DalekX
Rating: 7
baseq2/players/dalekx
Intro
For those that don't know, the Daleks are one of the greatest enemies of, well, everybody in the long-running (since 1963) but now sadly somewhat defunct UK television series Dr Who. They are a race of cybernetic mutants originating from the planet Skaro, so assured of their superiority over every other being the universe that they do their best to conquer and enslave as much of it as they can get their grubby little protuberances on. Those that won't be subjugated are dealt with using the Dalek's built-in death-ray and it's catchphrase, a terrifying shriek of "EXTERMINATE!!!"
Encased in a shell of practically indestructible bonded polycarbide armour they are a force to be reckoned with. Even though they don't have any legs. Or hands for that matter. And they've got silly electronic voices. Okay, so maybe in retrospect they are a bit funny, but when you're a kid they really are things of nightmare... Slow but unstoppable, easy to hit but hard to hurt, and above all utterly alien in every respect.
DalekX is the second PPM of a Dalek that's been released, hence the "X" to differentiate. The first Dalek model (called "Dalek", funnily enough) was a bit rubbish really, so DalekX was a welcome addition to the archives. DalekX has recently been updated with optimizations in most areas (polycount, skinmesh size, animations) plus a few new skins. This is the version that I'll be reviewing.
This model isn't really a serious attempt at accurately representing the Dalek character, more an exercise in what can be done with such a limited concept. I'll try and remember this, but let me be picky... In order to get my Dalek-facts right I've just been re-reading my old copy of "Remembrance of the Daleks", the book of the later-series Doctor Who story. Great bit of plot there, the last one the Daleks appeared in, remember seeing it on the telly. Buy the video.
The Model
A Dalek is a simplistic creature in design, which is why the author chose it as his first attempt at Quake2 and 3D Studio Max modeling. Fair enough. (He's since done the Martian model, which actually has limbs) It looks like most of the modeling was done from memory, as there are a number of inaccuracies. The gun-stick and manipulator (read: plunger) are the wrong way round, and also look a little too short to me. The light-bulbs on the top of the head (probably sensors of some kind, but face it, they're light bulbs) are much too big, but I suppose that does make them more Expressive in the animations.
These niggles aside, the model is certainly recognizable as a Dalek, and without the pictures I'm working from I probably wouldn't have noticed most of those problems. It would appear that the whole model's been stretched laterally at some point to get the length right, causing the head-dome-thing to not be circular. This means that when the dome rotates it juts out quite a bit, and leaves part of the base visible, which is a somewhat messy. The eye-stalk is nicely done and looks very good, I like that. The model is just the right size for deathmatching, and is also about the right size for a BBC employee to squeeze inside and pull levers.
There don't appear to be any wasted unseen polygons, the author mentions culling quite a few in the readme, and due to the nature of the Dalek the model is fairly low-poly. I do think that the curved surfaces on the dome and the manipulator grip (read: suction cup) could've been done just as well using a more triangle-based sphere approach instead of a square-based one. (Did that make sense to anyone? I'm flailing in a sea of home-made jargon...)
"Imperial," said the Doctor. "A scout model."
"How can you tell?"
"Fairings are wider."
"Oh."
Score: 6
The Animations
There's not a lot you can do to breath life into what is essentially a postbox with delusions of grandeur... Secondary Movement? Hah! You need limbs for that!
With just a rotating dome and some wiggling stick-arms to play with the author has managed to give DalekX a lot of character.
DalekX's animations are very exaggerated and cartoony, which is fair enough. The head dome doesn't seem very well attatched, and in animations where the Dalek moves a lot it hinges and wobbles comically like a saucepan lid. The protuberances on the dome may be too big, but they are used to great effect, flaring in size when in pain. The default gun-stick weapon concertinas inwards when firing. When crouching the top section of the body is squashed down which works well. It also squashes in when jumping, giving the illusion of momentum, at least in a cartoon sense. These little touches are very effective and convey the character nicely. Admittedly the character isn't that of a psychotic killing machine, but never mind...
In two of the deaths the dome is blown off with the casing melting exposing the green mutant blob inside which is a very nice touch. I like that. One of the deaths is very annoying though, where the Dalek spins a bit before going limp. The bodies left behind look very similar to a living Dalek which can cause a bit of confusion in-game. The other death with the Dalek falling onto it's side is perfectly unambiguous.
Score: 7
The Skin
The Dalek's skinmesh is sized at the standard 256x256, which was one of the improvements added in Version 2 of DalekX. The skinmesh for the bottom bit of the Dalek has each of the faces sized the same, where on the model they are all slightly differently shapes. This means that the sensor globes (those round things on the skirty bit) are a bit warped in places, and aren't circular. The warping of the skinmesh has allowed the the author to achieve a skin wastage of 6%, but in my eyes that's only really acceptable if it's achieved while keeping the skin unwarped.
There are a large number of skins included with DalekX, thirteen, depicting a number of Dalek ranks and factions. There are also three CTF skins (red, blue, green), a Hippy skin made up like a dayglo 60's VW campervan and a terribly patriotic Brit skin covered in the Union Jack with a "GB" sticker on the back. Hurrah! There's a couple of unimaginative colour-changed skins too. One little touch I noticed on the Brit skin is on the underside: on all the other skins the motivator (Big gravitronic ball-bearing? Something like that...) is shown as a large spherical object, but on this one there's a couple of feet... Just like the real thing.
The skins are functional, but not especially pretty. There's a bit of shading, but it's a bit quick-and-dirty, and the details on the largest part of the skin, the base, are quite smudgy. The main gripe I have about the skins is the method of colour-reduction used. The skins have been Dithered down to the Q2 palette, and show it: they are very spotty, a fact that shows up badly when you look at them in NST or Skinview. As ever it's not so noticeable in the heat of battle, but with the colours used there was no need for dithering. Although the details are not as nicely rendered as I would have liked they are all there and quite accurately done.
Score: 5
Sounds
Aah... The soothing sound of a roomful of throat-cancer victims... DalekX has a full sound-set of samples from Dr Who, with the metal maniacs ranting like there's no tomorrow. Some of the pain sounds may be a little long, but they do fit in with the character: really annoying shouty buggers. This model is perfect for people who want to play like a Dalek: ruthless killers who don't mind letting people knowing where they are (and don't mind a little self-sacrifice...)
Score: 7
Visible Weapons Support
VWep support is included, with the normal weapon replaced with scaled versions of the Id weapons, and as such are recognizable and so functional. The big weapons make it look a little (but not much...) like the Abomination Special-Weapons Dalek, which is cool.
Pack Inclusion
Yes, DalekX is eligible for inclusion. Go bag me a cruet set!
"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!!"
"STAY-WHERE-YOU-ARE!!!"
"YOU-WILL-BE-PUN-ISHED-FOR-THIS!!!"
review by Neal "Guplik" Corbett
author name James G Watt
tris.md2
Vertices 287
Mapping Vertices 255
Polygons 466
Skin size 256x256
Skin Wasted Space ?%
weapon.md2
Vertices 52
Mapping Vertices 37
Polygons 98
Skin size 128x64
Skin Wasted Space ?%
relevant links
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