# Start Here

## **Welcome to Yarn Spinner!**

[**Yarn Spinner**](https://yarnspinner.dev) **is the friendly tool for writing dialogue in games.** It's easy for writers to use, and has powerful features for programmers.

Yarn Spinner is a dialogue system that lets you write interactive conversations in a simple, screenplay-like format, which can be loaded into your game and run.

When a conversation is running, Yarn Spinner sends your game **lines** of dialogue to show, **options** to let the player choose from, and **commands** to make things happen in your scene.

Yarn Spinner has been used in a number of critically acclaimed games, including [Night in the Woods](http://nightinthewoods.com), [A Short Hike](https://ashorthike.com), [Lost in Random](https://www.ea.com/en-au/games/lost-in-random), and many more.

It's free to download and use for free and commercial games, and is open source under the terms of the [MIT License](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/).

**Yarn Spinner 2.2** is our latest release!

![](https://99231152-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FS4mXHmtpu6Jra6GMq89c%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a5aa18eab5c14a355ef8434025c614be03825619%2FIMG_6494.jpeg?alt=media)

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**This documentation is still in active development.** If you see an issue, please [file an issue on GitHub](https://github.com/YarnSpinnerTool/YSDocs/issues/new).
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**Yarn Spinner is made up of two things:**

1. Yarn files that contain the script for your game, and;
2. The Yarn Spinner framework for your chosen game engine or method of delivery.

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**This documentation is for Yarn Spinner 2.2.** You can find the old Yarn Spinner 1.0 documentation [here](https://yarnspinner.dev/docs/), if you still need it.
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**To use Yarn Spinner, you will need:**

1. **An editor to write and edit .yarn scripts with.** We recommend using the official Yarn Spinner Visual Studio Code extension, together with Visual Studio Code.
   * You can find details on installing VS Code and the official Yarn Spinner Visual Studio Code Extension here: [editing-with-vs-code](https://docs.yarnspinner.dev/2.2/getting-started/editing-with-vs-code "mention")
2. **A copy of Yarn Spinner for your game engine of choice.** Currently, Yarn Spinner supports Unity, so you'll need Yarn Spinner Unity.
   * You can learn more about Yarn Spinner Unity here: [overview](https://docs.yarnspinner.dev/2.2/using-yarnspinner-with-unity/overview "mention")
3. **A .yarn script (or a few of them).** These will be the narrative, or bits of narrative, that Yarn Spinner uses to display and deliver your dialogue.
   * You can learn more about writing in Yarn here: [writing-in-yarn](https://docs.yarnspinner.dev/2.2/getting-started/writing-in-yarn "mention")

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Yarn Spinner currently only officially supports Unity. There are community projects for other game engines, and we're officially working on more. Stay tuned for updates.
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You can also learn more about the various [github-repositories](https://docs.yarnspinner.dev/2.2/about/github-repositories "mention"), as well as [team](https://docs.yarnspinner.dev/2.2/about/team "mention") here, if you'd like.

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If you'd like to join the wider Yarn Spinner community, we also have a [Yarn Spinner Discord](https://discord.gg/yarnspinner).
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