Garry's Mod: Sandboxing Your Way to Strangeness

If you're a frequent user of the Steam PC application, then chances are you've come across Garry's Mod at one point or another.  Garry's Mod (or Gmod for short) is a sandbox game built on Valve's Source game engine, which uses assets from their most popular games.  By this I mean you have full access to characters, props, and maps from these games, and you may combine them in any way you see fit.  Have you ever wanted to take characters from Team Fortress 2 and place them into the Half-Life 2 universe?  Gmod has got you covered!

Garry's Mod has no real purpose other than letting you have fun messing with game objects; there's no true "game" here (although if you're crafty you could use it to code up your own online multiplayer game). 

A very cool feature is the ability to import enemy NPCs from Half-Life 2, allowing you to either fight them yourself, or stage massive NPC versus NPC battles.

Combine soldiers battle a swarm of Antlions

However, the big draw for most people is the complete control over the character models from Valve's games.  You can pose every character as you see fit, even down to their facial expressions.

As you can probably imagine, this has opened the door for amateur filmmakers to utilize stop motion techniques to create their own short videos, usually starring Team Fortress 2 characters.  Who can forget such timeless classics as Sniper is Stupid?


Top notch animation right?  That really puts Pixar to shame doesn't it?  To be fair though, I have seen a few Gmod videos with incredible stop motion animation constructed out of thousands of screenshots.

Now you may have noticed earlier I said that Garry's Mod allows you to manipulate the facial expressions of the character models.  This is where the strange factor comes in.  In addition to standard models that allow a limited range of facial expression, the game contains an additional set of models where you have full control of the faces, which can lead to some unexpectedly terrifying results:



And because Youtube is.....Youtube, there are people willing to take these horrifying facial expressions to the extreme (I apologize for any IQ points lost during the viewing of all these vids).


Okay, I feel like this is enough brain-draining stupidity for one blog post.  If for some reason you can't get enough, by all means head over to Youtube and continue the search (a good starting point is typing something involving a TF2 character into the search box, such as "Heavy is ").

Thanks to the free release of Valve's Source Filmmaker software, which includes tools for creating smooth animations (no need for stop motion here), there has been a steady decline of Gmod videos being produced and shared. 

If you're a huge fan of Valve's games, or just sandbox games in general, you should head over to Steam and check out Garry's Mod ASAP, because it really doesn't get much better than this.  One last thing I should mention is that Gmod contains a huge database of free downloadable characters/props/maps (my personal favorite is the Kakariko Village map from Zelda: Ocarina of Time).  Have fun, and if you decide to create a masterpiece of stop motion animation, be sure to send me a link because I'd love to see it!

If you're a frequent user of the Steam PC application, then chances are you've come across Garry's Mod at one point or another.  Garry's Mod (or Gmod for short) is a sandbox game built on Valve's Source game engine, which uses assets from their most popular games.  By this I mean you have full access to characters, props, and maps from these games, and you may combine them in any way you see fit.  Have you ever wanted to take characters from Team Fortress 2 and place them into the Half-Life 2 universe?  Gmod has got you covered!

Garry's Mod has no real purpose other than letting you have fun messing with game objects; there's no true "game" here (although if you're crafty you could use it to code up your own online multiplayer game). 

A very cool feature is the ability to import enemy NPCs from Half-Life 2, allowing you to either fight them yourself, or stage massive NPC versus NPC battles.

Combine soldiers battle a swarm of Antlions

However, the big draw for most people is the complete control over the character models from Valve's games.  You can pose every character as you see fit, even down to their facial expressions.

As you can probably imagine, this has opened the door for amateur filmmakers to utilize stop motion techniques to create their own short videos, usually starring Team Fortress 2 characters.  Who can forget such timeless classics as Sniper is Stupid?


Top notch animation right?  That really puts Pixar to shame doesn't it?  To be fair though, I have seen a few Gmod videos with incredible stop motion animation constructed out of thousands of screenshots.

