Ren'Py Release Gate
Ren'Py compiles your script, so your script looks fine.
That is the whole problem. Your own save file is three chapters deep, config.developer has been True since the prototype, and every persistent flag you read was written into your persistent file months ago. A first-time player has none of that state. The bugs that survive your testing are exactly the bugs that only a stranger can trigger, and they trigger after the store page is live.
This extension reads .rpy files and reports the lines that pass Ren'Py's compile step and then break in someone else's session.
The fourteen rules
Breaks a player's session
unescaped_substitution - a bare [ in dialogue. Ren'Py reads it as an interpolation and raises an unknown-substitution error on the line a player happens to reach.unbalanced_text_tag - a text tag opened and never closed, or a stray brace. {i}Late again, she thought. compiles; the rest of the scene renders italic or dies.persistent_no_default - persistent.seen_ending_a read with no default persistent.seen_ending_a. You have the value. A new player gets None.tab_indent - Ren'Py indentation is spaces. One tab from a pasted snippet stops the build.
Breaks a player's saves
define_not_default - define used for a variable that is reassigned during play. define values are not saved and not rolled back.missing_save_directory - no config.save_directory. Rename or re-version the project later and every existing save is orphaned.
Ships something you did not mean to ship
developer_mode_shipped - config.developer = True puts the console and the developer menu in the build.console_enabled - config.console = True, same door, held open explicitly.autoreload_enabled - config.autoreload = True pinned in a shipped build.source_rpy_in_build - build rules present, but nothing excludes game/**.rpy, so readable script source travels with the distribution.
Breaks on a machine that is not yours
nonportable_asset_path - "C:/Users/dev/art/logo.png", a backslash separator or a leading /. Fine on your disk, missing on Linux, macOS and Android builds.removed_image_cache_size - config.image_cache_size, superseded by config.image_cache_size_mb.deprecated_im_api - im.Scale, im.MatrixColor and the rest of the deprecated image manipulators.placeholder_version - config.version still "1.0" from the template, the string your storefront and your crash reports quote back at you.
What it does on a real file
The _fixtures/dirty.rpy shipped with this extension is 28 lines and compiles without complaint. The gate returns 14 findings: 10 errors and 4 warnings. _fixtures/clean.rpy is the same scene, gated: 0 findings.
Using it
- Open a
.rpy file.
- Command palette: Ren'Py Release Gate: Check this file.
- Findings land in the Problems panel with line numbers, and in a report view with the fix for each.
Free and licensed
Free, with no key and no counter: one .rpy file, every finding in it, every fix. That is a finished job for one file.
The licence adds the other axis - scope and a document you keep: Sweep workspace and write report walks every .rpy file in the project in one pass and writes a release report for CI, a publisher or your own archive. $29 once, one key per person or CI seat, seven-day full refund.
Yardstick: putting one title on Steam costs $100 in Steam Direct fees, before a single crash report arrives.
The same engine in a browser
https://getreadystack.com/tools/renpy-release-gate runs the identical rule set on pasted text, with no install.
Licence
See LICENSE.txt.
