Claude Code Powers a Native Half-Life 2 Apple Silicon Port
AI summary
Developer kanapitsas reports that Claude Code, mainly Claude Opus 5.5, wrote the code for a static-recompilation port of Half-Life 2 to Apple Silicon and iPhone. The project translates the Linux version’s x86 code into C for ARM64, adds Metal rendering through a Portal 2 Direct3D 9 bridge, and includes an installer plus builds for Episode One, Episode Two, and Lost Coast. The developer says the iOS touch controls may still need work.
In-depth insight
The publicly released repository and installer make this a verifiable example of Claude Code handling substantial game-porting work across architecture translation, rendering and platform integration.
| After Portal 2 it’s time for Half-Life 2 to run on Apple Silicon! Including Episode One, Episode Two and Lost Coast. (There was already a native port some years ago, but it relied on leaked code.) Claude Code (mainly Opus 5.5) wrote the code, I tested on my Mac and iPhone and made the decisions. The recompiler we built for Portal 2 translates the x86 code of the Linux version into C, then compiles it for ARM64. It got us most of the way: from the first Half-Life 2 commit to the game running on my iPhone took less than two days. There’s now an installer app. It finds your Steam games and builds them on your Mac (about 10-20 minutes per game). You need the Xcode command line tools and the Linux binaries (downloaded with the Steam console). You need to own the games on Steam. No game files are included. Please don’t share built apps. This project is unofficial and not affiliated with Valve. Repo: https://github.com/kanapitsas/source-recomp Installer: https://github.com/kanapitsas/source-recomp/releases/tag/v0.3.1 Feedback is welcome! submitted by /u/kanapitsas [link] [comments] |
#Half-Life 2#Claude Code#Claude Opus 5.5#source-recomp#Portal 2#Metal#Apple Silicon#iOS#Valve