diff --git a/platform/linux/platform.h b/platform/linux/platform.h
index aebc959..955e3e8 100644
--- a/platform/linux/platform.h
+++ b/platform/linux/platform.h
@@ -15,10 +15,26 @@ std::wstring executable_path()
     
 }
 
+std::wstring executable_filename()
+{
+    auto exec_path = std::filesystem::canonical("/proc/self/exe");
+    return exec_path.wstring();
+}
+
 std::wstring working_path()
 {
 	auto cwd = std::filesystem::current_path();
 	return cwd.wstring();
 }
 
+std::string narrow_string(std::wstring convertme)
+{
+    //setup converter
+    using convert_type = std::codecvt_utf8<wchar_t>;
+    std::wstring_convert<convert_type, wchar_t> converter;
+
+    //use converter (.to_bytes: wstr->str, .from_bytes: str->wstr)
+    return converter.to_bytes(convertme);
+}
+
 #endif
diff --git a/src/Common.h b/src/Common.h
index 91c777a..2bdc3ba 100644
--- a/src/Common.h
+++ b/src/Common.h
@@ -8,3 +8,9 @@
 #include <fstream>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <algorithm>
+
+// wstring<->string conversion
+#include <locale>
+#include <codecvt>
+#include <filesystem>
+
diff --git a/src/GameEngine.cpp b/src/GameEngine.cpp
index 8c5db53..0d54e72 100644
--- a/src/GameEngine.cpp
+++ b/src/GameEngine.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "MenuScene.h"
 #include "UITestScene.h"
 #include "ActionCode.h"
+#include "McRFPy_API.h"
 
 GameEngine::GameEngine()
 {
@@ -14,6 +15,10 @@ GameEngine::GameEngine()
     scenes["menu"] = new MenuScene(this);
     //std::cout << "Constructed MenuScene" <<std::endl;
     scenes["play"] = new UITestScene(this);
+    //api = new McRFPy_API(this);
+    McRFPy_API::game = this;
+    McRFPy_API::api_init();
+    McRFPy_API::executePyString("import mcrfpy");
 }
 
 Scene* GameEngine::currentScene() { return scenes[scene]; }
diff --git a/src/GameEngine.h b/src/GameEngine.h
index 11f6f64..200e973 100644
--- a/src/GameEngine.h
+++ b/src/GameEngine.h
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "Entity.h"
 #include "EntityManager.h"
 #include "Scene.h"
+#include "McRFPy_API.h"
 
 class GameEngine
 {
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ class GameEngine
     bool paused = false;
     int currentFrame = 0;
     sf::View visible;
+    //McRFPy_API* api;
 
