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Narrative Director (Puzzle Studio)

Published date more than one year ago
Posted: more than one year ago
Company Rovio
Company: Rovio
Location Espoo
Location: Espoo

As a Narrative Director, you will define and lead the narrative craft at Puzzle studio and at Rovio. Puzzle studio is the home of the passionate team behind Angry Birds Match, Angry Birds Friends, the newly launched Angry Birds Dream Blast, and other unreleased games currently in production. The studio strives to create puzzle games that are instantly fun, but that can also turn into years-long hobbies. Puzzle Studio is also exploring new ways to use narrative and character worlds in casual mobile games, with the aim of creating a true emotional connection that stays with players even when they’re not playing.

You will lead the games business unit story craft by:

  1. Ensuring the development of the Angry Birds IP narrative with the Rovio games
  2. Enhance the narrative driven thinking with the Rovio games overall
  3. Developing at least on one game’s story (leading the craft by example)
  4. Constantly improving internal and external capabilities to create the stories
  5. Coaching the people working on the stories at Rovio game studios

Also, you will work in close collaboration across the teams to develop and ensure narrative elements that strengthen emotional engagement, brand loyalty and player retention, and ensure tonal coherence and consistency for the player experience and the IP. Narrative Director functions as the central resource for all things narrative-related (world building, story, structure, character, context, dialogue, etc.). As additional task s/he will also ensure the quality of the localization by working closely with the localization team - challenging them to bring the best possible quality on all the localized languages.

Additionally, you will be ensuring coherence of the Angry Bird’s brand across games in terms of storytelling.

Other key tasks and responsibilities:

  • Working hands on at least one story in Puzzle studio - or guiding one story created by external party
  • Reviewing, giving feedback and contributing creatively to multiple game projects
  • Ensures the craft development in Rovio
  • Participate to define the themes and tones that support the game’s creative vision
  • Collaborate with development teams to brainstorm creative ways to encapsulate a game’s core mechanics through story and narrative
  • Help to establish the tone of the game world and proposing creative and efficient ways to effectively present this world to the player in collaboration with development teams
  • Review and provide feedback documents for all narrative element
  • Finding and steering external writers
  • Identify narrative problems and finding creative solutions with development teams
  • Lead the narrative strategy and ensure its constant communication to the development teams
  • Collaborate with the different teams (level designers, game designers, artists, animators, audio designers, etc…) to ensure that all the narrative elements are correctly integrated
  • Share and coach on topics of narrative design to other experts, providing insight and narrative expertise to sister discipline leads such as production, art, game design and audio
  • Identify and communicate best practices for everything related to narration in games
  • Be an active member of a work group in charge of ensuring the integrity of the Angry Bird’s license.

You will need to have:

  • Experience on leading a creative team

  • Extensive knowledge of interactive storytelling, plot, and structure - with F2P mobile games

  • Proven ability to build worlds that players love and believe in on mobile F2P games

  • Released successful F2P game(s) as narrative writer or narrative director
  • Professional experience as a writer in the mobile game industry
  • The ability to craft sharp, clear dialogue for diverse target audiences
  • A strong ability to communicate ideas through verbal, written and visual means
  • Ability to switch between different writing styles and tones
  • Ability to work independently or as part of the design team
  • Keen interest in sharing learnings across Rovio
  • Experience on steering externals

What you get when you join us:

  • The feeling of a small startup in a financially stable environment.
  • Career development: we help you grow and achieve your professional goals.
  • 5 week holidays per year
  • Competitive salary based on Helsinki cost of living
  • Flexible work hours
  • Real life/work balance
  • Relocation assistance
  • Truly international environment: while officially we conduct business in English, you will hear a number of languages in our workplace and can join a variety of activities that we come up with together.
  • Competitive benefits: such as choice of current gen smartphone and home internet service paid, choice of laptop, lunch and sport vouchers, breakfast, gaming area, gym, sauna

If you are interested, please do not hesitate to send your CV and cover letter today!