Proto:Daikatana (PC)/Pre-Alpha/Weapons

Weapons
Several of the weapons found in the final version of Daikatana can be used in the pre-alpha, but all of them look different. The early Episode 1 and 2 weapons spawn with you when you enter E1M3 and E2M3, respectively. Weapons that correspond to the ones in the final's Episode 3 and 4 exist, but can only be used via cheats.

Episode 1
The player receives all of the Episode 1 weapons when they start E1M3.

Ion Blaster
The Ion Blaster looks radically different than the final version's. Instead of being a gigantic brown thing with green wires coming out of it, it is a skinny silver, rod-like object. The model looks sightly corrupted when drawn out, but when fired, it will be fixed. There is no projectile model, but a projectile is fired when the fire key is hit.

It's behavior is also different as well; it will not ricochet when it hits a wall, making it much more user-friendly than the final version's. However, a sound named “ionwallbounce” hints that the Ion Blaster's projectiles were planned to be able to bounce off walls, but it wasn't implemented in the prototype.

C4 Vizatergo
Like the other pre-alpha weapons, the C4 has a radically different-looking design. Instead of being a brown-box thing switch on it's left side and some sort of pump on its bottom, the C4 is a gigantic grey thing with a grip that pumps the weapon on the right and visible ammo on the left side.

The pre-alpha C4 bombs lacks the proximity mine function the final's has, which means the pre-alpha C4 can only be manually detonated. Bombs fired from the C4 can be detonated by hitting the “Enter” key with the default .cfg. If multiple bombs are placed on the ground when they are detonated, the detonate sequence goes from the most recent bomb to the first one placed.

The maximum amount of bombs that can be on the ground at once is nine. Once nine bombs are placed, all bombs placed will automatically self-destruct. Trying to toss another bomb while they are blowing up will cause the game to crash.

Shotcycler
The Shotcycler (called Shotcycler6 in the pre-alpha) is much closer to a traditional video game shotgun than the final one, even though it doesn't look it. Instead of firing a 6-round burst when the fire key is hit, you will instead fire one blast. Once six shells are fired (either by holding down the fire key or firing them one at a time), there will be a brief pause before the player can fire the gun again. There is no recoil after each shot is fired, unlike the final's.

The pre-alpha Shotcycler ejects green shells while the final Shotcycler ejects white shells.

Sidewinder
The Sidewinder uses a static version of the Ion Blaster's weapon model.

Behavior-wise, it is the same as the final's; every time the fire key is pressed, two rockets are fires at once, but the spiral is much, much faster in the final than the pre-alpha.

Episode 2
The player receives all Episode 2 weapons when they spawn in E2M3.

Discus of Daedalus
The Discus looks radically different compared to the final's. Instead of being merely a discus being held by the player, it consists of a yellow and black holder that holds a discus. The holder has a neat animation of it folding out every time the weapon is taken out by the player. However, the weapon's behavior is the same as the final's.

Of note is that the Discus fired by the player and the Discus on the view model have completely different textures. The model discus has some sort of blue stone texture, while the one thrown by the player is grey and has a carving of a Greek warrior on it.

A .bmp texture in the data\skins folder shows that there was a skin much more in line with the final's Discus view model (hand holding the Discus) developed around the time of the pre-alpha. This is never used in the pre-alpha, but a very early screenshot shows something very similar to this unused texture.

The in-game pre-alpha Discus design was reused for a weapon named “Midas” that can be found in the final's game files, but never appears in the game.

Midas' Golden Grasp
The Midas' Golden Grasp is weapon never seen in the final version of the game. It is a gold glove that releases a small clump of gold sparkles in front of the player the fire key is used. If these sparkles hit an enemy, the enemy is frozen in place until the player hits the victim with another weapon.

Concept art of this weapon exists.

Sunflare
The Sunflare (named Greek Fire in the pre-alpha) has a much more primitive model compared to the final. When taken out, a brief animation of the fires in it play, but then after a second they stop.

It is completely non-functional in this proto. When the player this the fire key, a “throw” animation will play, but no projectile will come out. No ammo either exists or is subtracted when the fire key is uses, so the animation will loop for as long as the player holds down the fire key.

Episode 3
Weapons for Episode 3 exist, but they can only be summoned via cheats because there is no Episode 3 level included with the pre-alpha.

Axe
The Axe is a weapon that does not appear in the final version. When summoned via cheats, it takes up the first slot. It appears to be a generic melee weapon that was replaced by the Silverclaw in the final version.

The sounds can be downloaded at.

Bolter
The pre-alpha Bolter (called Crossbow in the pre-alpha) looks much different compared to the final's. It is a full-sized crossbow that fires two bolts at once, while the final's is a wrist-mounted crossbow that fires one bolt at a time. The arrows are affected by gravity and will curve much faster when fired in water.

A sound for firing the Bolter in water exists, but is not used if the player hops into the pool an E2M3 and fires it.

A different .bmp skin for the Bolter exists in the data\skins folder. It is more traditional crossbow that looks like it fires a single arrow instead of two. Interestingly, a model based on this skin does exist in a very early Daikatana screenshot, while another screenshot shows the in-game pre-alpha Bolter.

Barrier
The Barrier is a weapon never seen in the final version. It is a staff that has bat wings that uncurl when the player takes it out. When fired, the player will move the Barrier around, but nothing happens. Based on the weapon's name, it is supposed to create some sort of barrier.

