22 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You’ll split time between story work and technical tasks. Mornings often have stand-ups with designers, artists, and engineers to sync story beats, scripts, and implementation details. Afternoons might be scripting dialogue, updating a story-driven prototype, or creating a storyboard or moodboard for a scene.
You’ll also test in-game scenes, document bugs or narrative flow problems, and update content in whatever content management system or tool the team uses (could be a wiki, JSON files, or a web-based editor). Expect code reviews if you write implementation scripts.
Start with Adobe tools: Photoshop and Illustrator for quick moodboards and concept comps, InDesign for longer design docs, and After Effects if you make animatics. Learn a basic code stack like HTML/JavaScript and JSON for dialogue systems so you can produce working prototypes.
Also get familiar with common web and cloud platforms (AWS, EC2, Redshift) if the role involves online features or analytics, and learn how to use AJAX for interactive web-based narratives. Knowing how to export and optimize graphics for web performance matters too.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports 113,330 employed in related roles with a median wage of $104,000 per year. The lowest tenth earn about $53,750, and the top tenth earn about $201,550 per year. These are broad numbers that cover many digital design and development jobs.
Actual pay for a narrative designer depends on company size, industry (games, film, web), location, and your specific technical skills like scripting or AWS experience. Use BLS as a benchmark, not a guarantee.
A game writer focuses mainly on prose: characters, dialogue, and world lore. UX writers write microcopy for interfaces. Narrative designers bridge both: you design how story is presented, implemented, and interacted with inside the product.
That means you’ll write, but also prototype systems, create story-driven UI, produce sequence diagrams or data models for branching dialogue, and work with engineers to integrate narrative into the game or website. You also perform web tests and document technical constraints.
AI can speed idea generation, draft dialogue, or suggest branching structures, but always treat outputs as rough drafts. Verify facts, edit voice, and rework any code AI produces. Never paste proprietary scripts or unreleased content into public AI tools without checking your employer’s policies.
For technical outputs, test generated HTML/JavaScript and run web site tests. Document what you changed, and use version control. If you use third-party text or images, confirm licenses — and optimize any AI-generated graphics in Photoshop or Illustrator before release.
You’ll create prototypes or models (physical, interface, logical, or data models) and sequence diagrams that show how story states change. Provide assets (optimized graphics, sound cues) and export dialogue in formats engineers expect, often JSON or XML, and sometimes SQL for backing data.
Engineers then implement with HTML, JavaScript, AJAX calls, or server code on platforms like AWS/EC2. You’ll test sites according to schedules, document server load or browser types, and iterate to fix performance or UX issues.