Building Mods with Valve Technology: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 06:40, 12 July 2024

Building a "mod" (a game which relies on another game's core technology, called base game, or vanilla game) is very often the best way to develop a new game. When you rely on game technology as well-established as the Source engine, your team's time and effort can be spent building creative gameplay and unique content rather than on things like rendering technology or network code or collision detection. The Source Engine and its associated SDK provide the most efficient, complete, and powerful game development package on the market. And if you already own Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source or at least have Source SDK 2013 (SP, MP or Both) and/or Alien Swarm installed, you've already got access to the full SDK. That's everything you need to start building your game.

Why Source?

Here are some reasons why it makes sense to build your game as a mod using the Source Engine:

Valve

Valve remains dedicated to supporting the mod community.
Valve also has a proven track record for turning mods into full-fledged commercial products.

Source and Steam have been designed with mods in mind

The SDK is updated continuously and automatically, including new features (like HDR).
A powerful (and free!) suite of content-development tools is included.
Source is simply the most flexible and most powerful engine on the market.
The Source/Steam platform allows you to have a direct relationship with your players/customers.

A larger player base than all other action-game engines combined

Mod visibility comes from being a part of the most popular platform.
Access to a huge, established community and audience.
- Steam games account for more than 90% of online action PC games.
- Approximately 5 billion player-minutes per month
- Over 100,000 game servers
- Over million simultaneous users at any given moment

Included: all of the tools used to build Half-Life 2

HL2 source code included
- Also available publicly on official GitHub page. However, if you are planning to use Source engine or it's SDK commercially, you will need to contact Valve to licensing the engine.
Softimage XSI|EXP for model building
The Hammer level editor
- Fully documented with images and examples
- Complemented with in-depth community tutorials
Faceposer
Half-Life Model Viewer

The power of the Source Engine

In every category, the Source Engine delivers proven industry-leading performance.

Renderer
Materials System
Advanced Characters
Physics
Advanced AI
Multiplayer Network Code
Sound System
UI (VGUI)
Programming
Tools

Read about the features of the Source Engine.

You're ready to start building!

Get Steam.
Get the SDK.
Join this community, contribute your ideas to the Wiki, discuss issues on any page, and join the mailing list, too.
Read information on how to develop Source mods.
Start building!

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+<!--
-zh-cn=Building Mods with Valve Technology:zh-cn}}__NOTOC__
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-Building a "mod" (a game which relies on another game's core technology) is very often the best way to develop a new game. When you rely on game technology as well-established as the Source engine, your team's time and effort can be spent building creative gameplay and unique content rather than on things like rendering technology or network code or collision detection. The Source Engine and its associated SDK provide the most efficient, complete, and powerful game development package on the market. And if you already own Half-Life 2 or Counter-Strike: Source, you've already got access to the full SDK. That's everything you need to start building your game.
+-->
+Building a "'''[[mod]]'''" (a game which relies on another game's core technology, called base game, or vanilla game) is very often the best way to develop a new game. When you rely on game technology as well-established as the Source engine, your team's time and effort can be spent building creative gameplay and unique content rather than on things like rendering technology or network code or collision detection. The Source Engine and its associated SDK provide the most efficient, complete, and powerful game development package on the market. And if you already own {{hl2|1}}, {{css|1}} or at least have [[Source SDK 2013]] (SP, MP or Both) and/or {{as|1}} installed, you've already got access to the full SDK. That's everything you need to start building your game.
 ==Why Source?==
 Here are some reasons why it makes sense to build your game as a mod using the Source Engine:
-==Valve==
+===Valve===
 * Valve remains dedicated to supporting the mod community.
 * Valve also has a proven track record for turning mods into full-fledged commercial products.
-==Source and Steam have been designed with mods in mind==
+===Source and Steam have been designed with mods in mind===
-* The SDK is updated continuously and automatically, including new features (like HDR).
+* The SDK is updated continuously and automatically, including new features (like [[HDR]]).
 * A powerful (and free!) suite of content-development tools is included.
 * Source is simply the most flexible and most powerful engine on the market.
 * The Source/Steam platform allows you to have a direct relationship with your players/customers.
-==A larger player base than all other action-game engines combined==
+===A larger player base than all other action-game engines combined===
 * Mod visibility comes from being a part of the most popular platform.
 * Access to a huge, established community and audience.
-** Steam games account for 88% of online action PC games.
+** Steam games account for more than 90% of online action PC games.
 ** Approximately 5 billion player-minutes per month
-** 50,000 game servers
+** Over 100,000 game servers
-** 100,000 to 220,000 simultaneous users at any given moment
+** Over million simultaneous users at any given moment
-==Included: all of the tools used to build Half-Life 2==
+===Included: all of the tools used to build Half-Life 2===
 * HL2 source code included
+** Also available publicly on [https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013 official GitHub page]. However, if you are planning to use {{Source|1}} engine or it's SDK commercially, you will need to [mailto:sourceengine@valvesoftware.com contact Valve] to licensing the engine.
 * Softimage XSI|EXP for model building
-* The Hammer level editor
+* The {{hammer|1}} level editor
 ** Fully documented with images and examples
 ** Complemented with in-depth community tutorials
-* FacePoser
+* {{hlfaceposer|1|nt=0}}
-* Half-Life Model Viewer
+* {{hlmv|1|nt=1}}
-==The power of the Source Engine==
+===The power of the Source Engine===
 In every category, the Source Engine delivers proven industry-leading performance.
 * Renderer
@@ Line 44: / Line 46: @@
 * Multiplayer Network Code
 * Sound System
-* UI (Vgui)
+* UI ([[VGUI]])
 * Programming
 * Tools
@@ Line 51: / Line 53: @@
 ==You're ready to start building!==
-* Get [http://steampowered.com Steam].
+* Get [https://store.steampowered.com/about Steam].
 * Get the [[SDK Installation|SDK]].
 * [[Special:Userlogin|Join this community]], contribute your ideas to the Wiki, discuss issues on any page, and join the mailing list, too.
@@ Line 57: / Line 59: @@
 * Start building!
-[[Category:Modding]]
+__NOTOC__
 [[Category:Valve]]
+[[Category:Source]]