The Gravity Gun (or Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator) is fondly remembered by many Half-Life 2 players. Reaching the device's final design was far from an immediate process.
A user named Richter Overtime published several images. According to him: “The first iteration [version] of the gravity gun from Half-Life 2 1999 has just leaked online.”
In the comments, Soliera clarified: “Half-Life 2 development started almost right after Half-Life 1. The earliest footage of hl2 is called "get your free TVs", it looks like it's running on the earliest build of Source (GoldSrc) with the hl1 hud [interface] and dates back to 1999. Development was very troubled at the time, and the entire storyline up to that point was scrapped in late 2002 or early 2003. The hl2 we know today really started development in 2003, with only a year left until [completion of its development].”
Richter Overtime also posted concept art of Eli Maxwell. It was suggested that the device's model was based on the same design as this art.
The gravity gun became beloved by many Half-Life 2 players.
There are speedruns that only use the gravity gun: