Half-Life (PC)

Half-Life revolutionized the gaming industry by arming you with a crowbar. Whapish!

Early Entrance
Early in development, the entrance to the facility looked quite different. By noclipping through the door in the map, you can see this alternate entrance design.

Construction Worker
A construction worker on foot was meant to be seen in the retail. Its set of animations show him being able to operate like a standard NPC with no attack animation. Unused animations show him inspecting the floor in front of him, before frantically climbing upstairs and dying once having climbed up. In the retail, only workers in forklifts can be seen, with a totally different design.

Ivan the Space Biker
The original playable character before Gordon Freeman was fleshed out. He was nicknamed Ivan the Biker due to his wild looks. His model, "doctor.mdl", still exists in the game files but cannot be opened without repair, as it uses an earlier format. Various textures also exist.

Mr. Valve
zrqx45nfyR4 This creepy model is found in the demo "Day One", named mrvalve.mdl. He was for the original intro video, but was cut later.

Stealth
A model of a stealth jet still exists in the game files under "stealth.mdl".

Skeleton
There is a model for a skeleton, either lying or sitting, but it found no use in the retail game.

Houndeye Curiosity
Z8_R2OMgNUY Level designers can place info nodes to define environmental elements - namely, machines and blinking lights - that idle Houndeyes will occasionally wander over to and paw at out of curiosity. No such nodes are used in the retail game.

Unused Enemies
Models and coding for various enemies that never made it into the final game are still in the files.

Chumtoad
An headcrab-sized creature. His animations shows him swimming, hopping, and playing dead, but it possess no attack animation. It may have served as an non-hostile alien or as a projectile thrown by the player. It was reworked into a working NPC in the expansions.

Mr. Friendly
A horse-sized alien creature designed to fatally copulate with the player. His model and textures are in the game files, fully animated, but show no traces of this behaviour, instead swiping and vomiting at the player.

Archer
An aquatic creature intended to shoot projectiles at the player and bite them. Its model and textures appear in game, fully animated.

Charger
Another alien creature, found in the SDK files. Its model and textures are intact, but it lacks animations.

Flocking Floater
This cut balloon-like alien's model can be found in the game files. It was to shoot out gas at the player.

Kingpin
Yet another alien creature, the Kingpin was slated to use Psionic attacks and defenses, with its massive brain filling most of its body. It was cut for lack of convincing AI and gameplay goals. Its model and textures can be found intact in the game files.

PantherEye
A single feline (Panther?)-like alien. It can be found more prominently in the leaked prototype. All that remains in the files is its model and textures.

Snapbug
An insect like alien creature, slightly larger then a Headcrab (Its model size, anyways). Its model and textures appear in the game files, although with no animations.

Stukabat
A six eyed bat-like alien creature, its fully animated model and textures appear in the game files.

Yellow Boid
The Yellow Boid's textures are found in the original game, along with evidence of a much more varied animation set. As stated at the Half-Life Wiki:

"While the standard Boid has only one animation ("idle", showing it simply flying), the yellow Boid model features two other flying animations and several interaction animations such as "hit", "wounded" and "crash", showing that the player was originally to be able to kill it, added to unused "alert" sounds ("boid_alert" 1 and 2) found in the sound files. The file "aflock.cpp" found in the Half-Life SDK and again related to the yellow Boid also mentions that there was to be a leader forming a flock from surrounding Boids, and that the newly formed flock was to go idle after being formed and wait for a player to come along, then start reacting to its presence. It also mentions that after killing a leader the next Boid was to become the new one. While the yellow Boid was brought back for Blue Shift, it was without the cut features previously mentioned, having it only use the simple "idle" (flying) animation, as in Half-Life."

Human Sergeant
An heavy weapon soldier is found amongst the game files. His animations shows that it would have walked at the player creepily (according to his animation's name) and fired his minigun. It was also meant to ambush the player at some point in the game, dropping from above. His head was recycled for a standard soldier in the retail game.

Chumtoad projectile
An unused alien weapon, akin to the retail Snark, is present in the game files, along with the suit's early color. Depicting the cut Chumtoad, its set of animations shows that it was to be thrown, but it is unknown what the chumtoad would have done afterwards. Interestingly, its model file bear the name "v_chub", hinting at an early name for the chumtoad.

Silenced pistol
A worldmodel and bodygroup for a silenced pistol can be found in the game files. The retail pistol has a bodygroup that can be enabled using a model viewer to see the suppressor on the viewmodel. This goes with animations for attaching it.

Breather
Some sort of model that would appear in Xen.

Isotope Box
This box seems to be supposed to provide more ammo for the experimental weapons than the retail Uranium box. As it wasn't really needed (the small ammo pickup already providing 1/5 of the maximum ammo), this was never implemented and the model was left unused.

Box of bullets
This box, although never used in the retail, can be spawned, and will provide 200 bullets (out of the max 250) for the player's pistol and SMG. Its name (w_chainammo) suggests that it was used for a chaingun ammo pickup, although no chaingun is featured in Half-Life.

Flare
This flare is present in the game files, but cannot be spawned or used, rendering its purpose unknown.

Oxygen Tank
This item, when spawned, cannot be picked up, but replenishes the player's air meter when touched. It would be destructible, producing a damaging explosion in the process. Its back was recycled as a texture for the retail Jump Module.

Security Card
This item hints at an early gameplay concept, where the player would have to open doors using cards. This was replaced in the retail by having the employees unlock the doors themselves, but the item, albeit unused, is still present. It can be spawned and picked up, but it does nothing.

HEV Dialogue
Many unused sounds for the HEV Suit applying various treatments to the player exist in the files.

