articy:draft, the narrative design software behind acclaimed games like Broken Roads, The Talos Principle 2, and Disco Elysium, has received a significant update. The articy:draft X 4.1 update aims to elevate the scripting and writing capabilities of game writers and narrative designers, while also providing developers with new tools to create their own plugins and set up API projects.
Notable updates include the addition of seen/unseen keywords that enhance the scripting of choice points, making it easier to model single choices, fallback paths, and conditional paths. The software now also features read-only template properties, allowing users to mark template properties as read-only within the articy:draft X UI. The migration to .NET 8 introduces new libraries, improves performance, and ensures future-proofing of the software.
For developers, the new DevKit Tools plugin facilitates the creation of custom plugins via the MDK and simplifies the setup of API projects. Additionally, the articy API is now available as a NuGet Package, streamlining project setups. The update also extends capabilities for programmatically modifying templates, features, and property definitions. Furthermore, the new In-App Help feature integrates the comprehensive knowledge base directly into articy:draft, providing easier access to user support.
These enhancements are expected to significantly improve the articy:draft experience, making it a more powerful tool for game development. The updated Unity and Unreal importers support all the new features, ensuring that game studios have the resources they need to create the best stories imaginable.
In addition to these improvements, articy:draft X continues to offer a fully featured standalone free version that allows users to try out all the new features. This update underscores Articy Software GmbH's commitment to empowering writers and narrative designers to navigate the complexities of branching storylines and narrative content management, shaping the future of interactive narrative experiences.
