Before you go freaking out about the headline, keep in mind that Valve is a fan of constantly updating their existing engine with each game release. Now, as it stands though, they have no existing plans to completely overhaul their engine to slap on a shiny number "2" on it and call it a day.
In an article from Develop, Valve explains why they're taking this approach to engine improvements.
With this in mind, the following should make you feel better about future improvements being made to Source. Valve's Robin Walker states that roughly 20-30 employees are actively working on updates to Source. These people not only work on visual improvements, but also improvements to workflow in general within the engine.
In an article from Develop, Valve explains why they're taking this approach to engine improvements.
“There are lot of advantages on iterating on a mature and stable and shipped codebase, as opposed to starting over again,” company president Gabe Newell told Develop.
“I think, when you see a game like DOTA 2, you’ll see how developers can get a lot more out of Source than most companies can get from a scratch-built engine.”
In a newly published interview, Newell said there are no indications that the Washington based company should change its engine update policy.
“I think that incremental updates model has worked really well for us,” he said.
“Does that mean we’ll reach some architectural tipping-point where we’ll need to change? No. I mean, if Larrabee [Intel’s promising GPU that was cancelled as a consumer device] had shipped that would have probably necessitated some fairly dramatic changes in order to take advantage of it. But, so far we’ve been able to keep the engine moving ahead, robustly. I mean, I think it looks great.”
“I think, when you see a game like DOTA 2, you’ll see how developers can get a lot more out of Source than most companies can get from a scratch-built engine.”
In a newly published interview, Newell said there are no indications that the Washington based company should change its engine update policy.
“I think that incremental updates model has worked really well for us,” he said.
“Does that mean we’ll reach some architectural tipping-point where we’ll need to change? No. I mean, if Larrabee [Intel’s promising GPU that was cancelled as a consumer device] had shipped that would have probably necessitated some fairly dramatic changes in order to take advantage of it. But, so far we’ve been able to keep the engine moving ahead, robustly. I mean, I think it looks great.”
With this in mind, the following should make you feel better about future improvements being made to Source. Valve's Robin Walker states that roughly 20-30 employees are actively working on updates to Source. These people not only work on visual improvements, but also improvements to workflow in general within the engine.
“Our philosophy is always about creating the best value for our customers, but also our partners, and right now I think there’s more value for us to pursue things like the microtransaction part of Steamworks.
"I think if we’d take the microtransaction model away, and instead push harder on getting studios to sign up to Source, I think we wouldn’t be using our time nearly as efficiently.”
"I think if we’d take the microtransaction model away, and instead push harder on getting studios to sign up to Source, I think we wouldn’t be using our time nearly as efficiently.”