Proto:Half-Life (Windows)/September 1997 Prototype

To do:

The prototypical songs of Half-Life v0.52 should be compared to the retail versions, since there are noticeable differences.
The Enemies subpage should be renamed to "Entities" and merged with the NPCs section. The game doesn't make a distinction between "NPCs" and "Enemies".
The Demos need to be documented, especially the demos from another build that were restored and include the E3 1997 July Grunts video.

This page is loooong...
Consider grouping related content into additional subpages to ease readability.

This is a sub-page of Proto:Half-Life (Windows).

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

The September 1997 prototype of Half-Life, or Half-Life Alpha v0.52 as it is referred to on the title screen and in the Developer Console, is from before the game was completely redesigned and rewritten. Many differences exist at this point, including the plot, locations, and general concept. Originally meant as a press demo, the prototype was leaked to Reddit in January 2013.

The physical disc sold on eBay for $709 USD. Notably, the place of origin on the listing was "Bellevue, WA", indicating that the leak might have been internal.

Sub-Pages

General Differences

Enemies
Squad. Stay. Alert. For. Enemy. Differences. Over.

Levels
Sweep. That. Removed. Level. Over.

Sounds
These changed and removed sounds will sound good in my trophy room.

Documents

The CD the prototype came on has several documents that discuss the game. These provide a look into how the game was supposed to be around August to early September 1997.

The documents have been transcribed onto separate pages, which can be found in the following sub-sections.

Half-Life Readme (in Word 95 format).doc

Half-Life Readme
A readme for the game that shows how to play it and discusses some technical stuff.

HLSynopsis.doc

HLSynopsis
This document contains an early plot for the game.

WalkThru.doc

WalkThru
This document tells the reader how to get through the maps. It also shows how some maps were meant to be, but are not in the prototype because of disabled events.

Technology Overview.doc

Technology Overview
This discusses the technical advancements in Half-Life.

Company Backgrounder.doc

Company Backgrounder
Information on Valve and bios on their employees, circa August 1997.

NPCs

Most enemies and allies from the final game are present in this prototype, but all of them have many significant differences. As for the MPs and the scientists, they can be unruly at times due to the fact that their AI was slightly buggy, meaning they're unable to follow the player. The only way to make them follow is to enable Notarget mode or shoot them in order for them to work properly.

Gordon Freeman (Ivan the Space Biker)

Gordon Freeman has a completely different design in the prototype. It was informally nicknamed "Ivan the Space Biker" by Valve.

It features a much bulkier HEV design with a dark yellow color instead of the final's, large gloves, and the word "RESEARCH" on his back. Gordon himself has a large beard and a flat top haircut. He has a Pistol glued to his right hand.

Inside the prototype's model folder are models for a blue Gordon, a green Gordon, and a red Gordon. These models are possibly for multiplayer team modes. If so, the prototype does not have a yellow model for Gordon (game modes with four teams would usually have red, blue, green, and yellow teams, as seen in popular Quake mods). However, considering the dark yellow color the regular Gordon model has, it could be that the regular model would've been used for players on the yellow team. These colored models use an even older model version than the version the majority of the prototype's models use.

This design appears in several early pre-release images, including some of the first few images ever released by Valve.

Interestingly, this model appears in the files of certain releases of the final game, including the Steam version. The model appears to be using the same model version the rest of the prototype's models use instead of the model format the final's models use, which made it impossible to view in a model viewer for a very long time. It also appears in Half-Life: Source's files, properly recompiled for the Source Engine's model version. Ivan would finally get his chance to shine when a deathmatch player model based off him was later added for multiplayer as a part of the 25th anniversary update of the final game.

One of the first Half-Life screenshots released. This one shows the Gordon model in the prototype.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

bluedoc.mdl

A blue Gordon, likely for multiplayer.

Front
Back

greendoc.mdl

A green Gordon, likely for multiplayer.

Front
Back

reddoc.mdl

A red Gordon, likely for multiplayer.

