Dive into our detailed Yarn Spinner review to see how it transforms the art of digital storytelling, making it accessible and engaging for creators of all levels. Yarn Spinner is a narrative tool that anyone from writers to programmers can use and it’s been designed to work with other game engines. It’s a free program with premium integrations, so this isn’t for anyone who wants to find something that’s totally free. It’s been used in lots of popular games and it’s easy to both integrate and understand. It does, however, require some knowledge of coding. It’s not the kind of tool that lets you simply write dialogue to create a game. That also makes it more robust. It’s possible to do more with Yarn than it is to do with most of the free options.
Yarn Spinner History
Yarn Spinner can be considered a spin-off of Secret Lab. That’s a game studio that’s received several awards for their work in video games. They’ve created some popular titles, like Night in the Woods, Gnome’s Well that Ends Well, and Rocket Box. Secret Lab initially created Yarn Spinner while working on Night in the Woods, with Jon Manning and Tim Nugent in charge of it. The pair eventually pulled away from Secret Lab and created their own company in Yarn Spinner Pty. Ltd. They also brought on Paris Buttfield-Addison as a director and Mars Buttfield-Addison as an advisor. Both Jon Manning and Tim Nugent also continue to serve as directors. It’s based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and is located on the land of the Muwinina People. They’ve gone on to create many of their own games using Yarn, to show off its capabilities. These games include Dredge, Lost in Random, A Short Hike, and Button City. They also have a link on their site that allows other creators to share the games they’ve made with the software. I Feel Fine is an upcoming game that’s made with the latest versions of the software.
Free Vs Paid
Yarn itself is a free and open-source program that anyone can use on their own. In order to make it a viable business, the company hires itself out to integrate it into the engines and networks that game studios are making. This also allows other people to edit the code and change the program to suit their needs. The free version comes with a language to write your narratives, but in order to get them into your games with other engines, you’ll have to buy a premium version that comes with the integration. There are three different versions to choose from and each one has its own included functionality. The first option is to buy Yarn for Unity. This will allow you to integrate it right into your game engine and use it while you’re developing your game. The next option is to get it with speech bubbles. This one lets you write your narrative, as well as show customized text boxes in your game. The final version comes with a dialogue wheel. It makes it easy to create branching narratives and choices within your game. That also means that you must choose which kind of text you want to display before you make your purchase.
Active Discord Community
Yarn Spinner Pty. Ltd also has an active Discord that they encourage all their users to join. It’s the easiest way to get all of their latest announcements, as well as read about the known bugs in the program. It also serves as a place where users can ask the community questions and try to fix any problems that they happen to come across. The help forum is always available, and users can read solved problems to see if it has the answer they need without posting.
Coding Required
There’s going to be some coding that you’re required to do when you use Yarn. You’ll have to understand things like syntax and scripts if you want to get the full potential of what it has to offer you. If you don’t know anything about it, they have a beginner’s guide that will help you out. The more code you understand, the more you’re going to get out of the program, but you can also simply choose to learn as you go. The text can be edited normally, and Yarn will take care of the rest.
MIT License
While Yarn is free to use, it’s still provided under the terms of the MIT License. That means that you’re required to include a copy of the Yarn Spinner license in any work that you create. You won’t find it on their website, though. In order to properly get it into your game, you’re going to have to download it from a third-party site. Once you do that, there are no rules as to where it has to go in your game. Simply include it somewhere and you’ll have fulfilled your requirements.
Tutorial Projects
One of the most useful things included on the Yarn Spinner site is a collection of tutorials that you can use to make your text games. There are three different tutorials for three types of games. If you happen to be making one of them, you should have everything you need to use the program. The first tutorial is for a simple Choose Your Path Game with a branching narrative. The second is the same thing, only with visuals. The third tutorial is an NPC Dialogue game. These are all based in Unity, so you’ll have to be using the program in that engine.
Conclusion: Yarn Spinner is a Free Program with Premium Add-ons
Yarn Spinner can really be considered a free to use program that has premium add-ons for you to include. You can use the interactive fiction on its own, or you can upgrade and get it integrated into Unity. You can also pay for different types of text displays in your game. You’ll have to know some coding to use it, but there are guides available on the site. There’s also an active Discord community where you can ask questions or search other threads for the answers you need.
Pros:
• Free to use
• Integrates into Unity
• User guides and Discord help
Cons:
• Add-ons cost money
• Publishing not supported
• Some coding required