Source Engine Licensing

[Acacia Tree]

So in order to sell a Source Engine mod on steam I would have to pay $25,000 licensing fee (ridiculous) and on top of that contact RAD for more information about costs with licensing MILES and BINK.

The only way around this would be to distribute your mod for free. $25,000 is just out of the question, I wish Valve would make their engine more open source and flexible for indie developers.

I wondered if it's possible to create a map in the source engine, take screenshots of the map in gmod or Half-Life 2 and then put these screenshots into a program like Game Maker: Studio, using them to create a point and click adventure game, instead of actually using the engine.

Would you think that's possible without paying for licensing for the engine, if I were to sell this game?

Thanks

[phillippi2]

It is not possible due to the licensing. You cannot use valve's content for commercial work without express written permission from them.

One thing to note however; On some occasions, Valve has granted mod developers an actual source engine license free of charge. Such is the case with Black Mesa.

You might also consider waiting for the Source 2 sdk's to be released. You can use it to develop commercial games free of charge. Except, they will still charge you royalty.

[Acacia Tree]

Thanks for responding, but under what circumstances would Valve actually grant a mod developer a source engine license free of charge?

[MachPhoenix]

=Harders=, Valve would consider granting a mod developer a source engine license free of charge likely when the dev is working on a mod that is meant to be a remake of a classic, popular Valve title. In this case with Black Mesa, it is a remake of HL1. This is because Valve sees it as someone willing to spend his time and effort on promoting one of Valve's flagship titles, and therefore may consider to waive his licensing fee for that reason.