As a consequence of Valve’s recent move to make Team Fortress 2 a free-to-play title the Source Engine Software Development Kit (SDK) will now also be free. Previously modders could only get their hands on the SDK if that had purchased a Source Engine game.<\/p>\n
The SDK contain everything a would-be modder needs to get cracking on making the mod of their dreams.<\/p>\n
It seems as though Valve actually overlooked the fact that with Team Fortress 2 going free, it would give access to the SDK. Chatting in a thread on Reddit in which this had been pointed out, and having received an e-mail with questions about the SDK, Valve’s Robin Walker said: “Your e-mail has triggered a process here that made us re-examine that, and we’re going to just go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available. Thanks for making us better!”<\/p>\n
Rock Paper Shotgun<\/a> contacted Walker for further info and he responded: “We are in the process of getting it all done. It’s a bit messy because we have multiple versions of the SDK, and there’s some dependencies we need to shake out. But yes, the gist of it is that we’re just going to go ahead and make the Source SDK freely available.”<\/p>\n Making the SDK freely available is a pretty smart move as it will encourage would-be modders and game designers to cut their teeth with a professional set of tools and perhaps produce a new generation of Valve Source Engine game designers that have trained themselves up at no cost to development companies.<\/p>\n The Source Engine SDK can be obtained here<\/a>.<\/p>\n