Cross-platform game and app development for new programmers
Dynamic Screens
Ren'Py supports custom screen layouts that can have labels, text, buttons, and bar charts. In a visual novel, a custom screen could be a small box at the top of the application that shows items like inventory, money, or percent complete.
For the next example, I use Python code with Ren'Py to find some PC hardware readings and present the information on a large custom screen.
The Linux sensors
[5] command can be used to show current hardware information:
$ sensors dell_smm-virtual-0 Adapter: Virtual device Processor Fan: 2721 RPM CPU: +46.0 C Ambient: +39.0 C ...
By adding some Bash/Awk code, the CPU and ambient temperature values can be extracted:
# use show Bash/Awk code to get temps $ sensors | grep CPU | awk '{ printf "%d\n" , $2}' 46 $ sensors | grep Ambient | awk '{ printf "%d\n" , $2}' 39
Python calls Bash scripts with the subprocess.check_output
method, which is part of the subprocess library (Listing 2).
Listing 2
subprocess.check_output
$ python Python 2.7.15+ (default, Oct 7 2019, 17:39:04) [GCC 7.4.0] on linux2 >>> import subprocess >>> subprocess.check_output("sensors | grep CPU | awk '{ printf \"%d\" , $2}'", shell=True) '46' >>> >>> subprocess.check_output("sensors | grep Ambient | awk '{ printf \"%d\" , $2}'", shell=True) '39'
Listing 3 shows the code required for the CPU statistics application (Figure 8). The screen cpu_data():
statement creates a user interface (line 3) that can contain both Python blocks and display elements.
Listing 3
Dynamic CPU Stats Screen
01 # script.rpy - create a Ren'Py screen that shows CPU sensor information 02 03 screen cpu_data(): 04 05 python: # Use Python to get sensor variables 06 now = datetime.now() 07 nowtime = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S") 08 ctemp = subprocess.check_output("sensors | grep CPU | awk '{ printf \"%d\" , $2}'", shell=True) 09 atemp = subprocess.check_output("sensors | grep Ambient | awk '{ printf \"%d\" , $2}'", shell=True) 10 11 frame: # create a frame with text, values and a bar 12 has vbox 13 label "CPU Stats" text_size 120 14 15 vbox: 16 text "Time : [nowtime]" size 80 17 text "Ambient temp: [atemp] C \n" size 80 18 text " CPU temp : [ctemp] C " size 60 19 hbox: 20 vbox: 21 text "0 " size 40 22 vbox: 23 bar value atemp range 60 xalign 50 yalign 50 xmaximum 600 ymaximum 50 left_bar "#FF0000" 24 vbox: 25 text " 60 " size 40 26 27 init python: 28 # Define Libaries and any system variables 29 import subprocess 30 from datetime import datetime 31 32 label start: 33 34 # Start with Weather screen 35 show screen cpu_data() 36 37 define cycle = "True" 38 # Cycle every 2 seconds 39 while cycle == "True" : 40 $ renpy.pause(2) 41 42 return
The Python block (lines 5-9), start with a python:
statement, and the succeeding lines are indented per the Python standard. CPU and ambient temperature variables (lines 8-9) are created with the subprocess.check_output()
call and the earlier Bash sensors
statements.
For this screen, a frame:
(line 11) is used to group the elements together. Vertical boxes (vbox:
) and horizontal boxes (hbox:
) are used for further groupings. Python variables are inserted into text output strings with square brackets (lines 16-18). A horizontal bar (line 23) shows the ambient temperature (atemp
) with a range of 0-60.
The application begins at label start:
(line 32) by showing the cpu_data
screen (line 35). An inline Python statement (line 40) pauses the execution for two seconds within a while
loop. The screen logic is refreshed after each renpy.pause()
iteration.
Building Applications
The Ren'Py IDE has a Launch Project button that allows testing in the native operating system environment. The IDE's Build option allows you to create a variety of different packages (Figure 9).
The HTML5 build is still in beta; it appears to work well for standard visual novel apps, but I found that it had issues with some Python library calls. The HTML5 build creates a separate directory structure for the Ren'Py application that needs to be mapped into your web server configuration.
If you are looking to do some simple testing, a Python standalone web server (Figure 10) can be run from the project's web directory:
# Run a python standalone server on port 8042 python3 -m http.server 8042
Final Thoughts
If you're looking to create some simple cross-platform visual presentation apps, Ren'Py is a good fit, it is super easy to learn, and doesn't require strong programming skills. I found the first-time call-up for Android was longer than expected, but I was impressed with the final result.
Ren'Py supports simple screens that can have dynamic bars and text; however, if you're looking to incorporate gauges or line charts. Ren'Py probably isn't the best fit.
Infos
- Ren'Py: https://www.renpy.org
- Download Ren'Py: https://www.renpy.org/latest.html
- Character Creator: https://charactercreator.org
- Bruce Peninsula, Ontario: https://visitbrucepeninsula.ca
- lm_sensors (sensors) documentation: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/lm_sensors
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