Now you may have noticed earlier I said that Garry's Mod allows you to manipulate the facial expressions of the character models.  This is where the strange factor comes in.  In addition to standard models that allow a limited range of facial expression, the game contains an additional set of models where you have full control of the faces, which can lead to some unexpectedly terrifying results:



And because Youtube is.....Youtube, there are people willing to take these horrifying facial expressions to the extreme (I apologize for any IQ points lost during the viewing of all these vids).


Okay, I feel like this is enough brain-draining stupidity for one blog post.  If for some reason you can't get enough, by all means head over to Youtube and continue the search (a good starting point is typing something involving a TF2 character into the search box, such as "Heavy is ").

Thanks to the free release of Valve's Source Filmmaker software, which includes tools for creating smooth animations (no need for stop motion here), there has been a steady decline of Gmod videos being produced and shared. 

If you're a huge fan of Valve's games, or just sandbox games in general, you should head over to Steam and check out Garry's Mod ASAP, because it really doesn't get much better than this.  One last thing I should mention is that Gmod contains a huge database of free downloadable characters/props/maps (my personal favorite is the Kakariko Village map from Zelda: Ocarina of Time).  Have fun, and if you decide to create a masterpiece of stop motion animation, be sure to send me a link because I'd love to see it!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Team Fortress 2 Halloween Events: Spooktacular Fragging

Every October, Valve Software gives a special treat to all the gamers who love the spirit of Halloween.  This treat is the annual Team Fortress 2 Halloween event.  I must say, whether you love Valve or hate them, you have to admire the fact that they're still supporting TF2 all these years after its 2007 release date.  So let's dive in and look at all the awesome features of this event.

Back in 2009, Valve initiated their first Halloween event in TF2.  They released a new king of the hill map called Harvest, as well as a Halloween-themed counterpart called Harvest Event.  The event map is set at nighttime with various visual touches to get you into the Halloween spirit.  These include jack-o-lanterns scattered around the map, tombstones, and re-skinned health kits which are now represented by candies and cauldrons.

Also placed around the map are pumpkins with sticks of dynamite strapped to them, which will explode when shot.  The highlight of Harvest Event is its resident ghost, which spawns at various locations on the map and slowly wanders around.  If you venture too close to it, your character will shriek in fear and will be unable to attack for a few seconds, leaving you vulnerable.

The ghost freaks out the Demoman.

After the inaugural 2009 event, the TF2 Halloween specials have become more elaborate with many more new features.  Each year Valve will either release a pair of maps (one standard map, along with its Halloween-themed counterpart), or they will give a standard map a complete Halloween makeover.  One notable case is Mann Manor, which is an extremely detailed counterpart of Mountain Lab, complete with spooky library sections, dark holes with creepy eyes peering out at you, and hair-raising noises throughout.

Mann Manor.

Instead of a simple ghost wandering around, all Halloween events after 2009 have introduced boss monsters which will spawn at various intervals.  Notable bosses include a gigantic floating eyeball which fires missiles, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann (Valve's humor at its finest), who runs around the map swinging a giant axe.

These monsters contain huge amounts of HP and will attack all the players on the server, therefore the best way to defeat them is for both teams to (temporarily) put aside their differences and work together to take down the boss.  Defeating these bosses will give players a special item, such as the Horseless Headless Horsemann's head (makes no sense but that's the whole point), which is a wearable hat.

Speaking of items, there are quite a few Halloween-specific goodies to grab.  Through random gift drops you'll be able to pick up Halloween masks (really just paper bags with a TF2 character's face drawn on it), worn-out top hats, and even class-specific Halloween costumes.  Costumes must be collected piece by piece, but once you complete a set you're usually rewarded with humorous results.  For example, the Engineer has a costume resembling a giant fly, which causes his voice to sound extremely high pitched.  The Soldier's robot costume unlocks a whole new set of voice commands, as well as a new robot-dance taunt.

Speaking of dancing, what would Halloween be without Thriller?  The developers at Valve were awesome enough to give a special Thriller dance taunt to all classes, which can only be used when the Halloween events are active.


