If you want to make maps for CS:GO, you need
the Source SDK. This great piece of software,
found in the Steam Tools section. The Hammer
Editor is a part of this package, and is the
map editor, letting you design and decorate
your own map layouts. I strongly urge you
give it a go, even if you’re only slightly
curious about it. I have had thousands of
hours of fun from this piece of software.
What’s great about it is that CS:GO’s
bots can automatically learn new layouts,
so you can easily test it with them. It’s
weird to load your map up for the first time
only to discover the bots already know it
better than you do. If you’re interested
in mapping, I have a load of tutorials to
help you get started.
There’s just one thing- the Source SDK isn’t
free. This wasn’t a problem when you had
to buy CS:GO, because once you had, you immediately
got access to this as well and nobody thought
anything of it.
But now the game’s free-to-play, a lot of
people assume the Source SDK should be free
as well. But it isn’t. It won’t be unlocked
when you level your account up to Prime status,
either. If you want to make maps for CS:GO,
you have to buy the game. Even though it’s
now free to play.
This is something I even reached out to Valve
about and they confirmed this was intentional.
But I still don’t know WHY they’ve chosen
to keep the Source SDK behind a price-barrier.
One reason you might THINK would be to cut
down on the amount of workshop spam that’s
been plaguing the community workshop page
for years, where botfarms would upvote adverts
and mass-downvote all the wonderful maps that
people had spend dozens of hours lovingly
creating. Having to pay for an account every
time will at least act as a kind of barrier.
But… this isn’t the case here, because
while freekliksphilip was unable to load the
editor without buying Prime, he was still
able to use the workshop publisher to upload
maps to the workshop.
So it seems like this price-barrier is strictly
to prevent access from the creative parts
of the mapping process. Which is a shame,
as I’m sure there’s a great map inside
all of us and it seems like many will never
be seen just because the software to make
it needs to be bought.
But then again, we’re talking about £11
here. $15! That isn’t photoshop money. That
isn’t even Winrar. That’s the price of
a cheap game on a steam sale, or the cost
of a few digital skins.
I don’t really want to get into the whole
discussion of whether you have $15 to spare
or not. Because obviously everybody who reaches
out to me complaining about the cost insists
that they don’t have $15 and that there’s
literally no way they can get that much. I
can sympathise, because until I was 16 I was
heavily reliant on saving up my £1.50 a week
pocket-money for the stuff I wanted, and if
I couldn’t get something, I’d have to
wait for birthdays or Christmases instead.
But for the rest of you, who CAN afford or
save $15 if you wanted, but instead choose
not to, maybe so that you can get a few more
skin crates instead, or maybe because you
feel entitled to free software, you’re the
kind of person who simply has to budget better.
Or to sell a few of those skins you already
own to make funds for it.
Whatever situation you find yourself in, I
can just say that the Source SDK has been
worth far more to me than the value I’ve
gotten from the game it’s bundled with.
Simply to make a level that’s just a load
of collapsing platforms. Or one where you
have to rush down a maze of platforms to reach
the weapons at the bottom. Or to make a trebuchet
to crush a bunch of combine. Or to enact out
a Judith Mossman fantasy I’ve always had.
Or to enact out a finding nemo fantasy I’ve
always had.
Or, you know… to make a map.
I know already you have something to say about
this. If not about the maps you would make
if given this for free, then maybe on the
$15 asking price and whether or not that’s
unreasonable. Should the game going free also
entitle you to use the editor for it for free?
Should they offer a cut-down, free edition?
Or should they up the price of CS:GO to $15
again and be done with it?
