articy:draft X vs Poetix

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.

Poetix is a visual, node-based editor for branching game stories. Stories are organized into beats, dialogue, choices, conditions, and consequences, making the structure visible as connected narrative elements. An AI co-writer can suggest edits, but each suggestion waits for approval before changing a story. The simulator supports starting from a chosen beat, overriding variables, and inspecting condition results during playtesting. A story version can be published as a browser-playable link. For Unity projects, Poetix exports beats, choices, and variables and supplies a runtime API with ready-made dialogue and choice interfaces. Pro and Studio users may use their own OpenAI key instead of Poetix credits. Users retain ownership of created content and may commercially use resulting products without owing Poetix royalties or fees. The free plan includes unlimited stories and scenes, up to three writers per story, unlimited readers, 50 AI credits per month, and Unity export. Pro costs $15 a month; Studio costs $39 a month and supports up to 25 collaborators on up to five upgraded stories. Poetix says it is actively in development.