Narrative Designer (Unannounced Internal IP)

**Job Description:** We are developing our first original internal IP in partnership with Viva La Dirt League (VLDL Games) and are looking for a Narrative Designer to join the team and help shape the game’s story, characters, and world. You will be responsible for developing and maintaining the overarching narrative of the game, working closely with the Viva La Dirt League team, our Design Lead, and the wider development team to establish the story, key narrative beats, character development, and dialogue. You will help ensure that the game’s narrative remains cohesive, engaging, and consistent with the established world and tone of Viva La Dirt League’s content. The role will involve working across narrative design and writing, including developing story arcs, quests, character interactions, and dialogue, while ensuring the narrative integrates naturally with the game’s systems and player experience. We are looking for someone with strong creative writing and storytelling skills, an excellent understanding of narrative structure, character development, and humour, and experience designing narrative content for games. An ideal candidate will also be comfortable working within Unreal Engine and collaborating directly on the implementation of narrative content. Experience with Blueprint scripting, level design, or broader gameplay design would be particularly valuable, providing opportunities to contribute beyond narrative development and help shape the overall game experience. This is a full-time fixed-term employment position commencing in January 2027, with a strong preference for candidates who can work on-site from our Auckland office. For the right candidate, we may be able to support remote work within New Zealand. Please note, you must have the right to work in New Zealand to be eligible for this position. We highly value diversity. Regardless of disability, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or any other aspect of your culture or identity, you have an important role to play in our team. **Salary Range: NZD $70,000 – $82,300** **Key Responsibilities:** * Take ownership of the game’s overarching narrative, including its story structure, themes, and key narrative beats. * Work closely with Viva La Dirt League and the Design Lead to develop and refine the game’s story, characters, and world. * Write compelling character dialogue, quests, interactions, and other narrative content consistent with the game’s established tone and humour. * Develop and maintain narrative documentation, including story outlines, character profiles, dialogue scripts, and world-building materials. * Design narrative-driven quests, encounters, and character interactions that integrate naturally with gameplay systems. * Collaborate with designers, artists, and engineers to ensure narrative content is effectively represented and implemented in-game. * Maintain narrative consistency across the game, ensuring characters, dialogue, and story developments remain cohesive. * Iterate on narrative content based on feedback from the VLDL team, our Design Lead, and the wider development team. * Help identify and resolve narrative or gameplay design issues throughout development. **Job Requirements:** * Experience as a Narrative Designer or Game Writer, ideally within game development. * Strong portfolio demonstrating compelling writing, clear narrative structure, and effective narrative integration with gameplay. * Excellent understanding of narrative structure, pacing, characterisation, and storytelling within interactive media. * Strong creative writing skills, with a focus on dialogue and clear character voice. * Ability to implement dialogue, quests, and other narrative systems directly within Unreal Engine. * Experience developing narrative content for games, including quests, dialogue, and story-driven gameplay. * Strong understanding of how narrative design interacts with gameplay systems and player agency. * Experience creating and maintaining clear narrative documentation and design specifications. * Ability to work within an established creative universe while maintaining consistency with existing characters, lore, and tone. * Ability to work collaboratively with designers, writers, artists, and other members of the development team. * Strong communication skills and an ability to take feedback and iterate quickly. **Additional Valuable Skills:** The following skills are not required for success in this role, but experience in these areas may provide additional opportunities to contribute and help shape the project and studio. * Experience working with Unreal Engine, particularly Blueprint scripting and visual scripting workflows. * Experience with broader game design, including gameplay mechanics, systems design, or encounter design. * Experience with level design, level scripting, and building playable content within Unreal Engine. * Experience writing for comedy, particularly character-driven humour and fantasy settings. * Familiarity with Viva La Dirt League’s content, characters, and established worlds. **About Prismatic Studios:** Prismatic Studios is an Unreal Engine specialist Co-Development Studio and Technical Consultancy based in Auckland, New Zealand. We provide Technical Consultation, Co-Development, and Full Development services for Unreal Engine projects. We are an Unreal Gold Service Partner and specialise in providing Unreal Engine development services to the region and abroad.