Articy:Draft Is AWESOME... And Free!*

*Ok, not completely free, but there is a new free version and it's pretty generous in what you can do. Articy:Draft 3 is a one of a kind program for game designers... think about it as MS Project + MS Visio for game designers. You can create your entire game design, from program flow, to item inventory to branching dialogs and global variables, entirely in Articy Draft 3... which can then be exported, including exporters for Unity and Unreal Engine, which both have plugins available.
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[@gamefromscratch]

Link gamefromscratch.com/articydraft-3-new-free-edition/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Support* : www.patreon.com/gamefromscratch *GameDev News* : gamefromscratch.com *GameDev Tutorials* : devga.me *Discord* : discord.com/invite/R7tUVbD *Twitter* : twitter.com/gamefromscratch -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[@billmore6486]

Hyerlink redirects to: "articy:Draft Homepage"

[@nowherebrain]

I would love to see more coverage like this...these kinds of apps are priceless to development

[@22kmhigh]

I have the Steam licence, it's indeed an awesome tool. I've been using it with UE4.27.2 (awaiting for 5.0 update, still 5prev2 AFAIK) as my dialogue engine, what I love is the ability to call from the Articy tool custom UE blueprint/c++ functions. That ability alone is incredibly powerful. Overall, I love this tool.

[@kevintealby5036]

Yes - great tool. The 5.0 update for the UE Articy Plugin looks like it has been released

[@nswayze2218]

How're you finding this as a dialogue engine? I'm been thinking of trying this or Inkpot

[@22kmhigh]

@@nswayze2218 To be honest, I just did the tests on my spare time, I found the engine awesome, feature-wise, although a little hard to master on UE, due to the lack of extensive documentation (at least 1-2 years ago). But I found sufficient support to do what I wanted to test for a proof-of-concept. What I don't know however is how scalable this tool is, for larger projects. From what I saw of the tool, it is tailored for that more ambitious purpose but I was so far unable to verify this myself. All in all, I can't recommend enough this tool. With a very indie-friendly price plan.

[@zenshade2000]

Here's the deal for people worried about the "free" limitations: if you actually use it enough to hit those limits, I can just about guarantee it will be well worth your paying the full price for the perpetual version. If you find it hard to integrate into your workflow you'll give up long before you hit the "free" walls.

[@tiredguy2753]

Great take , honestly can be applied to many “free” versions on X.

[@brhbdjdj9981]

Great video. You probably have the best channel on the subject of game dev tools with such variety of coverage of the different tools I think you should create a playlist for game development tools so people could find similar videos more easily on your channel.

[@sercero]

He has a website

[@matt1988ish]

Dude. It'd be fun to design D&D campaigns with this thing.

[@JadeAislin]

I have the full version. I think I originally got for stories I wrote. now that I am trying to make a game it is really useful.

[@pup4301]

Thank you going to look for open source alternatives now! Edit: Found some: Manuskript Inky YarnSpinner

[@Coffeepanda294]

Love this program so much myself, it helps so much in both the creative process and in keeping track of things. It has a bit of a learning curve but is fairly simple once you've figured out the basics. Can't recommend it enough. The ability to export conversations straight to a game engine is a really clever addition that's probably also going to be a huge time-saver.

[@dann_craig]

This is awesome! I've been using Miro for years but always wished it could go a little further. Thanks for sharing, checking this out for sure!

[@StorytellerDan]

This looks awesome - Thanks so much for putting this together

[@huimoin]

I've seen this a few times on Steam, but was pretty uninterested because of the subscription. Looking at the website it appears they have a shockingly reasonably priced lifetime license. Definitely gonna check it out now, especially with a free version.

[@alexdarby]

I picked it up ages ago for a steal. Version 2 was being sold for next to nothing on a bundle site (Fanatical I think?) which gave a steam key while at the same time as there was an offer on steam for upgrades from 2, so it ended up costing me about £34 for a lifetime license. Which would be great if I ever got around to learning to use it 🤣

[@armagedonthe1gamer]

This is much more robust than the program I use for flowcharting, called figma. Main upside though with figma is that it's completely free for one project you are doing, and allows online cooperation through teammates which is a deal breaker for programs like this with such a high price tag for a small team. You can use it like how articy draft is used here, however it requires more effort and organization. I would definitely use this if I was doing a solo project or if I was the only one doing dialogue on it though.

[@laurensdesmet70]

God, I love this channel and the work you do, Mike. After seeing this video, I downloaded the free version and followed along with the tutorial videos. I had to pause my learning streak in order to show my gratitude. I've been using Notion as an alternative to something like Campfire Blaze, because I needed more flexibility and modularity, but found Notion wanting in terms of speed and flow, especially when linked databases exceeded 500 entrees. Having to manually link everything and write formulas/code to make it make sense and basically build a homebrew version of Articy is tedious at best. I'm surprised I didn't hear about this software before, seeing I've been trying to find ways of making it within Notion. But now I know, and thanks to you. As a beginning/independent Narrative Designer, I can't overstate how much this will help me create working systems while also being able to try them out and convert them to scripts and design documents. Probably one of the best timed videos I've seen of yours!

[@FriendlySadist]

There is also Arcweave, it isn't as powerful but it's nice

[@rybotekk]

Thankyou. Solid explanation.

[@gwentastic269]

A few downsides are: • There is no native list/array support • While it has a nice grid it does not have a "snap to grid" setting.. so you need to go into the objects properties and change it to align on the grid. • Asking things on their Forum(s) can take years until it gets answered and answers might not be very helpful. i think there were multiple other issues i had with the application, but not being able to have a simple array datatype is kind of huge.. At least this was my experience with this tool, which is a couple of years back, pretty sure it probably still won't have arrays/lists since they did mention on their forums that they won't be doing that since it would require nearly a complete rewrite. It's also on Steam where it occasionally goes on sale too, i think when i checked it out first it they didn't have a one time purchase on their website and no mentions of the steam version on their website but at least the pricing models on their website got extended.

[@brodriguez11000]

Yes, but the discount really isn't that much. There's a YT video about the disadvantages.

[@Coffeepanda294]

For anyone reading in 2024, just thought I'd throw in some updates (for latest version, a:d X): 1. Don't even know what those are, so can't help there, sorry. 2. It has snap to grid now, and it's on by default. 3. I use the Discord for support and while it's not that busy, I usually get answers pretty quickly, like within a day or two. Answers have been really helpful so far. Overall, really love this tool. The ability to script in flow and export directly to game engines is so powerful.

[@DougieBoy]

This would be a great tool to keep your game organized. Maybe not so much for small games with no depth. But pretty much any game that has large inventories, storylines, NPC's, large amount of enemy types, etc. This is good for keeping yourself in-check, so your just not adding more and more stuff to your game.

[@sacb0y]

It just needs more collaboration tools like comments and notes

[@HE360]

So thus, this seems to be a big concept map for video game developers.

[@scribblingjoe]

Actually, the pricing is incredibly reasonable.

[@gamedevdemonold]

Good video 👍🏼 nice topic

[@microdavid7098]

ooh, very nice. Very cool

[@Spacecookie-]

Articy Draft is sometimes on sale on steam too, or it was. It's where I bought it.

[@oldguy9051]

To really judge the pricing it would be useful to know how often this software is being updated, how big are the updates/upgrades etc. Does the "lifetime purchase" only mean that you can use the version bought forever or are there (time limited) updates? A year, for example? When will Articy:Draft4 appear? and so on...

[@geraldedwards5762]

The caveat of buying software... you just never know, the company could bottom up tomorrow. Judging by it's free content and the massive community behind it that seems to be growing exponentially, I suspect as long as it keeps being excellent and above the rest it will continue to grow and improve. And of course profitable... They are required by law to report the number of sales (tax reasons) so the information isn't hidden from public scrutiny. They seem to be doing reasonably well considering the economy...

[@parvonik1359]

interesting, this looks useful for writing novels as well.

[@jonathanxdoe]

Agreed, it is great. Epic should buy or support them and integrate them completely inside the engine

[@brodriguez11000]

Other engines would be denied then. We really shouldn't encourage oligopolies.

[@Jadebones]

@@brodriguez11000 why do you believe that? It would probably be free use with unreal & paid to use outside, just like their other stuff.

[@jonathanxdoe]

@@Jadebones Exactly

[@jonathanxdoe]

@@brodriguez11000 I said it only because they seem to struggle to reach their potential market and they deserve better. I know that big studios use their program, but the base still don't know what it is and can really use their software

[@oldguy9051]

@@jonathanxdoe That is a PR problem. For a total NICHE product they simply have to do better PR to maximize sales.

[@johnsonnguyen1374]

thanks for this awesome software

[@halbouma6720]

Thanks for the video!

[@scottalexgray]

This tool is sick ma dude

[@Smaxx]

I know people using it in a way bigger setting (read: AAA MMO scale), yet I never looked too deep into it, because I actually expected a way more pricey and required subscription.

[@BrianHallmond]

The Multi user costs more now. For someone like me who's a noob that just wants to work with friends on their first project, it's pricey.

[@Ranakade]

Mate, you can't open your saved work on the free version.

[@rafarodriguez4765]

Hi, I do not see the differences between paid and free versions, "The FREE version has the same features as the paid Single User versions and includes 660 FREE objects for each project". What is the difference between paying or not?

[@bexplosion]

paid have unlimited objects

[@rafarodriguez4765]

@@bexplosion I see. It's like, hang you to the free, and learn to use the big amount of it's features, after that you Will pay cause it's very limited

[@Cronofear]

They should have a fallback license. I would subscribe to their service if say, after 12-15 months my license would become perpetual, just like in Rider.

[@Fransadiwinata]

Can I use this for sunlesssea or sky likegame to create dialogue or text box in that games?

[@rewindcat7927]

Interesting thanks! My games aren’t very complex, I love Obsidian. Have you covered that? It’s also very interesting!!

[@michaelzomsuv3631]

"free" with 50 entities limit lol. Looks like a great tool otherwise.

[@gamefromscratch]

You can acrually model a shocking amount of a game within the free limits.

[@Jadebones]

"50 entities" sounds highly restrictive, however, you neglect the other aspects of the free version: 500 Flow & Document fragments. 50 Entities. 100 Assets. 10 Locations. Plus you leave out other questions like: •What is even "a single entity" and what is the limit of what THAT can do? •Not all "Flow Elements" count toward the 500 limit, some elements are UNLIMITED. What are unlimited? •What counts as an asset and what can you do with a single one? •Is there a size limit on locations? •Can you fit multiple "sub-locations" within the limits of a "single location" (i.e. a continent as a single location with many countries or cities within that as "sub-locations")? The scope of the demo project in the free version looked pretty massive tbh, but that's my unprofessional opinion.

[@themichaelconnor42]

@@Jadebones nice and fair defense

[@sacb0y]

@@Jadebones single entity is basically 50 Characters, Items, Quests, or whatever custom type you can think of. They're very extendable.

[@Jadebones]

@@sacb0y Yeah, I was just giving examples of possibilities the OPs comment overshadowed, making the program/app sound much smaller and limited than it probably is. Either way, free is free limited or not. If someone finds use in the free version, why not support the Devs/App while upgrading to more usable features? That was my point basically.

[@gideonunger7284]

Having used it on drone swarm i was not a huge fan. It was always very cumbersome and slow to use. Its UI is very unintuitive and hard to understand. It also didnt do a lot we needed it to so there were many hacks used so we could actually represent articy data in game.

[@pup4301]

Also may you please go over wapm?

[@Runn1ngFree]

Can you run your flow in articy like in twine?

[@lenni-hazels]

Yes you can run a "journey" to playtest and also have the state of the game save that way.

[@avgchoobafan]

Aticy Draft 3 would function as a Story Outliner / Planner? And i mean not in a GameDev related way, more in a novel / screen writing way. Things like global variables and stats could be a little overkill for what i plan to do. Although i do gamedev stuff, now i'm more into writing, so that's why i'm asking, in case there's a better software more focused on writing than game design. I'll try it out anyways.

[@gamefromscratch]

You'd probably be better off with a dedicated writing tool like Scriviner.

[@zippywings]

There are actually quite a few applications devoted just to writing: -Campfire Writing is probably the big player in the planning space for those who want to develop large fantasy-style worlds while staying budget-conscience. It's based on a module system, where you pay only for the features you'll use, including a drafting module if you'd like to just write the thing directly. It's also cloud-based, so you can use it anywhere, but that means you also have to deal with the occasional cloud-based sluggishness. Has subscription and lifetime models. -World Anvil is the older and more reputable player in that space, but I believe it's also built on a one-size-fits-all pricing model. But it's basically a more mature Campfire Writing. Pen and paper RPG designers depend on it. Has a subscription model. Not sure about lifetime. I don't know what formats it uses, but I believe it's cloud-based. -Plottr (and Plottr Pro, coming in May) is a fairly new kid on the block that has basically muscled its way onto the scene and risen to the top of the story planning food chain. Its purpose is to help you design outlines for books (including series books), planning each scene detail, and defining characters and locations (items and McGuffins aren't available yet, but it's among the most voted-on features in the roadmap, so hopefully soon-ish). You can't write the book in Plottr, but you can export your notes into MS Word or Scrivener, so you'll still have a solid blueprint to work with. It's not nearly as complex as the two I mentioned above, but it's perfect for genres that don't require extensive worldbuilding. Note: The differences between regular Plottr and Plottr Pro is that the latter is cloud-based and syncs perfectly with desktop, browser, and mobile. I bought the beta last month and it works as advertised (minus the occasional beta bug). Both versions have annual and lifetime subscription models. -Aeon Timeline is one I've just recently learned about, so I don't have much to say about it at the moment (will likely review it on my own channel in the near future), but it's another timeline editor that can be used for a number of purposes, including story planning. Between this and Plottr, Aeon Timeline seems more mature, as it can be used to not only plan your story, but also your daily schedule (if I understand it correctly). Don't know much about its integrations, though. It also looks like it's based on the annual subscription model. -Fictionary Storyteller is a cloud-based drafting and story planning app that allows you to drill into your plot, characters, and objects, as well as identify 38 key components of your story, for a richer storytelling experience. It also uses graphs to help you visualize the narrative arc of your story. When I tested it a couple of years ago, it was still new and buggy, but hopefully it's better now. In spite of all it does, it's still limited to just how much you can visualize, and the parts it does visualize aren't always perfect. But it doesn't change the fact that it's still among the most innovative story writing apps on the market currently. Has monthly and annual subscription models. It used to have a lifetime model, but I don't see it on the site at the moment, so maybe they got rid of it. Not sure. -Atticus is the newest kid on the writing app block, and also shows the most promise for anyone wanting to go from idea to self-published book within the same app. It just came out of beta in October, and it's still in its second phase of development (with three on the immediate planner, but more to come in the future), so what it can do is still quite limited compared to other apps on this list. But the plan is for it to become the only writing app you'll ever need, while still giving you the flexibility to integrate with outside apps like Plottr if you want to. In the long-term, it's a drafting, revising, formatting, collaborating, beta reading, ARC reading, publishing, and writing accountability app (and probably outlining, too) that uses cloud-based technology. Presently, it's a sophisticated formatting tool with word count tracking and writing habit accountability that's excellent at producing custom e-book and paperback files. Think Vellum, but better, cheaper, and available to all operating systems. Has a one-time forever cost. -Scrivener, you already heard about, but it's still the grandpa of the non-MS Word writing apps, and the most mature of all. With Scrivener, you can write, plan, edit, organize, and store research notes. You can also set writing goals, and do all of the things. It does NOT have graphs, but you could honestly use MS Excel or Google Sheets to create your own custom story charts. No other app comes close to doing what Scrivener can do in the drafting space. That said, the reason the others even exist is because Scrivener is by far the most complicated to learn and use, and it fosters a love-hate relationship among writers. In my opinion, it's a required member of the writer's toolbox, but I don't know how long I'll keep that opinion with some of these other apps coming up the line and doing a better job at doing niche tasks like outlining. Either way, it's the least expensive of this entire batch, and you only pay once per version (right now, it's on Version 3). If you're going to choose only one, this would be the one. -yWriter is an old app with an ugly interface, but it does just about everything you'd want a dedicated writing app to do, from planning to outlining to drafting, but it does it all directly on your desktop (or phone, if you have the mobile app). Best part? The desktop version is free and the mobile version is dirt cheap. But again, it has a terrible interface and is truly the ugliest. But sometimes the ugliest things are also among the most powerful. The app's designer is a writer who built it to make his life easier. These are the best options on the market in my opinion (among the ones I've either looked into or tested), but there's more to choose from. Others you may want to look at include: -Plot Factory (a more experienced Plottr with drafting ability) -The Novel Factory (Scrivener, Plottr, and Campfire combined, plus graphs) -Ulysses (Mac only) -Final Draft (if you're into TV or film) -LivingWriter (a more expensive Atticus) -Plot Control 4.0 (Early Access, comes with Chapter Control 1.0) -Save the Cat! Story Structure Software (planner based on the Save the Cat! model) -Dabble (distraction-free writing) Note: I haven't tested any of these, so I can't say whether they're worth it. But I know Final Draft is the industry-standard scriptwriting tool, and like Scrivener and MS Word is to regular writers, Final Draft is an essential toolbox item if screenwriting is your focus. Hope that helps. Among the ones I use, I recommend Scrivener for drafting, Plottr for outlining, and Atticus for formatting (all three have reasonable prices). But I also don't write fantasy or sci-fi. If I did, I'd definitely recommend Campfire or World Anvil. Of the ones I don't use, I'm most interested in Plot Control 4.0 (as it handles character motivation), but LivingWriter shows promise (does what Atticus does). Plot Factory has voice narration features, and may well be the superior planning tool to Plottr, if not considerably more expensive. The Novel Factory looks like the best of the batch, but the cost is a big "no" from me.

[@dementisse]

@@zippywings Well, I didn't expect to stumble upon a clear and useful review of so many writing tools in a random KZbin comment, thanks for the info. I almost never like posts, but this time I think it fully deserves it.

[@zippywings]

@@dementisse Thank you. Yeah, I've been studying this stuff for a while, so I'm always happy when I have a reason to share it.

[@avgchoobafan]

@@zippywings Wow, thanks for the in -depth response, i really appreciate this since i'm starting to grasp this area to improve my narrative skills and worldbuilding (i'm aiming for Dark fantasy specifically). Thanks a lot!

[@graythistle]

Still... it's node based and the "script mode" is a thinly disguised continuation of the node style. And there are few hotkeys. That is not a creative or effective way to work. No wonder game writing is so abysmal.

[@oldguy9051]

I agree with you that game writing is abysmal - not always but very often. But the quality of writing (regardless what writing and for what) does NOT depend on the tools being used. You could argue about efficiency or making work easier for the person having to do it but not the quality of the writing itself.

[@graythistle]

​@@oldguy9051 Writing with a node based workflow is like trying to dig a garden with plastic spoons. Sure, you can do it, but you're pointlessly hobbling yourself. Compare with Ink, or even the interactive fiction tools like Inform 7 or TADS. Absolute works of literary art have been made with text adventure tools because they are intuitive and you can play the game as you are writing it. Articy's play-as-you-write feature is like a slideshow, not a game. It's useful for teams, perhaps, but absolutely hampers good game narrative.

[@gideonunger7284]

I hated it working on drone swarm. but the writing on that was more the fault for the person that did that writing tbh ^^ and for all intents and purposes no game has surpassed the writing of disco elysium. Artists manage with horrible tools but we should just provide them with better.

[@graythistle]

​@@gideonunger7284 Dialogue system (Disco Elysium's tool) has multiple import options outside of nodes, including a pure text option (JLC converter) and an Ink wrapper. Compared with articy, it is far better than gardening with plastic spoons. And it doesn't hurt that the guy who develops it is really nice. My main gripe with articy is that it doesn't have a *real* plain text import option. It has a "script mode" that is actually still nodes, just dressed up to look like a script, and still no hotkeys. Every time you change tasks (mouse to keyboard, keyboard to mouse) you interrupt your train of thought. Nodes are a constant interruption, however briefly. The ideal narrative-writing tool should have enough hotkeys so that you never have to switch from keyboard to mouse while writing.

[@Calixj23]

Yes, it is great, but there is no Mac OS version. You HAVE to use Windows, which is a place many of us don't ever want to return. I really wish Articy would have developed a Mac OS version.

[@vishwahsiva8738]

Nah i will just use Google docs

[@AttilaAsztalos]

Ah, yes - "free" where their own tutorial demo project eats up a full half of the resources the "free" version is restricted to. Because limiting to a 8x10cm PCB in the free version worked so fucking well for Eagle...

[@deedoubs]

Looks cool, but fuck subscription only products.

[@gamefromscratch]

Um, it's not. There's perpetual licensing too

[@gwentastic269]

it does have the Lifetime option and a pay once steam "version" ? altho they didn't used to have it listed on the website and don't tend to advertise the steam version on their website, at least when i was checking it out. it has other issues imho tho, the big ones for me were no "snap to grid" setting, and more importantly no native array/lists as a data type..

[@123TheMpoMan321]

@@gwentastic269 I imagine they don't push the Steam version very hard cuz Valve takes 30% if you buy through Steam.

[@vlweb3d]

I suggest watching the video again... and actually PAYING ATTENTION this time. Mike explained everything about the various price structures... and yet you still did not get it. smh.

[@RedMartyrEntertainment]

We are using the perpetual Steam version! Bought it years ago so no sure if it’s still available there, but on the Nevigo’s site is. The tool is great, but not perfect. A major downside is the localization part, very clunky and tedious to get it done. We used the tool to write and do the gameplay scripting/logic for a 80k words p&c adventure game (20+ hours of gameplay time). Unity was our engine of choice, in which we have created a custom framework that works with the data exported from Articy 3.

[@honeste6652]

It is always really hard to listen to your videos. Your mic is way too hot. You need to compress your audio.