Narrative News January 2024: Jobs and Resources for the New Year!
What are your writing resolutions?
Hello fellow narrative designers, game writers, and all those interested in the interactive fiction sphere!
Welcome to the first Narrative News roundup of 2024 — what are your goals this year? Share in the comments below! Mine is to use only Simpsons gifs in this newsletter and, would you look at that, I’ve already completed it!
Featured this month: jobs at Dying Light-maker Techland (including a junior role!), a must-watch on transitioning into games from other disciplines, and a resource for screenwriting contests.
Events
Meetups
Bay Area IF Meetup: This Saturday, January 6th, the Bay Area Interactive Fiction Meetup meets online to play some of last year’s XYZZY Award nominees. Really great opportunity to learn more about IF and how it plays.
Jams + Competitions
Tell a Story Jam: This ten-day jam encourages game creators to make a game with a story, simple as that.
ShuffleComp: Submissions end for ShuffleComp on Dec. 7th. This is a cool IF jam where authors take inspiration from a random list of eight songs submitted by other authors. The games will be available to play and vote on until January 22nd.
News + Resources
Watch of the Week: Transitioning into Narrative Design from Other Disciplines
Screenwriting Fellowships, Programs, Labs, and More: There is significant overlap between narrative design work and screenwriting, so I thought I’d share this great resource from Laurie Donahue that aggregates worthwhile screenwriting contests.
The Corner of Story & Game Podcast: This podcast has some great talks with narrative designers, including the brilliant Susan O’Connor, founder of The Narrative Department.
Strangened Narratives: Narrative Designer Evgeni Puzankov is hosting a course on unique narrative design skills like “loops, impossible choices, endings, and extreme design spaces.” If you’ve been laid off, Evgeni mentions there’s a form at the end for a free spot in the course.
Opportunities
General
Dames Making Games GDC Passes: DMG, a wonderful Toronto-based organization for femmes in games, is offering the opportunity to apply for free GDC passes!
IFDB Awards: These awards held by the Interactive Fiction Database award the best in the medium through a set of polls voted on by the general public and published authors. It opens up on February 1st.
Jobs
Junior Writer at Techland: A rare junior writing role! For reference, Techland made Dying Light and is also working on an unannounced AAA Open World Action RPG set in a brand new fantasy universe. Advice from the generous Andrew Walsh.
Game Writer at Ludeon Studios: “We are seeking a senior writer to craft texts of all kinds, and to help us develop our fictional worlds.” This is contract, and hours may vary (between 40 and 0 per week).
Associate Writer: Pedestrian & Ambient Dialogue at Rockstar Games: I’m sure everyone will agree this sounds like a dream job. This is entry-level, full-time, and based in LA.
Narrative Designer at William Chyr Studio: The creator of Manifold Garden is working on a follow-up and is looking for a remote narrative designer to work 20 hours per week for about six months.
Narrative Designer at OtherSide Entertainment: Per the listing: “Together, we aim to evolve the ‘player-authored’ tradition of Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, and Deus Ex – all games developed by the company’s founders, Paul Neurath and Warren Spector.”
Narrative Designer at Primorden: This Bangkok-based position (relocation offered) is looking for a narrative designer who can help them deliver a fresh MMO experience.
Narrative Producer at Lightspeed LA: “The Producer role is responsible for producing content ensuring the smooth running of the assigned department.” Presumably this refers to the narrative department.
Senior Writer at Techland: “Techland is seeking a Senior Writer to join the Narrative team in creating exciting, action-driven stories.” For reference, Techland made Dying Light and is also working on an unannounced AAA Open World Action RPG set in a brand new fantasy universe.
Narrative Designer at Techland: “If you’re excited to explore, implement and innovate narrative design, we want to hear from you.”
Technical Narrative Designer at Techland: “They will focus on creating, expanding and improving our narrative toolsets and systems. If you’re excited to explore, design, script and implement new narrative designs then we want to hear from you.”
Lead Narrative Designer at 10 chambers: This Stockholm-based position collaborates with “our Narrative Director, our Writer and our Junior Narrative Designer to ensure top-tier quality in all narrative aspects of our productions, both in-game and marketing.”
Lead Narrative Systems Designer (Star Wars FPS): “In collaboration with Lucasfilm, the Star Wars FPS Team at Respawn is developing a new AAA FPS set in the Star Wars galaxy.”
Lead Narrative Designer at Survios: LA-based position on a VR game.
Narrative Design Lead at Firewalk Studios: “As our Narrative Design Lead, you’ll be joining a very special team in a unique place in the development process. We’re a new IP with boundless potential.”
Lead Narrative Designer at The Molasses Flood: This CD Projekt Studio is looking for a Lead Narrative Designer to “direct both the creative and technical aspects of storytelling for our next title, a brand new adventure set in The Witcher universe.”
Senior Narrative Designer (Open World AAA Game) at Yotta Games: “We are on the lookout for a narrative designer who could help us create a new criminal world for our AAA game project in the LA studio.”
Senior Narrative Designer, TCG at Ravensburger: “We seek a seasoned and innovative Senior Narrative Designer to help shape the narrative vision and content for the Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game (TCG).”
Thanks for reading! Remember to share this newsletter with other narrative designers — helping a fellow writer is proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.*
About the Writer:
Rose Behar is a narrative designer at Scopely. Her previous work is featured in Longleaf Valley, which recently won an Honorable Mention in Google Play Best of 2023 in the Games for Good category, and Ashe Cove by Double Loop Games, among other projects. She puts out the free Narrative News roundup every month.
A lot of good-looking jobs! Best of luck to everyone on the hunt, I know it’s tough out there.
For me, my goal this year is to spread the word about the benefits of rigorous editing as a key part of the narrative pipeline and to make my tiny family business, The Game Editors, more sustainable, since it’s become our primary means of support. If a project or team you’re connected to could use an outside eye or some help with story development, copy editing, or adding voiceover, please take a look at what we offer and consider reaching out or mentioning us to a colleague: https://thegameeditors.com
Another objective that’s been in the back of my mind is networking more with other game editors specifically. There are lots of places for narrative and localization folks, but other than the short-lived IGDA editing SIG several years back, I’m not aware of any groups focusing on editors in the games industry. If you know of one, or would be interested in getting something new off the ground, please let me know!
Here’s to a peaceful, fulfilling, and prosperous new year for us all.