ink and Inky vs Poetix

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.

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.