Point of the Game

In this game, you must help that ingenious time traveller, Doctor Who , avoid ever-growing swarms of his arch-enemies: The Daleks . You are armed only with your trusty Sonic Screwdriver, an ability to teleport to random destinations, and your unrivaled intellect.

Luckily, what the Daleks have in numbers, they lack in intelligence. In their reckless pursuit, the Daleks can crash into one another, leaving piles of rubble . Any Daleks trying to move through rubble will also be destroyed.

The Keyboard

The game is entirely keyboard controlled. All available commands are listed below.
  • Movement
    Move the Doctor by using the numeric keypad. Pressing "5" will pass for the turn. There are now alternate keys for players having trouble with the numeric keypad. Diagonal movement is allowed.
    7
    8
    9
    4
    5
    6
    1
    2
    3
    - or -
    Y
    U
    I
    H
    J
    K
    N
    M
    ,
  • Teleport
    You can teleport by hitting "T". Note that you have no control over your destination. Use this ability wisely or you may find yourself ignominiously crushed under the wheels of the pursuing Daleks.

  • Sonic Screwdriver
    Hit "S" to use one of your sonic screwdrivers. These handy (plot) devices only work once, but will destroy any Daleks immediately adjacent to you. The number of remaining screwdrivers is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Additional screwdrivers are awarded upon completion of a level.

  • Last Stand
    When all else fails, pressing "L" will make a final stand, allowing the Daleks to keep moving until either the Doctor or all the Daleks have been killed.

Scoring

As you progress to higher levels, the Daleks destroyed are worth increasing numbers of points. No score is given for Daleks destroyed with the sonic screwdriver.

The scoring rules have changed from previous versions, so that heavy use of the sonic screwdriver is penalized. Fewer points are awarded for each Dalek destroyed.

Notes

You may notice some unexpected changes at higher levels (it's even stranger if you have never seen the TV show). This is not a bug - it's a feature.

The game design is heavily indebted to the author of the Macintosh shareware game written about 10 years ago. I still find myself playing it during lulls on the Internet. That's right. I've experienced two this year alone.

For those who thrive on variety, I compiled the Dalek Invasion of the Web page, listing other versions of Daleks that can be downloaded from or played over the Web. Of course, who could ask for anything better than this one?

If you did happen to like this version of Daleks, send me e-mail. I am very open to making enhancements and it gives me this nice fuzzy feeling. The next version of Daleks! will be two games in one: the current "classic" design and a shiny new "enhanced" design (Author's note: It is August and any sort of major revision seems hideously far off, but one never knows.)

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