#GARRY'S MOD VIDEO PLAYER MOVIE#

On top of being a force for good in the community, GMod Tower meant a lot to the development team working on it, too. A good chunk of the things we have done (and continue to do) in Tower Unite would never have been possible in Garry’s Mod.” We knew we had to expand past being a mod when we had to take advantage of undocumented features of Source’s level format just to get it running. As for why the company had to do so, “the Source engine and Garry’s Mod itself limited us our creations and ideas,” Guy told me. I spoke to Macklin Guy, the founder of PixelTail Games, about GMod Tower, and moving on. That meant that once PixelTail Games took their server down, that was it for the original GMod Tower. There were no official tools ever released for hosting your own tower-the only way to play was through the official server. PixelTail Games couldn’t host both games, and Tower Unite was now their sole project. Once Tower Unite was released on Steam in Early Access, however, GMod Tower had to go down. Something beyond GMod Tower: Tower Unite.Ī standalone release, Tower Unite would move the concept on from Garry’s Mod, and onto its own two feet, the idea being to create an entire game that encapsulated the ideals upon which GMod Tower had been built. But behind the scenes, they were working on something new. Over the years, PixelTail Games finished off a couple other projects in Garry’s Mod, from a horror map called Gm_Apartment to Elevator: Source, the one true elevator simulator. One user, Davem322, simply ended their story with “We are a group. Boltaction17 said they managed to get over 20 people to dance to The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats, and it just made them happy to see everyone coming together for something so fun and silly.

GhostDj told of how an admin changed everyone’s player models to dogs for an evening, and they ran around barking like one big pack. People were naming the many friends they had made, even partners they met through it. Over a hundred people told lengthy stories of their experiences, archived on the game’s forums. Some of these stories were short and over in just a couple of sentences, but many were filled with emotion and love. There was one requirement for entering: you had to tell a story of your experience in GMod Tower. The vast majority of stories from players are of a positive community.įor the game’s fifth anniversary, in 2014, the developers held a small raffle. What distinguished GMod Tower from many other projects with similar ambitions to be welcoming to all, regardless of who they were, was that it worked, and it worked tremendously. Be nice, friendly, and kind, and you were welcomed with open arms into GMod Tower. With its re-release, the initial core ethos was reinforced: this was to be a social hub. From minigolf to a game inspired by Mother 3, PixelTail Games remained committed, and the players recognised that, rewarding it with their love and support. Over time, the game grew to having seven individual modes wrapped inside the tower. New features, a new and improved lobby map, and more. Hosting the servers was costly, and the team didn’t want to rely upon microtransactions or adverts to fund it.Īnd yet, GMod Tower came back with a bang. It did come with a caveat, however: it had not been profitable or sustainable for some months. Almost like a version 2.0, it arrived to a fanfare from those who missed their hub, their place to talk. Then, in April 2012, GMod Tower returned almost out of nowhere, with a host of updates. One Steam user summed up the prevailing mood, saying simply, “I want to play again in gmod tower :(”. In the Steam group for GMod Tower, users asked where it had gone. From minigolf to a game inspired by Mother 3.Īs with any social space that is shut down, closed, or built over, those who had enjoyed inhabiting it were left disappointed. As 2011 rolled into 2012, GMod Tower shut down, closing its doors without any clear intention to return. It didn’t have the support of a regular income through sales, nor the power of a massive development team. Its popularity was perhaps one of GMod Tower’s many downfalls: it was a mod of a mod, made by a few fans that wanted to create something new.

#GARRY'S MOD VIDEO PLAYER MOVIE#

There were even movie nights: players could get together and watch streamed videos while hanging out in the tower’s lobby.

Featuring at launch a couple of minigames, a mode akin to Half-Life Deathmatch: Source and another not dissimilar to Super Monkey Ball, the mod was already fleshed out.

Garry's mod video player