Ten Years of Ren'Py

[PyTom]

Today marks ten years since the first public release of Ren'Py.

Ren'Py isn't the first open source project I'd worked on, or even the first project I had released publicly. If you look at my late teens and early twenties, I had this history of starting projects and quickly abandoning them when the world failed to take interest. For a time, it looked like Ren'Py would be the same as all the other projects - an initial surge of interest, and then neglect.

And then, something changed. After being away from the forums for a few months, I saw that a small community had formed around those first releases. People were trying to use Ren'Py, despite the many problems it had. After rewriting Ren'Py to address the worse problems, I kept improving it. And ten years later, a worldwide team of programmers and translators is still improving Ren'Py every day.

I remember back at the start, when I was working on Ren'Py 4 and 5, I though that the total worldwide market for a visual novel engine would be about a hundred people. I kind of hoped that one day, Ren'Py would be used by that many creators.

In 2013, Ren'Py was downloaded over 40,000 times.

I think it's phenomenal to see how the community has grown by leaps and bounds. We've had games with hundreds of thousands of players - perhaps even millions by now, forming communities in their own right. Games made with Ren'Py have won awards, been exhibited in art galleries, and found their place in selective software stores.

I can't take any of the credit for that, any more than the guy who makes paintbrushes can take credit for the works an artist paints with them. But at the same time, it's still overwhelming to see such creativity and think that I was involved in it in some manner.

The games I'm proudest of, though, are the small quirky visual novels created by people who have never made a game before - games that could never sell, but that the world is better for. I like to think that Ren'Py is an enabling technology, helping people make works that might or might not have existed.

I'd like to end by saying thank you to everyone who uses Ren'Py - my fellow developers, visual novel creators, and the players who play the games they've created. It's your efforts that give Ren'Py purpose - and it's that ever-increasing sense of purpose that makes developing Ren'Py rewarding, as it enters its next ten years.

[xela]

Thank you for your hard work over the years. I am sure everyone around here is glad that you stuck with the project

[Kinsman]

It's good to hear that you're happy with how Ren'Py turned out, Tom.

[noeinan]

Ren'Py is a great engine and has a great community surrounding it. Thank you, PyTom, for creating something that inspires people and has enabled us all to come together to make games.

[SundownKid]

It's an incredibly flexible, up to date engine, where you can make almost any 2D story based game, so I say kudos for doing what a company couldn't, or wouldn't do. Ren'py is actually commercial quality software, or better.

[Keinart]

That was a really good speech, Tom. I think everyone here is grateful for what you have done. Visual Novels are one of those things that look like the easiest way to create a "videogame", but after you try to start working on one you realize how hard actually is. Renpy makes everything easier and actually lets you start creating something, most of us won't even know what to do to begin with so the only thing I can say is thank you.

[ketskari]

Ren'Py is an amazing tool. I love this medium and the engine takes so much of the tedium out of the process. Thank you for your time and effort. :)

[philat]

Thanks for all the love and hard work you've poured into Renpy! It's truly an amazing tool and loads of fun to boot.

[MaiMai]

Without Ren'Py, I wouldn't be part of this community. It's been years since I've made my first story and I want to do so again. Thank you for always keeping the software updated and supporting creators and developers PyTom!

[montoli]

I'd like to end by saying thank you to everyone who uses Ren'Py - my fellow developers, visual novel creators, and the players who play the games they've created. It's your efforts that give Ren'Py purpose - and it's that ever-increasing sense of purpose that makes developing Ren'Py rewarding, as it enters its next ten years.

I'd like to turn it around and say thank YOU for making Ren'Py, and making it free. Ten years is a long time to provide a free project to the world, but know that it is REALLY AWESOME and REALLY APPRECIATED that you do. You are actively making gaming more awesome. You are actively increasing the number of people who can turn their ideas into games.

You are actively making the world a better place, and that is really really cool.

Thank you. For 10 years worth of work so that we can make games more easily. You are the best kind of person!

[jack_norton]

Big thumbs up for your work, Tom!
Is really impressive the results Ren'Py has obtained, in particular the increased popularity in the last 2-3 years. My conversations with dev friends went from:
Me: "I'm using Ren'Py, is a cool tool that-"
Them: "Whhat?? Ren'po?"

to:
Me: "I'm using-"
Them: "Ah yes Ren'Py! I know about it! Rulez, bla bla"

Don't know what the future holds but I'm pretty sure Ren'Py will still be here in 10 years

[Vaendryl]

Thanks Tom! I'm actually fairly new to the engine but I really love how flexible it is and it's amazing you've been able to keep supporting it for this long. I hope it will still be around 10 years from now too!

[sapiboonggames]

It should be us saying thank you to you.
If you hadn't made RenPy, making my own VN would have been an impossible dream

[saguaro]

I appreciate you, Tom, and all your time and dedication. I don't post here very often these days, but I try to keep up with the version updates and the engine just keeps getting better and better. It's such a great resource.

[Vatina]

Congratulations Tom

I haven't posted much on this forum for a long while now, but have loved having Renpy and this place available for many years now. I really appreciate the hard work and good attitude put into this engine.