Adds parental control features to RetroPie - retro gaming machine
RetroPie-Parental is a add-on for RetroPie that can added or removed easily using a setup script. The add-on is intended for RetroPie installations created from images for the raspberry pi. But it may also work for any custom version of RetroPie.
These Parental Controls were intended for the scenario of having a RetroPie available in a home setting with kids who need a little support with their self control. It allows a parent to set a schedule of how much time games can be played for each day of the week. But it also includes a website to make on-the-fly adjustment to the schedule, monitor what is going on, and get reports on past gaming history.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zaront/RetroPie-Parental/main/setup.sh | bash
- Set a daily time limit for each day of the week
- Monitor what game is being played and for how long
- View how many minutes are left and change them on-the-fly
- View reports on gaming activity
- enter a secret Konami-style code at the console to enable one-time unlimited play
- gives a 1 minute and a 10 second warning before time expires
- Easy administration over a locally hosted, mobile friendly website
- Easily install, update, and uninstall over existing RetroPie
When a game is started it will show the player how much time they have left.
Here is what that looks like
Here is an image of the administration website
The easiest way to install is by running the Quick-install script (shown above)
Alternatively, you can install manually. To do so first clone or download the repository into the home directory of your RetroPie.
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/zaront/RetroPie-Parental.git
Note: if you choose to download instead of clone, you will not be able to use the auto-update feature of the setup.sh update script as it relies on pulling updates from the git repository.
At this point you may run setup.sh install from the downloaded repository to complete the setup, or you can continue to integrate everything manually as follows.
Install the required packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git toilet sox python3 python3-pip
Install python packages
pip3 install -r ~/RetroPie-Parental/requirements.txt
Add a hard link of the runcommand-onend.sh script to RetroPie
ln ~/RetroPie-Parental/runcommand-onend.sh /opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-onend.sh
Edit /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh and add the following command to the first line.
This will allow the website to start in the background when RetroPie starts
/home/pi/RetroPie-Parental/web.py prod &
Sudo edit /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh and add the following commands:
First add the following after source "$ROOTDIR/lib/inifuncs.sh" which should be around line #96
source "/home/pi/RetroPie-Parental/runcommand-parental.sh"
Seconds add the following before rm -f "$LOG" within the runcommand() function, which should be around line #1328
parental-control
Reboot your RetroPie
Your all set!
In the future you can auto-update using setup.sh update or uninstall using setup.sh uninstall
Once installed you can access the locally hosted website from your RetroPie on port :8080. So the url will be http://retropie.local:8080 or http://<your-retropie-ip>:8080
The website username is admin and the default password is retropie
The password can be change in the password tab of the website
A daily time limit can be set for each day of the week on the schedule tab of the website. By default, when the time limit is exceeded the player will see the message "GAME OVER". Instead, if you enter a reason in that days schedule, it will override it with your custom message when the time is up.
on the Timer tab you can monitor what game is being played and for how long. It automatically updates every 10 seconds.
If you want to kick the player off you can set the remaining time to 0 minutes. It will take about 1 minute before the player will be booted.
Disabling limits means that all time limits are disable. However gaming activity will still be tracked.
When the remaining time is displayed you can enter a secret Konami-style code that will enable you to play the game untimed. When entered correctly a sound will be played to indicate you have done it right. The effect only last the duration of the game and so must be entered each time a game is launched. The feature can be used for a parent who wants to play without taking time away from their kids limit, or things like that.
The code can be changed on the password tab of the website
If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone.
You can use the GitHub issue tracker to report bugs, ask questions, or suggest new features.
For a more informal setting to discuss things, you can use the Discussions section on Github for a forum-like setting or for Q&A.
Sometimes I am unresponsive, and I apologize! If that happens, please ping me.