SHSelfHostIndex

ink vs Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
IN ink Narrative scripting language for interactive fiction games VS CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike
FeatureinkCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseMITCC-BY-SA-3.0
LanguageC#C++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentsource, binarybare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 4,891★ 12,896
First released20162013
ReplacesYarn SpinnerNetHack

Why pick each one

Choose ink if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Active community (4.9k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C#
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
ink details

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

  • Enormous depth
  • Active development
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead details

Frequently asked questions

Is ink or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead better?

Neither is universally better. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are ink and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead free and open-source?

Yes. ink is licensed under MIT and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead under CC-BY-SA-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ink and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead with Docker?

ink: check the project docs for container support. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: check the project docs for container support.

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