Jonnobe

Alot of the 'standard' HL2 props like crates and barrels have been re-done, several of our key characters are modelled froms scratch, and we have alot of props that have been custom-made by our modellers to suit the style of our maps. All of our maps use custom textures (in fact our materials directory makes up over 3/4 of the size of the mod), and we don't tell the public everything we do. IOW, we have NPCs that no one outside the team knows about

Basically, we're very strict about what we release in our updates in order to show enough to attract people, but not give too much away about the mod so as to save some surprises for the player.
But in regards to some of your gripes, keep an eye out in the next few weeks, because its likely that we may show more NPCs and custom props :)