This month's article is the Ren'Py Developer Update for January 2026. This month is about the release of Ren'Py 8.5.2, how I worked through some health issues, the progress on the SDL3 port of Ren'Py, and some of the smaller features and fixes that have gone into Ren'Py recently. It's not the most exciting month, but the work is important and will keep Ren'Py working into the future.
As always, thank you...
I'd like to announce Ren'Py 8.5.2, a fix release of 8.5.1. This release fixes a single issue in Ren'Py 8.5.1. For a complete list of changes, please see the changelog.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.5.2 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.5.2
A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:
2026-01-04 03:33:40 +0000 UTC View PostI'm happy to ring in the new year with the release of Ren'Py 8.5.1, a fix release of Ren'Py 8.5. This release addresses multiple reported issues.
Some of the major changes in Ren'Py 8.5 are:
Live2D models are now supported on the Web platform.
A new Automated Testing framework makes it possible to perform automated test of games and of Ren'Py itself.
Local labels have been relaxed so that they can be declared with any global label.
This month's article is the Ren’Py Developer Update for December 2025. It answers the question - what happened to Ren’Py 8.5.1? I’ll also talk about some of the work that’s gone on for Ren’Py 8.6, and some words about a non-Ren’Py issue that’s shown up a few times in the Ren’Py issue tracker.
Thank you for your support as I close this year out.
This month's article is the Ren’Py Developer Update for November 2025! This month had a couple of releases in it, and then had the start of work on the next major release of Ren’Py. Here, I’ll discuss what happened in November, and some thoughts about what’s happening in the next major release of Ren’Py....
2025-11-30 20:55:29 +0000 UTC View PostI'm pleased to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.5, a major release of Ren'Py. Major releases include new features, major improvements, and fixes.
Some of the major changes in Ren'Py 8.5 are:
Live2D models are now supported on the Web platform.
A new Automated Testing framework makes it possible to perform automated test of games and of Ren'Py itself.
Local labels have been relaxed so that they can be declared with any global label.
Hi, everyone. Due to a family emergency, I'm going to be skipping the writing of this month's developer update. I didn't have a ton to say that I didn't say in the prerelease announcement from a couple of days ago, and I'd like to spend the time I have for Ren'Py working on finalizing the 8.5 release. I appreciate your understanding, and I hope to get things back to normal for next month.
So I'm not totally negligent, I did spend a little bit of time updating the 2025-10-31 15:40:35 +0000 UTC
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I'm pleased to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.5, a major release of Ren'Py. Major releases include new features, major improvements, and fixes.
Some of the major changes in Ren'Py 8.5 are:
Live2D models are now supported on the Web platform.
A new Automated Testing framework makes it possible to perform automated test of games and of Ren'Py itself.
Local labels have been relaxed so that they can be declared with any global label.
Good day, and welcome back to the Ren’Py Developer Update! This was an interesting month, as while it didn’t really go to plan, it resulted in a lot of changes that should help make Ren’Py better by making it easier to develop and test Ren’Py and the games that use it. In this month's article, I describe some of the changes and where we are at.
2025-09-30 22:23:05 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's article is the August 2025 Ren’Py Developer Update! This month saw one big feature and a lot of little things as we close on the Ren’Py 8.5 release. In this article I’ll be talking about some of the changes that happened with Ren’Py and the Ren’Py Project this month, and when you can expect the next release.
2025-08-31 23:34:27 +0000 UTC View PostHi, everyone.
For the past week or so, I've been working on getting the Live2D Cubism SDK For Web working with Ren'Py. This morning, it was able to display a model for the first time, and... well, see for yourself:
https://share.renpy.org/l2dweb-1.0-web/
There is still a bit more to do - right now, it is leaking a bit of memory, but that should be easy to take care of.
I'm considering ma...
2025-08-07 13:20:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's article is the July 2025 Ren’Py developer update. This was a big month for Ren’Py, with two releases coming out. This month’s article will talk about them, and some of the other Ren’Py things I did in July. It also includes a new Displayable I put together that shows taps on the screen.
I’d like to thank everyone who’s been supporting Ren’Py and giving me the chance to step bac...
I'm happy to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.4.1. This release is a fix release that addresses multiple issues, including a problem that prevented creators on Windows from creating new games in non-English languages.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.4.1 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.4.1
A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:
I'm happy to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.4, a feature release that includes many new features, fixes, and improvements to Ren'Py.
Some of the new features and improvements Ren'Py 8.4 are:
Ren'Py now utilizes Python 3.12 across all platforms.
Performance has been improved in script loading, persistent data management, OpenGL drawing, and Live2D integration.
OpenGL shader support is enhanced, now including more data types, arrays, separate ...
2025-07-12 17:23:07 +0000 UTC View PostI've updated the Ren'Py 8.4.0 prerelease to version 8.4.0.25070513.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.4.0 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.4.0
A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/dev-doc/html/changelog.html
A list of changes that may require you to update your ...
2025-07-06 03:40:14 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's article is the Ren'Py Developer Update for June 2025, covering what's changed before and after the prerelease. I hope you find it interesting and informative, and thank you for your support.
