6 ms·

For those unfamiliar, the studio behind S&box is Facepunch, creators of Garry's Mod and Rust. Facepunch as a company doesn't get much attention but they're wild

by 3rodents 11mo ago

For those unfamiliar, the studio behind S&box is Facepunch, creators of Garry's Mod and Rust. Facepunch as a company doesn't get much attention but they're wildly successful. Started as just some guy in a bedroom, now ~$100m/year in revenue (all via Steam), $100m in the bank, ~100 employees and almost entirely a company of game developers (maybe 20% of employees are administrative staff). Still owned and ran by the founder, Garry. S&box (and Garry's Mod and Rust) is pure game developers making things they want to make.

rootlocus 11mo ago
Oooo, I remember Garry Newman! I found his UI library GWEN (GUI Without Extravagant Nonsense) when I was still in uni and working on my game engine. It's been abandoned for 9 years now, nice to see he's still working on cool tech. [1] https://github.com/garrynewman/GWEN https://github.com/garrynewman/GWEN
- Rohansi 11mo ago
  He also made the UI framework used by S&box. It's based on HTML/CSS + Razor but is not rendered with a browser. https://sbox.game/dev/doc/systems/ui/razor-panels/ https://sbox.game/dev/doc/systems/ui/razor-panels/
raincole 11mo ago
Isn't Rust Unity-based? Was he just too fed up with Unity and decided to roll his own engine?
- potatoman22 11mo ago
  I'd guess S&box is more an extension of Garry's Mod rather than a reaction to Unity
- hnuser123456 11mo ago
  S&box was based on UnrealEngine 4 until late 2020. I think Garry wanted to use the latest and greatest engine, then Valve continued to be friendly with him, and even though Valve wanted Source2 to be a VR platform, it was clear desktop was going to remain relevant, but the content creation tools on SteamVR Environments were a cut-down version of what was actually used to make Half-Life Alyx, but they gave Garry all the tools, and he moved to Source2, and built a .net "framework" to make it faster to develop and iterate in Source2. So Garry's tools are now an open version of the closed tools that Valve didn't want to release that they used to make Alyx. Finally there's another serious competitor to UE and Unity.
  - enbugger 11mo ago
    Yet another one. Along with Stride, Godot, Unigine, O3DE, Flax and tens more. All look like they just want be clone of UE: generic dark UI with inspector, scene hierarchy, asset browser in the bottom and play button in the top. Zero creativity and innovation. Where's Emacs or Vim of game engines which brings its own unique philosophy?
    - aDyslecticCrow 11mo ago
      Who cares about the UI. A game engine is the library code needed to make games, not the editor UI. Just use vim to edit your files if that's what you want.
      - knollimar 11mo ago
        Not all game files are text and the non-text parts massively benefit from good UI.
        intrasight 11mo ago
        I am confused by this as well (not a game developer). The engine is under the hood and has no UI. The UI is in the car cabin. Non-text file editing is done in a 3d model or image editing app.
        daeken 11mo ago
        The vast majority of non-text editing in game development isn't done in modeling or image manipulation apps, it's done via the game engine's editor. That's true whether you're using Unity, Unreal, Godot, or a homebrew engine. There are the rare engines with no editor to speak of -- where things are either done programmatically or other textual definitions -- but they're very very very few and far between. The engine itself doesn't have a UI, but working with any major engine without using their editor is functionally impossible.
