Special Screen Names — Ren'Py Documentation

# Special Screen Names

There are two kinds of special screen names in Ren'Py. The first are screens that will be automatically displayed when Ren'Py script language commands (or their programmatic equivalents) are run. The other type are menu screens. These have conventional names for conventional functionality, but screens can be omitted or changed as is deemed necessary.

On this page, we'll give example screens. It's important to realize that, while some screens must have minimal functionality, the screen system makes it possible to add additional functionality to screens. For example, while the standard say screen only displays text, the screen system makes it easy to add features like skipping, auto-forward mode, or muting.

Some special screens take parameters. These parameters can be accessed as variables in the screen's scope.

Some of the screens also have special ids associated with them. A special id should be assigned to a displayable of a given type. It can cause properties to be assigned to that displayable, and can make that displayable accessible to the part of Ren'Py that displays the screen.

## In-Game Screens

These screens are automatically displayed when certain Ren'Py statements execute.

### Say

The `say` screen is called by the say statement, when displaying ADV-mode dialogue. It is displayed with the following parameters:

who
  The text of the name of the speaking character.
what
  The dialogue being said by the speaking character.

It's expected to declare displayables with the following ids:

"who"
  A text displayable, displaying the name of the speaking character. The character object can be given arguments that style this displayable.
"what"
  A text displayable, displaying the dialogue being said by the speaking character. The character object can be given arguments that style this displayable. A displayable with this id must be defined, as Ren'Py uses it to calculate auto-forward-mode time, click-to-continue, and other things.
"window"
  A window or frame. This conventionally contains the who and what text. The character object can be given arguments that style this displayable.

    screen say(who, what):

        window id "window":
            has vbox

            if who:
                text who id "who"

            text what id "what"

### Choice

The `choice` screen is used to display the in-game choices created with the menu statement. It is given the following parameter:

items

  This is a list of menu entry objects, representing each of the choices in the menu. Each of the objects has the following fields on it:

  `caption`

    A string giving the caption of the menu choice.

  `action`

    An action that should be invoked when the menu choice is chosen. This may be None if this is a menu caption, and `config.narrator_menu` is False.

  `chosen`

    This is True if this choice has been chosen at least once in any playthrough of the game.

  `args`

    This is a tuple that contains any positional arguments passed to the menu choice.

  `kwargs`

    This is a dictionary that contains any keyword arguments passed to the menu choice.

In addition, any arguments passed to a menu statement are passed in during the call to the screen.

    screen choice(items):

        window:
            style "menu_window"

            vbox:
                style "menu"

                for i in items:

                    if i.action:

                        button:
                            action i.action
                            style "menu_choice_button"

                            text i.caption style "menu_choice"

                    else:
                        text i.caption style "menu_caption"

### Input

The `input` screen is used to display `renpy.input()`. It is given one parameter:

prompt
  The prompt text supplied to renpy.input.

It is expected to declare a displayable with the following id:

"input"
  An input displayable, which must exist. This is given all the parameters supplied to renpy.input, so it must exist.

    screen input(prompt):

        window:
            has vbox

            text prompt
            input id "input"

### NVL

The `nvl` screen is used to display NVL-mode dialogue. It is given the following parameter:

dialogue

  A list of NVL Entry objects, each of which corresponds to a line of dialogue to be displayed. Each entry has the following fields:

  `current`

    True if this is the current line of dialogue. The current line of dialogue must have its what text displayed with an id of "what".

  `who`

    The name of the speaking character, or None of there is no such name.

  `what`

    The text being spoken.

  `who_id, what_id, window_id`

    Preferred ids for the speaker, dialogue, and window associated with an entry.

  `who_args, what_args, window_args`

    Properties associated with the speaker, dialogue, and window. These are automatically applied if the id is set as above, but are also made available separately.

  `multiple`

    If multiple character dialogue, this is a two component tuple. The first component is the one-based number of the dialogue block, and the second is the total number of dialogue blocks in the multiple statement.

items
  This is the same list of items that would be supplied to the choice screen. If this is empty, the menu should not be shown.

When items is not present, the NVL screen is expected to always give a text widget an id of "what". Ren'Py uses it to calculate auto-forward-mode time, click-to-continue, and other things. (This is satisfied automatically if the default what_id is used.)

Ren'Py also supports an `nvl_choice` screen, which takes the same parameters as `nvl`, and is used in preference to `nvl` when an in-game choice is presented to the user, if it exists.

    screen nvl(dialogue, items=None):

        window:
            style "nvl_window"

            has vbox:
                style "nvl_vbox"

            # Display dialogue.
            for d in dialogue:
                window:
                    id d.window_id

                    has hbox:
                        spacing 10

                    if d.who is not None:
                        text d.who id d.who_id

                    text d.what id d.what_id

            # Display a menu, if given.
            if items:

                vbox:
                    id "menu"

                    for i in items:

                        if action:

                            button:
                                style "nvl_menu_choice_button"
                                action i.action

                                text i.caption style "nvl_menu_choice"

                        else:

                            text i.caption style "nvl_dialogue"

### Notify

The `notify` screen is used by `renpy.notify()` to display notifications to the user. It's generally used in conjunction with a transform to handle the entire task of notification. It's given a single parameter:

message
  The message to display.

