Shotgun (Evolution)

Throughout the development of Half-Life and it's sequel, Gordon's iconic shotgun changed looks quite a lot. Despite this, it's always retained it's basic look as an off-brand SPAS-12.

Part 1: Half-Life

Version 1: Late Alpha

The first version of the shotgun was very still very detailed, having a detailed receiver and pump. The barrels are more simple relative to the rest of the weapon, with hexagonal barrels. Despite having no ungloved mesh for this weapon, it can be established that the earliest version of the shotgun didn't have gloves, due to Gordon's hand mesh not having any defined HEV details like the Glock or Python.

Version 2: Early Beta

This version of the shotgun only has one major difference; Gordon's hands are now covered with chrome-played gloves. Other than that, this version of the gun is identical to the prior one. However, it's worth noting that this is the first version we have screenshots for, where we can see a centered view origin, as with a later variant of the MP5.

Version 3: Late Beta

Grey/brown shotgun, gloved orange hands

Version 4: Day One

Black shotgun, updated mesh, gloved orange hands

Version 5: Retail

Same as before, but with slight mesh changes

Version 6: Gearbox

For Gearbox Software's Half-Life expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift, they didn't alter the Shotgun as much as they did the Glock or MP5. Here they only re-animated the weapon, but kept it close to the original, unlike the MP5. The model was not changed aside from Adrian or Barney's hands being added in place of Gordon's.

Part 2: Half-Life 2

(todo: article needs more work)