What exactly is a Narrative Director, anyway? When I got started in this biz, there were no Narrative Directors. There were no narrative anythings, to be fair, but the point is, the title is a relatively recent branch on the game dev evolutionary tree. When I first heard of someone having that title, I thought about it for a minute, because I'd never imagined such a thing, and then decided it was actually a really good idea to have someone at the Director level on a project focused on narrative, instead of getting one-sixteenth of the Creative Director's attention on alternative Thursdays. Still, what does a Narrative Director do? Having filled the role at three companies, I think the base description of the job is this: The Narrative Director acts as the vision holder for the narrative aspects of the game. They are the champion for narrative to the rest of team leadership and, by extension the rest of the team. They are not the lead writer, but they are the last line of defense when writing or other narrative deliverables need to happen. They are responsible for communicating the narrative direction from leadership to the narrative staff, and for laying out the roadmap to achieve them. They are responsible for ensuring a unified voice and vision so that the entire narrative works in harmony toward the project's needs. And they have a responsibility to the members of the narrative team, to protect if necessary, advise, encourage, and professionally develop them. That....sounds like a lot. And it is. But that's OK - Narrative Director is not a role for the inexperienced or the insecure. Underneath all of those details is a fundamental truth: as Narrative Director, you are not telling your story. You are instead shepherding the narrative the game needs, and you are doing so by placing others in a position to succeed. A Narrative Director whose immediate response to an imperfect first draft is "I'll just rewrite this" has failed. They have failed the team by not communicating in a way that allows others to do their best work. They have failed the original writer by not offering actionable feedback that will allow them to improve. They have failed process, by taking another task onto their already full plate because it's more fun to write than to give notes. Ultimately, a Narrative Director must largely focus on a strategic vision for narrative, not a tactical one. Yes, there are times when the deadlines are tight and the workload is too big and the iteration cycle isn't moving as hoped when you, as a Narrative Director, have to jump in and get your hands dirty with adverbs. And yes, it's OK to leave a bit of ground level work for yourself so you don't get detached from the content and get a little creative joy. But by and large, your job is to make sure the narrative as a whole happens in a way that works for everyone, on the narrative team and off it. ....more next time...
I very much agree with this. As someone who has held Lead Writer duties and Narrative Director roles, the later is a much harder role. Writing 3000 lines of dialogue is joyful compared to having to wrangle creative feedback from non-creative stakeholders and form an actionable course of action and direction while managing delivables and keeping the writers sane and nurtured despite requesting rewrites for the last month of work. 😉😁 And all this while fighting the urge to just write it yourself... But I think in pre-production Narrative Directors get to shine by foundationally setting a strong tone for characters, factions, and world setting. And in these cases, while not acting as the Lead Writer, you're still establishing the playground/box that your team is going to write for.
I was just saying that my GMing experience and reading books out loud to my kids has been more preparation for the Narrative Director role than any of my writing. So much of it is being able to tell the story of the game in an entertaining way, at an appropriate level of detail for every audience, to keep all other departments engaged and inspired by the story.
Hear, hear. A great narrative director can make a world of difference to how a studio runs, and even how each project goes.
Such a perfect encapsulation of the role. No notes. 😎
As someone who has been a Narrative Director, what is the biggest piece of advice that you could give writers who are looking to crack into the space with their narrative journeys? Do you commonly see any specific pitfalls that writers find themselves in when it comes time for a Narrative Director to advise?
Brilliant post, as always!
Sounds like my previous career as an orchestra conductor 🪄
I love the term "vision holder." Thanks for the thorough explanation - I learned something today!
Jarory de Jesus was just writing about the difference in writing and narrative design as tactical and strategic. Guess narrative direction is even more eagle eyed?
Senior Writer | ex-Sucker Punch | ex-BioWare
3wGreat post. I suspect some folks who have and work with a Narrative Director are unsure of what they do vs. a Lead Writer.