PyWeek in the early 2000s. A game jam where Tom Rothamel cobbled together a simple visual novel engine in Python. Twenty years later, that humble project would spawn a multi-million dollar adult gaming industry that has half of Patreon's top earners choking on their dependency lists.
Welcome to the weird world of Ren'Py, the free engine that launched a thousand porn games.
Are you a fan of the visual novel genre?
Chances are, you're already very familiar with Ren'py.
From Broke Student to Six-Figure Dev
You don't need to look far to find the developers who have profited from Ren'py.
Meet Drake (name changed because some people still clutch their pearls over adult games). In 2019, he was a college dropout working retail. Today? His fetish VN masterpiece pulls in five figures monthly on Patreon.
"I learned Python from YouTube and downloaded Ren'Py because it was free," he told us. "My first build was garbage - literally placeholder text and stolen anime assets. But it worked."
He pulls up an ancient build from 2019.
The UI is janky, the character sprites look like they were ripped straight from a budget anime (they probably were), and the dialogue reads like something from Google Translate. But underneath all that mess, you can see the bones of what would become one of the staples of its genre.
"Ren'Py held my hand through the whole thing," he continues, scrolling through old code files. "Like, you know how Unity or Unreal throws you into the deep end? Ren'Py was different. The basic stuff - dialogue, character sprites, backgrounds - that's just a few lines of code. Here, look at this."
"Four, five, six... lines. That's all it takes to get a character on screen, talking. The engine handled all the heavy lifting - sprite positioning, dialogue boxes, saving systems. I didn't have to think about any of that stuff when I was getting started."
That's the thing about Ren'Py. The barrier to entry is so low you could trip over it. It's fuelled an absolute boatload of titles, some good... some not good.
A text editor, basic Python knowledge, and free anime girl sprites from some sketchy forum?
Bang. You've got yourself a dating sim.
But the real magic happens when you start pushing the engine further.
"Once I got the basics down, I discovered you could hack in pretty much anything and the iteration process just accelerated," Drake explains. "Ren'Py doesn't judge. It just gives you the tools and gets out of your way."
Whether the end product will actually be any good is another matter altogether, but if we look at the success stories, who wouldn't want a slice of the action in 2025?
The $0 Engine Making Millionaires
Ren'Py's story is a classic case of right place, right time.
As Patreon's adult gaming scene has exploded, developers have needed an engine that ticks the boxes of both powerful and affordable. Ren'Py is free, open-source, and surprisingly capable.
In other words... the perfect tool for the job.
Look at any major adult visual novel platform today - F95zone, itch.io, or Patreon's NSFW section. You'll find Ren'Py games dominating the charts. Games like "Being a DIK," "Acting Lessons," and "City of Broken Dreamers" have shown just how far you can push this engine.
And if you're skeptical, let's talk numbers, because they're fucking wild:
- Being a DIK: peak of 13,853 paying members, estimated revenue up to $91,000
- Summertime Saga: peak of 31,833 paying members, estimated revenue of up to $215,000 (pictured above)
(All of our numbers sourced from Graphtreon.)
This revenue is driven on the back of a free engine that runs on a modest PC.
Now, granted, these games rely on more than just their choice of engine to deliver satisfaction. There's nothing to say that the same games developed on another engine wouldn't have spawned the same success, but the real question is whether the developers would have actually bothered.
Predictably, the success stories have sparked a gold rush.
Browse through itch.io's adult games section or F95zone's work-in-progress forum, and you'll find countless Ren'Py projects in development. Some are ambitious passion projects "made with love", others are quick cash grabs hoping to strike it rich.
This accessibility is both a blessing and a curse.
"It's too easy to start," says Anime44 on our Discord. "People see those Patreon numbers and think they'll be the next DarkCookie. They don't realize the sheer graft, sweat and tears that goes in to these games. Not to mention... the luck you'll need along the way with marketing and going viral."
While Ren'py has given talented creators a path to success, it's also led to a flood of unfinished projects and asset flips cluttering up storefronts.
The Future is Surprisingly Bright
Despite the engine's age, Ren'Py keeps evolving.
Recent updates have added better support for Live2D animations and improved mobile compatibility. Major adult gaming platforms have embraced it - Nutaku accepts Ren'Py games, and mainstream stores are increasingly open to "mature" titles built with the engine.
So You Want to Make the Next Ren'Py Smash Hit?
Don't we all?
Let's be real: Ren'Py isn't your golden ticket to Patreon riches.
For every DarkCookie success story, there are hundreds of abandoned projects gathering dust on itch.io.
But if you're serious about this, here's your roadmap:
Month 0-3: Learn the Basics
- Master Python fundamentals (seriously, don't skip this*)
- Complete the official Ren'Py tutorial (all of it, not just the first chapter)
- Build a small demo with 3-4 scenes and basic choices
- Join the F95zone dev forums - yes, they're horny, but they're also helpful
*The increasing popularity of AI tools (like Cursor) is a real game-changer for coding with Python, but we still recommend you have a basic understanding of what you're working with.
Month 3-6: Level Up
- Learn proper asset management (folders matter, trust us)
- Master save systems and persistent data
- Figure out how to implement relationship stats
- Build a basic inventory system
- Join Discord communities for adult game devs
Month 6-12: The Real Work
- Start planning your actual game
- Learn marketing (or your masterpiece dies in obscurity)
- Build a Patreon following before release
- Network with other devs
- Consider commissioning original art (stolen assets won't cut it anymore)
If that sounds like a lot of work, that's precisely the point we'd like to make.
A smutty visual novel turning over 100K per month doesn't come cheap.
These games are crafted with love and hard work. Lots of hard work.
Setting Yourself Apart In A Sea of Smut
The mainstream success stories like Being a DIK didn't blow up because it used Ren'Py.
It blew up thanks to:
- Original art that didn't look like every other VN
- Writing that didn't make English teachers cry
- Characters deeper than a puddle
- Marketing that didn't rely on "please play my game"
- Consistent updates (no ghosting for 6 months)
Next time you're browsing Patreon's NSFW game section, look at the tech stack. Chances are, you'll see Ren'Py. The little engine that could, and did, and probably shouldn't have - but we're damn glad it did.
Just remember: The engine isn't magic. Top games aren't built in a weekend, especially by newbs. These games took years of work, learning, and yes - a healthy dose of luck.
But hey, someone's gotta make the next hit.
Might as well be you, right? ?
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