Front
Back

Security Guard

The Security Guard in the prototype is very different compared to the retail. The officer's helmet is different from the final product just like the rest of his model, with initials saying MP, short for "Military Police." In his model file, the MP officer possesses a walk and shoot animation, but it's very bare bones. His face also has a frightened expression, with blood on his armored vest and trousers. On the other side of the coin, his name tag is also different, also showing a picture of himself. He is equipped with a standard pistol and a nightstick. The final version removes the nightstick. Interestingly, in the prototype there is a model called player.mdl. This model is a version of Barney with much simpler animations, and it uses an older model format than the rest of the Prototype's models.

In-game, the guard behaves similarly to how he does in the final game.

While friendly to the player in-game, the walkthrough included with the prototype suggests at least one guard would be hostile; in C3A1, a guard was meant to activate two turrets in a lobby, and the player was meant to kill him to get a keycard.

Much like Ivan, the old Security Guard was later added as a multiplayer model in the 25th anniversary update, referred to Proto-Barney or "bbbbarney".

Pre-release image showing the Sep. 97 security guard.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Scientist

Scientists look a bit different in this prototype. Their ties are a blue and gray color, they wear a gray shirt, their pants look more like jeans instead of proper pants and lack a belt, and their shoes are lighter than in the final game.

In the prototype, scientists have no gameplay purpose. They cannot unlock anything nor can they heal the player. The walkthrough included with the prototype suggests they were meant to unlock doors with retinal scanners like in the final game, but such function does not exist in the prototype.

The prototype's scientists lack a model for their needle, suggesting the ability to heal by interacting with them was not yet created at the time of the prototype.

Glasses

Glasses, also known as Walter to fans, is quite different in the prototype. While the general design is the same as the final's, his head is shaped differently from the final design, his eyebrows are in a > shape, he has some blood on his face, his lips are open instead of closed, and his glasses are slightly-less thicker, making it easier to see his eyes.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Einstein

The prototype Einstein is a bit different than the one in the final game. While still based off of the real Einstein, this one has large and innocent-looking eyes. His skin is more cream-colored than the final one's is, and his eyebrows and mustache are thicker and larger.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Egon

The prototype contains a scientist head that was removed in the final game. The head is a red-haired man with big, open, eyes and permanently clenched teeth. This variant appears in some early pre-release screenshots.

According to the level editor definition file bundled with the prototype, the name for this head is Egon (named after a character in the movie Ghostbusters). Valve seems to have had a thing for Ghostbusters, as the final's Gluon Gun is also named "Egon" internally.

Front
Back

Older Glasses Design

The models cine_scientist and scienceeat use an older design of the Glasses scientist. This scientist is noticeably shorter than both the one used in the final game and the prototype.

His face is different from both the final and prototype designs. The prototype one has a permanently angry look on his face, round instead of squared glasses, no individually-modeled mouth, and lacks a glasses frame attached to his ears.

This design appears in very early screenshots.

Early pre-release image showing the old Glasses design.

cine_scientist	Used Glasses model

cine_scientist	Used Glasses model

cine_scientist	Used Glasses model

Weapons

The prototype has only three selectable weapons: the Crowbar, the Glock pistol, and the MP5SD submachine gun.

General

In general, all of the weapons are much weaker than they are in the final game. It takes close to 10 pistol or MP5 shots to kill a single Headcrab in the prototype, and stronger enemies are bullet sponges. The exception is the grenade fired by the MP5SD's M203, which is just as powerful as it is in the final game.

The player spawns with every weapon as soon as he enters a map. Each weapon has unlimited ammo, but there aren't any ammo pickups in the game yet. Weapons do not need to be reloaded. In fact, none of the firearms in the prototype have reload animations.

It's possible to drop weapons by pressing right mouse button while selecting them. Dropped models will be showed as shells.

Submachine Gun (MP5SD)

The submachine gun is largely similar to the retail model, but the prototype's MP5SD is the proper length, the textures are not oversharpened, and the M203 is coloured green. The rear sight is also a block rather than the retail's MP5 sight.

This weapon is much more accurate than it is in the final game. Its grenades can be used to rocket jump in the prototype without killing the player, which is very handy for moving around and exploring the maps, especially while using god mode.

The prototype MP5SD is held by bare arms in the prototype. The textures for this arm can still be found in the Half-Life SDK and Half-Life: Source's SDK. While the final game uses HEV arms, both the prototype and final MP5 have the hands in the same positions and shapes. This is because the arms are the same, just for the final model they added a HEV arm model and made the hands use the chrome texture.

