Half-Life 2 testers who were horsing about with physics props to'make the 47th playthrough more interesting' likely had no idea that 16 years later, Gabe Newell would launch a garden gnome in space.

"Little Rocket Man," is one of the most memorable achievements in videogames history. It requires you to transport a chubby little garden gnome called "Gnome Chompski," through the entire campaign, and then deposit him on a rocketship to another dimension at the final level. The Chompski Achievement returned in many Valve games including Half-Life Alyx. Gabe Newell's 2020 IRL recreation culminated in a tangible Chompski being launched into space to raise money for a pediatric charity. It all started with Valve QA testers playing with physics in Half-Life 2 when they were bored.

Scott Dalton, a Valve developer, explained that the small doll had a long history in Half-Life 2’s new commentary mode as Gordon explored the playground at the game’s opening. The doll is scrungly and has no arm or eye. When you pick up the baby, it makes just a little cooing sound. Or it would if mid-developmental madness hadn't taken hold.

"During the months of testing internally, some members of the team made it a challenge - a way to make 47th playthroughs of the game more fun," said Dalton. "They would place the doll in a blue crate nearby and see how far the player could carry it through the game. After Half-Life 2 was released, the community began carrying cratebaby, adding their stories and rules.

"A few years after, while working on Episode 2 this was the inspiration behind the 'Little Rocket Man,' achievement where players were required to carry a gnome named 'Gnome Chompski,' throughout the episode. Chompski made a return in Left 4 Dead 2's 'Guardin Gnome,' where players were required to carry him throughout the Dark Carnival campaign.

Some scuttlebutt credited cratebaby as a pure post-launch fan creation, while a 2020 IGN video of HL2 developers Adrian Finol, Robin Walker, and David Speyer reacting to a speedrun saw the developers joke that the cratebaby is a hidden master speedrun strat waiting to be discovered. Some scuttlebut had credited cratebaby as a pure post-launch fan creation, while a 2020 IGN video of HL2 developers Adrian Finol, Robin Walker, and David Speyer reacting to a speedrun saw the developers joke that the cratebaby is a hidden master speedrun strat waiting to be discovered--seemingly to the confusion of at least some fans, who thought the devs were revealing a genuine undiscovered exploit.

YouTuber PurpleColonel posted a video in 2013 that went over the history of cratebaby and showed his own attempts to complete the challenge. The cratebaby can cause some Havok physics to freak out. This should be familiar to anyone that has ever manually decorated their Skyrim house. The cratebaby is also unable to go any further in the game than Kleiner’s laboratory, as the teleporter malfunction sequence will not allow you to take anything with you.

If Dalton's memories and the bants of the three devs who were watching speedruns are any indication, then the cratebaby will always hold a special place in the hearts the devs of Valve. Dalton concluded that "these kinds of interactions with the players are some the most rewarding parts" of game development in the commentary track. "We design with theories in mind. But you never know what will happen until players have their hands on the game."