Snappy Gurus

Become a Narrative Designer.

Overview

Focused on fundamental Narrative Design topics for game development, this course aims to demystify this discipline and provide actionable deliverables to help get you started building a Narrative Design focused portfolio, while building your understanding and expectations of what the job is and isn’t.

This course is aimed at those with either a prior background in Game Design looking to improve their Narrative skillset, Or those with a prior background in Writing looking to focus their skills towards a more interactive medium.

No formal prior training is required, but familiarity and experience with either games design or creative writing is expected.

What you get:

- Long-term Support Until Your First Role.
- 121 Employability Mentoring
- Weekly Live Sessions
- Mock Interviews
- CV/ Resume Workshops
- Employability Workshops (Networking, Soft Skills)
- Exclusive Community Of Peers and Mentors

Course Length

13 Weeks

Location/Delivery

Remote Classes Through Discord

Skill Level

Advanced/Junior-Mid Level

Start Dates

September 2026

February 2027

Tuition Fee

£150 Deposit
£750 Tuition
Payment plans such as Klarna, and individual schedules available.

Support

1 Lecturer
2 Support Staff

Long term bookable 121s after the course.

Course Structure

Within our 13 week Narrative Design programme, you will:
  • Understand the role and responsibilities of a Narrative Designer within a multidisciplinary development environment.
  • Understand how storytelling for games differs from linear storytelling in other media.
  • Understand how narrative content is scoped, tracked and iterated upon within development pipelines.
  • Gain an understanding of how narrative and other departments influence each other's outcomes and scope for deliverables.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of how player agency impacts storytelling & player engagement.
  • Create a series of narrative deliverables (Cutscene Scripts - Mission Dialogue - Character Barks - Collectibles - Character info etc.) to help build a Narrative Design focused portfolio piece.

Overview of Narrative Design’s role in game development. Establish the difference between Narrative Designers Vs Game Writers, as well as help break down the role, responsibilities and expectations of a Narrative Designer within a multidisciplinary environment.
Overview of storytelling in games vs linear storytelling in other media, breaking down the differences between games and other media counterparts

Demonstrate an understanding of how quickly workloads can become over scoped, and the consequences this can have on development.
Ability to identify the reasons behind good file naming practices and organisational structures, and how your work can impact other departments negatively if not tracked, maintained and organised effectively during a development cycle.
Overview of mission / in level dialogue - their use in exposition as well as player motivation.
Mock Interviews: During Week 7 you'll also have a separate session with a mock interviewer from the industry. During the mock interviews we'll have a separate call where we will go over everyone's CV/resume.
Overview of collectibles & character bios text - their use in world building and creating a more immersive narrative for the player.
Focus on taking the work done so far and structuring it within a portfolio.
As the course ends - we go over final pieces and provide feedback and critiques - students present their work to the rest of the class.
Expanding on points raised in week 1 - specifically the relationship between Narrative Designers workload and other departments such as Design, Art, Audio, Production & Code.
Overview of player agency and the impact on storytelling through things like cutscene scripts, mission dialogue & character barks.
Overview of cutscenes - their use in exposition as well as player motivation. Overview of writing for both the player as well as animation, art and audio departments.
Overview of character barks, their uses and best practices for both player characters and NPC’s
Overview of keeping things consistent across the deliverables, specifically tone and delivery.
Students will have their portfolios reviewed and feedback given, with time to action said feedback before the final presentations in the last module.

Not Just Any Bootcamp.

A Course Unlike Any Other

Our courses offer a unique blend of soft and hard skills, providing a comprehensive career-boosting experience to help you apply your degree and move forward with your future.

Our students leave with more confidence, a stronger understanding of the industry, and the ability to explore adjacent fields, as well as resilience and the skills to give and receive feedback to their peers. Making them strong team players in any position.

We ensure our students are personally supported throughout and after their time with us. Following along with their career journeys, giving advice and guidance to push them towards achieving their goals.

We do not hold back on feedback, and our unique approach to building community ensures our students have a strong network of peers and mentors that will support them and push them further in their work.

Payment Options

We understand not everyone can afford the price tags on courses, and we have designed our courses to be as affordable as possible whilst giving you as much support and information as we can.

To make things easier, we have a variety of payment options available to support you, all of which can be discussed on your initial call with our team.

Klarna

We offer Klarna to help break down the course cost into up to 3 monthly payments.

Further Breakdowns

On a case by case basis, we can offer to break down the course cost further, however this option must be discussed by a member of the team.

Usually this involves using a subscription based model to break down the cost into monthly payments, over a maximum of 10 months depending on your situation.

How to Apply

To apply to our courses, you first need to complete the application form. You don’t need to write much here, however, any information you do put is crucial to us understanding how best to help you.

Process

Once you have filled in the application form, you will be emailed to book in a call through our calendar. A member of the team (either Jordan or Lauren) will have a chat with you to discuss your current situation, what you want to gain through the course, give you a thorough breakdown on your portfolio and answer any questions you may have. This is to ensure the course is right for you!

Upon completing the call, you will be given a link to pay the initial deposit and lock in your place, and a link to pay the remaining amount. This is where you can use any discount codes or Klarna!

Once you have paid the deposit, we will begin to go through your portfolio and information with the team to create a brief that suits you. You will also have full access to our channels where you can begin to get help and feedback on any existing projects you are working on.

I'm not sure if I want to apply!

If you are still unsure and want to speak to a member of the team, complete the application form and we will go through your concerns and questions on call. This could include going through the curriculum, payment options and extra information.

Other Courses

Learn Directly From an Experienced Narrative Designer

Alastair Brown

Lecturer

An experienced Narrative Designer with over 10 years experience in the games industry, starting in QA and progressing through Level Design into Narrative Design. I have contributed to multiple shipped titles across studios such as Rebellion Developments, Cloud Imperium Games and most recently, Abrakam Entertainment in partnership with Paradox Interactive.

With a proven track record of creating memorable player experiences, mentoring talent, collaborating across departments and managing complex multi-discipline pipelines across multiple studios, I’m a big believer in being the change you want to see in the industry, and it’s that attitude that I take into my professional work, student outreach and mentoring.

Previous Roles & Titles

Rebellion: Strange Brigade, Zombie Army 4, Sniper Elite 5
Cloud Imperium Games: Squadron 42
Abrakam Entertainment: Stellaris: BioGenesis, Stellaris: Shadows of the Shroud

Frequently Asked Questions

This course is tailored to those looking to upskill in Narrative Design. You must have knowledge of the creative writing process and/or generic game design principles that can be applied through the course.

If you are unsure if you meet the requirements, apply anyway! You will be invited to have a call with a member of our team, who will review your portfolio and provide thorough feedback. If you do not meet the requirements, we will give you advice and guidance on what to focus on next.

We require you to pay to run the course, however we can delay payments until you have the required funds to join the course, and you can take part before that point.

We're happy to change elements of the brief, but the main content should stay the same. For example: If your task is to create character barks, we would strongly advise you to stick to the brief.

If the stopping of the course is out of your control we will try and reschedule to join onto a future cohort, if not you'll recieve the tuition funding back. (The £150 deposit is non-refundable).

No, and this is for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is that we wanted to ensure we are in full control of what we teach and we can directly affect all the areas of employment other courses can't/won't teach.

So, What Are You Waiting For?

Apply now and lock in your place!

Upon signing up, you will be prompted to book in a call with our team to ensure the course is right for you. Here we will give you feedback and advice and will go through your portfolio or projects to date.

Upon submitting your application, please check your emails to confirm.