        aDyslecticCrow 11mo ago
- sznio 11mo ago
  Could assume that. S&box was initially developed on top of Unreal Engine, but in a backend-agnostic design. It's more like a framework/runtime meant to be portable to any backend engine. Once Source 2 released, S&box was ported to that. I wouldn't call it an engine because of that. S&box is open source, but you can't run it without a closed-source backend. Valve isn't keen on releasing Source 2 as widely as Source, and I feel like soon, S&box will be declared the official API interface for the engine, while the backend remains unstable. Kinda like Win32 vs NT.
echelon 11mo ago
That's an amazing story. I really like all the cultural oddities that Garry's Mod spawned. All of the indie animation. It was a big piece of machinima / virtual filmmaking / YouTube history and absolutely paved the way for VTubing and Unreal Engine in film. Any idea if Facepunch or Valve retain rights to "Skibidi Toilet"?
- lookingdesk 11mo ago
  The Hollywood development company that bought the rights to Skibidi and are developing it filed a DMCA strike against Garry's Mod. It got resolved, but no one involved is talking.
  - Fabricio20 11mo ago
    Additionally, news came out today that the original creator has lost creative rights to Invisible Narratives. It's looking quite grim all around.
    - echelon 11mo ago
      Oh no. I just read up on this, it sounds awful. https://www.thegamer.com/skibidi-toilet-creator-legal-dispute-ownership/ https://www.thegamer.com/skibidi-toilet-creator-legal-disput...
- ValveFan6969 11mo ago
  Skibidi Toilet was made in Source Filmmaker.
adito 11mo ago
Oh, you mean Rust (the game[1]), not Rust (programming language[2]). [1]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/252490/Rust/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/252490/Rust/ [2]: https://rust-lang.org/ https://rust-lang.org/
- Unai 11mo ago
  I occasionally play Rust but I've never written a line of Rust, so almost everyday I do a double-take when reading HN. So its pretty amusing to see HN be the one getting mixed up for a change.
- stevefan1999 11mo ago
  As someone who both plays the game and used the language at work, and used to do cheat development, I always wonder if I can write a Rust cheat in Rust.
  - steveklabnik 11mo ago
    I ran a Rust server on an Oxide rack for me and some friends one weekend.
  - veverkap 11mo ago
    Only Xzibit can do that.
jmtame 11mo ago
The origin story of Rust is classic: they got tired of Day Z and wanted to make it better, so they hired some random contractor to copy Day Z with elements of Fortnite and Minecraft, the developer complains that he's entitled to more money from the success of the game, lawsuit follows, and then Facepunch supposedly claims the original version was so buggy they have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. Unclear if they were just trying to start fresh so the lawsuit wouldn't follow them forever, but it started out as just a clone of another game and they turned it into a hugely successful business (and an incredible game). Most games have a short shelf life, but I've watched at least over the past 4-ish years, and the rate that they continue to push changes is impressive.
ProfessorZoom 11mo ago
i miss the old facepunch. on gmod i have a couple dozen IP mods. on s&box i made call of duty zombies gamemode and was perma banned. all cause they can make more money, but they forget mods like that is why their games are popular

