Valve released Steam Workshop support for Half-Life: Alyx alongside a beta release of community development tools.
The moment a lot of Half-Life fans have been waiting for is here as the release formally opens up a new era in modding and community VR built around the incredible VR game from Valve which released just a few months ago.
“You can create new levels, models, textures, and animations for Half-Life: Alyx, and using Steam Workshop you can browse and play everything the community has uploaded,” Valve explained in an update. “Want to make your own VR physics sandbox or a giant Rube Goldberg machine? Design a new combat encounter featuring a dozen Combine soldiers at once? What about creating the world’s longest Multitool puzzle, or imagining a whole new district of City 17? Crack open the tools yourself and make it happen!”
There’s a detailed documentation page here and you can browse the Half-Life Alyx Steam Workshop page here to check out popular additions for the game. Valve said it plans to “add to and improve” the tools in the coming weeks while the current release includes “new or updated versions” of:
- Hammer, the latest version of the Source 2 level editor.
- Material Editor, the tool for creating and tuning materials in Source 2.
- ModelDoc, a tool for viewing, editing, and compiling models with animation, collision, and other gameplay attributes.
- AnimGraph, our animation tool used to create complicated animation setups with blends and transitions.
- Particle Editor, for making new particle effects.
- Subrect Editor, for creating smart texture sheets known as “hotspots.”
- Source Filmmaker, the Source 2 cinematic renderer and animation tool.
Several sample maps are also included with the release alongside the “entire set of Half-Life: Alyx maps…as editable source for reference – this includes a large collection of interactive objects and prefabs.”
The update also adds a native Linux version of the game which uses the Vulkan rendering API.
