# EXCALIBUR : Sword of Kings Remake - ZX Spectrum +3 Edition

## Credits

* Original Version (1987) by Ian Smith & Shaun McClure.
* This Version (2019) by Chris Ainsley / Adventuron Software Limited.

## Story

King Arthur has been imprisoned in Camelot Castle by the evil sorceress Crania. It's up to you, Arthur's trusted fellow, to gain access to Camelot, defeat the evil minions of the sorceress, to recover Excalibur, to confront and defeat Crania, and to wake King Arthur up from his enchanted sleep.

## About the Remake

Excalibur Adventuron Edition is a remake of the classic ZX Spectrum adventure game, the remake written in Adventuron Classroom ( https://adventuron.io ). 

This spectrum version is a port of the remake, written to sit atop of the general purpose DAAD text adventure engine, which is available for a multitude of classic computer platforms.

The DAAD release removes the tutorial mode and was the first title to be ported using "Adventuron 2 DRC" featuring the graphics conversion feature. Another version of this game utilizing the PAW engine will become available at a later date, again, as a proof of concept.

The Maluva library (by Uto) is utilized for bitmap graphics. It's a great library, and allows very detailed non tile based graphics to be streamed from +3 disk (or other storage medium on different platforms). In testing, the graphics streaming is ultra fast in emulation (cpu bound), but can take 3 or 4 seconds to load an image on actual hardware, which is at the borderline of acceptable (if you put yourself back in 1980s mode). The low speed of bitmap graphics streaming is everything to do with the spin up and seek time of the +3 drive, as evidenced by the speed in non-accurate emulators, and could not realistically be implemented any faster.

This game is intended to be a proof of concept.

## How To Load

You can play this game in a Spectrum emulator. There are several free and commercial emulators available.

Some are very very authentic to original hardware, but beware, the more accurate the emulation is, the more you will notice slowdown in the disk access. You may prefer less accuracy.

Windows:

* http://www.spectaculator.com/
* https://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse-emulator/

Linux:

* http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/

Android:

* https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectaculator.spectaculator&hl=en_GB

OSX:

* https://fuse-for-macosx.sourceforge.io/

iOS (iPhone / iPad):

* https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/spectaculator-zx-spectrum-emulator/id421662150

## Special Thank Yous

* Thanks to Ian Smith & Shaun McClure for writing the original game.
* Thanks to Roger Hulley for publishing Excalibur over 30 years ago and for allowing ASL the honour of purchasing the IP.
* Thanks to Tim Gilberts for starting an entire bedroom industry, for his support of Adventuron, and for being a generally jolly chap.
* Thanks to Uto for being MVP of 8-bit text adventure tooling scene, and for the DRC and Maluva tools / libraries.
* Thanks to Stefan Vogt for the DAAD English language recovery effort, without which I would not have even been aware of DAAD.
* Thanks to Andrés Samudio for putting his valuable IP into the public domain.
* Thanks to Gareth Pitchford for beta testing early versions of this Adventuron 2 PAW / Adventuron 2 DAAD conversion.

## Excalibur Sword of Kings +3 Version Licese EULA

Excalibur: Sword of Kings is copyright of Adventuron Software Limited. This edition is avaialable for non commercial use only and may not be redistributed in any forn, physically or digitally, without express written permission from the copyright holder. 

In no event will Adventuron Software Limited be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this software.

## 3rd Party Library License Information

The +3 DAAD version of Excalibur: Sword of Kings incorporates the following libraries / tools:

* The DAAD adventure game system (written by Tim Gilberts) and all associated materials including the font were placed into public domain by Andrés Samudio of Adventuras AD.

https://github.com/daad-adventure-writer/daad

* Maluva library -  GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (see included file in the zip file for full terms).

https://github.com/Utodev/MALUVA