The default notify screen, and its associated transform, are:

    screen notify(message):
        zorder 100

        text message at _notify_transform

        # This controls how long it takes between when the screen is
        # first shown, and when it begins hiding.
        timer 3.25 action Hide('notify')

    transform _notify_transform:
        # These control the position.
        xalign .02 yalign .015

        # These control the actions on show and hide.
        on show:
            alpha 0
            linear .25 alpha 1.0
        on hide:
            linear .5 alpha 0.0

### Skip Indicator

If present, `skip_indicator` screen is displayed when skipping is in progress, and hidden when skipping finishes. It takes no parameters.

Here's a very simple skip indicator screen:

    screen skip_indicator():

        zorder 100

        text _("Skipping")

### CTC (Click-To-Continue)

If present, the `ctc` screen is displayed when dialogue has finished showing, to prompt the player to click to display more text. It may be given a single parameter and multiple keyword arguments.

arg
  The ctc displayable selected by the `Character()`. This is one of the ctc, ctc_pause, or ctc_timedpause arguments to Character, as appropriate. If no CTC is given to the Character, this argument is not passed at all.

In addition, there are several parameters that are only passed if the screen requires them.

ctc_kind
  The kind of CTC to display. One of "last" (for the last CTC on a line), "pause", or "timedpause".
ctc_last
  The ctc argument to `Character()`.
ctc_pause
  The ctc_pause argument to `Character()`.
ctc_timedpause
  The ctc_timedpause argument to `Character()`.

Here's a very simple ctc screen:

    screen ctc(arg=None):

        zorder 100

        text _("Click to Continue"):
            size 12
            xalign 0.98
            yalign 0.98

## Out-Of-Game Menu Screens

These are the menu screens. The `main_menu` and `yesno_prompt` are invoked implicitly. When the user invokes the game menu, the screen named in `_game_menu_screen` will be displayed. (This defaults to `save`.)

Remember, menu screens can be combined and modified fairly freely.

### Main Menu

The `main_menu` screen is the first screen shown when the game begins.

    screen main_menu():

        # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
        tag menu

        # The background of the main menu.
        window:
            style "mm_root"

        # The main menu buttons.
        frame:
            style_prefix "mm"
            xalign .98
            yalign .98

            has vbox

            textbutton _("Start Game") action Start()
            textbutton _("Load Game") action ShowMenu("load")
            textbutton _("Preferences") action ShowMenu("preferences")
            textbutton _("Help") action Help()
            textbutton _("Quit") action Quit(confirm=False)

    style mm_button:
        size_group "mm"

### Navigation

The `navigation` screen isn't special to Ren'Py. But by convention, we place the game menu navigation in a screen named `navigation`, and then use that screen from the save, load and preferences screens.

    screen navigation():

        # The background of the game menu.
        window:
            style "gm_root"

        # The various buttons.
        frame:
            style_prefix "gm_nav"
            xalign .98
            yalign .98

            has vbox

            textbutton _("Return") action Return()
            textbutton _("Preferences") action ShowMenu("preferences")
            textbutton _("Save Game") action ShowMenu("save")
            textbutton _("Load Game") action ShowMenu("load")
            textbutton _("Main Menu") action MainMenu()
            textbutton _("Help") action Help()
            textbutton _("Quit") action Quit()

    style gm_nav_button:
        size_group "gm_nav"

### Save

The `save` screen is used to select a file in which to save the game.

    screen save():

        # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
        tag menu

        use navigation

        frame:
            has vbox

            # The buttons at the top allow the user to pick a
            # page of files.
            hbox:
                textbutton _("Previous") action FilePagePrevious()
                textbutton _("Auto") action FilePage("auto")

                for i in range(1, 9):
                    textbutton str(i) action FilePage(i)

                textbutton _("Next") action FilePageNext()

            # Display a grid of file slots.
            grid 2 5:
                transpose True
                xfill True

                # Display ten file slots, numbered 1 - 10.
                for i in range(1, 11):

                    # Each file slot is a button.
                    button:
                        action FileAction(i)
                        xfill True
                        style "large_button"

                        has hbox

                        # Add the screenshot and the description to the
                        # button.
                        add FileScreenshot(i)
                        text ( " %2d. " % i
                               + FileTime(i, empty=_("Empty Slot."))
                               + "\n"
                               + FileSaveName(i)) style "large_button_text"

