Features List

SINGLE USER FEATURES

The Single User Features are the core features of articy:draft. They are part of all articy:draft 3 versions, including articy:draft 3 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. New in 3.2 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

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.
• New in 3.2 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.
• Syntax highlighting
• Auto completion

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

Checkup Tools

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

• Simulation mode – With the simulation mode 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.
• 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.
• 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 – 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 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 3, 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

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 3.2 Autosave

The autosave is enabled by default. It triggers automatically every 15minutes after opening the project or the last save.
10 seconds before autosave is about to trigger, you’ll notice a timer in the master toolbar.

You can disable the autosave, change the display time or adjust the autosave time interval through the Command-line Switches.

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

• Use plugins – Use plugins out of the box with the included macro environment. Download free plugins from our website, or look out for user created 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. Find detailed documentation here.
• Voice over Management (Plugin) – This free plugin creates empty wav files or auto generated text-to-speech placeholders that later can be exchanged with final sound files. Audio can be reviewed in simulation mode, and spoken lines, filenames, and further information can be easily exported to excel.

New in 3.2 Template Project Creation

With 3.2, 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.

Useful Command-line Switches

Make small changes to articy:draft 3 that are not typically available in the software UI. Command-line switches are used on the command-line of a shortcut to start the application.
There are simply too many to list them all in this page but you can check our dedicated post 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 and the dedicated Multi User Free Trial.

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
• 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 user’s toolchain, they can connect with articy:server, open projects and read/write data through their 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.

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 3 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 3 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.