rootlocus 11mo ago

Oooo, I remember Garry Newman! I found his UI library GWEN (GUI Without Extravagant Nonsense) when I was still in uni and working on my game engine. It's been abandoned for 9 years now, nice to see he's still working on cool tech. [1] https://github.com/garrynewman/GWEN https://github.com/garrynewman/GWEN

Rohansi 11mo ago
He also made the UI framework used by S&box. It's based on HTML/CSS + Razor but is not rendered with a browser. https://sbox.game/dev/doc/systems/ui/razor-panels/ https://sbox.game/dev/doc/systems/ui/razor-panels/

raincole 11mo ago

Isn't Rust Unity-based? Was he just too fed up with Unity and decided to roll his own engine?

potatoman22 11mo ago
I'd guess S&box is more an extension of Garry's Mod rather than a reaction to Unity
hnuser123456 11mo ago
S&box was based on UnrealEngine 4 until late 2020. I think Garry wanted to use the latest and greatest engine, then Valve continued to be friendly with him, and even though Valve wanted Source2 to be a VR platform, it was clear desktop was going to remain relevant, but the content creation tools on SteamVR Environments were a cut-down version of what was actually used to make Half-Life Alyx, but they gave Garry all the tools, and he moved to Source2, and built a .net "framework" to make it faster to develop and iterate in Source2. So Garry's tools are now an open version of the closed tools that Valve didn't want to release that they used to make Alyx. Finally there's another serious competitor to UE and Unity.
- enbugger 11mo ago
  Yet another one. Along with Stride, Godot, Unigine, O3DE, Flax and tens more. All look like they just want be clone of UE: generic dark UI with inspector, scene hierarchy, asset browser in the bottom and play button in the top. Zero creativity and innovation. Where's Emacs or Vim of game engines which brings its own unique philosophy?
  - aDyslecticCrow 11mo ago
    Who cares about the UI. A game engine is the library code needed to make games, not the editor UI. Just use vim to edit your files if that's what you want.
    - knollimar 11mo ago
      Not all game files are text and the non-text parts massively benefit from good UI.
      - intrasight 11mo ago
        I am confused by this as well (not a game developer). The engine is under the hood and has no UI. The UI is in the car cabin. Non-text file editing is done in a 3d model or image editing app.
        daeken 11mo ago
        The vast majority of non-text editing in game development isn't done in modeling or image manipulation apps, it's done via the game engine's editor. That's true whether you're using Unity, Unreal, Godot, or a homebrew engine. There are the rare engines with no editor to speak of -- where things are either done programmatically or other textual definitions -- but they're very very very few and far between. The engine itself doesn't have a UI, but working with any major engine without using their editor is functionally impossible.
      - aDyslecticCrow 11mo ago
sznio 11mo ago
Could assume that. S&box was initially developed on top of Unreal Engine, but in a backend-agnostic design. It's more like a framework/runtime meant to be portable to any backend engine. Once Source 2 released, S&box was ported to that. I wouldn't call it an engine because of that. S&box is open source, but you can't run it without a closed-source backend. Valve isn't keen on releasing Source 2 as widely as Source, and I feel like soon, S&box will be declared the official API interface for the engine, while the backend remains unstable. Kinda like Win32 vs NT.

echelon 11mo ago

That's an amazing story. I really like all the cultural oddities that Garry's Mod spawned. All of the indie animation. It was a big piece of machinima / virtual filmmaking / YouTube history and absolutely paved the way for VTubing and Unreal Engine in film. Any idea if Facepunch or Valve retain rights to "Skibidi Toilet"?

lookingdesk 11mo ago
The Hollywood development company that bought the rights to Skibidi and are developing it filed a DMCA strike against Garry's Mod. It got resolved, but no one involved is talking.
- Fabricio20 11mo ago
  Additionally, news came out today that the original creator has lost creative rights to Invisible Narratives. It's looking quite grim all around.
  - echelon 11mo ago
    Oh no. I just read up on this, it sounds awful. https://www.thegamer.com/skibidi-toilet-creator-legal-dispute-ownership/ https://www.thegamer.com/skibidi-toilet-creator-legal-disput...
ValveFan6969 11mo ago
Skibidi Toilet was made in Source Filmmaker.

adito 11mo ago

Oh, you mean Rust (the game[1]), not Rust (programming language[2]). [1]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/252490/Rust/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/252490/Rust/ [2]: https://rust-lang.org/ https://rust-lang.org/

Unai 11mo ago
I occasionally play Rust but I've never written a line of Rust, so almost everyday I do a double-take when reading HN. So its pretty amusing to see HN be the one getting mixed up for a change.
stevefan1999 11mo ago
As someone who both plays the game and used the language at work, and used to do cheat development, I always wonder if I can write a Rust cheat in Rust.
- steveklabnik 11mo ago
  I ran a Rust server on an Oxide rack for me and some friends one weekend.
- veverkap 11mo ago
  Only Xzibit can do that.

jmtame 11mo ago

The origin story of Rust is classic: they got tired of Day Z and wanted to make it better, so they hired some random contractor to copy Day Z with elements of Fortnite and Minecraft, the developer complains that he's entitled to more money from the success of the game, lawsuit follows, and then Facepunch supposedly claims the original version was so buggy they have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. Unclear if they were just trying to start fresh so the lawsuit wouldn't follow them forever, but it started out as just a clone of another game and they turned it into a hugely successful business (and an incredible game). Most games have a short shelf life, but I've watched at least over the past 4-ish years, and the rate that they continue to push changes is impressive.

ProfessorZoom 11mo ago

i miss the old facepunch. on gmod i have a couple dozen IP mods. on s&box i made call of duty zombies gamemode and was perma banned. all cause they can make more money, but they forget mods like that is why their games are popular