Difference between revisions of "Black Mesa Security Guard (Evolution)"

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MP foe.png|''One of your former military cronies has you in his sights.''
 
MP foe.png|''One of your former military cronies has you in his sights.''
 
MP silo.jpg|An MP inside the blast pit silo
 
MP silo.jpg|An MP inside the blast pit silo
MP silo scan.jpg|A magazine scan of the previous image
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MP silo scan.jpg|A magazine scan of the silo from the 0.52 build
 
MP vent.jpg|The MP being dragged to hell
 
MP vent.jpg|The MP being dragged to hell
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
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===Texture Gallery===
 
===Texture Gallery===
 
<gallery hideaddbutton=true widths="120" orientation="none" spacing="small" position="center" bordersize="none" captionsize="small" >
 
<gallery hideaddbutton=true widths="120" orientation="none" spacing="small" position="center" bordersize="none" captionsize="small" >

Revision as of 10:19, 25 March 2019

The Black Mesa Security Guard, also known as Barney (not to be confused with Barney Calhoun) are friendly entities found throughout almost the entirety of Half-Life. They are the quintessential partner to the player throughout the game, and are one of the only friendly forces you face. The Security Guard went through several different looks throughout Half-Life's development, changing both posture and faces before ending up with the man we all know and love.

Version 1: Chuck Jones Concept Art

Panthereye Jones CA.jpg

Commonly overlooked by most people, the earliest appearance of the Security Guard is within Chuck Jones's concept art for the Panthereye. His design is quite odd, as he is shown donning a pair of thick lens glasses and a much more elderly appearance, something that no modeled version of the character ever had. This makes it very easy to overlook and assume he is a scientist. however the overturned security guard helmet near the hind legs of the creature is all the proof needed. He also appears to be reaching for an M4, a weapon also wielded by early iterations of the Human Grunt.








Version 2: Pre 0.52 Alpha

Earliest Barney.png

The Earliest in game image of the security guard appeared in a PC Gamer article from July 1997; predating the 0.52 build by two months. This design shares many design traits with the 0.52 version of the model, including a white helmet with the letters "MP" on the front (presumably standing for Military Police), a bug-eyed, frightened expression, and a hunched posture. Many traits consistent with later models, such as a black vest and blue pants and trousers, were established with this version. Judging from the few images available of this model, it had many rigging issues and was clearly unfinished at this point of development.

Gallery

Version 3: 0.52 Alpha

MP.png
Don Knott's character of Barney Fife has been cited by Marc Laidlaw as the inspiration and namesake for the Security Guard.

The version commonly referred to as The first one, MP, or famously Freeze, is shown in most if not all of early 1997 footage and articles of Half-Life. The model is named barney.mdl, and is the first known time the name Barney is used in relation to the character. The origins of this name can be traced back to the character of Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts) from The Andy Griffith Show, which this model has a similar appearance of. His face texture and animations differ slightly from the previous version - his face is much less sunken in, and while still having a hunched appearance, his animations and rigging appear to be different as well.

Original intentions

Originally, Half-Life had no companion entities within it - Barney originally was a low tier enemy withing Half-Life. However, this all changed when Valve developer Steve Bond wanted to test out enemy squad behavior. Using Gordon as a leader he linked him to several MPs who were forced to follow the player and not immediately attack. He unexpectedly created the first companion character in Half-Life. This revelation caused a massive shift in thought within Valve leading to the first restart in Half-Life's development.

Gallery

Texture Gallery

Version 4: Wide Eyes