‘Valve is working on Linux version Source engine’

Valve Software would like to make the Source engine suitable for Linux. A new Senior Software Engineer has to take care of that. It is not known whether games will also be adapted in addition to the engine.

Linux site Phoronix claims confirmation have received from Valve Software that it will modify the Source engine. The new Senior Software Engineer, for whom a advertisement appeared on Valve’s site, should provide the port to Linux.

However, the ad looks for someone who can port Windows-based games to Linux and doesn’t mention porting the entire engine. However, according to Phoronix, Valve does intend to port the engine, without working on a specific game port.

With the Source engine, games can now be made for Windows, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The engine uses Directx and supports versions 8.1, 9.0 and 10.0 of the Microsoft api. However, the engine is very modular, which should make it possible to add support for OpenGL, necessary for the port to Linux or Mac OS X.

Valve is no stranger to OpenGL. Source’s predecessor, Goldsrc, supported both DirectX and OpenGL, although support for both APIs was already built in by id Software, which built the Quake engine on which Goldsrc is based.