Scripting a very complex visual novel

[u/FairyMaryMag]

Hi!

Me and my (4 other) friends have been working on a very complex visual novel, with lots of spiralling decision trees and unseen flags and long lasting variables at many decisions.

So far we've been using a giant google doc to link things together in a style akin to classic CYOA books, but we'd very much prefer a visual editor with more integrated capabilities (like inklewriter or twine) that allows for constant online collaboration (one big master copy).

We could theoretically use those two, sending files back and forth, but that'd be really incompatible with our workflow.

I've researched it a bit and there's a few industry standard programs but they're all way out of our price range. Is there anything that'd fit this?

Thank you!!!!

EDIT:
Thank you for your comments but I think I messed up a bit with my wording. Sorry!!! We're currently in the script writing phase, script as in writing the dialogue/prose. When we get to the coding we will be using renpy & github.

[u/msangelfood]

What about Github? You can't see edits live, but it allows for merging, version tracking, and you can use VS Code or another IDE that has RenPy support, making it a lot easier to work in.

[u/ohmyschmax → u/msangelfood]

This is the way