Ren'Py
| Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine | |
|---|---|
An example of a Ren'Py-created scene | |
| Original author | Tom "PyTom" Rothamel |
| Developer | Tom "PyTom" Rothamel[1] |
| Initial release | August 24, 2004 |
| Stable release | 8.5.2
/ January 4, 2026 |
| Written in | Python, Cython |
| Middleware | |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Android, iOS |
| Size | 115 MB |
| Available in | English for the engine – UTF-8 use for resulting programs |
| Type | Game engine (visual novel) |
| License | MIT[2] |
| Website | www |
| Repository | |
Ren'Py (レンパイ, Renpai), known in full as the Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine, is a free and open-source game engine which facilitates the creation of visual novels. Ren'Py is a portmanteau of ren'ai (恋愛), the Japanese word for 'romantic love', a common element of games made using Ren'Py; and Python, the programming language that Ren'Py runs on. The engine was developed for and targeted at multiple platforms, including Microsoft Windows and Linux.
The engine allows movie playback for animated sprites, full-screen movies, in-engine animation, and full animation and customization of UI elements via the feature "Screen Language". The Ren'Py software development kit is officially supported on Windows, Linux, and recent versions of macOS; and can be installed via the package managers of the Arch Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo Linux distributions. Ren'Py features a built-in tutorial game that demonstrates core features such as dialogue scripting, adding images, transitions, music and effects, branching choices, and other functionalities.
Features
Ren'Py includes the ability to create branching stories, save file systems, rollback to previous points in the story, a variety of scene transitions, DLC, and so on. The engine also allows for movie playback for both full-screen movies and animated sprites,[‡ 2] in-engine animation (using the built in "Animation and Translation Language", or ATL), and full animation and customization of UI elements via "Screen Language". Ren'Py scripts have a screenplay-like syntax, and can also include blocks of Python code to allow advanced users to add new features of their own. In addition, tools are included in the engine distribution to obfuscate scripts and archive game assets to mitigate copyright infringement.[‡ 2][‡ 3][‡ 4]
Ren'Py is built on pygame, which is built with Python on SDL. The Ren'Py SDK is officially supported on Windows, recent versions of macOS, and Linux;[3] and can be installed via the package managers of the Arch Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo (in experimental overlay[‡ 5]) Linux distributions. Ren'Py can build games for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, OpenBSD,[4] iOS,[5] and HTML5 with WebAssembly.[‡ 3]
Ren'Py includes a built-in tutorial game that demonstrates core features such as dialogue scripting, adding images, transitions, music and effects, branching choices, and other basic and advanced functionalities.
Reception
Ren'Py had been recommended as a video game creation engine by several publications, including Indie Games Plus,[6] MakeUseOf,[7] PC Gamer,[8] and The Guardian.[9] Ren'py has been used in classes at Carnegie Mellon School of Art,[10] Faculty of Art at University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia, and as a tool for information literacy.[11]
Notable games
See also
Notes
- ^ Date of first completed public release, regardless of platform or region.
- ^ Some of these games have been ported to game consoles such as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, but those ports also involve porting them from Ren'Py to other game engines such as Unity, as Ren'Py is not directly supported on game consoles.
References
- ^ Lin 2005.
- ^ "License". Ren'Py. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ Ciesla 2019, p. 104-169.
- ^ "games/renpy". OpenBSD Ports at ports.su. Retrieved 5 Oct 2019.
- ^ "Ren'Py 6.99". Ren'Py. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ D., Konstantinos (8 May 2012). "Indie Tools: Ren'Py". Indie Games Plus. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ Wiesehan, Robert (7 July 2014). "Learn To Make Your Own Visual Novels With Ren'Py, Or Play One Of These". MakeUseOf. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ Vincent, Brittany (2 April 2020). "The best engines for making your own visual novel". PC Gamer. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- ^ Stuart, Keith (20 March 2014). "How to get into the games industry–an insiders' guide". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "Experimental Game Design". mycours.es. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ Sullivan & Critten 2014.
Primary sources
In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):
- ^ "Art Card Information". Ren'Py. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
- ^ a b "Writing Visual Novels with Ren'Py: The Ren'Py Tutorial". Ren'Py. Retrieved 5 Oct 2019.
- ^ a b "The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine". Ren'Py. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "Building Distributions". Ren'Py. Retrieved 5 Oct 2019.
- ^ "Installing Ren'Py on Gentoo Linux". Ren'Py.
Cited literature
- Sullivan, Dean; Critten, Jessica (2014). "Adventures in Research Creating a video game textbook for an information literacy course". College & Research Libraries News. 75 (10): 570–573. doi:10.5860/crln.75.10.9215. ISSN 0099-0086.
- Lin, Maria (December 2005). "Returning the Love: Three Fans Taking the Next Step". Animefringe. ISSN 1705-3692. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- Ciesla, Robert (2019). Game Development with Ren'Py: Introduction to Visual Novel Games Using Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine. Apress. ISBN 978-1484249208.
External links
- Official website

- Ren'Py Games List Archived 2017-08-03 at the Wayback Machine
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