Why Sven Co-op will remain on GoldSrc Engine

By Outerbeast
This is a topic that has been discussed ad nauseam since a lot of folk request that Sven Co-op be ported to Source engine from GoldSrc for a variety of reasons, mostly because "better graphics and physics". Because of the frequency of these requests I decided that an article be written that can be linked instead of going through a solid 2 hours of discussion reiterating the points that this article will go over, saving precious time, torn hairs and sanity.

Graphics
While it is true that Sven Co-op would greatly benefit with updated graphics and physics, which perchance Source engine offers, porting the game to Source is not the answer for this. The amount of time and effort required for such an undertaking will not be worth it just for higher graphic fidelity as well has the other advantages of using a newer engine, and it may in fact disrupt other developmental endeavors. The game is already needing work in major areas and to shift the focus to a port will be detrimental not only in that those areas will be put aside, but the amount of drawbacks that the Source engine brings along with the advantages (and the drawbacks far outweigh the advantages) will pretty much ruin the game. That being said, there is focus in improving the graphics of the game via a new renderer, which is currently under development. This will aim to implement shaders and drastically improve visual quality that it will be close to, if not on par with Source engine level of visual eye-candy, while still preserving the look and feel of GoldSrc that so many of us do appreciate, unlike the unfortunate sods who want the game to be on Source.

Combat and Physics
"It's all just so plain. Shooting anything with the smg makes me feel like I'm spraying a water bottle at a dead cat."

- Stimor on Source engine combat

Regarding the physics and combat, while the physics are great in Source they don't really have any place in Half-Life and Sven Co-op maps, and needless to say the combat in Half-Life 2 is pretty much lacking. The reason why GoldSrc is fun is simply because it owes it heritage to the Quake engine, and the combat style is fast paced and the weapons and enemy reactions have impact, something that Source does not have in nearly as much detail.

Migration Challenges
As briefly mentioned the challenges with getting Sven Co-op on Source are too many to be worthwhile in regard. The Sven Co-op development team required to go through a long process of obtaining full engine access to GoldSrc so that development in many areas can go forward. The dev team doesn't just have access to API/SDK tools to "build the mod", they are able modify engine limits, add scripting languages like AngelScript, and much more because of this. However this required a request to Valve on getting access to it (took many many requests, since Valve very rarely gives such access, there's only three games known to man that make use of the GoldSrc source code legally). From there, everyone signs Non-Disclosure Agreements and agrees to Valve's policies on handling the Source Code.

If the dev team ever have to decide that (and let's be transparently clear, they will not) Sven Co-op will be ported to Source, they will have to go through this war of a process again, and the privilege of getting full engine access is extremely improbable, so those benefits are thrown out of the window entirely.

..........

If you made it this far and still remain in the "Sven Co-op 2 plssss" camp then that game already exists: Obsidian Conflict- this is online co-op mod for Half-Life 2 that is entirely what Sven Co-op 2/Source would have been had it existed.

So play that game and stop asking for SC2. Thanks.