### Load

The `load` screen is used to select a file from which to load the game.

    screen load():

        # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
        tag menu

        use navigation

        frame:
            has vbox

            # The buttons at the top allow the user to pick a
            # page of files.
            hbox:
                textbutton _("Previous") action FilePagePrevious()
                textbutton _("Auto") action FilePage("auto")

                for i in range(1, 9):
                    textbutton str(i) action FilePage(i)

                textbutton _("Next") action FilePageNext()

            # Display a grid of file slots.
            grid 2 5:
                transpose True
                xfill True

                # Display ten file slots, numbered 1 - 10.
                for i in range(1, 11):

                    # Each file slot is a button.
                    button:
                        action FileAction(i)
                        xfill True
                        style "large_button"

                        has hbox

                        # Add the screenshot and the description to the
                        # button.
                        add FileScreenshot(i)
                        text ( " %2d. " % i
                               + FileTime(i, empty=_("Empty Slot."))
                               + "\n"
                               + FileSaveName(i)) style "large_button_text"

### Preferences

The `preferences` screen is used to select options that control the display of the game.

In general, the preferences are either actions or bar values returned from `Preference()`.

    screen preferences():

        tag menu

        # Include the navigation.
        use navigation

        # Put the navigation columns in a three-wide grid.
        grid 3 1:
            style_prefix "prefs"
            xfill True

            # The left column.
            vbox:
                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Display")
                    textbutton _("Window") action Preference("display", "window")
                    textbutton _("Fullscreen") action Preference("display", "fullscreen")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Transitions")
                    textbutton _("All") action Preference("transitions", "all")
                    textbutton _("None") action Preference("transitions", "none")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Text Speed")
                    bar value Preference("text speed")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    textbutton _("Joystick...") action ShowMenu("joystick_preferences")

            vbox:

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Skip")
                    textbutton _("Seen Messages") action Preference("skip", "seen")
                    textbutton _("All Messages") action Preference("skip", "all")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    textbutton _("Begin Skipping") action Skip()

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("After Choices")
                    textbutton _("Stop Skipping") action Preference("after choices", "stop")
                    textbutton _("Keep Skipping") action Preference("after choices", "skip")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Auto-Forward Time")
                    bar value Preference("auto-forward time")

            vbox:

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Music Volume")
                    bar value Preference("music volume")

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Sound Volume")
                    bar value Preference("sound volume")
                    textbutton "Test" action Play("sound", "sound_test.ogg") style "soundtest_button"

                frame:
                    style_prefix "pref"
                    has vbox

                    label _("Voice Volume")
                    bar value Preference("voice volume")
                    textbutton "Test" action Play("voice", "voice_test.ogg") style "soundtest_button"

    style pref_frame:
        xfill True
        xmargin 5
        top_margin 5

    style pref_vbox:
        xfill True

    style pref_button:
        size_group "pref"
        xalign 1.0

    style pref_slider:
        xmaximum 192
        xalign 1.0

    style soundtest_button:
        xalign 1.0

### Confirm

The `confirm` screen is used to ask yes/no choices of the user. It takes the following parameters:

message

  The message to display to the user. This is one of:

  - gui.ARE_YOU_SURE - "Are you sure?" This should be the default if the message is unknown.
  - gui.DELETE_SAVE - "Are you sure you want to delete this save?"
  - gui.OVERWRITE_SAVE - "Are you sure you want to overwrite your save?"
  - gui.LOADING - "Loading will lose unsaved progress.nAre you sure you want to do this?"
  - gui.QUIT - "Are you sure you want to quit?"
  - gui.MAIN_MENU - "Are you sure you want to return to the mainnmenu? This will lose unsaved progress."
  - gui.END_REPLAY - "Are you sure you want to end the replay?"
  - gui.SLOW_SKIP - "Are you sure you want to begin skipping?"
  - gui.FAST_SKIP_SEEN - "Are you sure you want to skip to the next choice?"
  - gui.FAST_SKIP_UNSEEN - "Are you sure you want to skip unseen dialogue to the next choice?"

  The values of the variables are strings, which means they can be displayed using a text displayable.

yes_action
  The action to run when the user picks "Yes".
no_action
  The action to run when the user picks "No".

Until Ren'Py 6.99.10, this screen was known as the `yesno_prompt` screen. If no `confirm` screen is present, `yesno_prompt` is used instead.

    screen confirm(message, yes_action, no_action):

        modal True

        window:
            style "gm_root"

        frame:
            style_prefix "confirm"

            xfill True
            xmargin 50
            ypadding 25
            yalign .25

            vbox:
                xfill True
                spacing 25

                text _(message):
                    text_align 0.5
                    xalign 0.5

                hbox:
                    spacing 100
                    xalign .5
                    textbutton _("Yes") action yes_action
                    textbutton _("No") action no_action