A Love Letter to The Source Engine 

Grab Atlas VPN for $1.39/mo before the deal expires: atlasv.pn/LeadHead

Gmod is a kindergarten that doubles as a mental asylum for when the kindergarteners grow up

Hearing "Among Us with guns" really just hits different.

Ahhhh Gmod. What a game

Dude this is beautiful. I was immediately brought back to my childhood of noclipping through the entirety of Half Life 2, learning all these input commands, playing Portal, being part of clans back when people cared about that stuff in CS: Source and DoD. I also remember playing a LOT of Sven Co Op. When Gmod came out, bro that was literally the first game I've recorded having over 1000 hours in - I loved it! You mentioning the RP stuff was also bitter sweet, especially knowing that 10 years from now we'll be seeing videos just like yours, but about GTA 5 RPing. Good times.

Top 10 anime betrayals: "Say Hello to the Cheese"

i love how one of the main arguments is that “it’s broken which means it’s good”

I remember as a kid firing up my pirated copy of GMod and just going solo into Construct to spawn a lot of enemies and see how they fight. How many headcrabs do you need to kill an Antlion Guard? The only answer I ever got was "more than my computer can handle".

Before watching the video, my first thought was "without Source, I wouldn't be a gamedev right now". And that's what you talk about. Spot on !

source never gets enough recognition for what it did for gaming, nice to see someone actually appreciates it edit: i made this at 3 am high as shit btw, i have no idea what im talking about

Fun fact: Titanfall 2 runs on the Source engine.

I haven’t launched Gmod in 4 years. It is still my most played game on Steam, gapping my 2nd most played game by atleast 200 hours. Nothing can ever recreate the lightning in a bottle that was Gmod in its prime and it makes me sad.

GMod was so important to me when I was in middle school. We moved around a lot so the main way I kept in touch with my friends was playing games like Gmod for hours and hours on end. My brother and I moderated TTT and Deathrun servers too. So much nostalgia there, and so many nights packed with fun :) I hope this generation has an equivalent

"It's the cheeses!!" Omg that was hilarious hahah i wish i had played gmod back then! I only watched it when i was younger

I swear the next merch drop better have a shirt with "say hello to the cheese" written on it

It's so sad thinking about all of the great moments from every community that will just be forgotten, the internet is way too chaotic to be documented, in the future we will probably remember it as a separate timeline that just lives in our head, and everything that happens outside will be remembered as real history

Hearing about the man say "It's the cheeses" is one of the funniest things I have heard.

I like how in the VPN ad, Leadhead is condoning tax evasion

I wish I was around during the golden age of Gmod. The stories you are talking about make me wish I had those types of experiences. I almost wish I can relive my earlier childhood so I can do more, so I can get those experiences. I wish I was around for the golden age of so many other games. The only golden age I truly experienced was Minecraft and even then I was not even on multiplayer that much.

That Cheese story brought me back to so many Garry's Mod, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead multiplayer moments that I'll never be able to capture again. Thanks for the memories, Source.

Nothing feels as smooth as the source engine I feel like I have so much control in movement and my actions

Garry's Mod in particular, as a programmer, is so nice. You have a good, thin Lua API over a lot of Source SDK functionality For all games, though, Source's console and config system, while imperfect, is powerful enough to make client configuration interesting even for Source multiplayer titles.

how many times have you dreamt about that valve logo guy turning his head around before he actually did in portal 2, and when i first saw it it was in the corner of my eye cause i was looking somewhere else, it scared me so hard

I can’t remember hearing the Valve intro for the first time, it’s one of those things that you just always know. Crazy how much impact this engine has had on an entire generation. I loved the point that kids would black box test the engine, I definitely missed that wave but I can only imagine how much fun that would have been. Great video, lead!

Man, GMod and the whole Orange Box era back then was so awesome. I think I'd say it was the peak of gaming culture. I remember having a rough year followed by a shitty Christmas time but then I found that sledding server on Gmod. People would use different props to glue together a sled and zoom down an icy track trying to get a good lap time. Was super wholesome, people would just goof around with their silly bathtub/traffic sign sleds and have a fun time

I love the foggy “liminal” look of the source games it feels like a place I could walk around in a dream, I’d love to see a game replicate it. EDIT: I get a similar feeling from Neobabel in Dusk

That Dark RP story really highlights my absolute favorite part of Source Engine communites: Being able to just fuck around with people you haven't met and probably won't see again. Same feeling as going to a public park as a kid, but with a different sense of humor and more moving parts to mess around with.

I remember the first time I played multiplayer in GMod, I went on a sandbox server with the only other player being named "MrTickleDicks". I was like 11. After a short session, I promptly, innocuously told my mom about the fun time I had with MrTickleDicks. I was banned from ever playing multiplayer after that.

If I had a dollar for every time someone said "asynchronous multiplayer" when they meant "asymmetrical multiplayer"...

Who hasn't dreamed about gm_construct honestly

Roleplay sadly has died in gmod, as a 7 year role-playing veteran it kills me to watch

I'm glad you brought up Garry's Mod roleplay. It's near and dear to my heart and was an absolutely massive part of my life for the longest part. Sadly, as you said, the community is nearly gone nowadays. But back in its heyday it was a goldmine of experiences. And I do not mean the lite side of RP, or DarkRP which is so in name only. I mean the serious roleplay. I've wandered the irradiated wastes of Fallout. I have been the subject of an FEV test. I have been crippled by super mutants and had robotic limbs grafted on, betrayed by a boyfriend gone insane from radiation and mutations, had my bar mortared by raiders, been forcibly recruited into the Brotherhood. I've run away as a prospective rebel in Half-Life, only to be spared and then recruited into the Civil Protection and then ascend through the ranks to become a squad leader and then an assassin. I've been forced to chance down friends and execute them for being anti-citizens. I have been a lost, lonely girl with a cursed past, taught and neglected by a benevolent necromancer and then taken in by a far more malicious witch. I've been inculcated into the dark arts and later became a lich. I have been a kindly gnoll shaman confronted by an overzealous hunter but rescued by friends, and later saved those friends with a well-placed lightning strike that brought down a cave's ceiling on top of a skeletal giant. I have been a spare pirate, a Brotherhood Paladin, a lone ranger trying to safeguard a small town. I've been a food vendor in neon-soaked streets of a cyberpunk future and been a confused cyborg in a space western. I've been a quarian on colonies and a ship, as well as a turian C-Sec agent on the Citadel. I've crawled through maintenance shafts in the underground tunnels of Metro and fought against the Red Line, helped in infirmaries and served warm, freshly made soup to the hungry. I've wandered through anomalies and lethal gunfights in the Zone as a stalker, made friendships with and offered solace to people. So many memories I've made over the years. I hope that one day there'll be a game and a community as rich as Garry's Mod roleplay scene once was.

Leadhead: "TTT is Among Us with guns" Correction: "Among Us is TTT without gameplay"

2:25 and here is your friendly reminder that buying games from a different region with vpn is aganist steam's AULA. since the prices are region dependent

my first sandbox was the portal because i found out that it was on the same engine as hl2 so i looked up how to spawn weapons, and the rest was history

So many great memories. I still sometimes think about Kitty0706's (rip) videos and the like

The source engine is pure nostalgia

Source engine is what I hoped the future would be. Open and exciting and random and unexpected, but always a good time. Garry's mod as an example (hah I just got to your mention of it) was a random joy I would never have expected

One of my earliest PC gaming memories is sitting down and writing down all the console commands for L4D2 in a notepad with a pencil with the copy of the game my Grandma got me from Blockbuster, watching all the commands be used by some dude who used Windows Movie Maker to put it together. Damn I feel old now.

I love the fun and chaos source-engine can do, especially with friends. It's just good memories

Holy shit dude I didn't think anyone else remembered GMOD Flood, it was my favorite game mode and I'm really sad that the servers all seemed to die.

the source engine has the right amount of chaos to make me love it to death, strafing and rocket jumping all those things just makes it so much fun

Back when I saw Half-Life 2 in 2004 I knew it was the future of gaming. The way that objects worked and how everything was wired up - it felt great. Yes, indeed it was the beginning of a new era. And the Portal, L4D, CS... It's an amazing ride.

im currently binging your vids rn and it's addicting. Love how you narrate passionately.

Nice!! I really appreciate you making this video, the Source engine doesn't get nearly the cultural recognition it deserves imo

gmod is the most chaotic fun ive ever had in my life, countless hours of messing around in sandbox with friends, trying to be cool and sneaking on ttt and so many other scenarios. im so glad that gmod still has a solid player base to relive those old memories with.

I used to play darkRP with my best friend who passed away in 2016. I didn't think he would like the game but we got so lucky cause the first server we were in was this little Mexican kid who was roleplaying in our gang really getting into it and my friend instantly fell in love cause the kid was just so funny. I used to just have fun roleplaying a hobo on my own before I got my friends into it. Some of my best gaming memories on there. Even building cool things on construct was awesome.

I still to this day have so many great memories from Gmod. Amazing heists and escapes, VDM-ing as the bus driver and making it look like it was an accident, sniping the mayor after he was a d-bag to me (and convincing the admin I was justified in doing it). Good times.

It's a great engine that'll be remembered for years. My favorite game would be Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead 2. Me and my friends hop on TF2 almost daily and I play L4D2 almost as much as TF2.

Hey quick note about 2:07 in the video, the source code leak had no affect on the bot problem currently plaguing tf2, the bots cannot do anything harmful other then spinbot and be annoying and saying otherwise is a little misleading. The bot problem existed way before the code leak, it's just picked up a lot since then.

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. Been a source fan since 2005. When I got my own PC in 2008 the Valve collection was the first games on it.

I have been listening to your videos at work.... Love your content! Thank you!

I hate this word but, this is very "relatable".

Happy pride!

Thankyou for making this. I was 13-14 when I got a pc to run css. Source engine has given me tones of fond memories playing some of the most creative game modes I've ever played to date.

I'm glad your really back, like really back this time it feels the old days again.

id tech, half life and quake engine games really feel like their own thing but source engine games all feel like hl2 mods to me.

This was a fantastic video Ms Leadhead. Illuminated just how much this damn *game engine* means to me

I love your half life video. Your videos add a lot to the discussion (which is difficult when there is loads of other 1 hour plus Half-life analysis videos)

It's a nice tower of ductape afterall.

I love how you ended on the Freeman's Mind opening song, just to give us all that hit of nostalgia

I got goosebumps when You started reminiscing the good ol' g mod after school shenanigans. This video summs up the whole phenomenon and history of the community with such accuracy it really hit me deep and hard recalling those memories. You couldn't have chosen a better fitting title than "Love letter". Keep the great work up - great work is done with passion, not haste, or on a schedule. If you don't lose the passion, people will stay and watch with pleasure like i did today :D

this is genuinely amazing

Leadhead officially endorses tax evasion

It makes me sad to know that I missed out on the golden days of the Source Engine, at least I have Half-Life :D

Oh, man! Thanks for the nostalgia trip. I loved GMod and was totally immersed in the Zombie Survival community here in Australia/New Zealand. Over 1500hrs playtime in 18 months in 2013/14, moderating, administration, programming, and having an all round ball. ZS is dead now, and I miss that community so hard! I guess it’s all part of growing up, or is that sideways 🤨 Respect for your vids Leadhead.

Your RP charecter was a girl named Penelope... foreshadowing 🥺❤

Glad to have you back, I’ve missed your videos

Source Engine, A.K.A. Childhood Engine

I played gmod for a bit when I was a kid, but usually only by myself since I was always really nervous to join servers. I wish I did though, I feel like I missed out on a lot of fun stuff and could have made some good friends :)

I had so many magical moments in left 4 dead 2. I still remember to this day how my first interaction with source games was through some German RU-vidrs playing left 4 dead 2 and 8 year old me being totally amazed by how fun a point a to b campaign based game could be (with friends of course)

I want to buy the "Say Hello to the CHEESE" sticker. Please put that on your merch shop

0:08 Me: probably 3million times if I just remind myself that I'm working with the source engine that I somehow manage to crash every 5 mins 0:22 *takes a big sip of his german beer then looks at the play time in Gmod that alone displays well over 1 year of playtime* Me: This can't be good for me but I feel great

My favorite thing about the source engine are all the videos. shorts clips, Gmod Idiot box, and my favorite was the movie Clear Skies made with the source engine and half life 2 models.

I have a hope that S&box can revive serious RP. I spent 10 years of my life playing HL2RP, and I just recently retired from it. 2013-2015 will always be the best years imo. I made a lot of friends, lost a lot of friends, and have memories of characters that’ll last me a life time, but it’s definitely not the same and it’s definitely dying. No longer will there be an 80-100 pop server, which is honestly sad to see.

FYI: I have a TF2 server! You can join it at 160.202.165.26:27500, or look for "Leadhead's Castle" in the server list. Hope to see you guys there! And yeah, I'm gonna switch to a video every other week, at least for a bit. Not for the reasons I thought I was going to though. Some sudden real-life stuff is going to be eating away at a lot of my time for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for bearing with me!

I love me a good Leadhead upload to brighten the mood.

fwiw, i'm perfectly happy waiting a bit longer for content you feel happy with.

You've perfectly put into words a feeling that I didn't even know I had. It was so exciting coming backing from school as a 12 yo shy boy and having TONS of fun playing TTT, laughing, getting mad, getting to know a lot of people. Hell, it probably even shaped the professional and outgoing person that I am nowadays, considering I was someone with a lot of speech problems, but, thanks to GMOD community I was able to start improving it to the point I turned my voice into a work tool.

Back between 2015-2017 I put in like 300 hours into Gmod playing nothing but Star Wars RP. Some of my favorite memories I’ve ever had. The source engine really is something special.

The source engine is by far the one thing i grew through my teen years with and I can promise you i’ll be playing old source games when i’m 30 and when i’m 80 years old. There’s just something so beautiful about it even though it’s not the most good-looking and sometimes it doesn’t run very well even on high-end PC’s. It’s just home to me and my dreams take place in Source engine all the time it’s such a big part of my life. As you can see by my profile picture I love Half-Life 2, I play GMOD and the HL series all the time.

Thanks for the nostalgia trip for garrys mod, I forgot how much of a fever dream gm_construct could be and laughed myself to tears at your last montage. I miss that game.

Amazing video! It's so satifying to see the sheer number of people who feel such a connection to this engine and the scores of games built around it.

Played over 1.2k hours of gmod back in high school. That shit was my life. I'm glad people think back on it as fondly as I do.

The Freeman's Mind theme at the end really struck!

One of the small, sad things I had in my life was not experiencing all of these when I was younger. I was so invested in Gmod culture way back with no means of playing the actual game. This video made me realize that maybe I did not tried enough as a young boy to get what he really wanted. I grew up on those Idiots of Garry's Mods video series and almost all of those pioneers that coexisted on this website. I love that I still had fond memories with key source games especially Left 4 Dead 2 where it was prevalent in LAN cafes in my country, playing with my friends during that time countless hours where our money had enabled us. I would be ecstatic if I had a way to play Gmod back then but it's sad that we are indeed on the tailend of that generation of source games. Technically, Dota 2 is a source game, but it did not had the charm and legacy of say, Team Fortress 2 before it became free-to-play and of course, Garrys Mod. I'd love to go back in time and experience these in its glory, but it is what it is. They'll be relics that will be remembered and you done fulfilled your part in expressing how much these games were loved.

i met one of my best friend 4-5 years ago in a gmod cinema server, we watched some weird videos and what not and started talking on steam then discord when it became a thing, i met him in the netherlands not too long ago and it was a really nice day, its absolutely crazy how it happened and against all the odds but thanks to gmod i made a good friend, every source game is incredibly important to a bunch of people

Mutahar video featured in leadhead video? I think I just regained one of the many parts of my soul that has left my body over the years

15:30 shit, of I'm not mistaken, is that the video from WayneradioTB where Scorpyy (Benrey's VA) was messing around with that one Gmod avatar mod thing? Leadhead you're a legend and I really appreciate this video. And I liked that you mentioned 3kliksphilip, he's another RU-vidr I really enjoy. As a younger lad, I came on to the source scene relatively late. I played Portal 2 when I was 11 and that was my first exposure to source. I finally got around to playing more source around 2016-2017, when I was 15, and damn source is good. And you're right about GMod, I got that back in 2014 and damn that was just a great game to have as a kid. I love this video. Thank you for making it.

this should be featuring kliksphillip

I heard about HL2RP through this video, I was really interested in it and I had kind of lost myself on Gmod for a while. But I launched up my copy and started playing, it’s been a few months now and I have made so many friends through it. It has been a really great thing for me personally and I really appreciate you having shown it to a fairly large audience, thank you. I play on Pandora’s Box and it’s a great time!

i really related to what you said about the devcoms in the half life games - a lot of my interest in game design spawned from the devcom for portal 1, which i played over and over again on the 360 back in the day. keep doing what you're doing lead :)

I didn't have access to a pc until I was about 13 and I remember just messing around in Garry's mod, it still has my most hours played on steam (fnv would have higher but steam doesn't count time played when launched through nvse)

14:56 How every RU-vidr sounds when listing off their patrons.

Just that half-life 2 ambience gives me so much nostalgia of sitting on the main menu of orange box, thanks for the letting me remember those days.

I can already tell this is gonna be a banger of a video

I really hope they give Source 2 the same SDK treatment as the original Source, with almost all of their development tools and software being available for anyone, for free. I hope, in however many years from now, someone will make "A Love Letter to the Source 2 Engine"

DarkRp was great, I've never been so immersed in a virtual city, it was mainly the fact that the servers would have 100+ people with basically not a single NPC. Even the hobos in DarkRp cities were real players, typically noobs begging for money.

your videos are always a hit bro keep it up love your content!!!

Dude I loved watching this video! Good stuff!