Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

RenPy VS Upbge

Compare RenPy VS Upbge and see what are their differences

RenPy logo RenPy

Ren'Py is a free and cross-platform visual novel engine that helps you use words, pictures, and...

Upbge logo Upbge

A game-engine fully integrated in Blender
  • RenPy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06
  • Upbge Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-27

RenPy features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Ren'Py is designed to be accessible for beginners, providing detailed documentation and a robust community for support, making it easy to get started with visual novel development.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Ren'Py allows you to deploy your games across various platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, broadening your potential audience.
  • Customizability
    Despite its ease of use, Ren'Py offers significant flexibility and customizability through Python scripting, allowing advanced users to create complex game mechanics.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, Ren'Py is freely available and community-driven, which encourages transparency and continuous improvement.
  • Built-in Features
    It comes packed with numerous built-in features like save/load, rollback, and dialogue auto-advance, which save development time.

Possible disadvantages of RenPy

  • Performance Limitations
    While Ren'Py is excellent for visual novels, it may not be suitable for more performance-intensive or graphically demanding games.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic features are easy to implement, mastering advanced customizations and Python scripting can take considerable time and effort.
  • Limited Built-In Asset Library
    Ren'Py does not come with a comprehensive library of assets, so developers often need to source or create their own visual and audio elements.
  • Niche Focus
    Ren'Py is specialized for visual novels and narrative-driven games, limiting its utility for other genres of games like action or real-time strategy.
  • User Interface Constraints
    The default UI elements can feel limiting and may require significant customization to stand out or meet specific aesthetic requirements.

Upbge features and specs

  • Integration with Blender
    UPBGE is built on top of Blender, allowing users to leverage Blender's powerful modeling, texturing, and animation tools within the game engine.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, UPBGE is free to use and modify. This allows for a high degree of customization and community-driven development.
  • Python Scripting
    UPBGE supports Python scripting, which provides flexibility and depth for game logic and allows developers to automate tasks and create complex behaviors.
  • Cross-Platform
    Games developed with UPBGE can be deployed across multiple platforms, enhancing their accessibility and potential reach.
  • Active Community
    The UPBGE community is active and growing, providing valuable resources, tutorials, and support for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Upbge

  • Learning Curve
    While UPBGE is accessible, mastering both Blender and the game engine's functionalities requires time and effort, especially for beginners.
  • Performance Limitations
    UPBGE may not match the performance capabilities of more established game engines like Unity or Unreal when handling large, complex projects.
  • Smaller User Base
    Compared to other major game engines, UPBGE has a smaller user base, which means fewer resources and third-party integrations are available.
  • Documentation
    While there are resources available, UPBGE's documentation may not be as comprehensive or up-to-date as more mainstream engines, complicating the development process.
  • Feature Set
    Although UPBGE offers a wide range of features, it may lack some advanced tools and technologies found in other established game engines.

Analysis of RenPy

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Ren'Py is generally considered a good tool for creating visual novels and interactive stories.

Why this product is good

  • Ren'Py is favored because it is user-friendly for both beginners and experienced developers, offering a simple scripting language built on Python. It provides a robust set of features, such as branching story paths, customizable user interfaces, and multimedia support. Its strong community and extensive documentation make it accessible to new users, while its flexibility allows for more complex and nuanced projects.

Recommended for

  • Individuals or small teams interested in creating visual novels
  • Educational purposes for teaching storytelling or programming
  • Indie developers looking for a free and versatile game engine
  • Hobbyists exploring interactive fiction or narrative game design

RenPy videos

What is RENPY?! - Softlocked

Upbge videos

UPBGE 0.3 Released -- Blender Game Engine's Spiritual Successor

More videos:

  • Review - Engine Review: Blender Game Engine em 2020? (UPBGE) #01

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to RenPy and Upbge)
Game Development
83 83%
17% 17
Game Engine
62 62%
38% 38
Visual Novel Engine
100 100%
0% 0
3D Game Engine
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare RenPy and Upbge

RenPy Reviews

11 tools to get you started making video games
Learning tools: There is a free text walk-through of how to make a simple game in Ren’Py and additional text-based guides for more specific customization.

Upbge Reviews

We have no reviews of Upbge yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, RenPy should be more popular than Upbge. It has been mentiond 16 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

RenPy mentions (16)

  • Dioxus 0.5: Web, Desktop, Mobile Apps in Rust
    Food for thought: I have started, stopped, rewrote, given up, and restarted development of a visual novel engine over and over again. My vision is something kind of like Ren'Py[1] but with cross-device game saves, cleaner packaging, improved DRM, better support for complex nonlinear plot development, and better tools for developing game mechanics that go beyond clicking through paragraphs of text. A... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Voyages in the Domain of Artificial Ingenuity: Unveiling the Enigma of Stable Diffusion and the Odyssey of Comfy UI
    This marks the second phase of my expedition into the realm of Artificial Intelligence, the realm of Stable Diffusion, and the intricate domain of Ren’py. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • So i want to develop a visual novel... What do i need?
    Haven't used it but I hear nothing but good things about Ren'Py for Visual Novels. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Parsing the script failed: expected statement define e = Character("Eileen", color="#FFFFFF")
    You could also try download Renpy 8.1 from the renpy.org to see if that helps if it is something with that copy of Renpy 8.0.3. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How can I (28M) enter the gaming industry with my disability?
    You mentioned that your interests lay in more story/narrative roles? Get yourself a good book on Narrative Design, grab Ink+Unity or, better yet, Ren'py (renpy.org) and get to making some Narrative Games! Show your skills in not only writing but implementation. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

Upbge mentions (5)

  • Ask HN: Yo wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?
    Starting with 2d games is very good advice however if the child is mostly interested in 3d, well not the most helpful advice. Some people here forget that children are way more tolerant of not understanding things than adults are. They just want to get a quick taste not necessary dedicate their life to the study of game development. I think something like RPG in a Box https://rpginabox.com/ is nice if the child... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Unity’s New Pricing: A Wake-Up Call on the Importance of Open Source in Gaming
    It's not as monolithic as you'd think. There are lots of engines out there but their communities aren't very vocal compared to Unity, Unreal, and especially Godot's community. Take a look at: https://itch.io/game-development/engines/most-projects And https://www.gamedeveloper.com/blogs/the-generous-space-of-alternative-game-engines-a-curation- If you look at both of these you'll see just how many engines there are... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Should I focus on C# or Pygame?
    UPBGE which was formerly part of Blender is the only modern 3D engine I know of that supports Python for game development. Source: about 2 years ago
  • is there Can Blender be used to create virtual tours of interior spaces?
    Another would be https://upbge.org/ 3D game engine forked from the old Blender Game Engine and deployed with Blender itself. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Would be nice to subtract Substance and Photoshop from the workflow
    There still is a fork of the old one https://upbge.org/. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing RenPy and Upbge, you can also consider the following products

Twine - Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.

Godot Engine - Feature-packed 2D and 3D open source game engine.

Unity - The multiplatform game creation tools for everyone.

Visual Novel Maker - A revolutionary new tool for Visual Novel Creation aimed towards aspiring artists and writers to...

Unreal Engine - Unreal Engine 4 is a suite of integrated tools for game developers to design and build games, simulations, and visualizations.

GDevelop - GDevelop is an open-source game making software designed to be used by everyone.