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Graphics Programming The Almighty Buck Games

Source 2 Will Also Be Free 74

Posted by timothy from the second-one's-free dept.
jones_supa writes Valve is officially debuting its Source 2 engine at GDC this week alongside a host of other new technologies, and it's expected to launch at a competitive price: free. The news of its release coincides with Epic making Unreal Engine 4 free-to-download and Unity announcing a full-featured free version of Unity 5. Valve is making a show of marketing Source 2 not just to developers, but game creators of all stripes — including Steam Workshop creators. "With Source 2, our focus is on increasing creator productivity," stated Valve engineer Jay Stelly in a press release confirming the launch. "Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favorite games." It's worth noting that Valve also plans to release a version of Source 2 that's compatible with Vulkan, the open-standard graphics API that's considered heir apparent to OpenGL.
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Source 2 Will Also Be Free More

Source 2 Will Also Be Free

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  • Smart (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Limekiller42 ( 1381683 ) on Thursday March 05, 2015 @10:02AM (#49188101)
    Valve is smart in that they are in the business of content creation (it's own inventory of Valve games) as well as content delivery (Steam). They've made the decision to give up some revenue on the engine sales side to almost certainly gain more future income on the content delivery side. It also seems wise from the standpoint of just having more cool games out there which expands the market for gaming in general and that certainly benefits Valve's Steam product. It's like when Elon Musk offered his patents up for use by others. It's a nice thing to do, but it was also smart from a business standpoint to grow the electronic car market from a niche market to something more broad based (and profitable to be in).

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Valve did not make Source 2 unconditionally free. If you use it, you need to release on Steam. In that way, they guarantee more future income on the content delivery side.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      So someone will make HL3 instead of Valve? :P

  • Unreal Engine 4 is "free" but has some strings attached if you make over x$ in profit, requires x% of your profits every months, possible audits, etc.

    Is Source 2 better in that regard?

    And what about all three on the technical side? Can all three make native code for Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4, Intellivision, etc?

    • I see nothing about mobile development for Source 2 in the announcement - Only desktop PC systems mentioned (Windows/OSX/Linux). Oddly enough, not even Xbox or Playstation is mentioned.

      • Oddly enough, not even Xbox or Playstation is mentioned.

        Only a few hand-picked developers are allowed to buy devkits for Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo platforms in the first place. They demonstrate this ability by producing and selling a few PC games first to establish "relevant video game industry experience" (source: WarioWorld.com) and through other means. If your organization has the money to become a licensed developer of console games, then it is more likely to have the money for a traditional engine license.

      • That's because Steam is not available on mobile platforms.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      It's free, but you are only allowed to distribute through Steam (meaning Valve gets 30-40% of your revenue). For a game that was going to sell mostly through Steam *anyway*, it means fewer parties picking at your revenue, but if you somehow weren't using Steam, it represents a big jump from UE4's 5% royalty.

      • Re:FREE free or "free with strings attached"? (Score:5, Informative)

        by VGPowerlord ( 621254 ) on Thursday March 05, 2015 @10:55AM (#49188483)

        I'm going to toss a big [Citation needed] and at the same time point out that Source 1 doesn't have this requirement for its free version.

        As an example, the original mod version of The Stanley Parable was distributed through ModDB [moddb.com].

        Then again, Source 1's free version has licensing terms that prevent you from selling anything you produce with it at all.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          citation provided [steamgames.com]. I believe that this is the requirement GP was referring to:

          Q. Can I sell my Source Engine game on Steam?
          A. Yes, but there are a few requirements:

          • You will need to complete an additional agreement for distributing a paid Source Engine product on Steam.
          • If you are using the RAD tools included with the Source SDK, you will need to contact RAD for information and cost associated with licensing MILES and/or BINK.
          • For any Source Engine game that charges money, Havok needs to be paid a licensing fe

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday March 05, 2015 @11:14AM (#49188669)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Citation needed. I have nothing at all to go on to judge whether you are right, Junta is right, or both of you are wrong.

    • Thank you. It's a big lie: the Unreal engine is simply not 'free'. Make enough money and they charge royalties:

      When you ship a game or application, you pay a 5% royalty on gross revenue after the first $3,000 per product, per quarter.

      That's certainly an incredible price, and yes it's free if it's a not-for-profit project, but it's a damned lie to just call it 'free', and samzenpus does a disservice in doing so.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Andrio ( 2580551 )

      Unreal Engine 4 is free, but after 3k you have to pay 5% of the gross revenue.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by muridae ( 966931 )

        Of the gross, not even on the profit of the game. If the big guys wanted, they'd make sure they got paid before your employees even see a pay check. Sure, company gross probably doesn't count the distributor's share, but it does count pre-tax revenue, and pre-debt revenue, and . . . yeah, it's rather pricey and dangerous to small developers who don't do accounting.

