Features List

NEW in adX 4.1! Tech update notice

articy:draft X has undergone a migration to .NET 8
If you are using custom plugins, please make sure to also migrate all your custom plugins to .NET 8 when you upgrade to 4.1. Follow our guides to Migrate an existing MDK plugin to .NET 8 or Migrate an existing API program to .NET 8 respectively to migrate your existing code to .NET 8.

SINGLE USER FEATURES

The Single User Features are the core features of articy:draft. They are part of all articy:draft X versions, including articy:draft X FREE, the standalone free version of articy:draft.

Flow Editor

Compose interactive, branching stories directly in an easy to use visual drag and drop environment.

• Non linear story flows
• Nested flow – Keep the flow structure simple and clean with the nesting feature. Each object in the flow can contain other objects within. You can create a top-level scene structure, and have the dialogues nested within the scene objects.
• Attachments and hyperlinks – Make relevant assets or external reference material available everywhere you need them. They can be linked to almost all objects types, as easy as an email attachment.
• Quick Create – Reduce time needed to create new dialogue fragments by using the quick create menu to add multiple dialog fragments at once, especially useful when branching out. Now you can create new Dialogue Fragments with speaker and template already assigned. Useful combinations based on your flow content will be displayed as suggestions.
• Word-like text formatting

Template System

The template system is one of articy’s most powerful features. It allows you to be extremely flexible in creating and managing the objects of your project. Templates are editable and very iteration-friendly due to their modular setup. Objects inherit the characteristics of their template making it easy to modify or expand them later.

• Editable templates
• Modular setup
• Constraints
• NEW in adX 4.1! Read only template properties

Game Object Database

Keep track of all your game objects in one place. Everything is connected and just one click away.

• Entities – Entities represent game objects and can be used for all sorts of object types like characters, enemies or items, but also abstract things like weather or time. Entities are set up with templates making them extremely flexible.
• Assets – Assets include images, videos, or music files. They can be used as reference material, and to visually enhance the project. You can for instance provide entities with avatar images, or as underlying maps for locations.
• Favorites – Add objects and even folders as favorites from the articy:draft Navigator, the Flow, or the Content browser. Spot them at a glance in your flow by the yellow outline or head over to the Favorites folder in the Library tab to access all of them.
• Attachments and hyperlinks – Make relevant assets or external reference material available where you need them. They can be linked to almost all objects types, as easy as an email attachment.

Scripting

Use variables and scripting to integrate choices and control the flow of your game.

• Global variables – Global variables are a great tool to control the game flow. They can be Boolean, Integer, or String.
• Object properties in scripts – Properties assigned to an object can be addressed with the scripting language. For example you can make a dialogue choice visible only if the player character has learned a specific skill.
• Conditions and instructions – Conditions and instructions are used to create and manage story logic. Conditions can be used to present different choices depending on whether the condition is met or not. Instructions are used to modify variable or property values based on the selected choice.
• NEW in adX 4.1! seen/unseen/fallback keywords – for modelling choices, fallback paths and generally conditional paths that depend on if and how often your players have already walked a specific path
• Syntax highlighting
• Auto completion

Localization

Add languages to your project and get all your narrative content localized either directly in-app or externally using the dedicated export-import function. With all narrative content in one place it becomes much easier to manage project languages, provide context, match text with voice-over, track progress, export and import new or changed content to articy:draft and finally to the game engine.

• Project languages – Add new languages and mark if specific objects and properties are supposed to be localizable and can have VO.
• Localization view – Manage your localized texts and voice over in a dedicated view that allows you to filter, modify and sort localizable content and add remarks to any localizable property for localization studios and voice over artists etc
• Localization state management – Mark properties as final, in progress or outdated depending on the localization state. When you change the reference property text, all other language texts will be marked as outdated automatically.
• DeePL translation – Use DeepL to automatically translate texts in new languages and get a head start on your localization process.
• Spelling dictionaries – Keep your spelling on point with automatically downloaded spelling dictionaries for all your project languages.
• Localization export for reimport – Export text and voice-over content to excel for localization and import changes back into articy:draft.
• Localization report – Review at a glance how many words or lines each character has in every language either in text or voice-over.

