GMod Tower

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GMod Tower (also known as GMT or GMTower) was a highly popular Garry's Mod gamemode developed by PixelTail Games. It was open throughout 2009-2012 and 2012-2016, closing on the release date of its successor, Tower Unite. In 2019, PixelTail re-opened GMod Tower for its 10th anniversary, and it is still playable today, although the servers are frequently empty.

You can view GMod Tower's website here. The site previously contained information for GMod Tower, but now only displays the end credits video. Some older versions of the site can be viewed on the Wayback Machine.

GMod Tower Reunion

GMod Tower Reunion is an official GMod Tower server run by PixelTail Games. It uses the Lobby 1 map (see History) and, if someone has currency, a suite layout, or other data saved from before Lobby 2's release, that data will be preserved how it was the last time the person played on Lobby 1.

GMod Tower Reunion was announced on July 26, 2019, and released on September 20, 2019. It is planned to be maintained until Tower Unite leaves early access.

Instructions to Play

Overview

GMod Tower, being Tower Unite's predecessor, is structured very similarly to its successor. Players would join the Lobby via GMod's server browser, which served as a hub for social gatherings, stores, Suites, and Gamemodes. Players could earn GMod Tower's currency, GMC, by playing Gamemodes or earning Awards/Achievements, which could then be spent on furniture, cosmetics, and player models.

The Lobby

As GMod Tower is its own gamemode in Garry's Mod rather than a standalone game, you have to enter the Lobby (now known as the Plaza in TU) and access all parts of the game from there. The Lobby serves as a place for players to hang out and talk to each other, as well as to play a couple of small activities.

The Lobby in GMT features a Theater, Arcade, Casino, and randomly occuring minigames.

The Arcade features:

  • Blockles (Tetris clone)
  • Trivia (Also in TU)
  • Tic-tac-toe
  • Flash game arcade machines

The Casino features:

The minigames are (note that these minigames no longer occur in GMT: Reunion):

Suites

Suites (also in TU as Condos) are small apartment rooms in the Lobby that you can decorate using items bought in stores. As they are in the Lobby itself rather than being on their own servers like in Tower Unite, there is a hard limit to the amount of items you can put in it. Suites also feature a TV that can play YouTube videos (in TU as media players), as well as a functioning radio.

Gamemodes

Gamemodes are GMod Tower's equivalent of Game Worlds. It had seven Gamemodes, all of which are now present in Tower Unite. Players could queue for them at kiosks in the Gamemode Ports, much like Tower Unite's Game World Ports; however, only two instances of each Gamemode could be played at a time, and if both servers were currently occupied, players would need to wait at the queue until one of the matches had ended.

  • Ball Race is much like its Tower Unite counterpart, except movement is slower and strafing is a bit more difficult. It had bananas as pickups rather than watermelons, and there weren't any golden bananas hidden in the levels. It had a selection of 8 ball shapes, all of which are now available at Ball Race's Upgrades shop in Tower Unite. All of Ball Race's original maps have returned to Tower Unite in some form, except for one: Ice World.
  • Minigolf is structurally the same as its Tower Unite version; each map has 18 holes, and players can all putt through them in unison. However, golf balls accelerated and slowed down much more aggressively, and putting up inclines was more difficult. The golf balls were colorable and wore the player's equipped hat and glasses, but lacked the other customizable Upgrade types Tower Unite has today.
  • Virus is very similar to Tower Unite's version, with almost the exact same arsenal of weapons and the same gameplay loop. Infected could not swipe to infect players, and could only run into them. TNT was also the only slot 6 weapon, and the Crossbow was entirely absent. The Sci-fi Pistol's shots could ricochet, and the Sonic Shotgun was one of, if not the most powerful weapon in the gamemode.
  • Ultimate Chimera Hunt is the predecessor to Little Crusaders, and a port of a separate GMod gamemode of the same name. It plays similarly to Little Crusaders, but features the Ultimate Chimera and Pigmasks from Mother 3. GMod Tower's version of the mode adds Mr. Saturn, who functions identically to Birb in LC.
  • Zombie Massacre is similar to its Tower Unite version, but lacks the Scientist class and has less regular zombie types. However, alongside the Queen, it also had a zombie T-Rex boss on Gasoline. Trainyard featured moving trains which are missing from Tower Unite.
  • Source Karts is the predecessor to Accelerate. It was structured very differently from Accelerate; Each map had three unique tracks which were all played in order, and then two rounds of a Mario Kart-style Battle Mode were played afterward. Many of the items function the same as the ones in Accelerate, but with a more technological theme (rockets instead of bowling balls, a disco ball instead of moon power, etc). Source Karts also had 2 items which do not have an equivalent in Tower Unite: a laser that wrecked players who drove into it and a teleporter that swapped two players' positions.
  • PVP Battle is the predecessor to Slaughterday Night Live (SDNL). Its gameplay loop is structured like SDNL's Arcade mode, but features 6 rounds rather than 2. PVP Battle features 19 weapons; rather than granting a random set of weapons each spawn, players can purchase weapons from the Gamemode Ports and select a custom loadout before playing. Health and ammo pickups are very scarce (they are combined into 1 pickup, only 1 of which is typically put into each map), and armor does not exist at all. PVP Battle also has power-ups rather than Super Weapons; each power-up typically grants stat boosts, applies an effect to the screen, and plays a unique song while active.

