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Senior Narrative Designer

ABOUT SPLASH DAMAGE

We believe that games play better with friends. For more than 20 years, we’ve been creating team-based multiplayer experiences that have entertained tens of millions of players all over the world and forged countless new friendships along the way.

Our studio culture is rooted in our open, friendly, and collaborative environment. Our games are made by people from all over the world, from our entry-level Fresh Talent hires to industry veterans, and we believe that fostering that diverse culture is the best way to build both our games and our studio. We have won numerous awards, including a ‘World-Class’ accreditation by Best Companies and being named one of the UK’s 100 Best Large Companies to work for.

While our offices are based in Bromley, UK, our people have access to progressive working patterns that give them the flexibility to decide how to do their best work.

Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family, including:

• Work your way with access to progressive working patterns including hybrid and fully remote
• Substantial performance-related pay system on top of your basic compensation, along with enhanced pension contributions and our life assurance scheme
• Bespoke VISA and relocation packages for you and your family, with support from our team throughout the whole process
• 25 days of holiday and 8 Bank Holidays a year, plus our annual studio closure between Christmas and New Year’s
• Private Medical and Dental Cover for you and your family, along with a 24/7 digital GP service
• Extensive Mental Health support, with Line Manager Mental Health training, a group of Mental Health First-Aiders, and on-site or remote counselling
• Our bespoke Learning and Development course framework to help you grow as an employee, manager, and leader
• Industry-leading fully paid 30 weeks maternity leave & 10 weeks paternity leave

THE ROLE

As a Senior Narrative Designer at Splash Damage you will be responsible for world-building, developing and implementing the story arc and characters, as well as the emotional tone, pacing, and dialogue as directed by the Project Leads. You will assist the Narrative Lead in the organization and execution of the Narrative Team’s workload. You will collaborate closely with all other departments and will help to guide the work of more junior Narrative Design staff on the project.

Key Responsibilities:

• Help to establish and implement the project’s core narrative pillars.
• Create and manage efficient narrative structures, using them to provoke engaging scenarios that fully express the themes and tone of the world.
• Design engaging dialogue choices and write high quality dialogue to support them.
• Facilitate constant communication between departments and team members.
• Collaborate with other disciplines to achieve best results.
• Implement and maintain storyline related mission logic.
• Respond pro-actively to criticism. Remain open minded and solutions focused, working openly and iteratively to improve the narrative.
• Mentor and support junior staff.
• Work closely with Production to Prioritise tasks, provide and verify estimates, identify risks, avoid blockers, and help to manage the creative pipeline.
• Provide and maintain concise, accessible, up-to-date, documentation.
• Monitor the bug database and respond to issues in a timely fashion.
• Work pro-actively with narrative designers on other projects to ensure consistency across the studio.
• Maintain a positive, encouraging, motivational, work environment.

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience as a Narrative Designer in videogames.
• The proven ability to create game worlds, characters, items, dialogue, backstory, and lore.
• The ability to work both independently and collaboratively without close supervision.
• The ability to take direction, gracefully absorb stakeholder feedback, and iterate quickly.
• The ability to manage and implement written designs, text, and audio assets.
• The ability to write to a high standard in various formats including: cinematic scenes, in-game tooltips, text logs, audio logs, VO barks, storyboards, cinematic scripts, and branching dialogue.
• An understanding of the deep and varied aspects of interactive narrative.
• The ability to write concept briefs for all other disciplines, particularly artists, programmers, and audio designers.
• Experience with source-control applications (SVN, Perforce, AlienBrain, etc.)

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Experience in working with dynamic dialogue systems
• Experience casting and directing actors for voice over, and motion capture/performance capture
• Presentation skills and experience with PowerPoint
• Experience with wiki-based design documentation
• Undergraduate degree in English, History, Creative Writing, Video Game Design, or a form of technical training

Splash Damage is an equal opportunity employer. We believe our teams create better work when they have a range of perspectives to draw from, and we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment that celebrates diversity.