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Aseprite

DESIGN
Velocity5.0

Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool

aseprite.org ↗

Aseprite's 1.3.18 cycle spent its energy on the UI framework, not the drawing tools.

pixel-artanimationui-refactordual-release-traintilemaps
◆Current state
Aseprite runs a stable line and a beta line in parallel, and the same fix routinely appears in both within minutes — the tilemap tile-selection and zoom distortion fixes landed as 1.3.17.2 and 1.3.18-beta3 on the same day. The 1.3.18 release itself is dominated by interface and internal work: faster undo/redo by keeping document objects in memory, a widget consistency pass, a tooltip manager with configurable delay, search in Preferences, and the .aseprite encoder moved into the dio library.
◆Where it's heading
This cycle is infrastructure with a UI face on it. Preferences search, tooltip control and widget consistency are the kind of changes that accumulate into an application feeling maintained, while the encoder move and the refactors described as groundwork for new layer types are the project clearing the way for something structural later. Actual drawing and animation features in this window are smaller and mostly contributor-driven: rounded rectangle selection, power-of-two sprite sheets, better layer group presentation.
◆Prediction
The refactors flagged as preparation for new layer types are the clearest thread here, so the next substantive cycle is more likely to spend that groundwork than to continue on interface plumbing.

◆Recent moves

  1. 12d ago

    Aseprite v1.3.18.1

    A same-day patch on 1.3.18 clearing three crashes — timeline tag hover, backup saving, themes missing a layout selector icon — plus GIF version 89a on multi-frame export. The speed of the follow-up suggests the crashes surfaced immediately on release.

    View source ↗
  2. 12d ago

    Aseprite v1.3.18

    The stable landing of the 1.3.18 cycle: undo and redo made faster by keeping document objects resident, a widget consistency pass, a tooltip manager, Preferences search, and the .aseprite encoder relocated into the dio library alongside refactors described as preparation for new layer types.

    View source ↗
  3. 3mo ago

    Aseprite v1.3.18-beta3

    The beta-line copy of fixes that shipped simultaneously as 1.3.17.2, with one addition restricting format auto-detection to built-in formats. Duplicated content across the two trains is routine for this project.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    Aseprite v1.3.17.2

    Two real editing bugs fixed on the stable line: single tiles could not be selected in a tilemap layer in tiles mode, and zooming to 20% distorted layers. Both hit core workflows for tile-based work.

    View source ↗
  5. 3mo ago

    Aseprite v1.3.18-beta2

    Better layer group presentation in the timeline, hidden layers no longer affecting z-index, and a power-of-two-size CLI flag for sprite sheet export. The CLI flag is the notable one — it targets engine pipelines rather than the editor.

    View source ↗
  6. 3mo ago

    Aseprite v1.3.17.1

    A patch release built largely from outside contributions: extensions installable by dropping them into the preferences dialog, Insert Text pasting at the viewport centre, and fixes to thin ellipse tips and color picker bounds. The extension drop-install lowers the friction on Aseprite's add-on story.

    View source ↗