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Getting your tools
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.
Instructions for installing Half-Life 2: Episode Two
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:
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Browse for Half-Life 2: Episode Two
as shown in the following screenshot. You can also get any other Source game.
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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:
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