Great! You have installed Steam. Now what? There are a multitude of games that run on the Source engine. There are also many different versions of the Source engine: 2006, 2007, 2013, and multiplayer and single player variants for each. This book will focus on Half-Life 2: Episode Two (HL2: EP2) since it's the most recent single player build of the Source engine at the time of writing this book. In order to create content for HL2: EP2, you just need to own a copy of the game. Steam makes it easy to install games. So, if you haven't already, purchase and install HL2: EP2.
Tip
You don't need HL2: EP2 to follow this book. The principles taught cover the Source SDK tools, which are applicable to multiple games.
Downloading and installing games with Steam is easy! Steam lets you securely purchase any game and will automatically install them once downloaded. The steps for installing Half-Life 2: Episode Two are as follows:
Open Steam and log in.
In Steam, just below the main toolbar, you will see STORE, LIBRARY, COMMUNITY, and your username in a large white font. Click on STORE.
Search for
Half-Life 2: Episode Two, purchase it, and install it.You can monitor the download progress within the Downloads tab in the LIBRARY drop-down menu. HL2: EP2 will begin to install automatically once the download is complete.
The STORE is located in the top-left corner of Steam as shown in the following screenshot:
Browse for Half-Life 2: Episode Two as shown in the following screenshot. You can also get any other Source game.
Once the download and install is complete, launch the game and play around with the engine you will be developing for, as shown in the following screenshot:
