Timer on the background (Timer, energy)

[prestristan]

Im trying to build a game with a timer on the background.
A timer will countdown on the background and after it goes to 0, you will have a point that you can spend in the game.

It's kinda like (most) Visual novel games on Android nowadays.
But I don't want the "Energy" system where you need to spend "Energy" to open a chapters yada yada yada..
I'm thinking of a code that will increase the "points" for a character in real time. Even when the app is closed or just running on the background.

I did some coding, combing different forum posts and codes I found in LSF and on the WWW.
And here's what I got:

Code: Select all

# The script of the game goes in this file.

# Declare characters used by this game. The color argument colorizes the
# name of the character.


define e = Character("Eileen")
default now = 0
default timer = 0
default give_point_timer = 10  # Seconds
default point = 0
#default today = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%S")

init python:
    import time

screen cash():
    timer 1.0 action Jump("waiting_loop")
    vbox:
        text "Eileen's Points: [point]"
        text "+1 in [wait:.0f] seconds"



label waiting_loop:
    hide screen cash
    show screen cash
    $ now = time.time()
    $ wait = timer + give_point_timer - now

    #"Wait for [wait:.0f] seconds"

    if wait < 1:
        $point = point + 1
        $wait =wait + 9
        $ timer = time.time()
    #jump waiting_loop



label start:
    show screen cash
    scene bg house
    "JUST RANDOM"
    $ timer = time.time()
    screen black
    "Yoh"
    jump waiting_loop


    return

I know I'm doing something wrong here but I don't know it think it should be coded inside the "Screen" because the timer should be happening in the background.
But Thank you all so much in advanced you guys.

[Per K Grok]

Im trying to build a game with a timer on the background.
A timer will countdown on the background and after it goes to 0, you will have a point that you can spend in the game.

It's kinda like (most) Visual novel games on Android nowadays.
But I don't want the "Energy" system where you need to spend "Energy" to open a chapters yada yada yada..
I'm thinking of a code that will increase the "points" for a character in real time. Even when the app is closed or just running on the background.

I did some coding, combing different forum posts and codes I found in LSF and on the WWW.
And here's what I got:

Code: Select all

# The script of the game goes in this file.

# Declare characters used by this game. The color argument colorizes the
# name of the character.


define e = Character("Eileen")
default now = 0
default timer = 0
default give_point_timer = 10  # Seconds
default point = 0
#default today = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%S")

init python:
    import time

screen cash():
    timer 1.0 action Jump("waiting_loop")
    vbox:
        text "Eileen's Points: [point]"
        text "+1 in [wait:.0f] seconds"



label waiting_loop:
    hide screen cash
    show screen cash
    $ now = time.time()
    $ wait = timer + give_point_timer - now

    #"Wait for [wait:.0f] seconds"

    if wait < 1:
        $point = point + 1
        $wait =wait + 9
        $ timer = time.time()
    #jump waiting_loop



label start:
    show screen cash
    scene bg house
    "JUST RANDOM"
    $ timer = time.time()
    screen black
    "Yoh"
    jump waiting_loop


    return

I know I'm doing something wrong here but I don't know it think it should be coded inside the "Screen" because the timer should be happening in the background.
But Thank you all so much in advanced you guys.

try this

Code: Select all

default timeleft=10
default point=0

screen cash():
    if timeleft>1:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", timeleft-1) repeat True
    elif timeleft==1:
        timer 1.0 action [SetVariable("timeleft", 0), SetVariable("point", point+1) ]
    elif timeleft==0:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", 10)
    vbox:
        text "Eileen's Points: [point]"
        if timeleft>0:
            text "+1 in [timeleft] seconds"
            
            

[prestristan]

try this

Code: Select all

default timeleft=10
default point=0

screen cash():
    if timeleft>1:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", timeleft-1) repeat True
    elif timeleft==1:
        timer 1.0 action [SetVariable("timeleft", 0), SetVariable("point", point+1) ]
    elif timeleft==0:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", 10)
    vbox:
        text "Eileen's Points: [point]"
        if timeleft>0:
            text "+1 in [timeleft] seconds"
            
            

Yeah! this gives me some logic on how the timer should work and I thank you for that.
The only problem is that this won't be counting down when the app / program is closed.

