diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ff000f9..80e89ce 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ a library for parsing Bitsy game data.
 * tile to
 * position from
 * position to
+* sprite from
 
 ## todo
 
 ### functions
 
-* sprite from
 * sprite to
 * item from
 * item to
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 999ac09..a47c381 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ struct Sprite {
     id: String, // lowercase base36
     name: Option<String>,
     animation_frames: Vec<Image>,
-    dialogue: Option<Dialogue>,
+    dialogue: Option<String>, /// dialogue id
     position: Position,
 }
 
@@ -396,9 +396,73 @@ fn test_position_to_string() {
     )
 }
 
-// fn get_avatar(game: Game) -> Sprite {
-//     // get the sprite with an id of A
-// }
+fn sprite_from_string(string: String) -> Sprite {
+    let mut lines: Vec<&str> = string.split("\n").collect();
+
+    let id = lines[0].replace("SPR ", "");
+    let mut name = None;
+    let mut dialogue = None;
+    let mut position: Option<Position> = None;
+
+    for _ in 0..3 {
+        let last_line = lines.pop().unwrap();
+
+        if last_line.starts_with("NAME") {
+            name = Some(last_line.replace("NAME ", "").to_string());
+        } else if last_line.starts_with("DLG") {
+            dialogue = Some(last_line.replace("DLG ", "").to_string());
+        } else if last_line.starts_with("POS") {
+            position = Some(position_from_string(
+                last_line.replace("POS ", "").to_string()
+            ));
+        } else {
+            lines.push(last_line); break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    let position = position.unwrap();
+
+    // todo dedupe
+    let animation_frames = lines[1..].join("");
+    // print!("{}", animation_frames);
+    let animation_frames: Vec<&str> = animation_frames.split("\n>\n").collect();
+    let animation_frames: Vec<Image> = animation_frames.iter().map(|&frame| {
+        image_from_string(frame.to_string())
+    }).collect();
+
+    Sprite { id, name, animation_frames, dialogue, position }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_sprite_from_string() {
+    let output = sprite_from_string("SPR a\n00000000\n01111000\n01001000\n00111100\n00111100\n01011110\n01011110\n01101111\nNAME hatch\nDLG SPR_0\nPOS 4 9,7".to_string());
+    let expected = Sprite {
+        id: "a".to_string(),
+        name: Some("hatch".to_string()),
+        animation_frames: vec![
+            Image {
+                pixels: vec![
+                    0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
+                    0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,
+                    0,1,0,0,1,0,0,0,
+                    0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,
+                    0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,
+                    0,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,
+                    0,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,
+                    0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,
+                ]
+            }
+        ],
+        dialogue: Some("SPR_0".to_string()),
+        position: Position {
+            room: "4".to_string(),
+            x: 9,
+            y: 7
+        }
+    };
+    
+    assert_eq!(output, expected);
+}
 
 // fn game_from_string(game: String ) -> Game {
 //     // probably needs to split the game data into different segments starting from the end