The Source Engine is a 3D game engine developed by Valve Corporation. Its unique features include a large degree of modularity and flexibility, an artist-driven, shader-based renderer, accurate lip sync and facial expression technology, and a powerful, efficient and completely network-enabled physics system. 

The Source engine was first shown to the world by being the power-horse behind the hugely anticipated Half-Life 2 which was released in late 2004. Since then the Source Engine has been upgraded with the release of such titles as Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, Team Fortress 2 and the Left 4 Dead series to name a few.

Whilst it has been years since the release of the Source Engine they haven't yet unveiled a 'next-generation engine' as the Source engine is always updating and is just as relevant in the gaming world today if not more than when it debuted in 2004. It has been aided by the release of the free Source Development Kit (SDK) which include such features as HDR for developers to use in their projects. Hence the reasons stated we have yet to see 'Source Engine 2'.

On July 10th 2012, Valve released the 'Source Filmmaker' - a freeware client to allowed anyone to make movies inside the Source Engine. More information on the Source Filmmaker can be found here.

Below you can find a list of amazing features that the Source Engine boasts:

Renderer

  • Version 2.0 (and below) shaders, bump mapping, LOD on models and world
  • Author shaders with HLSL
  • Cube and environment mapping
  • Dynamic lights, vertex lighting and light maps, many light types including flickering, pulsing etc.
  • High-Dynamic Range lighting
  • Water with refraction and fresnel effects
  • Advanced particle system that can emit sprites or models
  • Projected shadows allow for a large number of characters per scene
  • Occluder entities for visibility blocking
  • Indoor/Outdoor environments
  • Deformable terrain
  • 3D skyboxes extend the horizon and add parallax on distant objects
  • Dynamically rendered organics (grass, trees etc)
  • Subdivision surfaces, diffuse & specular bump maps
  • Real-time radiosity lighting
  • Effects include but are not limited to: particles, beams, volumetric smoke, sparks, blood, environmental effects like fog and rain
  • Scalability
  • Dx6-Dx9 hardware supported

Materials System

  • Instead of traditional textures, Source defines sets of materials that specify what the object is made from and the texture used for that object. A material specifies how an object will fracture when broken, what it will sound like when broken or dragged across another surface, and what that object’s mass and buoyancy are. This system is much more flexible than other texture only based systems.
  • Materials can interact with objects or NPCs such as mud or ice for vehicles to slide/lose traction on.

Multiplayer Network Code

  • Time and gamer tested by millions of gamers around the world
  • Support for both LAN based multiplayer and Internet based multiplayer games
  • Prediction analysis for interpolating collision/hit detection
  • Optimizations for high-latency, high-packet loss 56k connections

Advanced Characters

  • Detailed and believable characters
  • Realistic eyes
  • Focus on player/object, not simply parallel views
  • Proper eye “bulge” for realistic eye reflections
  • Simulated musculature provides outstanding emotions, speech and body language
  • Language independent speech, characters can naturally speak in many languages
  • Skeletal/bone system for animation
  • Layered animation system can synthesize complex animations out of several pieces
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Blog RSS Feed Report abuse Latest News: Official Contagion Steam Group hits 1500!

About Contagion with 1 comment by Dman757 on Jun 17th, 2013

We recently topped 1,500 Official Contagion Steam Group members faster than we had anticipated but this works perfectly for us as we are seeking to grow the group considerably before we release FREE Contagion Steam Keys for a sample group only to our Official Contagion Steam Group community!

We want to avoid random invites to random group members and so we're asking our community to help us grow by inviting their very own friends instead.

We will also be posting some exciting stuff in the coming weeks/months with the team focused on releasing a fantastic and unique experience in form of Contagion the game!

Please help us grow by following the information posted below. It's simple and we can't succeed without your support!



We're quite curious how well this will work and we hope you're just as curious! Either way we once again want to thank everyone for getting us this far! We are looking forward to seeing you in-game.

-Monochrome

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Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 301)
xalener
xalener Jun 12 2013, 12:23am says:

Why isn't Titanfall here?

+2 votes     reply to comment
elyad1998
elyad1998 Jun 2 2013, 3:00am says:

the physics are great but the graphics ( textures, water physics) are ...

+1 vote     reply to comment
TheIsle
TheIsle Jun 7 2013, 12:40pm replied:

Great.It's just old.But lots of modders are making it great.Source is the best engine in the world.It's easy to use.And fun to use.

+1 vote     reply to comment
xalener
xalener Jun 12 2013, 12:21am replied:

It's not the best engine in the world. It's just the engine that everyone has an editor for.

+1 vote     reply to comment
amerike
amerike Apr 15 2013, 9:45am says:

one of the most Versatile game engines that have ever existed..
aside from CRYengine and X-ray engine.
*there are also great Game engines out there*

+2 votes     reply to comment
miller_allset
miller_allset Jan 27 2013, 7:16am says:

For any open-minded source mod developers out there,I have a suggestion:
Arkane Studios was developing Half-Life 2 Episode 4,but in 2007,the project was abandoned (http://www.slashgear.com/alleged-half-life-2-episode-4-screenshots-surface-years-later-14265217/)but it would be a nice idea if someone would try and make a mod using these screenshots.I know there isn't any concept art asides from these screenshots,but it would make a valuable mod idea. ;-)

+4 votes     reply to comment
SackCake
SackCake Jan 14 2013, 5:33pm says:

Awesome Engine!

+5 votes     reply to comment
Nykrint
Nykrint Nov 24 2012, 4:04pm says:

I really need to try out the Source SDK, it looks like a very flexible engine!

+5 votes     reply to comment
[AWWIIR-Dev]m0chil
[AWWIIR-Dev]m0chil Jan 2 2013, 6:35pm replied:

Yep they are still developing it

+5 votes     reply to comment
Guest
Guest Dec 18 2012, 4:05pm replied:

yes

+3 votes     reply to comment
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Platforms
Windows, PS3, X360, XBOX
Company
Valve
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Valvesoftware.com
Licence
Commercial
Release Date
Released Oct 31, 2004
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Highest Rated (12 agree) 10/10

Even tho it is aging and it is beginning to show its weakness comparred to other more modern engines, it is still my most preferred engine and the only one I was able to get into succesfully. And with all of the updates Valve is giving it, I think the source engine will be with us for a long time. I wouldn't really recommend this for a commerical product, just because there are so many more modern engines out there that will be a lot easier in the long run (like UDK), but all of the commercial games…

Nov 16 2010, 3:48pm by Half_Kill

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