Location Editor

Articy’s location editor is a vector-based 2D drawing tool with layer management. Sketch map layouts or use a background image and add text and spots to plan your story’s environment.

• Simple drawing tools – Different forms and paths allow for easy sketching. Transformation and styling options allow for customization.
• Attachments and hyperlinks – Make relevant assets or external reference material available where you need it. They can be linked to almost all objects types, as easy as an email attachment.

Document View

The document view is a word-like text editor. You can use it to create design documents, or simple overview texts with the convenience of typical word processors. You can also write dialogues in a script-like format and convert them to flow.

• Convert document to Flow – Convert screenplay format text into a visual representation in the Flow editor just by drag and drop.
• Word like text formatting

AI Extensions

AI extensions allow writers and narrative designers the ability to access third party AI services in order to save time and use them directly within articy:draft X.

• AI assisted preview images – Is art not final yet? Do all your characters look like faceless head figures? No problem, you can use AI assistance for preview images for your entities to easily distinguish them in the flow.
• AI assisted dialogue – Don’t like to start from an empty page? Select a dialogue or flow fragment and use AI assisted dialogue based on your description.
• AI assisted barks – Use AI assisted barks for your entities directly in the Flow Fragment. Specify the number of barks you need in the task settings.
• Disable AI – If AI is not your thing, or if your company prohibits it’s use you can disable the AI Extentions plugin from the Plugin Manager Window. In Multi User environments, the server administrator has the option to disable and also restrict access to the AI Extensions for all user accounts.

For questions concerning the use of your data in relation to AI Extensions please refer to the dedicated section in our FAQ page.

Checkup Tools

Check for errors directly within articy, before going into production.

• Presentation view – With the presentation view, the story flow can be experienced in a PowerPoint ®-like presentation. Conditions and instructions are included in the simulation, allowing for a good way to test the game’s chain of events and avoid logic errors in the project even before transitioning content to the game engine.
• Presentation Language – Select in what language the presentation will be displayed and listen to the attached VO files as you go through your story
• Conflict Search – The conflict search is a technical search designed to detect invalid property values, invalid references, duplicate technical names, and defective assets within the project.
• Localization Error – Check for missing localization entries in all project languages or a specific secondary one
• Spellchecker
• Search (Query) – In addition to a standard search function, articy offers an advanced search by query language, where custom criteria for searches can be set.
• Property Inspector – Monitor object properties while simultaneously working in another view. The inspector can also be used within the simulation for a live view of property changes while going through the game’s story.

Exports / Imports

Exports and imports make it easy to transfer selected data and have it ready right where you need it.

Exports

• Highly customizable with rulesets – – Create general filters and define which properties to export per object type and template. Use these customized rulesets to define how to export the project.
• Export to .JSON
• Export to Excel
• Export to Unity
• Export to Unreal
• Export to Generic Engine
• Export to Word
• Export to XML
• Export to XPS (flow & locations)
• Flow to Word

Imports

• Import from Excel
• Import from FinalDraft

Game Engine Integrations

If you’re working with Unity or Unreal it’s even easier to get your content from articy:draft directly into the game engine with the dedicated importers. You can get the importers in the marketplace or directly on our website.

Unity

• Automatic data import
• Convenient access to objects and properties
• Fully customizable flow traversal engine
• Fast automated script evaluation
• Localization via Excel®
• Easy to use Unity components

Unreal

• Easy data import from articy:draft X, including dialogue and entities
• Full Blueprint support
• Automatic dialogue traversal engine (Flow Player actor component)
• Custom editor elements to facilitate using the plugin, like a custom articy asset picker
• Unreal localization support
• Open Source: Customize the code as needed and create pull requests

Convenience Features

No two interactive stories are developed in the same exact way. Some aspects are kept the same and/or reused and many many more are adapted or optimized. Convenience features make it easy to adapt your work style to constantly evolving needs.

