Sid Meier's: Civilization VII
Narrative Designer & Writer
"Civilization 7's improved warfare and added bits of narrative flair give me reasons to keep clicking one more turn late into the night." - IGN
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Genre: 4X, Strategy, Historical
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Team: 250+ in studio, narrative team of 5.
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Development: 9 months
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Tools: Proprietary game engine, Lua, Jira and Google Suite
01
Beginning
Skills:
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Emergent Narrative System
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Lua Implementation
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Narrative Pipeline Development
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Tone & Voice Alignment
Summary:
As one of the original writers of Civilization VII, I was tasked alongside the narrative team to establish the tone and voice of the game's storylets. This would serve as a foundation for what would become a critically-acclaimed narrative system.
Within two weeks, I became proficient in the studio's proprietary engine--allowing me to write my content in Lua, streamlining implementation. I wrote, edited and implemented hundreds of storylets while at Firaxis.
02
Research & Implementation
Skills:
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Qualitative & Quantitative Research
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Writing
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Bilingual Proficiency (ENG-ESP)
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Encounter & Quest Design
Summary:
Using JSTOR databases, and accessing academic articles from Latin America, I conducted thorough research on the Inca, Maya and Mexican civilizations in this first pass. Using open-source dictionaries, I was able to translate content from Spanish and indigenous languages to present it in front of the narrative team.
After concluding my resource, I would package the elements I believed would resonate the most with the player into concise, short stories that are triggered depending on specific criteria. Using the proprietary engine, I wrote and implemented the triggers that activated the storylets.
Throughout the development of hundreds of stories, I made an effort to work with different disciplines to receive feedback and iterate.
03
Production & Tools
Skills:
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Worldbuilding
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Mission Design
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Quest Design
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Feedback Implementation
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Playtesting
Summary:
My responsibilities throughout the production of storylets included mission design, quest design, lore building and scriptwriting for cancelled content--all while ensuring cohesion that matched the expectations of players.
Writing stories that outline the history of humanity is no small task. As a team, we would wonder (after researching) what would the discovery of these yields look like? And workshop encounters and overarching quests that unlocked rewards when completed to the players.
04
Results
Skills:
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Game Publishing & Shipping
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Critically-Acclaimed Systems Design
Summary:
Although the content I worked on was from a past iteration, it was used as the foundation of the narrative system present in the current version of the game.
The system received critical acclaim, with players enjoying the stories and impactful moments our narrative team worked hard on.
