If you ever told my high school self that one day I’d work as a narrative designer in a studio, I probably wouldn’t believe you. Back then, I was studying to be a beautician, and storytelling through video games wasn’t a career plan. I always wanted to write books though, so I wrote a lot in my free time, dreaming about becoming a beloved author and lost among playlists, half-finished ideas and drawings.
My path didn’t start with game design at all. Truthfully, I didn’t even want to study at university. After a bit of pushing from my family, I went on to study translation and interpreting, which felt like the most practical direction. And in many ways, it was. Digging into the language to learn and differentiate tiny phonetic details between different pronunciations, or thinking about meaning, nuance and intention pushed me into a whole other level. Even through university, writing remained constant in my world. It helped me with everything, all the way from decompressing and playing with words and sentences.
I joined Strand Forge as an editor and translator thanks to people I knew. And let me say this out loud: contacts matter. A lot. Not in a transactional way, more that opportunities tend to come through people who already trust you. Knowing people can change your life, and it certainly did mine.
At some point, I mentioned that I write as a hobby. That small detail ended up changing everything. I was tasked with creating a design for a project that we received, and after we finished it, it was clear that writing wasn’tgoing to stay as something I did on the side. Gradually, I transitioned from just editing and translation into narrative design, and alongside that, I also started working more closely with game design itself.
Today, my work is somewhere between translation and storytelling. Whenever we get a project with a topic, it is my job to turn it into a narrative; sometimes through dialogues, sometimes through worldbuilding, and sometimes through small interactive moments like minigames. It’s not just about writing a good story; it’s more about shaping an experience that fits within a system. I work closely with developers and visual specialists, and together, we balance my creativity with their exceptional technical and visual skills. Very often, I build stories together with the developers piece by piece, so that we get the best possible result.
Looking back, there wasn’t really a single turning point that got me where I am today. It was more a collection of habits and connections. And what are the habits that help me write? There are many, too many to write out, but there are three that take the top tiers.
Write regularly. I write daily, not always with a clear goal, and definitely not like Stephen King all the time. Writing is one of those things where progress hides in repetition. The more you do it, the more natural it gets. You find your voice; your ideas start taking shape. Alongside creating the narrative, my work is also to translate what I create. If you know more than one language, write in both regularly.
Another thing that helps me stay in shape is reading. Not just books, but anything that tells a story well. I even read a lot of fanfictions too, because the authors are often hidden gems. Whenever I come across something interesting, I investigate it from both the linguistic and creative side. Which part exactly makes me feel so excited? How did the author manage to make me sob for hours? Paying attention and analyzing the details can often change the way you approach your own writing.
And the last thing, but probably the most important one, is inspiration. I’m a lazy person, and I often I cannot just think up anything. The things that keep my brain busy with multiple ideas always floating around in my mind are art in any form. Music, poetry, movies, even other video games. Sometimes even a single line of a song sparks an idea that grows into something terrific.
If you are writing, don’t keep it to yourself. I didn’t tell anyone for years, it was a hobby, a small dream, and it took one mention for the spark to create an explosion. Share your work, be proud, because you never know which conversation could lead somewhere new.
I never planned to end up in the game industry. I kept doing the things I enjoyed without any set plans for a future, and over time, they themselves shaped a path that fit me better than anything I could’ve planned. If you’resomewhere in between and figuring things out right now, it’s not a disadvantage. It might be exactly where you’re supposed to be.
