Steam sensor game notification

Configuration
1

Hi! I am trying to build an automation that notifies me when a friend launches a game. To capture the game, I have created a template sensor:

Sensor:

- platform: template
  sensors:
    steam_<id>_game:
      value_template: '{{ states.sensor.steam_<id>.attributes.game }}'
      friendly_name: '<player name>'

I then created an automation which notifies me when the template sensor changes:

Automation:

- alias: "STEAM: Notify"
  hide_entity: false
  initial_state: True
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: sensor.steam_<id>_game
  action:
    - service: notify.telegram
      data:
        message: "STEAM: <player name> plays {{ states.sensor.steam_<id>_game.state }}"

Now, this works fine, except it notifies if the attribute changes from “Game XYZ” to NULL. I tried to insert a “from: ‘unknown’” to the state trigger, but that throws errors and does not work right, too.

Any ideas? Also, I am unsure if I even need the additional template sensor. Maybe there is a way to trigger the automation directly form the steam sensor?

Thanks!

2

You have to set a default value for the game like below:
value_template: "
{{ states.sensor.steam_76561198120430927.attributes.game |default(‘off’) }}"

Then you can do automations with state from: ‘off’

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