I'll try playing with "SetVariable" plus the time.time() and see what I can come up with.

[Per K Grok]

try this

Code: Select all

default timeleft=10
default point=0

screen cash():
    if timeleft>1:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", timeleft-1) repeat True
    elif timeleft==1:
        timer 1.0 action [SetVariable("timeleft", 0), SetVariable("point", point+1) ]
    elif timeleft==0:
        timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", 10)
    vbox:
        text "Eileen's Points: [point]"
        if timeleft>0:
            text "+1 in [timeleft] seconds"
            
            

Yeah! this gives me some logic on how the timer should work and I thank you for that.
The only problem is that this won't be counting down when the app / program is closed.

I'll try playing with "SetVariable" plus the time.time() and see what I can come up with.

Counting time while the program is closed would be a separate function. What you would need to do is to in the exit procedure include, get datetime, and save that information in a variable. When starting a new session - get datetime -, compare it to the saved variable of datetime at earlier exit, transform the difference into points and add that to the point variable.

[beastcarving]

Counting time while the program is closed would be a separate function. What you would need to do is to in the exit procedure include, get datetime, and save that information in a variable. When starting a new session - get datetime -, compare it to the saved variable of datetime at earlier exit, transform the difference into points and add that to the point variable.

This is what I was looking for, but I'm such a rookie, I have no clue how to put this together. Could you help?

[Remix]

As your first post alluded to, you need to totally move away from any in-built Ren'Py time system (which generally work on seconds while in game, not menu, context).

This kind of thing can only really work by referencing an external time value.

The general concept is:
You know the time value of now (likely a large float indicating seconds since epoch)
Let's say it is 125474200 now
When you schedule an event (such as energy increase or building upgrade complete) you store a number to represent the exact moment that happens.
Let's say that is now plus 3600 (an hour) 125474200 + 3600 = 125477800
You come back to the game (or are still playing and some periodical check happens)
You know the time value of now and can check to see if any scheduled event is historic (has passed)

So basically, you can read an integer representing seconds, can set a variable to be an integer and can test to see if one integer is below or above another.

Simplicity:

Code: Select all

init python:
    import time

default next_cash = time.time() + 60 # 60 seconds time

label start:

    if next_cash <= time.time():

        "You waited a full minute..."

    else:

        return

    "wait longer"

    jump start

time.time() gives us a seconds count, setting a saved variable to a number that is that value plus something gives a time in the future, testing current seconds versus that gives us success or not

[Remix]

Note:

If you have some periodic or loop system that checks if things are done, you really should also check if the value of time.time() is lower (see note) than the last found value of it.
As time.time() uses the system clock, people can adjust it to race through games.

Note:
To race, people would set their clock in the future (the direction it generally goes).
You can kind of test an idle time (last known vs now) and set a max on that.
You can also see the cheats off by relying on either they reset their clock afterwards (spotted) or their system clock resets via the internet (spotted)

[beastcarving]

Here's where I am now:

Code: Select all

init python:
    import time
default timeleft=10
default now = 0
default just_wait = 0
default TIME = 60

screen wait():
    if persistent.pages < 2:

        if timeleft>1 :
            timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", timeleft-1) repeat True
            $ just_wait = time.time()
        elif timeleft==1:
            timer 1.0 action [SetVariable("timeleft", 0), SetVariable("persistent.pages", persistent.pages+1) ]
        elif timeleft==0:
            if timeleft <= time.time():
                timer 1.0 action SetVariable("timeleft", 60)
        vbox:
            if timeleft>0:
                $ now = time.time()
                $ wait = just_wait + TIME - now
                text "{font=qokijo.ttf}+[timeleft]" ypos 12 xpos 400

    elif persistent.pages < 3:
        vbox:
            text "{font=qokijo.ttf}full" ypos 12 xpos 400


    if layout.QUIT:
        $ persistent.last_exit = time.time()

Every time I go to any menu the timer pauses, and only resumes if I'm watching it. The same thing happens when I close the game. Is there anything I've done wrong that's causing this?

[hell_oh_world]

that's the default behavior of a timer... once a screen hides, its timers will be in paused state, there's nothing you can do about it. i think your best bet is to place the timer in a screen that is shown all the time. and i think its doable if you place the screen in another layer, *i think*