Last but not least, a recent addition to Team Fortress 2's Halloween festivities is Zombie Fortress, which is a set of new game modes that will have players controlling both regular classes and zombies, depending on their team.  I guess Valve wasn't satisfied with just Left 4 Dead?

If you're a fan of Halloween and online first-person shooters, you should absolutely check out Team Fortress 2 when this special event occurs.  The game is free after all.  The nicely themed maps and intense boss battles are something to behold, and we can only hope that Valve continues this tradition for years to come!

Have you guys tried out the TF2 Halloween events?  If so, which one was your favorite?

Every October, Valve Software gives a special treat to all the gamers who love the spirit of Halloween.  This treat is the annual Team Fortress 2 Halloween event.  I must say, whether you love Valve or hate them, you have to admire the fact that they're still supporting TF2 all these years after its 2007 release date.  So let's dive in and look at all the awesome features of this event.

Back in 2009, Valve initiated their first Halloween event in TF2.  They released a new king of the hill map called Harvest, as well as a Halloween-themed counterpart called Harvest Event.  The event map is set at nighttime with various visual touches to get you into the Halloween spirit.  These include jack-o-lanterns scattered around the map, tombstones, and re-skinned health kits which are now represented by candies and cauldrons.

Also placed around the map are pumpkins with sticks of dynamite strapped to them, which will explode when shot.  The highlight of Harvest Event is its resident ghost, which spawns at various locations on the map and slowly wanders around.  If you venture too close to it, your character will shriek in fear and will be unable to attack for a few seconds, leaving you vulnerable.

The ghost freaks out the Demoman.

After the inaugural 2009 event, the TF2 Halloween specials have become more elaborate with many more new features.  Each year Valve will either release a pair of maps (one standard map, along with its Halloween-themed counterpart), or they will give a standard map a complete Halloween makeover.  One notable case is Mann Manor, which is an extremely detailed counterpart of Mountain Lab, complete with spooky library sections, dark holes with creepy eyes peering out at you, and hair-raising noises throughout.

Mann Manor.

Instead of a simple ghost wandering around, all Halloween events after 2009 have introduced boss monsters which will spawn at various intervals.  Notable bosses include a gigantic floating eyeball which fires missiles, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann (Valve's humor at its finest), who runs around the map swinging a giant axe.

These monsters contain huge amounts of HP and will attack all the players on the server, therefore the best way to defeat them is for both teams to (temporarily) put aside their differences and work together to take down the boss.  Defeating these bosses will give players a special item, such as the Horseless Headless Horsemann's head (makes no sense but that's the whole point), which is a wearable hat.

Speaking of items, there are quite a few Halloween-specific goodies to grab.  Through random gift drops you'll be able to pick up Halloween masks (really just paper bags with a TF2 character's face drawn on it), worn-out top hats, and even class-specific Halloween costumes.  Costumes must be collected piece by piece, but once you complete a set you're usually rewarded with humorous results.  For example, the Engineer has a costume resembling a giant fly, which causes his voice to sound extremely high pitched.  The Soldier's robot costume unlocks a whole new set of voice commands, as well as a new robot-dance taunt.

Speaking of dancing, what would Halloween be without Thriller?  The developers at Valve were awesome enough to give a special Thriller dance taunt to all classes, which can only be used when the Halloween events are active.


Last but not least, a recent addition to Team Fortress 2's Halloween festivities is Zombie Fortress, which is a set of new game modes that will have players controlling both regular classes and zombies, depending on their team.  I guess Valve wasn't satisfied with just Left 4 Dead?

If you're a fan of Halloween and online first-person shooters, you should absolutely check out Team Fortress 2 when this special event occurs.  The game is free after all.  The nicely themed maps and intense boss battles are something to behold, and we can only hope that Valve continues this tradition for years to come!

Have you guys tried out the TF2 Halloween events?  If so, which one was your favorite?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Gabepire Strikes Back

This week amidst all the chaos of Mark Zuckerberg continuing to manipulate the masses (i.e. Facebook has been updated yet again), I happened to come across this picture on Facebook:

Seeing as I'm a huge Team Fortress 2 fan (as well as a Star Wars fan), I couldn't help but create my own version of this picture, using every Valve gamer's favorite punching bag: Gabe Newell.

