Full-Time

Narrative Designer

Posted on 7/26/2026

TapBlaze

TapBlaze

11-50 employees

Mobile game studio creating casual simulations

Compensation Overview

$70k - $100k/yr

Los Angeles, CA, USA

In Person

Onsite five days per week; relocation to the Los Angeles area required or already based there.

Category
Content & Writing (1)

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Requirements
  • Based in the Los Angeles area, or relocating before your start date. This role is onsite five days per week and that is not flexible.
  • 3+ years of professional experience as a Narrative Designer, Narrative Writer, Game Writer, or similar narrative focused role in the video game industry, with at least one shipped title.
  • Proven experience creating engaging dialogue, memorable characters, worldbuilding, and gameplay driven storytelling.
  • Strong instincts for warmth and restraint. You know how to make a short exchange carry emotional weight without melodrama.
  • Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary game development teams.
  • Strong portfolio showcasing narrative design, dialogue writing, worldbuilding, character creation, and interactive storytelling.
Responsibilities
  • Expand the Good, Great Universe by shaping the future through new Chapters, recurring characters, locations, organizations, traditions, and lore.
  • Create memorable characters with distinct personalities, motivations, and relationships.
  • Expand the universe while preserving the charm and consistency players love.
  • Pitch original Chapter concepts, seasonal events, and long term story arcs.
  • Design stories that players experience through gameplay, not passive exposition.
  • Collaborate with game designers so narrative and gameplay reinforce one another.
  • Create moments that connect emotionally through the small and the everyday: a regular who finally opens up, a two line exchange that lands.
  • Write dialogue for customers, recurring characters, and major story moments, keeping each character's voice unmistakable within tight line and character limits.
  • Create tutorials, UI copy, achievements, item descriptions, flavor text, and seasonal event content.
  • Write concise, memorable dialogue tailored for mobile gameplay.
  • Produce narrative documentation that supports localization across multiple languages.
  • Partner with designers, artists, engineers, QA, production, and community support.
  • Contribute creative ideas through brainstorming, playtesting, and iteration.
  • Maintain character bibles, worldbuilding documentation, timelines, and narrative style guides.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience developing narrative for live service games or seasonal events.
  • Experience writing for mobile free to play games.
  • Familiarity with Yarn Spinner or similar narrative tools.
  • Experience writing for localization and multilingual audiences.
  • Familiarity with Good Pizza, Great Pizza and Good Coffee, Great Coffee

TapBlaze creates casual, story-driven mobile and PC simulation games from Los Angeles. Its free-to-play titles are available on iOS, Android, and Steam and are monetized through in-app purchases and ads to reach a global audience. The flagship Good Pizza, Great Pizza lets players run a relaxed pizza shop with orders, toppings upgrades, and dialogue, focusing on a narrative experience rather than fast-paced play. The goal is to offer accessible games that reflect global diversity while maintaining a free-to-play model that works in markets with limited or no in-app purchases.

Company Size

11-50

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Santa Monica, California

Founded

2012

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Good Pizza, Great Pizza exceeds 300 million downloads with over 1 million daily players.
  • Good Coffee, Great Coffee global launch on February 27, 2025, expands cozy simulation portfolio.
  • Self-funded profitability since 2012 supports aggressive new entertainment development.

What critics are saying

  • Good Coffee, Great Coffee mediocre reviews stall downloads and revenue growth.
  • Rising ad blockers slash ad revenue, forcing underperforming in-app purchase reliance.
  • Supercell's Clash of Coffee captures audience, dropping Good Pizza daily players below 500k.

What makes TapBlaze unique

  • Good Pizza, Great Pizza emphasizes relaxed simulation with character dialogue unlike time-management cooking games.
  • Good Coffee, Great Coffee features authentic brewing trained by European Barista Champion Misha Savin.
  • Hand-drawn 2D art with soft pastel colors immerses players in story-driven café management.

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Benefits

Mentorship Program

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

8%

1 year growth

8%

2 year growth

4%
VentureBeat
Feb 27th, 2025
After pizza, TapBlaze launches Good Coffee, Great Coffee on mobile

TapBlaze, the maker of Good Pizza, Great Pizza, has branched out with the launch of Good Coffee, Great Coffee on mobile devices.

VentureBeat
Feb 27th, 2025
After Pizza, Tapblaze Launches Good Coffee, Great Coffee On Mobile

TapBlaze, the maker of Good Pizza, Great Pizza, has branched out with the launch of Good Coffee, Great Coffee on mobile devices. It launches today on iOS and Android.The game is a free-to-play title where players can buy cosmetics with real money. You may eventually be able to customize your shop and equipment.After all a whole decade refining the pizza game, it’s about time for TapBlaze to try something new. But the company was patient. For the past five years, CEO Anthony Lai and a small team have been working on the coffee game in the same artistic universe as Good Pizza, Great Pizza.Good Coffee, Great Coffee is in the same universe as Good Pizza, Great Pizza.It sounds like an awesome game in the tradition of Good Pizza, Great Pizza, which has been downloaded more than 300 million times across the globe and it is played daily by over a million players.Los Angeles-based TapBlaze has been cooking up its latest story-rich cooking business simulator with the coffee expertise of Lai, who gets a lot of joy out of making coffee and latte art. In the game, you experience the art and hustle of running your own coffee shop.“Pizza is something I grew up with