History

Initial Release & First Shutdown

GMod Tower was initially released on July 26, 2009. The first Lobby in GMod Tower was Lobby 1 (also in TU as the Resort Condo), initially released in 2009 along with GMT itself. Lobby 1 was a largely indoors map, and on launch was missing many key areas such as the theater, casino, and pool. Some areas would be removed as well, the largest example of which being a secret developer HQ hidden in the wall panels of the theater hallway.

GMod Tower was temporarily shut down on January 1, 2012, and returned on April 17, 2012 along with a huge update, including the new Zombie Massacre Gamemode. In 2013, the Minigolf and Source Karts Gamemodes would be added as well, initially having early access periods for server donors.

Lobby 2 & Tower Unite

The second lobby, Lobby 2, was released in 2014 after a few months of donor-exclusive testing and replaced Lobby 1. When Tower Unite released in early access on April 8, 2016, GMod Tower was shut down once again, initially with the intention to never be re-opened.

GMod Tower Reunion Announced

However, on July 26, 2019, the day of GMod Tower's 10th anniversary, GMod Tower: Reunion was announced; it is a re-opening of GMod Tower, featuring nearly everything that was featured in GMod Tower before Lobby 1 was removed and replaced with Lobby 2. Players who played GMod Tower in the past would keep their items and GMC from when the gamemode shut down, as well as suite layout if they played during Lobby 1. It was initially just planned to be playable for a month.

GMT Reunion Released

On September 20, 2019, GMod Tower: Reunion was released. It uses Lobby 1 rather than Lobby 2, and rather than only being playable for a month, it was extended to be playable until Tower Unite leaves early access. After GMT: Reunion is shut down, its source code is planned to be publicly released for anyone to use.

Images

  • Ball Race's logo in GMod Tower

    Ball Race's logo in GMod Tower

  • the logo for GMod Tower: Reunion

    the logo for GMod Tower: Reunion

  • The logo for Minigolf in GMod Tower and Tower Unite

    The logo for Minigolf in GMod Tower and Tower Unite

  • The logo for Virus in GMod Tower

    The logo for Virus in GMod Tower

  • The logo for Zombie Massacre in GMod Tower and Tower Unite

    The logo for Zombie Massacre in GMod Tower and Tower Unite

  • PVP Battle's logo in GMod Tower

    PVP Battle's logo in GMod Tower

  • Ultimate Chimera Hunt's logo in GMod Tower

    Ultimate Chimera Hunt's logo in GMod Tower

  • A logo for GMod Tower

    A logo for GMod Tower

  • The logo for Source Karts in GMod Tower

    The logo for Source Karts in GMod Tower

  • A screenshot of Lobby 1, as seen on the GMod Tower website

    A screenshot of Lobby 1, as seen on the GMod Tower website

Trivia

  • As of September 2023, Tower Unite currently includes every major feature ever added to GMod Tower, except for Dueling.
  • Players who donated to GMod Tower in the past or played for more than 10 hours used to be able to receive a set of special GMT-themed items. The GMT inventory transfer that unlocked these items has been offline for years, however, with no immediate plans to bring it back online.
  • GMod Tower had many planned Gamemodes which ultimately never released. Many of them are still listed on GMod Tower's Trello page[1]:
    • Harvest (a competitive farming game)
    • Monotone (based on The Unfinished Swan)
    • Little Nostalgia (a side scrolling adventure game)
    • 2D Knockout (a side scrolling fighting game)
    • Conquest (top-down game about exploring the ocean for treasure)
    • Unannounced Co-op Puzzle Game (a cooperative puzzle game)
    • A multiplayer Marble Blast Clone
    • Gourmet Race (the Kirby gamemode)
    • Rokkitball (Soccer with rocket launchers)
    • Rampart (had a forum post describing it, which is now lost)
    • Monarchy (one of the developers' board games)
    • A Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game
    • Mario Party
    • Bomberman
    • Pokemon ripoff
    • A Battle Royale mode for PVP Battle
    • A Battle mode for Ball Race
    • Ghost Hunting (possibly evolved into Horror Hill)
    • An Animal Crossing: Sweet Day clone (possibly evolved into Planet Panic!)
    • An on-rails shooter (likely evolved into Dark Voyage)
    • Bowling
  1. ↑ https://trello.com/b/CPLCVPCn/gmod-tower
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