Scientist Dialogue
The Black Mesa landing field was supposed to have a gargantua instead of a HECU platoon. An unused scientist sound file warning about it is still present in the game files.

''Thank you, Mr. Freeman. You are Gordon Freeman, aren't you ? The one they're expecting in the Lambda Complex ? If you can figure a way past that Gargantua on the landing field and through the bunker doors out there, you'll find yourself at the Lambda labs doorstep !''

Announcement System sound
The Announcement System has an unused sound file where it refers itself to the Automatic Diagnostic and Announcement System.

''Hello. The Automatic Diagnostic and Announcement System welcomes you to the Black Mesa Research Facility. Remember: have a secure day !''

Unused player animations
Several animations for the player depict him being a corpse, on its back, sitting, or on a table. None of these corpses are found in the game, and a dying player freezes at its last death frame, rendering these "animations" unused.

Unused Zombie animation
The zombie was meant to pull a scientist away and kill him. A corresponding animation can also be found for the scientist, and goes unused too.

Unused Rat animation
The rat was supposed to be killed, as a death animation is present in its game files. It however cannot be killed in the retail game.

Unused Gargantua animation
Although no corresponding animation are present in the retail files, corresponding animations for the soldier NPC are present in the Day One files.
 * The Gargantua was supposed to grab an human opponent and bite its head clean.
 * It would also throw a body.
 * It would also slam an enemy to the ground. The Gargantua possess no melee attack in the retail.
 * The Gargantua have a complete death animation. It never plays in its entirety, as it explodes soon after receiving the fatal blow.

Unused Gonarch animations
The Gonarch has a complete death animation. It never plays in its entirety, as it gibs soon after receiving the fatal blow.

Unused soldier animations
There is animations for a strafing soldier, a leftover from an early concept where soldiers would be able to strafe when confronted by the player. Soldiers cannot strafe in the retail, so this goes unused.

Unused Houndeye Animations
The Houndeye pack was supposed to distinguish the leader from its minions through two animations, depicting the leader standing up while the minions would have recoiled in fear. Despite the behavior retained in the retail, the animations are never triggered by the Houndeye, and therefore go unused.

Unused Loader Animations

 * There exists animations for the loader which depicts him running without a crate and collapsing at the end, suggesting a bigger role in the early Half-Life. In the final, they are only seen in the intro sequence handling crates.
 * There also exists a walking animation where the loader doesn't handle a crate. They always handle crates in the retail.

Falling Animations
NPCs were meant to have specific animations for falling and landing. Remnants of this early concept can still be found in the games files.
 * Scientists, security guards, and zombies possess a separate falling loop animation, which goes unused.
 * The alien grunt was meant to have a specific landing animation. This also goes unused.

Scripted Security Guard Animations
The security guard possess an unused set of scripted animations, most likely intended for scripted sequences.


 * Two of them of them shows him looking for something at the ground (idle state), before looking to his right, pushing something and going back into his normal idle stance (active state).
 * Another one shows him emerging from an vent before dropping dead. Its name hints that it would be used at the exact same map where he got captured by a zombie in the retail. This may hint at an early event where he survived the encounter long enough to reach the player, instead of disappearing entirely in the retail.
 * The security guard was also meant to attempt escaping something behind him, before grabbing an electrified fence, causing him to be shocked and drop dead, unconscious.
 * Two unused animations were meant to depict the security guard trying to push and swing a drink vending machine.

Scripted Scientist Animations
The scientist was also granted an unused set of scripted animations, most likely intended for scripted sequences.


 * An animation shows him going through a window by crawling at it. In the final version, he dives instead.
 * The scientist was to be pulled away and killed by a zombie, as a corresponding unused animation is present in the latter's model.
 * He would also try to pull something, before succeeding, sending him to crash a few meters behind.
 * Another animation shows him signaling himself to an helicopter, before being shot.

Scripted Soldier Animations
The standard grunt was also to take part in more scripted sequences that went unused in the final.


 * The soldier was to be thrown across a wall, busting it.
 * An animation shows him tossing a rock, in a rather calm manner.
 * He was to fall from a cliff and die.
 * Two animations, prefixed by "WM", shows him pushing a button, or running and jumping across several meters.
 * He was meant to bust a window with the butt of his weapon.
 * There is a looping animation showing him impaled to a ground spike.

Unused Powerups
Leftovers for a powerup system, akin to earlier FPS games, can be found in the game files. Unused sound snippets from the HEV suit still exists for these items.

Adrenaline Powerup
Would have administered adrenaline to the player.

Antidote Powerup
Would have administered antidote to the player. It can be spawned, but its effects (if any) are unknown.

Antitoxin Powerup
Would have administered antitoxin to the player.

Region Differences
The German version has the following changes made in order to avoid a USK 18 rating:
 * Replaces all the human soldiers with robots
 * The humans' blood is yellow (but the aliens' is still red and there is still blood on the walls)
 * Replaced blood particles with gears and springs
 * Makes the scientists and security guards sit down when they are shot
 * Replaces Gina's, Gordon's, and the scientist's models with a version of Gordon's suit with a helmet on, to make them look less human

Map Oddity
IxePBadvxH4 In the chapter 'Forget About Freeman', there is an elevator with a closed door at the beginning. If you noclip inside, you will see a red triangle. Walking towards it will either crash the game (if you're running the game in Software mode. Running in OpenGL or Direct3D mode will apparently stop the game from crashing) or send you 2 maps ahead (the map where you fire the tank to open the door that takes you to the lambda lab), floating on the ceiling, dead.

Note: Attempting this in the Source version will exit the level and return to the main menu because the game doesn't know how to properly transition into the map the triangle sends you to.