 public:
     GameEngine();
diff --git a/src/McRFPy_API.cpp b/src/McRFPy_API.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7e449f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/McRFPy_API.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+#include "McRFPy_API.h"
+#include "platform.h"
+#include "GameEngine.h"
+
+static PyMethodDef mcrfpyMethods[] = {
+    {"drawSprite", McRFPy_API::_drawSprite, METH_VARARGS,
+        "Draw a sprite (index, x, y)"},
+    {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}
+};
+
+static PyModuleDef mcrfpyModule = {
+    PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT, "mcrfpy", NULL, -1, mcrfpyMethods,
+    NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL
+};
+
+// Module initializer fn, passed to PyImport_AppendInittab
+PyObject* PyInit_mcrfpy()
+{
+    return PyModule_Create(&mcrfpyModule);
+}
+
+// init_python - configure interpreter details here
+PyStatus init_python(const char *program_name)
+{
+    PyStatus status;
+
+	//**preconfig to establish locale**
+    PyPreConfig preconfig;
+    PyPreConfig_InitIsolatedConfig(&preconfig);
+    preconfig.utf8_mode = 1;
+    
+    status = Py_PreInitialize(&preconfig);
+    if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
+    	Py_ExitStatusException(status);
+    }
+
+    PyConfig config;
+    PyConfig_InitIsolatedConfig(&config);
+	config.dev_mode = 0;
+
+	PyConfig_SetBytesString(&config, &config.home, 
+        narrow_string(executable_path() + L"/Python311").c_str());
+
+    status = PyConfig_SetBytesString(&config, &config.program_name,
+                                     program_name);
+
+    // under Windows, the search paths are correct; under Linux, they need manual insertion
+#if __PLATFORM_SET_PYTHON_SEARCH_PATHS == 1
+    config.module_search_paths_set = 1;
+	
+	// search paths for python libs/modules/scripts
+    const wchar_t* str_arr[] = {
+        L"/scripts",
+        L"/Python311/lib.linux-x86_64-3.11",
+	    L"/Python311",
+        L"/Python311/Lib",
+        L"/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages"
+    };
+    
+
+    for(auto s : str_arr) {
+        status = PyWideStringList_Append(&config.module_search_paths, (executable_path() + s).c_str());
+        if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+    }
+#endif
+
+    status = Py_InitializeFromConfig(&config);
+    return status;
+}
+
+void McRFPy_API::setSpriteTexture(int ti)
+{
+    int tx = ti % texture_width, ty = ti / texture_width;
+    sprite.setTextureRect(sf::IntRect(
+                tx * texture_size,
+                ty * texture_size,
+                texture_size, texture_size));
+}
+
+// functionality
+void McRFPy_API::drawSprite(int tex_index, int grid_x, int grid_y)
+{
+    setSpriteTexture(tex_index);
+    sprite.setPosition(
+            sf::Vector2f(grid_x * texture_size, 
+                         grid_y * texture_size)
+            );
+    game->getWindow().draw(sprite);
+}
+
+// python connection
+PyObject* McRFPy_API::_drawSprite(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+    int ti, gx, gy;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "iii", &ti, &gx, &gy)) return NULL;
+    drawSprite(ti, gx, gy);
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+void McRFPy_API::api_init() {
+
+    // initialization time build of Py API elements
+    /*
+    mcrfpyMethodsVector.push_back(
+            {"drawSprite", _drawSprite, METH_VARARGS,
+                "Draw a sprite (index, x, y)"}
+            );
+    mcrfpyMethodsVector.push_back(
+            {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}
+            );
+    mcrfpyMethods = &mcrfpyMethodsVector[0];
+    */
+
+    // build API exposure before python initialization
+    PyImport_AppendInittab("mcrfpy", PyInit_mcrfpy);
+    // use full path version of argv[0] from OS to init python
+    init_python(narrow_string(executable_filename()).c_str());
+
+    texture.loadFromFile("./assets/kenney_tinydungeon.png");
+    //texture_size = 16, texture_width = 12, texture_height= 11;
+    //texture_sprite_count = texture_width * texture_height;
+    texture.setSmooth(false);
+
+    sprite.setTexture(texture);
+    sprite.setScale(sf::Vector2f(4.0f, 4.0f));
+    setSpriteTexture(0);
+}
+
+void McRFPy_API::executeScript(std::string filename)
+{
+    FILE* PScriptFile = fopen(filename.c_str(), "r");
+    if(PScriptFile) {
+        PyRun_SimpleFile(PScriptFile, filename.c_str());
+        fclose(PScriptFile);
+    }
+}
+
+void McRFPy_API::executePyString(std::string pycode)
+{
+    PyRun_SimpleString(pycode.c_str());
+}
diff --git a/src/McRFPy_API.h b/src/McRFPy_API.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa7b39a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/McRFPy_API.h
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#pragma once
+#include "Common.h"
+#include "Entity.h"
+//#include "EntityManager.h"
+//#include "Scene.h"
+//#include "GameEngine.h" // can't - need forward declaration
+//#include "ActionCode.h"
+#include "Python.h"
+
+class GameEngine; // forward declared (circular members)
+
+class McRFPy_API
+{
+private:
+    static const int texture_size = 16, // w & h (pixels) of one sprite in the tex
+        texture_width = 12, texture_height = 11, // w & h sprite/frame count
+        texture_sprite_count = 11 * 12; // t_width * t_height, minus blanks?
+
+    // TODO: this is wrong, load resources @ GameEngineSprite sprite;
+    // sf::Texture texture;
+
+    //std::vector<PyMethodDef> mcrfpyMethodsVector;
+    //static PyObject* PyInit_mcrfpy();
+
+    McRFPy_API();
+
+public:
+    inline static sf::Sprite sprite;
+    inline static sf::Texture texture;
+    static void setSpriteTexture(int);
+    inline static GameEngine* game;
+    static void api_init();
+    // Python API functionality - use mcrfpy.* in scripts
+    static PyObject* _drawSprite(PyObject*, PyObject*);
+
+//    McRFPy_API(GameEngine*);
+
+    // API functionality - use from C++ directly
+
+    //void spawnEntity(int tex_index, int grid_x, int grid_y, PyObject* script);
+
+    // test function, do not use in production
+    static void drawSprite(int tex_index, int grid_x, int grid_y);
+
+    static void executeScript(std::string);
+    static void executePyString(std::string);
+};
+
+/*
+static PyMethodDef mcrfpyMethods[] = {
+    {"drawSprite", McRFPy_API::_drawSprite, METH_VARARGS,
+        "Draw a sprite (index, x, y)"},
+    {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}
+};
+
+static PyModuleDef mcrfpyModule = {
+    PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT, "mcrfpy", NULL, -1, mcrfpyMethods,
+    NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL
+};
+
+// Module initializer fn, passed to PyImport_AppendInittab
+PyObject* PyInit_mcrfpy()
+{
+    return PyModule_Create(&mcrfpyModule);
+}
+*/
diff --git a/src/UITestScene.cpp b/src/UITestScene.cpp
index b59a050..be5c721 100644
--- a/src/UITestScene.cpp
+++ b/src/UITestScene.cpp
@@ -285,6 +285,13 @@ void UITestScene::sRender()
 
     }
 
+    // test Python sprite code
+    McRFPy_API::executePyString("mcrfpy.drawSprite(123, 10, 10)");
+    McRFPy_API::executePyString("mcrfpy.drawSprite(121, 15, 15)");
+
+    //game->api->executePyString("mcrfpy.drawSprite(123, 10, 10)")
+    //game->api->executePyString("mcrfpy.drawSprite(121, 15, 15)")
+
     // draw test sprite on top of everything
     game->getWindow().draw(test_sprite);