  • ...free is not enough.

  • Source 3 (Score:5, Funny)

    by BenJeremy ( 181303 ) on Thursday March 05, 2015 @10:13AM (#49188171)

    I expect that Source 3 will be able to develop games for mobile, like UE4 and Unity.

    Of course, being third in a Valve series, we all know how this story ends.

    • Of course, being third in a Valve series, we all know how this story ends.

      Eventually, it ends more competently than HL2 I hope. What a limp ending

      • Yeah. That was a clear set-up for episodic content - which could have been fine if new episodes had come out at least yearly...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Qhartb ( 1311541 )

      Of course, being third in a Valve series, we all know how this story ends.

      Source 2: Episode 1?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Minupla ( 62455 )

      Well I believe KSP is using unity and it has a pretty big map:

      www.kerbalspaceprogram.com

      If you can simulate a solar system, that meets the requirements of big in my book :)

      Min

      • If you can simulate a solar system, that meets the requirements of big in my book :)

        Not necessarily. How much is going on in those solar-systems? If it's just modelling a few spheres, that doesn't count.

      • Re:Open Worlds (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Ziggitz ( 2637281 ) on Thursday March 05, 2015 @02:10PM (#49190297)
        Kerbal Space Program actually has a very small map. It only renders terrain and physics objects within 2000 meters of the ship you're flying, everything else is skybox. If you ever build a reasonably large space station you'll get huge fps drop. Don't get me wrong I love KSP to death, but your statement is not accurate.
    • The MMO Tera uses the UE3 engine. So I would say that it handles huge, open worlds just fine. The others I couldnt tell you.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 0123456 ( 636235 )

        The MMO Tera uses the UE3 engine. So I would say that it handles huge, open worlds just fine. The others I couldnt tell you.

        To be fair, the Tera world isn't that open. It tends to be separated into relatively small areas with hills and walls between them that would allow you to avoid drawing most of the map... not sure whether it actually takes advantage of that fact, but I would presume they designed it that way for a reason.

  • There is certainly a segment of the population that really enjoys games like Witcher, Skyrim, and etc - game modding is a big thing now. Having understood engines and toolkits makes that a lot easier, obviously - and yeah, put something in the license that mods can be adopted and merged by the game publisher, so long as some credit is given? Or heck, DOTA was just a mod for Warcraft 3, if I recall correctly...now it's a game on it's own. Sometimes mods just get that popular, I guess. I do wish that some

  • Well, not 'free'. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Junta ( 36770 )

    Source 2 is 'free'..... so long as you ONLY make your content available through Steam. For a lot of developers, this is just accepted, but some games aren't on Steam.

    So let's say you use UE4 and don't sell through steam. They get 5% royalties. Or Unity, where you pay a flat fee for the game engine.

    If you use Source 2 for 'free', the only way to sell it is through Steam, which gets *30-40%* royalties. Source 2 isn't free, it's a hook to try to get more lock-in to keep Steam as the premiere distribution pl

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      1) Nobody can really say what Steam's royalty rates are. They almost certainly vary dependent on the risk of the game itself (low cost probably = high royalty and vice versa). However, Tripwire have said this:

      http://www.destructoid.com/tri... [destructoid.com]

      "Let me just say that our royalty deal was great, and is in line with what I understand that other digital distribution services are offering"

      So, no, 30-40% isn't some set figure, it's some rumour on the Internet dredged up by someone who's in breach of their NDA in d

      • I think that the 30% figure is what people assume they'd be charging in the Apple App store, so they figure steam is probably doing the same.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      If you use Source 2 for 'free', the only way to sell it is through Steam, which gets *30-40%* royalties. Source 2 isn't free, it's a hook to try to get more lock-in to keep Steam as the premiere distribution platform.

      it's not royalties. Just like how selling in Google Play or Apple App Store doesn't charge 30% royalties. It's a flat charge for selling through the store where the provider (Google, Apple, etc) provide all the necessary payment, storage, download and other facilities for you. Some, like Apple,

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Source 2 is 'free'..... so long as you ONLY make your content available through Steam.

      You keep saying that, and citation is STILL needed. The available information contradicts you: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/04/source-2-is-actually-free-like-for-free/
      That link claims you have to sell it on Steam, but not ONLY on Steam. So, do you have a source for your claim or are you talking out of your ass?

  • You got Steam on Linux finally.
    Don't care about Steam Machine
    Don't care about Valve VR goggles
    Don't care about Source 2 engine unless you give us HL-3
    So Gabe, Please get off your lazy donut/crispy cream eating fat ass and do something about it.

  • Source 2 What? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I am confused. No Yipppppeeeeee.

  • Just the license. Would love to see it under a FOSS license.

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