ink and Inky vs Naninovel

ink is a text-first scripting language for branching game narratives, with logic and code placed within the story text. It is designed mainly for professional game development, though it can also be used to write and share choice-based interactive fiction. The companion Inky editor lets writers create, test, and export stories in one app. Its play pane updates while a story is being written, it highlights errors as they appear, and it can jump from a divert to its target. Inky exports stories as JSON or as a web page ready for customisation. The editor runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. For Unity, an integration plugin recompiles ink files during editing and provides a previewer inside the Unity Editor; the maker also points to Inkpot, a container for using ink within Unreal Engine. ink, Inky, and the Unity plugin are free under the MIT license. Help is available through Discord and GitHub Discussions.

Naninovel is a Unity extension for creating dialogue, cutscenes, and visual novels, with authoring tools for writers and a C# framework. Stories can be written in NaniScript text documents or assembled in a visual Story Editor, with branching, variables, and conditions. Built-in systems include UI, save and load, rollback, localization, auto-voicing, and dialogue triggers; features can be extended, replaced, or overridden with prefab changes or a C# API. Naninovel can run as a standalone visual novel engine or supply dialogue and cutscenes in games of other genres. A browser game demo and separate web sandbox let users try the product before purchase. It also has a VS Code extension with script editing aids. The product is paid with a free trial; its single-seat license allows use on up to two computers and includes one year of Support Plan. Unity 6.0 and 6.3 LTS with the latest patches are listed as supported; non-LTS releases are unsupported.