Naninovel vs Yarn Spinner
Naninovel
naninovel.com
Yarn Spinner
yarnspinner.devSide by side
| Figure | Naninovel | Yarn Spinner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Game Narrative Design Software | 7.8 (#13) | 8.6 (#4) |
| License | The EULA grants a single-seat license for personal and commercial use on a maximum of two computers and permits perpetual integration into and distribution as part of games and digital media. | The core of Yarn Spinner is provided under the MIT License. |
| Support | Community help is available on Discord; an active Support Plan adds priority team responses, a support bot, source repository access, and GitHub package access. | Support is available by email, with replies usually within a few business days, and through a community Discord server. |
| What it does | Naninovel is a Unity extension with authoring tools for scenario writers and a C# framework for creating dialogue, cutscenes, and visual novels. | Yarn Spinner provides tools for planning, writing, integrating and testing branching dialogue in games. |
Plans
In their own words
Naninovel
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.
Yarn Spinner
Yarn Spinner is a set of tools for planning, writing, integrating, and testing dialogue for games. Its human-readable Yarn scripting language supports interactive conversations and branching narratives. Official integrations are available for Unity, Godot with C# or GDScript, and Unreal Engine with Blueprint or C++. The free, open-source Visual Studio Code extension adds syntax highlighting, error checking, a graph view, and an in-editor dialogue preview. Dialogue strings can be exported with unique IDs, and the system supports runtime language switching and Unity Localization. Voice-over features include audio asset management, synchronization with localization, and playback timing. Ready-made add-ons include speech bubbles and dialogue wheels; Text Animator is part of Yarn Spinner+. Try Yarn Spinner offers a browser-based space to write and run scripts without setup, but its scripts remain in browser storage and are not backed up or synchronized. The core is licensed under MIT. The Free plan costs nothing; Yarn Spinner+ for Unity costs 75.00 USD or more, once.