Ink by Inkle
Ink is a scripting language and engine created by Inkle Studios for writing interactive narrative stories and games. It is designed for creating interactive text-based games and narrative experiences with player choice and branching dialogue.
scripting
interactive-narrative
branching-dialogue
textbased-games
Ink: Interactive Narrative Engine
A scripting language and engine for writing interactive story and games with player choice, branching dialogue, and narrative experiences
What is Ink by Inkle?
Ink by Inkle is an open-source scripting language developed by Inkle Studios for authoring interactive narrative stories and games. It allows authors to write text-based interactive fiction stories with choices, conditional logic, and dynamic text generation.
Some key features of Ink include:
- Branching narrative paths based on player choices
- Conditional logic to show or hide parts of the story
- Dynamic text via text substitutions
- Integration with Unity to create text-based games or visual novels
- Compiler to convert ink scripts into compact JSON
- Runtime engine for executing ink stories
- Open-source under MIT license for free commercial/noncommercial use
Ink enables creating deep interactive narratives and text adventures easily, ideal for interactive fiction writers, game narrative designers, and visual novel creators. It has been used in commercial games like 80 Days, Sorcery, and Overboard. With Ink and Unity, one can create interactive text games with graphics and sound effects.
Ink by Inkle Features
Features
- Visual scripting language
- Integrated with Unity game engine
- Variables and conditional logic
- Reusable script modules
- Dialogue and narrative focus
Pricing
- Free
- One-time Purchase
Pros
Intuitive workflow for writers
Powerful options for branching narratives
Great for text-based games
Active community support
Cons
Steep learning curve for coding
Limited documentation
Not suitable for non-narrative games
Requires Unity for full functionality
Official Links
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