Daleks 3D


Requirements - Screenshots - Troubleshooting - Instructions -

Daleks 3D is a open source game for Windows and Linux, based on an old Mac game named 'Classic Daleks' (which in turn is a variant of Robots). After a few years of playing about writing various 3D engines, I decided I wanted to try to put together a game. This seemed something that would be fairly simple to do, but would still be somewhat fun to play. Daleks 3D uses Vision 3 which is an 3D game engine I have been working on.

Download Daleks 3D for Windows!

For Linux, you have to compile from the source.

The source code is available, released under the GPL v2 or later. Please see the file daleks_source.txt (in the source archive) for details on how to compile.

A full list of download files, including older versions, is at https://launchpad.net/daleks3d/+download.

Please send bug reports, suggestions, comments etc to me ( mark dot harman at ntlworld dot com ).

System requirements are something like:

If the game fails to run, or has graphical problems, please ensure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card.

Preferences for the game (such as resolution, windowed/full-screen mode, choice of Direct3D or OpenGL, and various renderer and debug options) can be set by running the Daleks Preferences program.


Troubleshooting

If you have the above requirements, and Daleks 3D doesn't work, please let me know. Useful information to send includes: Any error message that is displayed; the log.txt file, if one is created; details of your system, including Windows/Linux version, CPU, graphics card, DirectX version. The log.txt file is located:

Also, try experimenting with the Daleks Preferences program, to see if it can be made to work under different settings (e.g., switching to OpenGL, and/or try unticking the various options).

If the game runs too slowly, go to Settings and try setting "Shadows & Reflections" to "Off" or "Projected Shadows" (Stencil Volumes are most realistic, showing shadows on all objects rather than just the board, but this takes a lot more CPU power).


Instructions

On the game board, you should see a number of daleks, and a man which represents you. Each turn, you can move in one of eight directions, using the numeric keypad. Alternatively, you can move by clicking on a square adjacent to the man with the left mouse button (the square will highlight yellow if it is an allowed move). Everytime you move, you'll see the daleks move towards you.

The object of the game is to destroy all the daleks by making them bash into each other. They move dumbly towards you. If two or more daleks enter the same square, they are destroyed. Additionally, they leave a pile of rubble behind, and any daleks moving into this are also destroyed. However, you must avoid moving into a dalek yourself, otherwise the game ends.

Instead of moving to an adjacent square, you also have the choice of teleporting. This is done by pressing 'space', and will move you to a random square (with a chance that you'll move right next to a dalek, so this is always a risk). Generally you should only teleport when you have no choice.

Another choice is to use your Sonic Screwdriver, by pressing 's'. This destroys any adjacent daleks, but you only have so many uses - initially just one, but you gain an extra one per level.

When all daleks are destroyed, you move onto the next level. On later levels, you will meet different types of daleks. Red daleks are not affected by rubble; Black daleks are indestructable to everything except your Sonic Screwdriver.

Controls

If the framerate is too slow, you can speed things up by going to Settings, and setting Shadows & Reflections to 'Off' or 'Simple'.

Licences

Daleks 3D is released under the GPL v2 or later, except where noted below. Daleks 3D makes use of TinyXML (released under the zlib licence).

The following items are used under licence:

In short, this means you are free to distribute the archive as a whole, for non-commercial purposes. If distributing the binary archive on another website, you should make the source archive available for download too. If distributing the binary archive on a physical medium (CD etc), it's sufficient to distribute the source archive too on the same medium (see the GPL for other possible ways to satisfy the licence). If you wish to modify or create derivative works, please pay attention to the individual licences.

