How to create a game box last updated 2007-07-18Game boxes are stored as .ztb files. This article explains how to create your own game box file from scratch. Actually it's probably easier to create a game box by modifying an existing one. Although this article may seem technical, creating a game box is actually very easy: it is basically just a matter of scanning the board and the counter-sheet, and writing a small text file describing how many dice are required and how to punch the counters.
The content of a typical game box.
How to create the game box archiveGame boxes are actually regular Zip archives renamed as .ztb. In Windows XP you can create a Zip archive file by creating a compressed folder through the File menu in the Windows Explorer. Creating the archive file is actually the last step. First you'll have to create the files contained in that archive.
You can create the game-box.xml file with WordPad or your favorite text editor. Just make sure you save the file in plain text format (.txt) and then rename it with a .xml extension. Technically savvy readers will find a formal description of the structure of the file here. The example below shows a simple game-box.xml file. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252" ?> <game-box name="Paris vaut bien une messe" description="Encart-jeu VaeVictis n°50, les guerres de religion 1562-1598." copyright="VaeVictis - Histoire & Collections 2003" startup-scenario="Dreux.zts"> </game-box> Indicate the name of your game box, a description and who owns the copyright for the original game. Then, indicate the scenario file that will be loaded on startup. Don't worry if you know nothing about XML: just copy the example and replace the text content. All you need to know is that characters "&", "<" and ">" must be replaced respectively by "&", "<" and ">". In the same archive as game-box.xml, you can provide an image file that will be used as an icon in the game library. The icon image should be sized 48x48 and the file must named "icon.bmp". How to add mapsThis is the most time consuming and most delicate step, especially if your game board is huge. ZunTzu supports three scan resolutions: 150 dots per inch (dpi), 300 dpi and 600 dpi. 150 dpi should be fine for most boards. Because your scanner is likely to be smaller than the board, you'll have to scan the board part by part, and than build a composite image using a bitmap graphics editor (such as the GIMP, Paint.NET or Adobe Photoshop). Save the composite image as a high quality JPEG file (PNG is not recommended because of the noise introduced by the scanning). Then update your game-box.xml file. The example below shows a game box with two maps. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252" ?> <game-box name="Paris vaut bien une messe" description="Encart-jeu VaeVictis n°50, les guerres de religion 1562-1598." copyright="VaeVictis - Histoire & Collections 2003" startup-scenario="Dreux.zts"> <map name="Ivry" image-file="VV50-Ivry.jpg" resolution="150 dpi" /> <map name="Dreux" image-file="VV50-Dreux.jpg" resolution="150 dpi" /> </game-box> ZunTzu will display the name of the maps in the tabs at the bottom of the screen. © 2006-2012 ZunTzu Software. All rights reserved.
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