Half-Life Level Design

Getting Started

• Install Half-Life SDK (3.4) from Steam (must own Half-Life 1 on Steam)

• Download Hammer 3.4 from GameBanana

• Configuring Hammer for Half-Life

Note:Most Half-Life level editors use J.A.C.K.

View J.A.C.K. Homepage for more info Please See JACK and Hammer for more info.

Basic Elements

• Point-Based Entities
• Brush-Based Entities

Half-Life

Half-Life Steam Community Hub

• List of Half-Life entities
• Half-Life Sky List

Half-Life: Opposing Force

Half-Life: Opposing Force Steam Community Hub

• List of Opposing Force entities

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Half-Life: Blue Shift Steam Community Hub

• List of Blue Shift entities

Tutorials

• Health Charger
• Suit Charger
• Alien Teleport Effect
• outdoor levels

Additional Information

Forge Game Data

• Half-Life FGD
• Half-Life: Opposing Force FGD
• Half-Life: Blue Shift FGD

External Resources

• The Whole Half-Life A tutorial site for map development in Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

External Tools

General

• GoldSrc External Tool Resource Site

Compiling Programs

• Zoner's Half-Life Tools
• Vluzacn's Map Compile Tools

Modelling Programs

• MilkShape 3D
• Blender
• 3DS Max

Texture Editors

• GIMP
• Adobe Photoshop
• Wally

Alternative Mapping Tools

• J.A.C.K. - an alternative to Hammer for GoldSource created by Russian modders. J.A.C.K. offers many additional features for level editing and modding for Half-Life, as well as Quake 2 and 3.
• Sledge - ceased development and is no longer being developed.