2025-06-30 23:43:03 +0000 UTC View PostI'm pleased to announce the prerelease of Ren'Py 8.4, a feature release that includes many new features, fixes, and improvements to Ren'Py.
Some of the new features and improvements Ren'Py 8.4 are:
Ren'Py now utilizes Python 3.12 across all platforms.
Performance has been improved in script loading, persistent data management, OpenGL drawing, and Live2D integration.
OpenGL shader support is enhanced, now including more data types, arrays, sepa...
2025-06-23 11:37:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I never know how to start these articles, so I’ll just say that I hope your May has been going well. Mine has, for the most part, and while I didn’t get the 8.4 prerelease out yet, I’m very close - hopefully, I’ll get it done in the first week of June. The good news is that this month, in addition to the fixes and performance improvements that I made, I’ve added a number of features to Ren’Py.
While the features being added this late in development tend to be smaller, they o...
2025-05-30 21:59:57 +0000 UTC View Post
I hope your April has gone as well as mine did. This month’s article is the usual developer update talking about what I accomplished in April, as well as some of the new features that are coming to Ren’Py 8.4 that were implemented by other developers that I merged into the engine. Finally, I’ll talk about plans for the prerelease.
Thank you for your support.
2025-04-30 23:45:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome back. What I’ve been working on this month is a bit under the hood, so for this month’s article, I thought I’d bring back the old under the hood series, and focus on rendering. And then, because I can’t go a month without giving a developer update, I’ll give a quick developer update.
Thank you for your support as I keep getting things done.
2025-03-31 01:41:13 +0000 UTC View PostI'm happy to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.3.7 and Ren'Py 7.8.7, fix releases that improves earlier versions of Ren'Py 8.3 and 7.8. These releases fix multiple reported issues, with a focus on Live2D and Arabic text shaping.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.7 can be found at:
https://renpy.org/release/8.3.7
Downloads of Ren'Py 7.8.7 can be found at:
I'm happy to announce the prerelease of Ren'Py 8.3.7, a fix release that improves earlier versions of Ren'Py 8.3. This prerelease fixes multiple reported issues, with a focus on Live2D and Arabic text shaping.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.7 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.3.7
Downloads of Ren'Py 7.8.7 can be found at:
This month's article is February's Ren'Py Developer Update. This is the shortest month of the year, but even in a short month I’m able to get a lot done, and this February was no exception - especially this last week. Here, I’ll go over what’s new in Ren’Py, and what you can expect in the near future.
Thank you for reading this, and for your support of Ren’Py.
2025-03-01 00:01:38 +0000 UTC View PostI'm mildly chagrined to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.3.6. Intended to support NaNoRenO 2025 projects, this is a fix release for Ren'Py 8.3. Ren'Py 8 is recommended for all new projects.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.6 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.3.6
A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:
I'm happy to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.3.5. Intended to support NaNoRenO 2025 projects, this is a fix releases for Ren'Py 8.3.5. Ren'Py 8 is recommended for all new projects.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.5 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.3.5
A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:
I've made the first prerelease of Ren'Py 8.3.5 and Ren'Py 7.8.5. Intended to support NaNoRenO 2025 projects, these are fix releases for Ren'Py 8.3.5 and Ren'Py 7.8.5, respectively. Ren'Py 8 is recommended for all new projects.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.5 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.3.5
Downloads of Ren'Py 7....
2025-02-27 05:14:51 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's article is the first Ren’Py developer update for 2025. This month saw a lot of major changes to Ren’Py, as I’m trying to finish the features that will be in the next major release. In this article, I’ll talk a bit more about the work on compressed slots, some more memory reduction work, and the new feature I announced at Visual;Conference - 3D model loading. I’ll also talk about what to e...
2025-01-31 23:42:58 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's article is the last Ren'Py developer update for 2024. . This year featured two major releases of the engine, and a steady stream of fix releases, with the next major release planned for early 2025. December was no exception, featuring one fix release and a lot of work on the next major version, which features upgrades to Python and many changes to Ren’Py’s internals to make it faster and b...
2024-12-31 23:14:10 +0000 UTC View PostI'm happy to announce the release of Ren'Py 8.3.4 and Ren'Py 7.8.4, fix releases that improves earlier versions of Ren'Py 8.3 and 7.8 . Ren'Py 8.3 should be used for all new games. Please see the changelog for a complete list of changes.
Downloads of Ren'Py 8.3.4 can be found at:
https://www.renpy.org/release/8.3.4
Downloads of Ren'Py 7.8.4 can be found at:
2024-12-08 23:29:45 +0000 UTC
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This month's article is the Ren’Py Developer Update for November 2024. This month, I’ve been back up to speed, and putting my energy towards fix releases. In this update, I’ll talk about the previous and next release, and plans for the next major release. Then, after that, I’ll talk about how to write issue reports that make it easier to get your issues triaged and fixed, by describing how I u...
2024-11-30 21:33:17 +0000 UTC View Post