The grenade firing animation has Gordon pump it after firing. This was removed in the final game.

The prototype SMG uses stereotypical "pew pew" sounds that suppressed weapons in movies use when fired. The final game replaces them with beefier SFX.

HUD icon.
Pre-release screenshot showing the Sep. 97 SMG.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype SMG bullet spread	Final SMG bullet spread

Pistol (Glock)

The Pistol is very different from its final design. The model itself is a bit blockier than the final one and the textures used are completely different. The grip is a lighter blue and looks nothing like a grip used by any of the Glock generation models, the slide uses a different design that is a light gray and lacks the markings on it, and the rear has no details on it.

The gun only has a shooting animation. The shooting animation lacks the slide going back, like the final's Pistol does.

In-game, the Pistol fires slightly faster than it does. However, it is noticeably less accurate than it is in the final game, to the point where its spread is closer to the final's SMG than it is to the final's Pistol. This version's Pistol does not have the alt-fire mode the final one's has.

The hands used by the Pistol are a man in a lab coat, which are different from both the hands used on the prototype SMG and the hands the final's Pistol uses.

HUD icon.
Preview screenshot showing the Sep. 97 Pistol.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype Pistol bullet spread	Final Pistol bullet spread

Crowbar

The Crowbar's model is completely different from the one used in the final game. It has less polygons, a different texture (which can be found in the Half-Life SDK) and a chrome front end for some reason.

When used, it has a very slow swing rate. Coupled with the very low damage it does per hit, the Crowbar is useless except for breaking certain objects.

Strangely, it doesn't have an arm holding it.

The Crowbar uses the graphic for a knife when selecting weapons in the HUD. Perhaps the Crowbar was a knife at one point.

HUD icon.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Fists

The HUD has an icon for a fist when cycling through weapons. When the fist icon is selected, the player will not have any weapon. He can still select another weapon, however.

Fire Axe

The folder containing the HUD's graphics contains an icon for a fire axe. There isn't a model for a fire axe in the prototype nor is there a way to select one.

Other Weapon HUD Icons

Graphics for numbers 5 through 9 can be found in the HUD graphic folder. Considering they're numbered the same way the weapon's HUD graphics are, it's likely these are placeholder graphics for other weapons that would be used when other weapons were starting to be implemented.

Scripted Sequence Models

The prototype uses separate models for characters used in scripted sequences instead of including them with the regular model for that character.

cine_barney

A model used for a sequence where a security guard argues with a scientist, shoves him away and runs off, with the scientist getting eaten by an old Panthereye design afterwards. This sequence appeared in some pre-release material and can be seen in the map "techdemo.bsp" as part of that map's demonstrations.

cine_scientist

Another model used for the same sequence cine_barney is used in.

cine_panthereye

Another model used for the sequence that cine_barney and cine_scientist are for.

cine3_barney

This model is used for a security guard that is dragged into a vent in the prototype's C1A2a.

cine3_scientist

This model is used for a sequence where a scientist is pulled into a vent while gripped on the edges of the vent in the prototype's C1A2a.

panthereat

One part of a sequence that shows an old Panthereye design jumping a scientist from behind, then eating him.

The full sequence with the model below can be found in the E3 1997 trailer.

scienceeat

The second model used with panthereat.

Other Models

M44 Truck

The prototype has a unique model for the truck the enemy soldiers use. The final game removes it in favor of brush-based trucks.

The model lacks a hitbox for its engine and most of its cabin, letting anything walk through it.

Front
Back

Prrobot

The map techdemo.bsp contains a model of a strange creature that does not appear in the final game nor any pre-release material as a demo for Half-Life's skeleton-based animation system. It appears to have a top similar to a horseshoe crab's with an eye at its front, thin limbs attached to something hanging from its center, and an engine.

Its animation names indicate that it could attack and die, suggesting it could've been an enemy (a real or a test one) at one point.

Front
Back

Polyrobo

Polyrobo is a large model based on a Regult battlepod from the anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross (adapted in the US as Robotech). The model exists to test the amount of polygons the engine can handle for a single model. The model can be found in the map "testdemo.bsp".

