How do i make a unity game look like it was made with source

[Linus No Beard]

I attempted to use source to make a game but it is one of the worst engines in terms of usability for making a standalone game

so my question is what can i do get that source feel for a unity game.

this is for a project in witch i got fed up of waiting for half life 2 episode 3 so i am making a game based off the Epistle 3 story

i am using unity 2021.1.0

[Grabhanem]

Probably the biggest factor contributing to the "feel" of an engine is player movement. The Source engine uses a lot of momentum-based movement, where pressing W applies a force to your character rather than setting your speed to a fixed value and being on the ground applies friction.

 

Another thing source games are famous for is having just about every prop be a physics object that can be picked up and manipulated, so avoiding static props and background objects would be a good way to replicate that style.

[Linus No Beard]

12 minutes ago, Grabhanem said:

Probably the biggest factor contributing to the "feel" of an engine is player movement. The Source engine uses a lot of momentum-based movement, where pressing W applies a force to your character rather than setting your speed to a fixed value and being on the ground applies friction.

 

Another thing source games are famous for is having just about every prop be a physics object that can be picked up and manipulated, so avoiding static props and background objects would be a good way to replicate that style.

that is one place i have already covered but my biggest issue is making it look and sound like a source game it still looks like a unity game

[Grabhanem]

22 minutes ago, Linus No Beard said:

that is one place i have already covered but my biggest issue is making it look and sound like a source game it still looks like a unity game

Sound wise, a lot of source games use the same set of sound assets. Short of just stealing them, which would be a bad idea on a game you plan to distribute, you could try to replicate the bitrate etc used on those sounds - it seems pretty low.

In terms of visuals, try using mostly baked lighting and somewhat low-resolution textures? I'm not 100% familiar with how Source handles lighting so you'll just have to play around with the dials in unity's lighting menu to see what looks best for you.

[Linus No Beard]

15 minutes ago, Grabhanem said:

Sound wise, a lot of source games use the same set of sound assets. Short of just stealing them, which would be a bad idea on a game you plan to distribute, you could try to replicate the bitrate etc used on those sounds - it seems pretty low.

In terms of visuals, try using mostly baked lighting and somewhat low-resolution textures? I'm not 100% familiar with how Source handles lighting so you'll just have to play around with the dials in unity's lighting menu to see what looks best for you.

ok i was actually thinking of going the take the textures and sound assets directly form half life 2

[tikker]

On 4/7/2021 at 8:22 PM, Linus No Beard said:

ok i was actually thinking of going the take the textures and sound assets directly form half life 2

That's not your property to use though and likely copyrighted material. You would have to ask Valve for permission to do this, or at least if they care.

 

Apparently, though anecdotally, if you make it a free game it may count as a mod and could be fine: https://www.reddit.com/r/hammer/comments/dnhi18/can_i_use_halflife_2_assets_for_my_game/

If you plan on charging money however, expect licensing fees at the least, but I don't think they'd even allow it.

 

From Valve:

Quote

Q. Can I use Valve IP in my Source Mod?

A. Yes. However, please make it clear on your store pages that your mod is a mod and not created by Valve. Commercial games and mods that include Valve IP such as characters and story-lines need prior approval from Valve.
 

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading/distributing_source_engine

 

[Linus No Beard]

3 hours ago, tikker said:

That's not your property to use though and likely copyrighted material. You would have to ask Valve for permission to do this, or at least if they care.

 

Apparently, though anecdotally, if you make it a free game it may count as a mod and could be fine: https://www.reddit.com/r/hammer/comments/dnhi18/can_i_use_halflife_2_assets_for_my_game/

If you plan on charging money however, expect licensing fees at the least, but I don't think they'd even allow it.

 

From Valve:

 

i am using it only for a personal project maybe a free download on itch.io