Developer Spotlight: Narrative Director Nicole Martinez

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole Martinez and I’m a Narrative Director at Crystal Dynamics. I’m currently working on post-launch releases for Marvel’s Avengers with an amazing team of Narrative Designers-- shout out to Hannah MacLeod, Jessica Krause, and Keano Raubun! We work on the storylines for new heroes and events, write all the dialogue and text, as well as some implementation in game.

One of the things I’m most proud of is the elevator and social banter for all the heroes. Any time a hero is added to the roster, we write a ton of solo combat banter plus conversations with each of the existing Avengers. We try to give a little insight into the group dynamic and what the Avengers are like on their off hours. We have a lot of fun with these and it makes our day when we see players enjoying them in the game. If you have a favorite, please let us know!

This is actually my second time writing for Marvel characters! I was a writer for Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy before coming to Crystal Dynamics. Nolan North was Rocket Raccoon. It was a fun project. While at Telltale, I was a Writer and later Creative Director. Because we were episodic, I got to work on a lot of projects in my five years there, from The Wolf Among Us, Batman, and Game of Thrones to Minecraft and The Walking Dead.

I first got into writing for games during college. My university offered a games writing class and that’s when everything clicked for me. I was already pursuing a creative writing degree but writing for games combined everything I liked about writing with a heavily collaborative environment. My favorite part of my job is working with other teams to make something awesome or figure out a solution to a particularly tricky problem.

Something people may not realize is nothing in game development is ever done alone. Every new feature or story requires a ton of people all working together to make it happen. I feel incredibly lucky I get to work with such a talented group of people at Crystal Dynamics. Every day we’re pushing each other to do better than the day before. Despite lockdown we’ve been able to keep in contact and continue working on Marvel’s Avengers remotely. It has been a tough year, but I’m grateful for the amazing teammates who have been there to support each other even when we couldn’t be in the studio together.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy Marvel’s Avengers!