Shack: Tell me about Team Garry. When did you start bringing them on, and what have they contributed to the mod?

Garry Newman: Most of Team Garry was originally bought on to test the new Lua implementation. Their main jobs were to write game modes for release, but somehow that got sidetracked and everyone worked on the main sandbox game mode. This turned out to be a good thing really, because they added quite a few things that I wouldn't have managed to do on my own.

Shack: Have you always liked sandbox-style games? If so, any favorites?

Garry Newman: Sure. Sim Ant, Sim City, The Sims, Theme Park, Rollercoaster Tycoon. I've probably clocked up more hours in RollerCoaster Tycoon than any other game.

Shack: Do you think enough games allow for that kind of constructive teamwork?

Garry Newman: It'd be nice to see more games based on creating rather than destroying. I get a couple of emails a month from happy parents.

Shack: So how did the Steam deal come about?

Garry Newman: I was emailing Erik J [Erik Johnson, project manager] from Valve about something and it came up. I turned it down because I figured no one would buy it. Then a couple of weeks later it came up again, and I said yes, because the nerd in me wanted to totally re-write it from scratch again. It was all a lot more informal than I expected these things would be.

Shack: From your perspective, what's the state of the mod community like right now?

Garry Newman: I don't know what's going on. You've got these big-ass mods like Black Mesa that have awesome graphics, but they've been in development for three years and all they've given us is 64 highly sharpened screenshots.

But on the other hand you've got these great mods that are released, like Insect Infestation, and hardly anyone's playing. It kind of pains me to see that Insect Infestation isn't making much of a splash. It's doing everything right. It's different, it's releasing regular updates, but no one's paying attention.

Shack: Do you think the reason for this is that mods are being held to a higher standard of presentation now? Has the industry gotten so big that mods now have to compete with retail titles?

Garry Newman: I think so. I also think the motives behind making mods have changed slightly. Making a mod is now a well established path into the industry, so they're making the mod as the portfolio piece. Where as before it was just a couple of guys slapping code about to extend the life of their favorite game.

Shack: Then what would you suggest to mod teams to help them avoid getting held up on the details? Start with a simple idea and build on it?

Garry Newman: I would recommend the iterative method to anyone.

The main argument about this is that they don't want to release a shit version of their idea and turn everyone off. Fair enough, but it's going to be so much worse if you work your balls off on it for 2 years then release, and your idea is still rubbish. Iterating would have let you know that this idea isn't working out, so you could adjust it. In every update you're picking up more people playing your mod. You build a community.

Shack: Do you think online distribution methods like Steam are changing the modding community for the better or worse?

Garry Newman: I think it's a great thing, but I might be a bit biased. It'll attract people to make mods.

The arguments against it really don't stand up to reason. People say, "Oh great we'll have to pay for every shitty mod now." First of all, why do you want to play a shitty mod? Second of all, why would you pay for a shitty mod? No one's going to be charging for mods that no one's going to buy. It's a waste of time.

It's a natural progression for modding and I think it'll attract more people to it. More modders mean more mods, even if you do have to pay for some of them.

Shack: Can you give me an example of a specific feature that was coded into GMod, and briefly take me through the process of its implementation?

Garry Newman: The Inflator, like most things in GMod, was born out of experimentation. I wanted a way to resize models, and accidentally found that I could blow up different body parts. So I added a few Engine binds, which are functions Lua can use to call functions in the Engine, and made the STool [scripted tool]. Obviously, getting Lua all bound up and working is a lot of work, since you're telling Lua how to talk to C++, so you have to create functions and classes for everything you want it to talk to. But once it's all done it makes development so much quicker and easier.

It gives the community a lot to play with, and it's already spawned some amazing mods that I would never have thought of. Like Wire Mod, which adds wires and chips and stuff, and SpaceBuild, where you build a working spaceship and colonize planets.

Shack: What are your future plans for GMod? Will there be an update when Half-Life 2: Episode Two is released?

Garry Newman: Yeah it's following the Source engine. When the engine updates, GMod will exploit all those features.

Shack: Tell me about Garry's Mod Deathmatch (GMDM). What are you aiming for in terms of bringing something new to deathmatch gameplay?

Garry Newman: The aim of GMDM is to act as an example of how to make game modes for GMod. The whole of GMod, apart from the spawn menu, is scripted in Lua, but right now people aren't really experimenting with game modes as much as I'd like. So the aim is to make a game mode to draw attention to the fact that you can make awesome new games in GMod.

The idea behind GMDM itself is just to make a deathmatch game that makes people say, "Fucking awesome."

Shack: Now that GMod is a success, is game development something you want to pursue as a career?

Garry Newman: Game development was something I wanted to pursue as a career ever since I read about the Oliver Twins in Sinclair User when I was about 8 years old.

Right now though, I have no idea what I want to do specifically. I'm pretty sure I want to keep stuff low-budget and indie. I don't really want to work on generic "Halo 12" no-brainer, shoot stuff, seen-it-all-before games.

Shack: Pitch me your fantasy game project.

Garry Newman: Dead Rising co-op.

Shack: So I noticed your webpage today. You realize I have to use one of those crazy webcam photos in the article now, right?

Garry Newman: Haha, balls.