Triggering an event at a specific time

[Imperf3kt]

Recently, I received a private message requesting help to send a message to the player at 8pm, Christmas eve in their local time.
I came up with the following

Code: Select all

init python:
    import time

    year, month, day, hour, minute, second, dow, doy, dst = time.localtime()


screen xmas_check():
    modal False
    
    if month is 12 and day is 24 and hour is 20:
        textbutton("It's Christmas!") action NullAction
        


label start:
    e "Put this where you want the menu."
    show screen xmas_check
    e "Did it work?"

    return
    

It works, but its not perfect; it runs at game launch, so it only shows if the player started the game _after_ 8pm, it won't show the message if the player started playing _before_ 8pm. I assume this is because it is run at init?

Does anybody know what I should do to. Get the.desired behaviour?

[trooper6]

They could use my clock as a basis. It has a realtime mode and an alarm can be created. Clearly the clock is more than they would need, but looking at the code could give inspiration.

[Imperf3kt]

I tried borrowing bits of your clock code, specifically the alarm. Unfortunately, it is too complex for me to. Understand., so I failed.

[Per K Grok]

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It works, but its not perfect; it runs at game launch, so it only shows if the player started the game _after_ 8pm, it won't show the message if the player started playing _before_ 8pm. I assume this is because it is run at init?

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A quick thought, if you put

year, month, day, hour, minute, second, dow, doy, dst = time.localtime()

in the screen, would that not solve that problem?

[Imperf3kt]

Sorry, I don't know what you mean.
Are you suggesting putting the python inside the screen instead of an init block?

[Remix]

In Ren'Py there are several ways to set up automatic running of code:

config.periodic_callback This runs many times a second, so is not really suitable here.
config.python_callbacks This might be suitable, it runs whenever python code runs during game context (e.g. if you had $ e.hair_style = "messy" within your script it would run then)
Putting the code somewhere that is repeatedly accessed, such as a screen, a loop/interim label or as part of the menu system. If your game has no label loop, perhaps integrate it into the save screen... if the players loads or saves the test runs and ...

Are you suggesting putting the python inside the screen instead of an init block?

Yes, just make sure it doesn't cause side effects or try python_callbacks if you have enough python code in your game.

[Imperf3kt]

Thanks for the help, that appears to have mostly done the trick.

Code: Select all

init python:
    import time
screen xmas_check():
    modal False
    python:
        year, month, day, hour, minute, second, dow, doy, dst = time.localtime()

I'll tidy things up and pass them along as well as make use of this for my own uses.
Thanks everyone.