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Principal Narrative Designer

High Level

At Maxis, we thrive on outrageous thinking.

It’s the fuel that inspires the best games in the world. We’re creators and great storytellers. Our mission is not just about amazing our peers – it’s about amazing our fans. Taking risks. Collaborating with each other. Daring to dream big. Together, we can improve the way millions play every day.

As a Senior Narrative Designer on The Sims, you’ll report to the Senior Creative Director and work with a team of enthusiastic industry craftspeople from all walks of life. You will use your passion and knowledge to lead the development of the narrative experience from vision, to first playable, through final design and execution.

You will work with your engineering, design, XD, UXR and Production partners, along with using feedback and research insights to create experiences that surprise, delight, and invite millions of gamers around the world to Play with Life.

The Sims has a very unique player base with 60% of our audience being women between the ages of 18-24. We are looking for someone with deep insights on how to create the best stories and experiences for our players.

Role Requirements

• Significant Narrative Game Genre design experience, especially in the area of creating the production pipeline to integrate story with the gameplay.
• Significant experience writing fictional stories, ideally interactive experiences.
• Capability to lead cross-discipline prototyping and idea iteration, actively participating in the development of a feature from start to finish.
• Experience with young adult fiction, pop-culture stories, in particular romantic narratives.
• Hands-on implementation for an interactive experience or mod.
• Excited by and helping define new business and distribution models like live services through the lens of narrative elements.
• Knowledge of popular interactive story machinima or mod communities a plus (ex: The Sims, Episode, Grand Theft Auto Online).
• Excellent communication and presentation skills required.
• Experience in Unreal is a plus.

Role Expectations

Guide the delivery of the following:

• Help define, maintain, and execute against the narrative vision of the project.
• Explore new ways to bring characters to life and create emotional experiences in a non-linear simulation experience.
• Direct and implement the characters, settings, goals, and conflicts from drafts in game.
• Work with the tools team to improve workflow and processes.
• Create design documentation to support prototyping and development efforts.
• Partner with Development Directors to track tasks, identify risk, and clarify changes in work.
• Partner with UX to design, research, and implement features, particularly for introducing narrative elements and decisions.
• Aid team leadership in gathering presentation materials.
• Playtest, attend UXR sessions, and participate in organizing feedback/insights.
• Document findings for future use in Sims development.