Game Jobs: Narrative Designer at ArenaNet

ArenaNet, the studio behind Guild Wars 2, the fastest selling MMO game in the West with more than 3 million copies sold in its first 9 months, is looking for a Narrative Designer.

The role of Narrative as a discipline in the game development process is to provide context and meaning to the gameplay experience, binding all aspects of the game together into a coherent and integrated dramatic journey and cementing the emotional bond between player and game. As our products make clear, ArenaNet is a studio that values and respects that role as essential to the development of a great and successful game project.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Expert dramatic writing skills, with a substantial track record of demonstrated proficiency in both games and at least one other narrative medium (screenwriting, playwriting, prose fiction, etc. – writing for the spoken word preferred)
• Practical and theoretical knowledge and experience regarding the craft of dramatic storytelling across multiple media
• Demonstrable understanding of and experience in interactive and non-linear storytelling, using non-traditional and non-verbal delivery systems (e.g., environmental storytelling, in-engine storytelling without cutscenes or lore dumps, etc.)
• Passion for video games and deep knowledge of multiple genres
• Experience and development knowledge of open-world games
• Excellent communication, decision-making, and organizational skills
• Demonstrable experience in world building, character creation, story arc design, dialogue writing, voice casting, and voice direction (portfolio submission required)
• Collaborative, productive, enthusiastic attitude when working with multidisciplinary teams on story creation and implementation
• Ability to learn and use proprietary tools to create content
• Ability to work independently as part of a large, coordinated team to hit deadlines
• Insatiable intellectual curiosity
• Burning urge to create
• Embrace of the necessity of killing your darlings
• Enthusiasm for lifelong learning, leveling up, and refinement of craft

EDUCATION/TRAINING/EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent educational achievement or work experience
• Minimum of five years’ professional experience as a Narrative Designer or Writer on a game development team
• Minimum of five years’ professional experience as a writer in another narrative medium (preferably dramatic writing involving spoken dialogue; may be concurrent with game writing experience)
• Two or more shipped AAA-quality products on which you played a narrative design or writing capacity
• Published/produced works—games, screenplays, stage plays, comics, novels, short stories, articles, videos, or other related materials
• Deep knowledge of games, film, television, literature, comics—especially in fantasy and science-fiction genres

PLUSES

• Experience in other disciplines of game design and development—especially open-world games
• Familiarity with narrative game systems
• Light implementation experience

Apply