History

Version 1.3 (2011/12/31)

FIXED   Graphical problems on ATI graphics cards.
FIXED   Crash if failed to load game data.
FIXED   Crash if shaders fail to load; now the game carries on without those
        shaders.
FIXED   Player model turned black after teleport.
FIXED   Daleks were disappearing immediately rather than fading out.
FIXED   Fixed bug in specular lighting for shaders - Daleks now look shinier!
ADDED   Makefile for Linux; now supports proper installation on Linux.
UPDATED Improved event model - avoids problem of missed mouse clicks and key
        presses when slow frame rate.
UPDATED Improved scrollbars.
UPDATED Cursor for textfields, can be controlled by left/right arrow keys.
        Delete and backspace now work properly.
UPDATED Improved input model: keypresses now detected properly on text input
        fields; all keyboard codes now interpreted correctly; avoid problem of
        missed keypresses.
UPDATED Windows version now compiled with Visual Studio Express 2010 (SP1).
UPDATED Windows version now compiled with CG Toolkit 3.0.

Version 1.2 (2011/01/20)

FIXED   HDR wasn't working on Direct3D9 renderer on NVIDIA 8600.
FIXED   Incorrect lighting on OpenGL without shaders.
FIXED   Logging enabled on Linux.
UPDATED Preferences config file on Windows is now stored in
        %APPDATA%\Vision3Engine.
UPDATED Log file and Hiscores file on Windows are now stored in
        %APPDATA%\Daleks 3D.
UPDATED Windows version now distributed as MSI installer file.

Version 1.1 (2011/01/06)

UPDATED Ported to Linux (need to compile from the source).
UPDATED Mousewheel now works for scrolling listviews.
UPDATED Text entry boxes now display flashing cursors.
UPDATED No longer using custom graphical pointer (needed for workaround for SDL
        bug http://forums.libsdl.org/viewtopic.php?t=6023&sid=40770d3b145423f63e9f6688aa59f2b8 )
UPDATED Now uses SDL_Mixer for sound instead of DirectX.
UPDATED Preferences program for graphical settings now uses Qt instead of .NET.
UPDATED Preferences program source code now included in source release.
UPDATED Source archive now includes necessary data files (so Linux users don't
        have to download the Windows archive).
UPDATED Windows version now compiled with Visual Studio Express 2008.

Version 1.0 (2009/09/19)

FIXED   OpenGL threw error when exiting from fullscreen application (when no
        alt-tabbing) - shouldn't be reacting to WM_SIZE anymore.
UPDATED Replaced all files with free (Creative Commons etc) files or
        procedurally generated, and added all licencing information.
UPDATED Improved error reporting when loading game data.

Version 0.7 (2009/08/16)

ADDED   New Direct3D 9 renderer (on by default - seems to give better frame
        rates on Intel GMA 950 at least).
ADDED   High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering (off by default - use the Preferences
        program to enable it - not supported on old graphics cards).
ADDED   New software renderer - experimental!
ADDED   New "Preferences" GUI.

Version 0.6 (2007/05/28)

FIXED   Switching to full screen mode now supported (currently only a limited
        choice of resolutions).
ADDED   2x and 4x anti-aliasing (defaults to 2x; not supported by older graphics
        cards).

Version 0.5 (2007/05/26)

ADDED   New Dalek types (Red and Black).
ADDED   Sonic Screwdriver.
ADDED   Can now skip a turn.
ADDED   Fade out/in effect when teleporting.
ADDED   Fade effect when daleks are destroyed.
ADDED   In game instructions on "About" screen.
UPDATED Improved lighting algorithm.
UPDATED Shadows are now cast from all light sources rather than just the main
        one.
UPDATED Smoother animation (MD2 frames are now interpolated).
ADDED   Realistic shadows option (stencil volumes).
REMOVED Simple "black" shadows no longer available.
ADDED   Specular lighting.
ADDED   Per-pixel lighting (requires shaders).
UPDATED Different 3D model used for Dalek.

Version 0.4 (2005/01/22)

UPDATED Improved shadow effects option giving translucent shadows (requires
        stencil buffer).


If you are viewing the readme that came with Daleks 3D, see here for the online version.

Daleks 3D on Launchpad.

More software.