diff --git a/examples/Makefile b/examples/Makefile
index 11845d7..1198da8 100644
--- a/examples/Makefile
+++ b/examples/Makefile
@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@ ASSIMP_LIB := ../$(ASSIMP_DIR)/build/code/libassimp.a
 endif
 
 EXAMPLE_SOURCES = \
-	hello_world/main.cpp \
-	assimp_loading/main.cpp \
-	simple_mesh/main.cpp
+	render_groups/main.cpp
+	#hello_world/main.cpp \
+	#assimp_loading/main.cpp \
+	#simple_mesh/main.cpp
 EXAMPLE_OBJECTS = $(patsubst %/, $(OBJDIR)/%.o, $(dir $(EXAMPLE_SOURCES)))
 
 all: mkdirs $(EXAMPLE_OBJECTS)
diff --git a/examples/assimp_loading/main.cpp b/examples/assimp_loading/main.cpp
index 39a13d4..5892f8f 100644
--- a/examples/assimp_loading/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/assimp_loading/main.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ doFrameCallback(render_state* rs)
 		rotate_mod = 1;
 
 	// NOTE: rotate mesh on z-axis every frame
-	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0].entities[0];
+	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
 	static float angle = (float) M_PI_2 / 33;
 	static glm::vec3 axis(0, 0, 1);
 	entRotate(e, angle * rotate_mod, axis);
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ int
 main()
 {
 	render_state* rs = renInit("assimp loading");
+	rs->render_groups = UTIL_ALLOC(256, render_group*);
 
 	if (rs == nullptr) {
 		LOG(Error) << "Error Initialzing renderer\n";
@@ -50,9 +51,9 @@ main()
 
 	// TODO: this needs to be more convenient
 	shader_wrapper sw = { DEFAULT_SHADER, rs->default_shader, nullptr };
-	rs->render_groups = renAllocateGroup(1, sw);
+	rs->render_groups[0] = renAllocateGroup(1, sw);
 	rs->render_group_count = 1;
-	entity& spaceship = rs->render_groups->entities[0];
+	entity& spaceship = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
 
 	cameraInitPerspective(
 		rs->cam,
diff --git a/examples/data/icosphere.glb b/examples/data/icosphere.glb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73d3fe3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/data/icosphere.glb
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:50b0efdbf32acbf2d9191856dc882405430d5788e96059b27176c1c7c1ddec70
+size 606540
diff --git a/examples/render_groups/main.cpp b/examples/render_groups/main.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34863dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/render_groups/main.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+
+#include <glm/glm.hpp>
+
+#include "dumbLog.h"
+#include "input.h"
+#include "mesh.h"
+#include "renderer.h"
+
+
+simple_mesh*
+makeSquareMesh()
+{
+	uint num_vertices = 4;
+	simple_mesh* sm = meInitMesh(num_vertices);
+	sm->num_vertices = num_vertices;
+
+	sm->vertices[0] = glm::vec3(-200, 0, 200);
+	sm->vertices[1] = glm::vec3(-200, 0, -200);
+	sm->vertices[2] = glm::vec3(200, 0, -200);
+	sm->vertices[3] = glm::vec3(200, 0, 200);
+	sm->vert_colors[0] = glm::vec3(255, 0, 0);
+	sm->vert_colors[1] = glm::vec3(255, 0, 0);
+	sm->vert_colors[2] = glm::vec3(255, 0, 0);
+	sm->vert_colors[3] = glm::vec3(255, 0, 0);
+
+	return sm;
+}
+
+void
+doFrameCallbackPre(render_state* rs)
+{
+	static input_state is = {};
+	inputProcessEvents(&is);
+
+	if (is.window_closed || is.escape) {
+		rs->running = false;
+		return;
+	}
+
+	// NOTE: rotate meshes on z-axis every frame
+	const float deg_angle = 3; // NOTE: angle to rotate per frame in degrees
+	static float angle = (float) deg_angle * M_PI_2 / 360;
+	static glm::vec3 axis(0, 0, 1);
+
+	entity& ship = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
+	entRotate(ship, angle , axis);
+	entity& sphere = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[1];
+	entRotate(sphere, angle , axis);
+	entity& square = rs->render_groups[1]->entities[0];
+	entRotate(square, -1 * angle , axis);
+}
+
+int
+main()
+{
+	render_state* rs = renInit("render group example");
+
+	if (rs == nullptr) {
+		LOG(Error) << "Error Initialzing renderer\n";
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	cameraInitPerspective(
+		rs->cam,
+		glm::vec3(50, -100, 25),
+		glm::vec3(0, 0, 0),
+		glm::vec3(0,0,1)
+	);
+
+	renAddLight(rs, glm::vec3(-20, -150, 150));
+
+	// FIXME: this introduces a potential buffer overrun. Need to implement
+	//	a memory manager for render_groups, eg:
+	//		renPushGroup(rs, new_group)
+	//		rgPushEntity(rg, new_ent)
+	rs->render_groups = UTIL_ALLOC(256, render_group*);
+
+	// TODO: this needs to be more convenient
+	shader_wrapper sw = { DEFAULT_SHADER, rs->default_shader, nullptr };
+	rs->render_groups[0] = renAllocateGroup(2, sw);
+	rs->render_group_count = 1;
+	entity& spaceship = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
+	entity& sphere = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[1];
+
+	if (!entInitModel(spaceship, "../data/spaceship.glb") ||
+		!entInitModel(sphere, "../data/icosphere.glb"))
+	{
+		LOG(Error) << "Error initializing entity, exiting\n";
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	entSetWorldPosition(spaceship, glm::vec3(-50, 0, 0));
+	entScale(spaceship, glm::vec3(2, 2, 2));
+	entScale(sphere, glm::vec3(20, 20, 20));
+
+	shader_wrapper sw2 = { SIMPLE_SHADER, nullptr, rs->simple_shader };
+	rs->render_groups[1] = renAllocateGroup(1, sw2);
+	rs->render_group_count++;
+
+	entity& square = rs->render_groups[1]->entities[0];
+	simple_mesh* sm = makeSquareMesh();
+
+	// TODO: better usage would be: renPushEntity(rs->render_groups[0], e);
+	// 	would need to allocate a reasonable block size by default (~64), and
+	// 	double it if pushing to render_group would overflow
+	entInitMesh(square, sm, GL_LINE_LOOP);
+	entScale(square, glm::vec3(0.2, 0.2, 0.2));
+
+	renDoRenderLoop(rs, 60, doFrameCallbackPre);
+
+	renShutdown(rs);
+	return 0;
+}
+
diff --git a/examples/simple_mesh/main.cpp b/examples/simple_mesh/main.cpp
index e4cd0e3..fd67b6d 100644
--- a/examples/simple_mesh/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/simple_mesh/main.cpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ doFrameCallbackPre(render_state* rs)
 		rotate_mod = 1;
 
 	// NOTE: rotate mesh on z-axis every frame
-	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0].entities[0];
+	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
 	static float angle = (float) M_PI_2 / 33;
 	static glm::vec3 axis(0, 0, 1);
 	entRotate(e, angle * rotate_mod, axis);
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ int
 main()
 {
 	render_state* rs = renInit("simple mesh");
+	rs->render_groups = UTIL_ALLOC(256, render_group*);
 
 	if (rs == nullptr) {
 		LOG(Error) << "Error Initialzing renderer\n";
@@ -63,10 +64,10 @@ main()
 
 	// TODO: this needs to be more convenient
 	shader_wrapper sw = { SIMPLE_SHADER, nullptr, rs->simple_shader };
-	rs->render_groups = renAllocateGroup(1, sw);
+	rs->render_groups[0] = renAllocateGroup(1, sw);
 	rs->render_group_count = 1;
 
-	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0].entities[0];
+	entity& e = rs->render_groups[0]->entities[0];
 	simple_mesh* sm = makeSquareMesh();
 
 	// TODO: better usage would be: renPushEntity(rs->render_groups[0], e);
diff --git a/include/renderer.h b/include/renderer.h
index 52b3388..0329e6c 100644
--- a/include/renderer.h
+++ b/include/renderer.h
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ struct render_state
 
 	// TODO: this really needs to be a resizable array, or linked list, or
 	// 	...gasp, std::vector
-	render_group* render_groups;
+	render_group** render_groups;
 	uint render_group_count;
 
 	// TODO: hide shaders behind a better abstraction than 'shader_wrapper'
diff --git a/src/renderer.cpp b/src/renderer.cpp
index 064f243..8430bcc 100644
--- a/src/renderer.cpp
+++ b/src/renderer.cpp
@@ -62,10 +62,10 @@ void
 renShutdown(render_state* rs)
 {
 	for (uint i = 0; i < rs->render_group_count; i++) {
-		for (uint j = 0; j < rs->render_groups[i].entity_count; j++)
-			entFree(rs->render_groups[i].entities[j]);
+		for (uint j = 0; j < rs->render_groups[i]->entity_count; j++)
+			entFree(rs->render_groups[i]->entities[j]);
 
-		utilSafeFree(rs->render_groups[i].entities);
+		utilSafeFree(rs->render_groups[i]->entities);
 	}
 
 	shaderFree(rs->default_shader->program_id);
@@ -140,14 +140,14 @@ renRenderFrame(render_state* rs)
 	glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT|GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
 
 	for (uint i = 0; i < rs->render_group_count; i++) {
-		render_group& rg = rs->render_groups[i];
+		render_group* rg = rs->render_groups[i];
 
-		for (uint j = 0; j < rg.entity_count; j++) {
-			entity& e = rg.entities[j];
+		for (uint j = 0; j < rg->entity_count; j++) {
+			entity& e = rg->entities[j];
 			roDraw(e.render_objs,
 				e.world_transform,
 				rs->cam,
-				rg.shader,
+				rg->shader,
 				rs->lights);
 		}
 	}