• Template project creation. When starting a new project you can opt to import templates from one of your existing projects at project creation. All features, templates, and property definitions will be copied over to your new projects.
• Autosave. The autosave is enabled by default. It triggers automatically every 15minutes after opening the project or the last save.
• NEW in adX 4.1! In-App Help – brings all the knowledge of the comprehensive help-center directly in articy:draft so you can get the exact piece of information you need, when and where you need it.
• Multi Window Support: Customzie the workspace to fit your needs. Each articy window contains a customizable workspace. You can add any number of additional view panes just by dragging them out horizontally or vertically.

NEW in adX 4.1! DevKit Tools plugin

The one plugin to … create even more plugins ^^ – automates the process of creating and deploying both your custom MDK plugins and API projects.

Macro Development Kit (MDK)

With the Macro Development Kit you can use plugins out of the box or create your own custom plugins to match your workflow

• NEW in adX 4.1! Available as a NuGet package with a fully automated process for setting up your plugin
• Plugin manager – Use the plugin manager window to activate / deactivate plugins as needed, keep the overview about what plugins are installed, and install additional custom plugins.
• Develop plugins – Every workflow is different. With the MDK we provide a powerful tool for the creation of macro plugins. The main use for those macro plugins are to automate tasks, and to adapt articy:draft to custom workflows.
• Custom Imports & Exports – Add custom Imports & Exports with their own configuration UI directly into the Export-Dialog & Import Wizard
• NEW in adX 4.1! Extended capabilities – modify templates, features, and property definitions programmatically

Advanced Configuration

Make small changes to articy:draft X that are not typically available in the software UI. With the articy configuration file you can customize different starting parameters to your preferences and workflow.
There are simply too many to list them all in this page but you can check our Help Center here to see all the possibilities.

MULTI USER FEATURES

Multi User licenses contain all the Single User Features plus a few extra. The following features can be used only with Multi User licenses. If you and your team wish to try it out, you can request a free Multi User Trial by contacting sales@articy.com.

Collaboration Features

Collaboration features are ideal for working together in a team or even cross-functional within the same project.

• Simultaneous access to projects
• Integrated SVN server for data management
• Support of external SVN or Perforce (Stream depots not supported)
• Version history / rollback within articy:draft
• Centralized user / license management on articy:server
• Auto-generated change comments
• NEW! Cross-Platform Collaboration between Windows and Mac OS
• Optional hosting service
• Articy:server user database can be synced with Active Directory or LDAP

Articy API

The articy:draft API allows external applications to access data in any articy project. By integrating our .NET library into the toolchain, you can connect with articy:server, open projects and read/write data through your own code. The API mimics the role of a human user and performs any operations in a transparent way, including generated commit messages that end up in SVN or Perforce. NEW in adX 4.1! You can now get the Articy API as NuGet Package with a fully automated process for setting up projects.

articy:draft API use-cases:

• Trigger automated exports (build-server)
• Read data in articy:draft
• Write modified data back into articy:draft
• Batch-create objects in articy:draft
• Create localization spreadsheets / VO scripts
• Compile production reports
• Import from custom Excel® spreadsheets
• Batch-create text-to-speech voice-overs

Hosting Service

Optional hosting solutions are available for the articy:draft X multi-user environment. Find all details here.

CUSTOMIZATION

Looking for a specific feature that is not listed here or need a custom feature tailored to your specific workflow? We’ve helped many different teams spanning industries, company sizes, and countries with dedicated customizations that turned articy:draft X into a writing and narrative design tool perfectly suited for their specific workflows. Book a free consultation with our experts to find out if a customization is the right solution for you.