This application was developed as a learning experiment before I had any professional experience as a Python developer. Several years later, I still love this project, despite its flaws and painful lack of tests. I had deployed this project on Heroku, but they are removing their free tier, so it will be going away. Feel free to browse the code, or even attempt to run the application if you are so inclined!

A random character generator that creates a named character to inspire your creativity.

This tool is intended for anyone who is struggling to come up with unique characters, with names and other qualities, for a work of literature or other creative work.

Requires Python 3.6 or higher to work properly.

Requires the installation of all packages listed in requirements.txt.

Requires that the following environment variables be set appropriately:

• "STORC_DB" (should be a database URI -- see here)

• "STORC_SECRET" (should be a random hash or complex string)

• "STORC_EMAIL_USER" (the email address from which the application sends emails) and "STORC_EMAIL_PASS" (the password for the email address)

  • Depending on the domain of the email address you use, you may be prevented from allowing the application to log in. This is the case with Gmail, for example, which prevents "less secure applications" from gaining access to its accounts by default. If the email provider you use is blocking "less secure applications", you will have to go into account settings to grant access.

• "BTN_KEY" (The API key for Behind the Name)

  • Character names are fetched from the Behind the Name API. To use this API, you must first set the environment variable "BTN_KEY" to your Behind the Name API key. To obtain an API key, follow the instructions found on the Behind the Name website, here.

• "STORC_DROPBOX_KEY" (The API key for Dropbox)

  • Profile pictures are saved to a Dropbox account, including "default.jpg", which is given to all new users who sign up with email. For this functionality to work properly, you will need a Dropbox account and a corresponding API key. View the documentation for more information.
  • After establishing a Dropbox account, you will need to create a default profile picture called "default.jpg" and upload it to Dropbox. An image that is 200x200 pixels will be consistent with the rest of the application.

• "STORC_FB_ID" (Facebook application id) and "STORC_FB_SECRET" (Facebook application secret)

  • To allow users to log in using Facebook, you'll have to set up a Facebook application, here.

• "STORC_G_ID" (Google web app client id) and "STORC_G_SECRET" (Google web app client secret)

  • To allow users to log in using Google, you'll have to set up a Google application, here.

When using this tool, please be aware that the tool is not yet complete.

To use the application, start by cloning this repository. Use $ pip install -r requirements.txt to install all necessary requirements.

If you are running the application locally, you will have to use $ export OAUTHLIB_INSECURE_TRANSPORT=1 in order to use Facebook/Google login features.

• Do not use this command if you are not running the app locally.

If you are running the application for the first time, run $ python run.py --setup. Otherwise, you can run the application with $ python run.py. You can then view the application at localhost:5000.

The following features will hopefully be implemented in the near future:

• Character descriptions and user comments.
• Open Graph metadata (to improve sharing on social media).
• Blank character templates.

© 2018-2022 David J. Hammaker