These aren't the delayed games you are looking for.

It's very easy to draw parallels between Facebook users and Team Fortress 2 players, seeing as both sets of people complain like mad whenever a large update is released for their respective platform.  I for one am glad that Valve continues to support TF2 nearly four years after the game's release, but sadly I have at times been among the complainers.

When item trading was first introduced, I absolutely loathed it, mainly because the chat topics on the servers immediately switched over from strategizing to weapon trading.  This greatly ruined the TF2 experience for many weeks until finally players created trading servers for such things, and strategy chat made a triumphant return in the regular servers.

Also, while I now accept that new weapons are added to TF2 every couple of weeks, I still miss the days when new weapons were a special occasion.  Fellow TF2ers know what I'm talking about; new weapons were released every few months or so, and to unlock them you had to complete achievements.  None of this random drop nonsense.

But anyway, Team Fortress 2 is still awesome, no matter how much the Newell team messes with it!

This week amidst all the chaos of Mark Zuckerberg continuing to manipulate the masses (i.e. Facebook has been updated yet again), I happened to come across this picture on Facebook:

Seeing as I'm a huge Team Fortress 2 fan (as well as a Star Wars fan), I couldn't help but create my own version of this picture, using every Valve gamer's favorite punching bag: Gabe Newell.

These aren't the delayed games you are looking for.

It's very easy to draw parallels between Facebook users and Team Fortress 2 players, seeing as both sets of people complain like mad whenever a large update is released for their respective platform.  I for one am glad that Valve continues to support TF2 nearly four years after the game's release, but sadly I have at times been among the complainers.

When item trading was first introduced, I absolutely loathed it, mainly because the chat topics on the servers immediately switched over from strategizing to weapon trading.  This greatly ruined the TF2 experience for many weeks until finally players created trading servers for such things, and strategy chat made a triumphant return in the regular servers.

Also, while I now accept that new weapons are added to TF2 every couple of weeks, I still miss the days when new weapons were a special occasion.  Fellow TF2ers know what I'm talking about; new weapons were released every few months or so, and to unlock them you had to complete achievements.  None of this random drop nonsense.

But anyway, Team Fortress 2 is still awesome, no matter how much the Newell team messes with it!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Strange Gaming News: Gotham City Impostors Beta

While we all wait for the dark and serious Batman: Arkham City to arrive, why not sign up for a beta test of a goofier, much stranger Batman-themed game?   The beta for Gotham City Impostors (available for Xbox 360, PS3, PC) will start in September, but you can head over to the game's main site to sign up right now.

For those who haven't heard of this game, it's a team-based first person shooter consisting of one Batman team and one Joker team.  Each team consists of psychopathic average Joes dressed up as either Batman or the Joker, depending on their team.  The trailer, which showcases fast paced action and over-the-top weaponry, brings back memories (for me at least) of frantic Timesplitters multiplayer matches.  Chances are it won't be able to dethrone Team Fortress 2 in the area of team-based game play, but it should still be fun to fire rockets at murderous Batman wannabes wielding machine guns.

While we all wait for the dark and serious Batman: Arkham City to arrive, why not sign up for a beta test of a goofier, much stranger Batman-themed game?   The beta for Gotham City Impostors (available for Xbox 360, PS3, PC) will start in September, but you can head over to the game's main site to sign up right now.

For those who haven't heard of this game, it's a team-based first person shooter consisting of one Batman team and one Joker team.  Each team consists of psychopathic average Joes dressed up as either Batman or the Joker, depending on their team.  The trailer, which showcases fast paced action and over-the-top weaponry, brings back memories (for me at least) of frantic Timesplitters multiplayer matches.  Chances are it won't be able to dethrone Team Fortress 2 in the area of team-based game play, but it should still be fun to fire rockets at murderous Batman wannabes wielding machine guns.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad