articy:draft X vs Inform 7

articy:draft X is a narrative design and game writing tool for creating and managing interactive stories. Its visual Flow Editor lets writers build branching, non-linear stories and nested flows. A Game Object Database keeps entities, assets, and related project content together, while scripting uses variables, conditions, and instructions to shape choices and game flow. Localization tools track project languages and translation status, with spreadsheet import and export. Unity and Unreal integrations connect the tool to those game engines; JSON, Excel, Word, and XML exports are also available. Multi-user licenses provide simultaneous project access, version history, and SVN or Perforce support, but not Perforce Stream depots. The free edition supports unlimited projects, though a project locks after it passes 700 objects until content is removed or the project is upgraded. The free plan is free, with a free multi-user collaboration trial lasting 14 days, requested through sales. Single-user subscriptions cost €7.98 a month or €79.99 a year. It runs on Windows, macOS, self-hosted environments, and through an API.

Inform 7 is a programming language for making interactive fiction with natural-language syntax. Its stated uses include literary writing, games-industry prototyping, and teaching at school or university. The compiler turns natural-language source text into Inter code or Inform 6 source code, and can also generate C code for use within a larger program; Unity is given as an example framework. Authors can add supplementary source-text extensions, with optional extensions included in the standard installation. A public library offers user-contributed extensions under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. Documentation consists of two connected books, Writing with Inform and The Inform Recipe Book, containing nearly 500 examples. Inform was open-sourced in April 2022; modern releases include source code and ready-compiled apps. Apps are linked for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and the project page also states that Android apps are available. The software is free, listed at free. Modern app versions support language versions 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3 for individual projects, but no earlier versions.