Ren'Py

Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine

An example of a Ren'Py-created scene.
Original author(s)	Tom "PyTom" Rothamel
Developer(s)	Tom "PyTom" Rothamel[1]
Initial release	August 24, 2004
Stable release	Ren'Py 6.99.11 / September 5, 2016
Development status	Active
Written in	Python
Operating system	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, IOS
Size	25 MB
Available in	English for the engine - UTF-8 use for resulting programs
Type	Game engine (visual novel)
License	MIT License[2]
Alexa rank	[3]
Website	renpy.org

The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine is a free software engine which facilitates the creation of visual novels, a form of computer-mediated storytelling. Ren'Py is a portmanteau of ren'ai (恋愛), the Japanese word for 'love', a common element of games made using Ren'Py; and Python, the programming language that Ren'Py runs on. Ren'Py has proved attractive to English-language hobbyists; over 1000 games use the Ren'Py engine, nearly all in English.^[4][5]

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, 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.^[6]

Ren'Py is built on pygame, which is built with Python on SDL. Ren'Py is officially supported on Windows, recent versions of Mac OS X, and Linux; and can be installed via the package managers of the Arch Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo (in experimental overlay^[7]) Linux distributions. It has also been ported to Android,^[6] as well as OpenBSD and as of the pre-release of version 7, iOS.^[8]

Reception

Ren'Py has been recommended as a video game creation engine by several outlets, including Indiegames.com, MakeUseOf, and The Guardian.^[9][10][11] It has been used in classes at Carnegie Mellon School of Art,^[12] and as a tool for information literacy.^[13]

Games using Ren'Py

• Akabur
  • Princess Trainer^[14]
  • Witch Trainer^[15]
• BerndSoft
  • Bernd and the Mystery of Unteralterbach^[16]
• Christine Love
  • Digital: A Love Story^[17]
  • Don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story^[18]
  • Analogue: A Hate Story^[19][20]
• Cyanide Tea
  • Break Chance Memento^[21]
• Dischan Media
  • Juniper's Knot^[6][22]
  • Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos^[23]
• Falling snow games
  • lucid9
• Four Leaf Studios
  • Katawa Shoujo^[24]
• Hanako Games
  • Date Warp
  • Long Live The Queen
  • Magical Diary
  • The Royal Trap
• Illus Seed
  • Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club^[25]
• Jafasoft
  • Neko no Yume
• Love in Space
  • Sunrider:Mask of Arcadius^[26]
  • Sunrider:Academy^[27]
  • Sunrider:Liberation Day
• Marcel Weyers
  • Sleepless Night^[28]
  • This Is Where I Want To Die^[29]
  • To Kill A Black Swan^[30]
• Nekomura Games
  • Princess Battles^[31]
• Paper Dino Software
  • Save the Date^[32]
• Riva Celso
  • Always Remember Me
  • Bionic Heart
  • Heileen
  • Loren The Amazon Princess^[33]
  • Planet Stronghold
  • Roommates
  • Summer Session
  • Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf
• roseVeRte
  • Café 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~^[34]
• sakevisual
  • Jisei series^{[35][36][37][38]}
  • RE: Alistair

• Seraphim Entertainment
  • Seduce Me The Otome
  • Seduce Me 2: The Demon War

• Soviet Games
  • Everlasting Summer
  • Winter Tale
• Spicy Tails
  • World End Economica (Sakai Visual port)^[39]
• Team NEET
  • Sepia Tears ~midwinter's reprise~^{[40][41][42][43][44][45]}
• YGGDRASIL STUDIO
  • Discouraged Workers
• WarGirl Games
  • Over The Hills And Far Away

See also

• List of visual novel engines

References

1. Lin, Maria (December 2005). "Returning the Love: Three Fans Taking the Next Step". Animefringe. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
2. "Legal Notice". renpy.org. December 2011.
3. renpy.org, Alexa.com
4. "List of Ren'Py games". renpy.org.
5. QuickJump staff (24 November 2007). "Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine: make your own visual novel, dating sim". QuickJump. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
6. "The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine". Ren'Py. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
7. "Installing Ren'Py on Gentoo Linux".
8. "Ren'Py 6.99".
9. "IndieGames.com - The Weblog Indie Tools: Ren'Py". indiegames.com. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
10. "Learn To Make Your Own Visual Novels With Ren'Py, Or Play One Of These". MakeUseOf. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
11. Stuart, Keith (2014-03-20). "How to get into the games industry – an insiders' guide". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
12. "Experimental Game Design". mycours.es. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
13. Sullivan, Dean; Critten, Jessica (2014-11-01). "Adventures in Research Creating a video game textbook for an information literacy course". College & Research Libraries News. 75 (10): 570–573. ISSN 0099-0086.
14. "Princess Trainer". Akabur. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
15. "Witch Trainer". Akabur. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
16. "Bernd and the Mystery of Unteralterbach". BerndSoft. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
17. Love, Christine. "Digital: A Love Story". Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
18. "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story". Scoutshonour.com. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
19. Love, Christine (2012). "Analogue: A Hate Story". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
20. "Analogue: A Hate Story on Steam". www.steampowered.com. Valve Corporation. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
21. "Break Chance Memento". Cyanide Tea. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
22. "Juniper's Knot". Dischan Media. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
23. ""Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos" Released | Devblog". Dischan.org. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
24. "Katawa Shoujo". Katawa Shoujo. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
25. "Asagao Academy Credits". Illus Seed Games.
26. store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/313730
27. http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/340730
28. "Sleepless Night | ~Marcel Weyers~". En.marcel-weyers.de. 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
29. "This Is Where I Want To Die | ~Marcel Weyers~". En.marcel-weyers.de. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
30. "To Kill A Black Swan | ~Marcel Weyers~". En.marcel-weyers.de. 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
31. Nekomura Games. "Princess Battles". Nekomura Games. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
32. Paper Dino Software. "Save the Date". Paper Dino Software. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
33. "Loren the Amazon Princess". Games.renpy.org. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
34. roseVeRte. "Cafe 0". Roseverte.net. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
35. "About Jisei". Retrieved August 27, 2011.
36. "Visual novels and anime games for your computer!". sakevisual. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
37. "Kansei - A supernatural murder mystery game by sakevisual". sakevisual.com. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
38. "Yousei - A supernatural murder mystery game by sakevisual". Sakevisual.com. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
39. Sekai Project (2014-08-14). "New build out". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved 2015-01-11.
40. "Team NEET". Evn.eternicity.net. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
41. "Sepia Tears". Team Neet. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
42. "Ren'Py Games List : Sepia Tears". Games.renpy.org. 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
43. "Sepia Tears | Studio Mugenjohncel". Studiomugenjohncel.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
44. "Sepia Tears on Desura". desura.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
45. "Sepia Tears on Google Play Store". play.google.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01.

External links

• Official website (Game database)
  • Ren'Py Translations into various languages
• Ren'Py forum