Yarn Spinner for Education
We offer discounted Yarn Spinner+ licenses for a class or a whole institution, with support from our team and early access to the teaching material we’re writing.
Students and teachers at universities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, the USA and Asia use Yarn Spinner in their coursework.
Free for Every Classroom
Free for Every ClassroomYarn Spinner is open source, and it costs nothing to teach with.
Free and open source
Every Yarn Spinner engine integration is free to use, in coursework, in game jams, and in the games students go on to sell.
Read the licensing FAQ →Try Yarn Spinner
Write and play Yarn scripts in a web browser, with nothing to install. It makes a good first lesson, and suits writers who don't use a game engine.
Open Try Yarn Spinner →A free editor
The Visual Studio Code extension checks scripts for errors as students write, shows how nodes connect, and previews dialogue without opening an engine.
See the editor →New to Yarn? Start with the beginner's guide.
Licenses for Courses
For classes and institutions that teach with Yarn Spinner+.
Institutional license
One license for your whole school, department or institution, at a discounted rate. It lasts for the duration of a major version of Yarn Spinner, and includes support from our team.
Per-seat licenses
For a single class, a studio unit, or a lab with a set number of computers. Tell us roughly how many seats you need, and we'll work out a price.
Student projects
Making an honours or final-year game? The free version may be all you need. If your team wants Yarn Spinner+, one itch.io purchase covers the whole team for a student project.
Help With Teaching
Help With TeachingWe have an education background, and we'd like to help you teach Yarn Spinner.
Teaching material
We're writing learning tools and curriculum material for Yarn Spinner. Institutions with a license can use it while it's in development.
Workshops
We run workshops in narrative and game development for schools, and training sessions for teams. Ask us about a session for your students.
Help for teachers
Not sure how to structure something for your students? Email us, or ask in our Discord.
In the Classroom
In the ClassroomSome of the ways teachers and students tell us they use Yarn Spinner.
Narrative design courses
Student teams prototype RPGs and adventure games, with writers and programmers working in the same project.
Screen and writing programs
Screenwriters, artists and programmers make visual novels together. The writers work in Yarn while the programmers work in the engine.
Final-year projects
Dialogue-heavy games made by one student or a small team over a semester or a year.
Programming assignments
Group assignments in game programming units, where Yarn handles the dialogue so students can spend their time on the rest of the game.
Simulations and training
Branching scenarios where students practise difficult conversations, like a social worker's first visit with a family, and replay them to try a different approach.
Game jams
Beginner-friendly jams for school and university students. Running one? Ask us about Yarn Spinner+ keys for prizes.
"Yarn Spinner has been an invaluable asset for student projects at NYU Game Center. Its lightweight flexibility and robust features have helped our students focus on narrative design with best practices, instead of reinventing pointless framework boilerplate. Game dialogue tools should do what they need to do and then get out of the writer's way, and Yarn Spinner understands that. We at NYU are proud to have supported Yarn Spinner development in the past, and can't wait to see what the team has in store for the future."
Tell Us About Your Course
Send us an email with whatever you know so far. It helps to include:
- Your name and institution
- The course or program, and roughly how many students
- Whether you're after an institutional or per-seat license
- The engine you teach with
- Whether students will work on lab computers, their own, or both
- When the course runs, and any purchasing deadlines
Please use the subject line YS Education. We'll get back to you within five business days.
Building learning software rather than teaching a course? Hire us.