As you all may, or may not, know Garry Newman is the maker of the insanely popular game Garrysmod. I was thinking of who I could interview next for
www.garrysmod.com and I thought to myself, "Who better to interview than the creator himself!" So I took that thought and turned it into a reality, and went about interviewing Garry Newman.
The first two days after I sent Garry the interview questions I did not get a response. At first I thought that he would not respond at all, because after all, he is a very busy person. However, I was pleased to find, on the third day, a PM from Garry sitting in my Inbox. So I would like to thank you Garry for taking the time out of your schedule to answer the questions I sent you.
The Interview really answers nothing in particular, but rather reveals somethings about how he came about making Gmod. It also answers a few other things that you all may have, or may not have known.
Interview with Garry Newman:
(The below answers are exactly as Garry wrote them.)
Q: Where did you get the idea to create Garrysmod?
Garry: It wasn't really an idea at first. It just evolved from a weapon roping things together and a rocketlauncher shooting babies and watermelons to what it is today.. over like 50 versions or something (Has anyone counted them all? I'd be interested to know how many versions I actually released (GMod 10 alone is on its 54th update)).
Q: What makes Garrysmod different from any other game on the market today?
Garry: Real games have aims and goals, GMod doesn't I guess. It's like MSPaint of the game world.
Q: Where or when did you learn how to script, and did you ever think you would use the skill to create Garrysmod?
Garry: Do you mean code? If so, I learned it on my own time. I got a couple of c++ books from the library when I was about 13, but they were way over my head. So I learned Blitz Basic (on the amiga). Which gave me a pretty good understanding of the principles. Ever since then I've just been chewing more and more off. Learning C++ wasn't easy, but now I look back and wonder why I had so much trouble understanding things like pointers, vectors and matrices.
Q: When did you start working on Garrysmod, and when did you realize you had something unique?
Garry: I don't know, 2005-2006? Not totally sure. Yeah I knew I had something that people wanted to play - that's why I carried on working on it ;)
Q: What has inspired you to keep working on the game? Have you ever considered giving up or quiting?
Garry: Like I said above, people playing it spurred development. If no-one played it I wouldn't have bothered. I don't think I've ever considered quitting it. I'll continue work on GMod until people stop playing. Although GMod's community is such that they don't really need me to update it that much, they get on with it.
Q: Did you go to Valve with your game or did Valve come to you? Were you surprised that they agreed to market it?
Garry: It was kind of a mutual "this would be a good idea" thing. I kind of rejected the idea at first, like "who would pay for this ****". But the more I thought about it the more I thought I could do something with it to make people want to buy. Yeah I was surprised.
Q: Did you ever think that your game would become so successful? Did you ever have doubt?
Garry: My new motto is hope for the best, plan for the worst. I hoped that it would be, but I didn't want to get my hopes up, so all my estimates were pretty reserved. I don't think the guys at Valve expected it to be so popular.
Q: Would you ever consider putting it on store shelves? Why or Why not?
Garry: Yeah sure, but I don't know whether it would be worth it financially. It's big on the internet, but would that translate to store sales? Plus I'm pretty sure I'd make a lot less from retail sales. The bottom line, I guess, is that I'm open to anything. I don't think I have the choice to take it to retail.
Q: Anything else you want to add about your life or say to the community?
Garry: Nope
Again, I would like to thank Garry for making this wonderful game, and for responding to this interview. I hope the community continues to respond to the interviews I send. I also hope you all like what I write, and enjoy reading these interviews as much as I enjoy writing them. Yes I know, the article has no "eye candy" like pictures or video, but hey, that doesn't make a good article. Keep spreading the good word of this awsome game. Thanks Garry.
Article written by Mogul26
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