It has a few animations; an idle, a silly dancing animation, and an unused walking animation. It will play the dancing animation in-game if the model is shot with a weapon. Strangely, after being shot again and returning to its idle animation, the Polyrobo will begin to track the player's movement.

A video of the unused walking animation can be seen to the right:

This model appears in some early pre-release images.

Front
Back
Pre-release image showing the Polyrobo.

Shell

The prototype contains an earlier model for the ejected brass the Glock and MP5SD eject. The model in the prototype lacks the final's chrome texture, instead opting for a dull bronze.

Guns in the prototype do not eject brass, but some pre-release images show this model being ejected from guns.

Based on the prototype shell's position in a model viewer, it seems that the model was positioned specifically so that it'd eject from a gun at a certain angle. The final game has code deal with this instead.

Preview screenshot showing this shell.mdl being ejected from a gun.

Prototype	Final

Shrapnel

The prototype's shrapnel model is dark, while the unused model found in the final is a light gray.

Prototype	Final

Graphics

HUD

The HUD is completely different in this prototype. The prototype HUD has differently-shaped metal bars on the center-left, left-hand corner, and center-right of the screen. Health is indicated with orange blocks on the box in the left-hand corner. The other boxes do not show information, making it impossible to see what they would do.

Weapons are selected with a set of green boxes that appear in the center of the screen. An unused texture found in the prototype's files shows a weapon selection box closer to the final's, but styled like the rest of the prototype's HUD. This does not appear in-game.

The damage indicators are green in the prototype, but a light red in the final game.

The HUD is larger and has some transparency issues in the OpenGL executable. The weapon selection system's graphics nor the damage indicator graphics appear in OpenGL mode either.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Software	OpenGL

Prototype	Final

Unused prototype weapon selection	Final

Early HUD

The STATUS folder contains a graphic with an older HUD. It appears to be based on Quake's' HUD, suggesting this is a very early leftover.

The game's menu is completely different in this prototype. This menu appears to be Quake's menu, but with different graphics. The box that appears when one hits the "Quit" option still used (glitched) graphics from Quake. The cursor is also animated like in Quake, but the graphics appear to be taken from the sidebar, making it look like a glitch.

Note that the "Help/Ordering" option doesn't do anything.

Prototype	Pre-Steam menu

Prototype	Initial Steam release

Prototype	Current Steam release

Quake Menu Comparisons

Prototype	Quake

Credits Image

The "HUD" folder contains a graphic for a credits list that is not used in the prototype. What's notable is that it mentions both Quiver (an early name for Half-Life) and Prospero, a cancelled game that was in development during the early parts of Half-Life's' production.

40mm Grenade Explosion Effects

In the prototype, 40mm grenade explosions will spew shrapnel (complete with smoke trails) when they explode. The final game gets rid of this effect in favor of an animated explosion sprite.

Prototype	Final

Bullet Tracers

In the prototype, nearly every bullet fired by the Pistol and SMG will create a tracer effect. The final game reduces the chance of a tracer on these guns so that it is much rarer.

The prototype's tracers have a green tint, while the final game's tracers have a more yellow tint.

Prototype	Final

Alien and Human Gibs

Both alien and humans share the same gibs in the prototype. The final game gives aliens their own gibs.

Gibbed Human	Gibbed Alien

Early Quake Leftovers

Several raw uncompiled BMPs lie in the GFX folders that pertain to several graphics lumps used by Quake. Part of it are unused "dead" faces and variants on the quad damage face in which he licks around his mouth.

The palette was shifted and recalculated.

Status bar faces
Status bar numbers
Inventory bar weapons
Inventory bar keys
Indicator icons for connection, cache and performance issues, and loading
Console font and box elements
Gandalf, Mpath, and id Software logos
Early player customization box

Plot Differences

As the game received a full rewrite, the plot is very different from the final, including:

Instead of Black Mesa, the game took place in an abandoned missile silo only referred to as "The Silo".
Gordon was originally meant to be "a weapons research scientist who has never touched a weapon".
The Silo was meant to have already developed a Portal, however the Portal was completely contained.
Gordon's lab had nothing to do with the incursion. Instead, the Portal's power core goes critical, causing it to rend space-time and producing the same effect the resonance cascade does in the finished product.
The rest of the plot is essentially the same, with the inclusion of acquiring "a device which means the difference between victory and annihilation".