Scientist (Evolution)
Our favorite Black Mesa Science Team had gone through many iterations until the looked like we see them today, going from frightened, nervous wrecks to the somewhat goofy looking they are today. Let's explore how they changed over the years.
Contents
Version 1: Pre 0.52 Alpha
The first version of the scientist, found in a magazine which had Half-Life preview images, which bares familiarity to the one found in the 0.52 Alpha, the only differences being the stance and the head model, this version of the scientist is hunched over and its head model (known by fans as the Mad Scientist) has black glasses and a scar across his forehead. This model still exist in the alpha 0.52, as cine-scientist.mdl. This model is only used once in the techdemo.bsp map, where it is seen arguing with a Security Guard, only to be eaten by a Panthereye.
Texture Gallery
Version 2: 0.52 Alpha
These models are found the files for the release Half-Life 0.52 Alpha and unlike Version 3, are dirtier and have more scarring, mostly on the back of their heads. "Walter's" glasses look similar to the final scientist model, "Einstein" and "Egon's" heads are not the same color as the rest of the body and despite what it may seem, these models have no moving mouth.
Texture Gallery
Version 3: Post-Alpha
This version of the model looked very similar to the previous version, but with less blood on the textures, but its stance and shape are still close to the 0.52 Version. The scientist's lab coat & slacks are both a clean, uniform white colour with a blue shirt underneath compared to the dirtier white coat & navy blue slacks seen in the previous versions. Something to note is that the Egon head was retextured into an early version of the Luther head for E3 1998.
Scientists getting beaten by a HECU grunt.
Early Luther Scientist gives CPR to a Security Guard.
Version 4: Concept Art
One of the later versions of the scientist, this concept art by Chuck Jones has clothing different from any of the scientist models before or after, resembling more of a sci-fi suit than a lab coat. This version has round pitch-black glasses, a blue and green suit, a syringe, and black gloves, both of which survived in the next version. Interestingly, we don’t have any screenshots of the model using this design, but it can be assumed to have existed due to there being a zombie version of it in multiple screenshots. This scientist was presumably the sci2 scientist, due to slicks textures being referred to as sci2 and his appearance overall resembling this version of the scientist. This scientist was around the time they implemented healing and fear AI, due to the animations for both features being named with the sci2 prefix in the 2016 leak of the scientist source files.
Texture from zombie version of this model, reused for the retail model.
Version 5: Raising The Bar
This version of the scientist appeared in the Raising the Bar book. It appears to have been rendered by Chuck Jones. The whole body has been overhauled with the final body model, high-resolution textures, black gloves, a red & black striped tie, and the glasses are "transparent", revealing small eyes. Retail's Deathmatch Highpoly Submodel of the scientist uses a late mesh of this scientist. It appears that this version has less issues with the textures alignment (glasses, for example). Interestingly enough, late version already has retail looking glasses texture for the Walter scientist.
Scientist standing idly by in a rocket silo.
The Black Mesa Advertisement texture.
Early Alien Grunt and Scientist in Datacore
Version 6: Retail Scientist
This version of the Scientist is seen in the retail release of Half-Life. He has since lost the black gloves of the previous variant, and is less top-heavy. The eyes visible on the Glasses variant's, well, glasses, are not as prominent as they once were. The Deathmatch Variant of this model uses
Walter/Glasses Variant.
Einstein Variant.
Luther Variant.
Slick Variant.
Deathmatch Walter.
High-Quality Deathmatch Walter.
