Narrative Designer

Ubisoft Toronto is one of the largest development studios within Ubisoft, employing talented people from around the world. We create worlds and tell stories that grip you, inspire you and challenge you. Since opening in 2010, we have shipped innovative game projects on some of Ubisoft’s biggest brands: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, For Honor and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

Are you looking to work with enthusiastic experts who are tackling industry-changing challenges in entertainment and beyond? At Ubisoft Toronto, we are always striving to get better, be better and do better – embracing innovative ideas, exploring new technologies, and working together courageously and collaboratively.

What you’ll do:

• Partner with the team to understand and excecute on the overall game vision.
• Brainstorm and research ideas, and discuss your findings with collaborative, cross-discipline teams.
• Deliver pitches, design documents and narrative documentation in collaboration with writers and developers in other disciplines to fully realize narrative features and content for the game.
• Carefully construct branching, interactive narratives with an economic approach to dialogue choice and consequence while centering the player experience.
• Act as a bridge between narrative and other disciplines, as well as an advocate for storytelling in various aspects of the game when needed.
• Master Ubisoft’s proprietary writing tool and keep your story elements organized and error-free. Work in Snowdrop - one of Ubisoft's proprietary game engines - to implement dialogue and text strings.
• Create and maintain detailed narrative design documents to guide cross-functional teams throughout production.
• Be open to feedback and repeatedly iterate on narrative content in the dynamic environment that game development requires.
• Be able to critically, constructively, and succinctly provide narrative feedback to team members from multiple disciplines.
• Support other disciplines such as in art, audio, and design, as an expert in game narrative.

What you bring

• A degree in Creative Writing, Literature, Film, or equivalent.
• At least 3 years of game development experience or related experience.
• Deep, intuitive understanding of non-linear and branching narrative, systemic narrative practices and game production processes.
• A passion for video games as a storytelling medium.
• A highly creative, collaborative, and innovative spirit.
• Curiosity, flexibility, and plenty of resourcefulness.
• Excellent organizational, communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Ability to adapt to feedback and to iterate on design.
• Experience with branching tools

What to send our way

• Your CV, highlighting your education, experience, and skills;
• A variety of samples of your best work (attach files or send us a link to your personal website or online portfolio). The samples should demonstrate your ability to construct a branching, non-linear story, branching or interactive story. Additionally, a demonstration of how you create narrative mechanics is a plus.

Why Ubisoft Toronto?

Scored by The Economist as the Best City to Live, our studio is located in the trendy Junction Triangle located in West Toronto, close to TTC, the hottest bars and restaurants, and excellent coffee shops. We celebrate successes as a team at our monthly UbiBash events, and invite our families to events throughout the year including our annual Kids Holiday Party and Summer BBQ. We give back to help make our community better through our team volunteer days and fundraising activities. We hold regular game jams to fuel our team’s creativity. Ubisoft Toronto conducts annual performance reviews to help our team develop their careers and grow with our studio, and provides the opportunity for salary increases annually as part of the performance review process. Ubisoft Toronto also offers a comprehensive health benefits package, generous RRSP matching, industry education support, training and career development, flexible days, on-site Yoga and Bootcamp classes, fresh fruit, Life Drawing classes, as well as spontaneous team surprises such as Pi Day, Star Wars Day, and Halloween.

Join Us!

We hunt for talent from across the industry – seasoned experts that know what it takes to ship world-class games and the next generation of game developer all-stars. We value team chemistry and a desire to grow our studio together. If this sounds like your kind of studio, what are you waiting for? Apply to join us now!

Ubisoft Toronto is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all interested parties. The studio welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodation upon request for candidates taking part in the recruitment process. We thank you for your interest, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No agencies please.