I seriously doubt that Gordon did training on the day of the incident.
Maybe to refresh everything he knew/knows
But that early in the morning? Some huge procedure like that would have taken some time to set up and schedule. More likely it would have been later in the morning, or in the afternoon.
We even don’t know when he was expected to do the experiment which lead to the Cascade (the time he was expected on the workfloor)
In the morning, in the afternoon, at night?
Sorry to barge in, but for once I’ll post something instead of lurking around and watching how this nice project progress.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gordon get his training the day he first uses the HEV suit. It looks to me that the experiment was done in a bit of a hurry, not because of Gordon being late but also because how important it was and that they may have been expecting such sample earlier. Also, it doesn’t seem that any of the other scientists was eager to go inside the “barrel” during the experiment, and so the task was passed on the newest guy, Gordon, hence the training in a hurry. Also, for those who remember the Hazard Course training schedule (it comes from Decay, but I think I’ve seen it around Black Mesa’s maps), it seems that they could only hold a training per day, maybe because they had to reorganize the course according to the type of training, so it may be possible that they could only squeeze Gordon’s HEV try out the same day as the experiment. If you still intend to add new voice lines, maybe you can have a scientist apologize for this late training and explain briefly why, before or at the beginning of the course.
Then, there’s a small detail I noted about the course. I don’t believe anyone going through training will go in with his lab coat, tie or any personal belonging, so it would be more coherent to make the player go by some locker-room on his way in like in the Anomalous Material chapter (probably make the room before the silo with the suit), then after the course is done exit by another room where he can leave the HEV suit (which he never does in the original map) and get his belongings back, probably brought back by some of the sector A staff.
I also think you should extend the part where Gordon is trained to use the freight tram a bit more than a direct tunnel, just going forward on a tram doesn’t look like a training at all, though players won’t have to use one before Power Up.
This is possible, it’s stated employees can come to do so any time, and I recall a security line in BM asking the player why they bother logging extra hours in the course. But I don’t see anyone doing it the day of a big test when the times are anywhere near where they could conflict.
But do we have official confirmation of that from Marc Laidlaw or the rest of the folks at Valve? Because the game itself doesn’t explicitly state it one way or the other.
What I’m planning isn’t too much, but it’ll hopefully be more than a simple fade to black in the tunnels like in the original. A bit of plot development, I think.
Again, we have no official information stating it was Gordon’s first day anywhere; Though I do seem to recall the employment letter stating that his position was going to be in the AM labs from the start. It would also make much more sense to transfer a security guard to a different lab, rather than a trained scientist specializing in a specific scientific field.
I always assumed it he was supposed to be in at around 8: 30AM, making him late before he even got on the tram.
“Weren’t you supposed to be in the test chamber half an hour ago?”
Whatever the majority of the team decides will be final, of course, but I just don’t see where you’re all coming from unless I’ve missed something vital from the ML vault.
Both of these are excellent suggestions.
I think I might have to make some edits to the tram training later…
EDIT: Never mind.
I doubt they’d schedule a training session just before such a huge and important test, especially not knowing for sure how long the scientist could take. I also don’t think it’d be likely that he’s only just now being taught the use in the HEV suit when he’s been working in the Anomalous Materials labs since he began working at Black Mesa.
I can work something like that into the lobby or a room nearby. Neat idea.
For some reason I imagine the HEV suit just being haphazardly tossed into a clothes hamper on a pallet jack like it’s just a pair of jeans or something. Gotta has that humor 
The only times they use them are the beginning of Blast Pit, end of Power Up and throughout On A Rail, but the entire time they’re just setting the tram to “forward mode” and waiting/shooting shit up. Not much to train in. Maybe Text’s OAR project has a switching system we could try and teach? Just a thought.
"May 16Edit
Main articles: Black Mesa Incident, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life, Half-Life: Decay, and Half-Life: Opposing Force
[b]07: 30
Gordon Freeman is being instructed by Gina Cross' hologram counterpart for an HEV Suit Training in Sector A. This is Half-Life's Hazard Course.[13][16]
[/b]
08: 30
Several system crashes occur around Black Mesa (the security guard in the Sector C lobby states he has had a system crash "about 20 minutes ago").[16]
8:42
Barney Calhoun starts his tram ride from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories at Black Mesa,[15] to start his second Blue Shift day at Area 3 Medium Security Facilities in Sector C.[14] He arrives there some time before 9:00.
8:47
[b]After his HEV Suit Training, Gordon Freeman starts his tram ride from Level 3 Dormitories at Black Mesa. He is 30 minutes late.[/b][16] "
From the Half-Life wiki.I’m going to assume Gordon took the tram to get to the dormitories, but thats just my 2 cents.
Anyhow I made a small start on the holo effect.
Posting screenshots tommorow, or when I got time.
The Half-Life wiki is one of the least reliable and poorly written wikis out of all of them.
It’s hardly a credible source.
Besides, the citation given by the article references the PlayStation 2 port, which was made by Gearbox, not Valve.
Don’t forget that the Hazard Course training schedule clearly states May 16, 7: 30 ante meridiem as the day for Gordon’s Hazardous Environment Mark IV Suit training. As in, 7: 30 ante meridiem on the day the Resonance Cascade that kicked off the plot happened. Also, with the “belongings” part, due to the nature of this particular job training, I imagine Gordon arrives at the hazard course in casual clothes (which he puts back on once he completes the Hazard Course), & puts his work clothes (Black Mesa lab coat, ridiculous red-&-black diagonal striped tie, blue button-down shirt, triple-pleated khakis, penny loafers) on once he gets back to his room in the Level 3 Dormitories.
That schedule also mentions that Freeman is new.
Valve retconned that ages ago. Any part of the story that is made by Gearbox is questionable at best.
The point is, nowhere is it ever confirmed in absolute official terms that the Hazard Course level takes place on the same day as the RC. Therefore, we have the creative freedom to place it anywhere we feel like on the timeline.
Except for after the resonance cascade. That might be a bit far fetched.
We could set it up like the Hazard Course in Opposing Force or decay. 
Which coincidentally don’t match each other despite both being made by gearbox.
If we really want to know for sure when the Hazard Course takes place, perhaps somebody should email Marc Laidlaw?
Yes, it does say he is new, but it doesn’t say HOW new. Gordon’s letter of acceptance in all 3 iterations of Half-Life 1 (Half-Life 1: GoldSource, Half-Life 1: Source, Black Mesa: Source) is clearly dated May 5, 200- (his date of acceptance wasn’t retconned). All 3 iterations take place on May 16, 200-. Thanks to conferring with my mother, I know that would mean Gordon would have gotten job training for the position of Level 3 Research Associate at May 6, 200- (at the earliest). This means he would have worked at Black Mesa from May 7 to 16, 200-. As said earlier, the Hazard Course is a separate training from his initial job training.
Okay, well this isn’t the Official Half-Life Timeline Thread, it doesn’t matter to us. Not in this context, anyway.
I considered doing that earlier, but I decided it wouldn’t be worth the time.
And 200- could be any year between 2000 and 2009 in any place it’s used. Personally, I always regarded the incident happening roughly a year after Gordon was first employed.
EDIT: Whoops.
I think it would be best if we left the destination of the tram (assuming we go this route) vague. No one can dispute the “canonocity” that way. Those who think it was just before the incident can imagine it goes there, those who don’t can imagine… something else.
Alright, I just emailed Marc Laidlaw regarding the Hazard Course timeline.
You’ll probably get a vague response of him acknowledging evidence towards both, then says he has no idea.