But what interests us most from a Coding4Fun perspective is that Valve makes a Software Developer Kit (or SDK) for their amazing game engine (called Source) available for FREE to Half-Life 2 customers! The Source SDK gives us access to a TON of game assets (maps, models, sounds, objects, etc.) and virtually all of the game engines C++ source code! By using Visual C++, we can create everything from minor tweaks (called mods) to completely new games (known as total conversions). In fact, popular games like Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat are two such total conversions which were originally based on the first Half-Life game engine and have been subsequently revved to take advantage of the new Source engine.
|