Black Mesa Security Guard (Evolution)
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.
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Version 1: Chuck Jones Concept Art
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 over turned security guard helmet near the hind legs of the creature is all the proof needed. He also appears to be reaching for a type of gun that never made it into Half-life.
Version 2: Pre 0.52 Alpha
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 is majorly the same to the 0.52 Alpha barney, excluding some texture differences such as a more sunken in face and earlier animations. The model has many rigging issues and was clearly unfinished at this point of development judging from images.
Gallery
The only other image of the earliest known model
The source page
Version 2: 0.52 Alpha
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 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 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, appearing to have been redrawn entirely, and while still having a hunched appearance, his animations and rigging appear to be different as well.
