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Aseprite

DESIGN
Velocity5.0

Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool

aseprite.org ↗

Steady 1.3 maintenance, with the Lua API quietly becoming Aseprite's extension point.

pixel artlua apiextensibilitymaintenance traintilemapsperformance
◆Current state
Aseprite is deep into a long 1.3.x maintenance line: v1.3.18 landed in July after three betas stretching back to February, followed within the hour by a 1.3.18.1 crash-fix patch and, two weeks later, a one-line 1.3.18.2. The substantive work in 1.3.18 splits three ways — performance (undo/redo now keeps doc::Objects in memory), discoverability (Preferences search, configurable tooltip delay, clearer layer groups in the timeline), and Lua API growth (custom file formats for load and save, eyedropper in app.useTool). By volume, bug fixes dominate: tilemap selection, zoom distortion, crash paths.
◆Where it's heading
The cadence is beta → final → patch, with identical fixes backported across the 1.3.17.x and 1.3.18.x branches — several entries here are branch twins carrying the same two or three fixes. The one directional thread is extensibility: the Lua API version moved 39 → 40 and now lets third-party code register sprite load/save formats the core used to own exclusively. Separately, "refactors needed for new layer types" appears across two releases as internal groundwork with no user-visible effect yet.
◆Prediction
Expect the 1.3.18.x patch train to keep absorbing crash reports at this pace, with the next feature release cashing in the new-layer-type refactors that have been landing quietly.

◆Recent moves

  1. 12d ago

    Patch guards against uninitialized move-tool parameters

    A single-line hardening fix for uninitialized MoveThings parameters, two weeks after 1.3.18.1. It is the third patch in a month on the 1.3.18 line — the crash-absorption phase that follows every Aseprite feature release.

    View source ↗
  2. 26d ago

    Three crash fixes and a GIF 89a header correction

    Three crash fixes and a GIF header correction landed within an hour of 1.3.18 itself, which is the established pattern: the feature release ships, the immediate regressions get patched the same day. Nothing here changes what the editor can do.

    View source ↗
  3. 26d ago

    Custom file-format Lua API, faster undo, power-of-two sheets

    The release the three betas were building toward: in-memory undo/redo, a Preferences search field, power-of-two sprite-sheet sizes on both CLI and UI, and a Lua API that can now register custom load/save formats. It widens the extension surface more than the core toolset, which fits the arc of the whole 1.3 line.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    Beta 3: tilemap selection, 20% zoom, format detection fixes

    A three-fix beta covering tilemap tile selection, 20% zoom distortion, and format auto-detection. All three shipped the same day to the stable 1.3.17.2 branch, so this beta carries no exclusive change.

    View source ↗
  5. 3mo ago

    Stable-branch patch: tilemap selection and zoom fixes

    The stable-branch twin of beta3, carrying the same tilemap selection and zoom distortion fixes. Dual-branch backporting like this is routine for the 1.3 line and recurs across these entries.

    View source ↗
  6. 3mo ago

    Beta 2 debuts custom-format Lua API and layer group timeline

    This is where 1.3.18's actual new capability first appears — the Lua plugin API for custom file formats, layer group presentation in the timeline, and the power-of-two sheet CLI flag. The final release three months later restated this set rather than extending it.

    View source ↗