Of note is that the barrier's .dll file is named “Celestril”, which is a character shown in Daikatana concept art, but never appeared in the game. It is likely that the player was supposed to obtain the Barrier from Celestril in one way or another.

Sabikii's Red Dragon
The Sabikii's Red Dragon is a large weapon that is roughly-shaped like a dragon's head with a large bolt representing it's tongue. When the fire key is pressed, it will release a large arrow that explodes when it hits something. The arrow fired by the Dragon is powerful enough to kill any enemy in one shot if it makes a direct impact. It is essentially a Rocket Launcher in medieval clothes.

It is likely that the Dragon evolved into the final's Ballista; they both fire a powerful arrow that has splash damage, though the Ballista is not explosive.

The name “Sabikiis” appears in Daikatana concept art for a sorcerer that did not appear in the final version. It is very possible that the Dragon was supposed to be obtained from Sabikii(s) at one time, but was scrapped and repurposed into the Ballista when he was removed.

Wyndrax's Wisp
The Wyndrax's Wisp in the pre-alpha is nothing like the one in the final version. It looks completely different; instead of being a generic wizard wand, it is a very-poorly textured stick with strange, flower-like things on the sides, while the tip of the wand is pointed and has what appears to be a piece of grey popcorn on it. When the Wyndrax is fired, the weapon is very gently thrust forward and the popcorn thing shrinks until it disappears, then reappears as soon as the animation has ended. However, nothing comes out of it, making it useless.

Episode 4
Like Episode 3's weapons, the Episode 4 weapons exist and can be summoned via cheats, but cannot be obtained normally because there is no Episode 4 level included with the pre-alpha.

Glock
The Glock looks radially different in the pre-alpha; it looks more like a generic black pistol than the futuristic Glock 18 that the final uses. It behaves very similar to the final's; it fires a single bullet when the fire key is hit, but a few details are different. The fire rate is much faster when held down than the final's, the gun suddenly switches to being centered in the middle of the screen when it is fired and stays that way until the player switches to another gun, and the gun can be reloaded manually when you type in “reload_glock” in the console.

Of note is that if the gun is reloaded manually via the console, the bullets from the previous magazine stack with the new ones. IE, you have four bullets left in your magazine and you use the reload command, you'll then have 14 bullets instead of the usual 10 after an automatic reload.

A few unused firing sounds can be sound in the sounds\weapons folder. One of them sound very close to the final's firing sound.

The Glock's sounds can be found at.

Pulse Rifle
The Pulse Rifle is a weapon that does not appear in the final version. It looks somewhat like a grey version of the Doom Plasma Rifle, but it has fins on its side and a computer screen on the top near its back. Despite its looks, it is a clone of the Quake Grenade Launcher; in fact, the projectile fired by it is exactly the same as the one fired by the Quake GL, though the texture seems to be partially corrupted.

Looking thorough the weapon's .dll file in a text editor, one can find strings about a “pulse bullets”, suggesting that the Pulse Rifle was supposed to be able to fire bullets in addition to fire grenades.

The .dll file calls the grenades “Cordite Grenades”. This suggests that the Pulse Rifle eventually evolved into the final's Slugger weapon, as the Slugger has two fires modes (which world.dll suggests the Pulse Rifle has), one of which fires “Cordite Grenades” exactly like the Quake Grenade Launcher and pre-alpha Pulse Rifle does.

It is a very glitchy weapon that tends to crash the game whenever it is summoned via a cheat. This seems to happen much more often in E2M3 than in E1M3, though there doesn't seem to be a reason why.

An early .bmp texture for the Pulse Rifle can be found in data\skins folder. It is much less detailed and browner than the one in the pre-alpha, as half of the texture is taken up by the flare from firing the gun.

Tazerhook
The Tazerhook is a weapon that does not appear in the final version. It is a grey, seashell-shaped weapon with a hook coming out of it. When the fire key is hit, it shows an animation of a hook coming out, but nothing happens.

Metamaser
The Metamaser behaves the same as the final's (a mine that fires lasers at anything, friend or foe, that approaches it), but is very different graphically. It has no view model, has a clearly temporary model when tossed, and its lasers have no graphics, but otherwise it is the same team-killing bundle of joy that the final version's is. It has a much lower lifespan compared to the final's; it disappears a few seconds after continuously firing, while the final one will explode after a set amount of time.

Daikatana
The titular Daikatana has no model nor texture. The only reference to it as a weapon for the player anywhere in the pre-alpha is one string (weapon_daikatana) in “items.dll”.

Quake Weapons
World models for the Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher and Super Shotgun exist in the prototype, but are never used. Viewing the weapon's .dll files in a text editor shows that they were used as temporary world models for the weapons in the pre-alpha, but as there is no weapons in the game to be picked up in the levels, they are impossible to see.

The Super Shotgun's view model exists in the game's files, but is unused as well.

Unprogrammed Weapons
.bmp textures for weapons never seen in the final version exist in \data\skins. These weapons have no coding associated with them. There are no traces of them in the final version either.

Claw
A texture for a futuristic-looking claw-like weapon exists. Based on its looks, it could fit in either Episode 1 or 4, which are both futuristic.

Cordite
A texture showing the player's hand and a grenade-like weapon named “cordite” can be found. If it's name is any indication, it appears the player was supposed to be able to throw the Slugger's cordite grenades by hand at one time.

Sling
A texture named “sling” showing a player hand and a crude-looking string, along with an unviewable model for it, can be found. The texture is so poor that it's impossible to tell exactly what episode it would fit in, though either Episode 2 or 3 would fit, as the weapon does not look futuristic.