own or join a serious community ;)
And then theres the mods and addons. Theres simply to many to count. The new experiences in Gmod never ends!
Simply put, one of the best games Iv’e ever played.
And @Calistas:
The default ‘gamemode’ in Gmod is the one called ‘Sandbox’, where there’s no objective. You simply select a map, start it up and get handed all the tools in the game to play with as you see fit. But then there are the hunderds of community-created gamemodes like ‘Zombie Survival’, ‘Spacebuild’ (where you can explore and colonize planets!), ‘TeamPlay’, ‘Stranded’ and a big bunch of Role-play-gamemodes. So theres a huge ammount of ways to play Gmod.
06/12/2008 at 12:54 Martin says:
Please explain the laser stool. To me stool = poop and I fail to see the connection in he video.
06/12/2008 at 12:58 Davee says:
Stool = ScriptedTool. Its a custom-made Sandbox-tool coded in the language called lua, this one simply shoots laser beams.
07/12/2008 at 21:35 Nick says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stool
just in case..