Battalion! for BeOS 

What is Battaion? Here's the best discription to date:

"battalion - Monsters, explosions, destruction.
	    You've seen the movies, you know what to do"

This game has been ported to every platform that supports OpenGL or Mesa, and has come a long way from it's SGI origins. It now runs on just about any computer and operating system there is. So, of course, there should be a BeOS port! Battalion was written by Andrew Johnson, who has kindly given his blessing to this port.

Have you ever wanted to be a monster in a Toho movie? (If you even know what Toho is you know what to expect!) You know, a certain large rubber lizard from Japan and all his buddies? 

Aw, 'cmon! Didn't you want to be Godzilla when you grew up? I know I did! (still do...;-)

This is the fourth public beta release of my port of Battalion to the BeOS. It includes modified Mesa 2.6 libraries. These libraries MUST be used in order to play the game as they contain many changes to the Mesatk code in order to make them work properly. I will be sending the modifications off to be included in the regular Mesa distribution as soon as I feel it is as good as I can get it.

What's new in beta 4? Much better mouse handling and (bad) keyboard control!
 
To play:

	Put the included libraries in your ~/config/lib directory. If you have older versions you may want to make backup copies (though the included ones are better).
	
	Double click the application or use the command line to launch the game (the command line must be used for networking).
	
	Use the mouse to move the monster around and the 'v' key to start and stop firing (the first mouse button works as well, but isn't as good, I need to work on this...). Use the number keys (1-4) to change the veiw.  Keys 'a' and 'z' move the monster's head up and down. Keys 'j', 'k', 'l', and 'i' will rotate the view (in view mode 2). The 'p' key pauses the game. The 'h' key will call up the html help files. Turn off music with the 'm' key (though this is a bit flakey), and sound with the 's' key.

	It isn't as fast as it could be and there are bound to be bugs. If you find one let me know so I can squash it! I'm releasing this because it's actually playable and kinda nifty. A hardware accelerated version may be available soon!


Have fun and let me know what you think!*

Ed Silva <esilva@earthlink.net>
5/6/98


	*Just remember, if Googelon, Techs, The Vapor or Flutter get loose and destroy your home town it ain't my fault. And if you computer bursts into flames or anything, it's the monsters fault, not mine. Use at your own risk!

