Short answer: Once your upload passes its startup check, your game plays in the browser with nothing to install. Play it, change a line in Forge and watch the game follow, fill in the listing, and upload each new version of your game as you make it. The Versions page shows what changed and what readers have.
1. Let it build (a few minutes)
When the ZIP has finished uploading you can leave the page. Your project's card on the Studio home shows the progress while Vizno compiles your own scripts with Ren'Py. Then Vizno starts the game once to make sure it runs, and the card reads Checking your game. When that check passes, the card says Import complete and you get a notification. Open either one to land on your project's welcome page.
If something goes wrong, the card says so, and Details or What went wrong opens the Versions page on that upload, with the file and line where Ren'Py stopped.
2. Play it (5 min)
The welcome page's first button, Play your game, opens your game in a new tab. It is a private preview: only you can open it. Under it is a row of checks: the Ren'Py version your game was compiled with, that it starts in the browser, and whether saves are kept.
If it says Saves are not kept, your game does not set a save folder, so saves are lost when the game closes. Add a line like define config.save_directory = "my-game" to options.rpy, in Forge or in your own copy before your next upload.
"In your game" counts what Vizno found in your scripts: scripts, labels, choices, images, audio and videos.
3. Change a line in Forge (15 min)
Open Forge shows your scripts beside the running game. Pick a script, change a line of dialogue, and save with Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac). When the running game can take the change as it is, it updates as soon as you save. Every saved change also goes into a new build about two minutes after your last save, or straight away with Build now.
If a build fails, the build button names the file. Open it to read the error and use Go to line to jump to the line Ren'Py reported. The Problems panel lists it too.
4. Make the listing (10 min)
Make it yours opens the listing: title, summary, description, category, keywords, content warnings, rating and key art. The listing is what readers see in the catalog, so fill in the essentials before your game is published.
When a build passes its checks, Submit for review appears on the Episodes page and on Versions. A reviewer plays the build and approves it, which publishes it; if it comes back, the reviewer's notes show on the same panel, and you submit your next build. The reviewer checks the rating and front from your listing, so set them before you submit.
The welcome page also offers Starter configuration under Open Forge: two ways to set how the game sells (a serialized game with the newest episode paid and a membership, or a completed game with the first episode free and a Season Pass). It shows what would change before you apply, nothing is paid until you do, and it only applies to a project that has no prices or memberships yet. The same button sits beside Add episode on the Episodes page.
5. Upload the next version
Changed your game on your own computer? Zip the game folder again and choose Upload new version on the Versions page, the Episodes page or your project card's menu. The ZIP replaces the whole source. If it does not build, the last working build stays, and readers' saves carry over to the new version. If you also changed files in Forge since your last upload, the dialog lists them before you upload, and you can bring them back afterwards. How do I upload a new version of my Ren'Py game? covers what goes in the ZIP and what happens next.
If your game ships as several downloads, add each one as an episode on the Episodes page. Each episode has its own builds and versions.
6. Read the Versions page
Versions, in your project's side menu, lists every upload and Forge build of an episode, newest first:
- Readers and In Studio at the top show what readers play and what you have in Studio, and whether it starts.
- Each upload is named after
define config.versionin your scripts, or after the ZIP's file name. Forge builds sit under the upload they started from, numbered, such as "1.2 · Forge build 3". Failed attempts sit under their version. - Selecting one shows what went wrong (the file and line, with Fix in Forge or Upload a fixed ZIP), what changed from the build before it, whether readers' saves carry over, things to check, its files and its technical details.