diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 265fbe0..9061bdb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,3 +28,4 @@
 /cpanfile.snapshot
 /perl
 /Logfile.CSV
+/Microidium.zip
diff --git a/build_perl.pl b/build_perl.pl
deleted file mode 100644
index e336f47..0000000
--- a/build_perl.pl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-use strictures;
-
-# this builds a portable copy of a windows system perl by scanning a
-# procmon log file and copying all files read by perl.exe in the capture
-
-use 5.010;
-use Text::CSV_XS 'csv';
-use IO::All -binary, -utf8;
-
-run();
-
-sub run {
-    my $base_path = $ARGV[0] || "c:\\perl";
-    $base_path .= "\\";
-    my $base_path_q = quotemeta $base_path;
-    my $target_base = $ARGV[1] || "perl";
-
-    my @log = do {
-        my $data = io( "Logfile.CSV" )->all;
-        $data =~ s/^.*?\n//;
-        @{ csv in => \$data };
-    };
-    for my $filter (
-        sub { $_->[1] eq "perl.exe" },         #
-        sub { $_->[4] eq "CreateFile" },
-        sub { $_->[7] eq "SUCCESS" },
-        sub { $_->[6] =~ /^$base_path_q/i },
-        sub { $_->[6] !~ /\.bs$/ },
-        sub { -f $_->[6] },
-      )
-    {
-        @log = grep $filter->( $_ ), @log;
-    }
-
-    my %files = map { $_->[6] => 1 } @log;
-    my @files = sort keys %files;
-
-    for my $file ( @files ) {
-        say $file;
-        my $io   = io( $file )->file;
-        my $path = $io->filepath;
-        $path =~ s/^$base_path_q//i;
-        my $target_dir = io->catdir( $target_base, $path );
-        $target_dir->mkpath if !$target_dir->exists;
-        my $target_file = io->catfile( $target_dir->pathname, $io->filename )->name;
-        $io->copy( $target_file );
-    }
-
-    return;
-}
diff --git a/build_zip.pl b/build_zip.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c8b07f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build_zip.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+use strictures;
+
+# this builds a portable zip with everything needed to run the game on windows
+#
+# first it builds a portable copy of a windows system perl by scanning a
+# procmon log file and copying all files read by perl.exe in the capture
+#
+# then it zips up all the files, skipping the ones not needed to run the game
+
+use 5.010;
+use Text::CSV_XS 'csv';
+use IO::All -binary, -utf8;
+use Archive::Zip qw( :ERROR_CODES :CONSTANTS );
+
+run();
+
+sub status { say scalar( localtime ) . ": " . sprintf( shift, @_ ) }
+
+sub run {
+    my $start = time;
+
+    my $base_path = $ARGV[0] || "c:\\perl";
+    $base_path .= "\\";
+    my $base_path_q = quotemeta $base_path;
+    my $target_base = $ARGV[1] || "perl";
+
+    if ( !-d "perl" ) {
+        status "building portable perl";
+        my @log = do {
+            my $data = io( "Logfile.CSV" )->all;
+            $data =~ s/^.*?\n//;
+            @{ csv in => \$data };
+        };
+        for my $filter (
+            sub { $_->[1] eq "perl.exe" },         #
+            sub { $_->[4] eq "CreateFile" },
+            sub { $_->[7] eq "SUCCESS" },
+            sub { $_->[6] =~ /^$base_path_q/i },
+            sub { $_->[6] !~ /\.bs$/ },
+            sub { -f $_->[6] },
+          )
+        {
+            @log = grep $filter->( $_ ), @log;
+        }
+
+        my %files = map { $_->[6] => 1 } @log;
+        my @files = sort keys %files;
+
+        status "copying %s files", scalar @files;
+        for my $file ( @files ) {
+            my $io   = io( $file )->file;
+            my $path = $io->filepath;
+            $path =~ s/^$base_path_q//i;
+            my $target_dir = io->catdir( $target_base, $path );
+            $target_dir->mkpath if !$target_dir->exists;
+            my $target_file = io->catfile( $target_dir->pathname, $io->filename )->name;
+            $io->copy( $target_file );
+        }
+    }
+
+    my $target_file = "Microidium.zip";
+    if ( !-f $target_file ) {
+        status "building zip";
+
+        my @local_files = map $_->name, io( "." )->All_Files;
+        status "filtering local files";
+
+        my @to_ignore = grep { $_ and $_ !~ /^#/ and $_ ne "/perl" } split "\n", io( ".gitignore" )->all;
+        push @to_ignore, "generate_colors", map "/$_", qw(  .git  Changes  META
+          README.PATCHING  client.bat  server.bat  cpanfile  dist.ini  scratch
+          t  perlcritic.rc  ), io( $0 )->filename;
+        $_ =~ s/^\//^/g  for @to_ignore;
+        $_ =~ s/\./\\./g for @to_ignore;
+        $_ =~ s/\*/.*/g  for @to_ignore;
+
+        for my $ignore ( @to_ignore ) {
+            @local_files = grep { $_ !~ /$ignore/ } @local_files;
+        }
+
+        my $localdir = io( "." )->absolute->filename;
+
+        status "zipping %s files", scalar @local_files;
+        my $zip = Archive::Zip->new;
+        $zip->addFile( $_, io->catfile( $localdir, $_ )->name, 9 ) for @local_files;
+        $zip->writeToFileNamed( $target_file );
+    }
+
+    status "done";
+
+    status "time taken: %s seconds", time - $start;
+
+    return;
+}
diff --git a/dist.ini b/dist.ini
index 623ba23..3400701 100644
--- a/dist.ini
+++ b/dist.ini
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ copyright_holder = Christian Walde
 copyright_year   = 2014
 
 [@MITHALDU]
-exclude_match = ^(scratch|nytprof|kryonet|IO-Async-|local|perl|Logfile.CSV)
+exclude_match = ^(scratch|nytprof|kryonet|IO-Async-|local|perl|Logfile.CSV|Microidium.zip)
 gitignore = /local*
 gitignore = /nytprof*
 gitignore = /kryonet*
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ gitignore = /IO-Async-*
 gitignore = /cpanfile.snapshot
 gitignore = /perl
 gitignore = /Logfile.CSV
+gitignore = /Microidium.zip
 skip_prereq = ^Microidium::Client$
 skip_prereq = ^IO::Async::Internals::Connector$