BT BUILDER

                  http://www.identicalsoftware.com/btbuilder/

Bt Builder is the beginnings of an open source Bard's Tale Construction
Set. To build it you will need the source code, SDL, SDL_Image, SDL_mixer,
libpng, boost, expat and PhysFS. SDL_ttf is optional and not built in the
windows version. It will only be usable in Bt Builder modules instead of
BTCS modules. Run make to compile. The programs found in the util directory
need the Identical Software Graphics Library to build.

The program can read the BTCS files. The core game engine is almost complete
for BTCS functionality. It can also print information about monsters,
spells, items and maps.

Running Bt Builder will bring up the module selection screen. Two sample
games are included. They are largely the same game at the moment. The first
is being built with BTCS restrictions. The second game is going to use the
full functionality of Bt Builder. At the moment it has a more well stocked
Garth's and allows 12 items per character.

Work on an editor has begun. To enter the editor arrow up or down to the module
you want to edit in the module selection screen. Instead of pressing return to
run the module press 'e'. This will bring up a list of monster, item, spell,
and map files to edit.

The map editor works similar to the BTCS. Unlike the BTCS the arrow keys move
you in the specified direction. To change facing press End or PgDn for left
right respectively. In addition to 's', 'c', and 'l' from BTCS, it support
'r' to resize the map. If the map is too large to fit on one screen, the map
will scroll when you move past the view section. When placing a special with
's', you can press 'e' to edit the special. Pressing 'p' will bring up the map
properties page where you edit the name of the map and monster level.

To directly run a sample game, run:

btbuilder sample

To print the spells in the game, run:

btbuilder -s sample

To print the monsters in the game, run:

btbuilder -m sample

To print the items in the game, run:

btbuilder -i sample

To print a map in the game, run:

btbuilder -pCITYBUIL.MAP sample

The program is made available under the GPLv3.

Questions or comments can be sent to dulsi@identicalsoftware.com