Narrative Realization Director

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

Santa Monica Studio is seeking a Narrative Realization Director for the development of an upcoming new title. Do you love collaborating with talented developers to build genre-defining games? Join us as we embark on a new journey!

As the Narrative Realization Director, you ensure the narrative goals of the project are successfully realized through an effective combination of cinematics, gameplay moments, visual language, pacing, and dialogue. You are an expert visual storyteller who knows how to bring emotional resonance to the gameplay experience and has an extensive background in the creation of memorable moments at AAA level.

You are adept at interpreting the overall game vision, ideating with discipline Directors to establish high-level creative goals, then directing the work of multi-functional groups towards a cohesive final product. You champion cross-functional collaboration between narrative, design, art, animation, audio, and technical staff in the service of creating exciting and emotionally impactful player experiences.

You have a thorough understanding of every discipline involved in visual storytelling, and high-level expertise in at least one of them. You collaborate closely with Game Directors, discipline Directors, Senior Producers, and Managers, to drive AAA quality results within project budgets and schedules.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the game directors to understand the overall vision and help define the game experience, and to ensure the narrative delivery supports the quality, tone, and flow of the rest of the game
• Focus on bringing the project’s narrative goals to fruition through cinematics, gameplay moments, and other visual storytelling methods
• Work across disciplines to establish the appropriate method of narrative delivery and oversee planning, prototyping, and development of the work
• Collaborate with all relevant directors, leads, and staff (Art, Character, FX, Audio, Narrative Design, Animation, Engineering, etc.) to ensure dialog, cinematic, and in-game narrative moments are fully realized and expertly delivered
• Provide direction and feedback to cross-functional teams to guide execution and drive quality
• Work with production and management to identify and align resourcing needs, outsourcing requirements, and project schedules
• Work with external partners to oversee, direct, and review asset deliveries where appropriate
• May be asked to attend performance capture shoots to provide assistance in some circumstances

Requirements

• Lead or Director experience on AAA title with strong narrative component
• Minimum of 8 years’ industry experience in creative and/or technical roles
• Strong leadership skills, production sensibilities, and drive for quality
• High comfort level with learning and utilizing proprietary tools and game engine pipelines
• Ability to rapidly prototype, iterate, and explore game narrative ideas across disciplines
• Ability to succeed in a creative, quality-driven, team-oriented environment
• High comfort level with managing input and direction from multiple creative partners
• Ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues
• An enthusiasm for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table
• Excellent communication, time-management, and organizational skills

Preferred Experience

• Experience working with Maya, MotionBuilder, or scripting tools
• Experience of cinematography, photography, or similar
• Experience preparing for and taking part in motion capture shoots
• Experience working with outsourcing pipelines and partners

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