Source 2 is a video game engine developed by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

. The engine was announced in 2015 as the successor to the original Source engine, with the first game to use it, ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...

'', being ported from Source that same year. Other Valve games such as '' Artifact'', ''

Dota Underlords ''Dota Underlords'' is a 2020 auto battler game developed and published by Valve. The game is based on a popular ''Dota 2'' community-created game mode called '' Dota Auto Chess'', which was released in January 2019. ''Dota Underlords'' first re ...

'', '' Half-Life: Alyx'', ''

Counter-Strike 2 ''Counter-Strike 2'' is a 2023 free-to-play Tactical shooter, tactical first-person shooter video game, game developed and published by Valve Corporation, Valve. It is the fifth entry in the ''Counter-Strike'' series, developed as an updated v ...

'', and '' Deadlock'' have been produced with the engine.

History

Plans for a successor to the original Source engine began following the release of '' Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' in 2007. The first engine tech demo was created in 2010 by remaking a map from '' Left 4 Dead 2''. Images of this were leaked onto the internet in early 2014. At the 2014

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...

, Valve employee Sergiy Migdalskiy showed off a Source 2 physics debugging tool being used in ''Left 4 Dead 2''. Source 2 was first made available via Steam Workshop tools for ''

'' in 2014 prior to it being officially announced at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. There, Valve stated their intent for it was to allow for content to be created more efficiently. Valve also stated that it would support the Vulkan graphics API and use a new in-house

physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, typically classical dynamics, including rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics. I ...

called Rubikon, which would replace the need for the third-party Havok tools.

Gabe Newell Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), also known by his nickname Gaben, is an American video game developer and businessman. He is the president and co-founder of the video game company Valve Corporation. Newell was born in Colorado and ...

, president and founder of Valve, said that the company were prioritizing the development of their own games before they would release the engine and its

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...

to the public. This was to ensure the highest quality for developers; he added that they were intending to make the engine free to use for game developers as long as the game is published on their

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

service. In June 2015, Valve announced that the entirety of ''

'' would be ported over to Source 2 in an update called '' Dota 2 Reborn''. ''Reborn'' was first released to the public as an opt-in beta update that same month before officially replacing the original client in September 2015, making it the first game to use the engine. Source 2 has also been used for Valve's '' Artifact'' and ''

'', with the engine later being supported on Android and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

for the latter. The engine also supports the creation of games in

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

, being used in

SteamVR Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide video game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing thir ...

Home, the '' Robot Repair'' tech demo within '' The Lab'', and '' Half-Life: Alyx''. Source 2 tools made specifically for creating content for ''Half-Life: Alyx'' were released in May 2020.

Games

References

{{Video game engines 3D graphics software C++ software Game engines for Linux Game engines that support Vulkan (API) IOS video game engines Proprietary software Source (game engine) Valve Corporation Video game engines