Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Certification
Accomplishments
Hobbies and Interests
Volunteer Experience
Timeline
Generic

Michael Cumes

Summary

Talented creative writer with experience storytelling across genres. Skilled in problem-solving, fostering collaboration and innovation, with a track record for bringing a fresh perspective to game teams.


An organised, professional and flexible writer specialising in creating engaging dialogue, emotionally gripping storylines and empowering game teams to turn creative visions into wonderful stories.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience
4018
4018
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification

Work history

Game Narrative Designer & Senior Writer

Freelance
02.2017 - 09.2025
  • Selected Projects:
  • Tripledot Games - Merge Party (2022): Crafted narrative wrapper and engaging dialogue for merge-based mobile game.
  • Netspeak Games - Sunshine Days (2021): Created character arcs and new dialogue for whimsical social game.
  • Ubisoft Paris - City of Love: Paris (2017): Led narrative design for Season 2, creating complex branching narratives and dynamic characters.

Film and TV Scriptwriter

Freelance
06.2009 - 09.2025
  • Selected Projects:
  • Our Home (2025): Collaborated digital studio Squint/Opera on VR experience in collaboration with Punchdrunk Theatre Company.
  • The Romance Class (2014): wrote award-winning screenplay produced by BBC Scotland and screened in festivals across world.
  • Hollyoaks (2009): Worked within storylining team at Lime Pictures on soap opera Hollyoaks. Created storylines for one month of episodes.
  • BBC North 360 Video Project (2016). Commissioned by BBC North to create their first ever original narrative script for 360 video.
  • Winning Queerovision stand-up comedy competition in July 2022.

Narrative Designer

Next Games - A Netflix Studio
05.2025 - 07.2025
  • Developed characters and wrote dialogue for an upcoming Netflix party game.

Lead Writer

IDUN Interactive
09.2024 - 12.2024
  • Wrote all game text and lore for AA tower defence RPG IDUN: Frontier Survival.
  • A sci-fi epic based on norse mythology.
  • Wrote all in-game text building out a rich and complex game world.

Narrative Lead

Gamehouse: Original Stories
04.2021 - 06.2024
  • Delivered narrative for Delicious World, a top-performing mobile game.
  • Wrote storylines for long-running, serialised cooking game.
  • Reorganised and optimized narrative pipeline to improve efficiency (for example, reduced animation team budget by 50%)
  • Led and mentored writing team, collaborated closely and creatively with art, dev and other narrative stakeholders.
  • Developed and maintained the game's narrative bible and all supporting documentation.

Lead Writer

Magic Notion/ Netflix Games
02.2023 - 04.2024
  • Led all writing and narrative design for an unannounced drag-themed fantasy PRG in collaboration with Netflix Games.
  • Wrote expansive branching narratives for multiple plotlines and character arcs.

Writer

Ubisoft Paris
08.2022 - 12.2022
  • Wrote game dialogue in collaboration with game team for narrative heavy fantasy epic Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace.
  • Fleshed out the game world and created lore for universe and character backstories.

Narrative Designer

Space Ape Games/Supercell
11.2017 - 04.2021
  • Designed narrative elements across six in-development mobile games, including strategy, puzzle, MMO, and racing genres.
  • Implemented all narrative content using Unity tools and prefabs, making narrative largely independent of dev team on major projects.
  • Created mystery detective game Project Hound with a 55% Day-1 retention rate.

Game Writer

Mediatonic
06.2016 - 04.2017
  • Led narrative design on Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World, the first mobile game made in the Harry Potter IP.
  • Led narrative and game design for pitches for Paradox Interactive, [adult swim] and Scopely.
  • Collaborated WB Games and Blair Partnership, to design original storylines and characters for Harry Potter universe which were cohesive to that world.

Quest Designer

Pretty Simple Games
06.2014 - 10.2015
  • Created original storylines and scripts for the hit social network game Criminal Case, winner of 2013's Best Facebook Game.

Education

MA - Scriptwriting for Film and Television

Screen Academy Scotland
Edinburgh

BA - Politics, Sociology and Literature

University of East Anglia
Norwich
06.2007

Skills

  • Writing: Dialogue, story development, character design, comedy, screenwriting, prose, copywriting
  • Game Narrative: Narrative system design, interactive fiction, branching narrative
  • Game Development & Tools: Twine, Unreal, Unity, Git, Figma, Adobe Animate, Jira
  • Project Leadership: Team mentoring, workflow optimisation, workshop design, client relations management
  • Languages: Native English, B2 French

Certification

  • DELF B2 French Certificate NUMA Institute, Montreal, 2017
  • CELTA TEFL Certificate (Pass B) Saxoncourt Language, London, 2009
  • PDA in Broadcast Media, London College of Communication 2007

Accomplishments

    Page International Screenwriting Awards (2009): Best Short Film

    Austin Film Festival (2015): Shortlisted for Best Narrative Short Film

    Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Contest (2024): Finalist

    Barbados Film Festival (2025): Best Comedy Film

Hobbies and Interests

Part-time stand-up comedian. Full-time movie fan and strategy game nerd (Sid Meier and Paradox owe me a lot of my life back)., Political junkie with specific passion for in history, world affairs and economics.

Volunteer Experience

  • Limit Break: Video Game Mentorship Program, 2023
  • LGBT+ Switchboard, London, Helpline volunteer, 2017
  • Pueblo Ingles, La Alberca, Spain, Immersion English Language Tutor, 2010
  • Concordia International, Ukraine, Conservationist assistant, 2006

Timeline

Narrative Designer

Next Games - A Netflix Studio
05.2025 - 07.2025

Lead Writer

IDUN Interactive
09.2024 - 12.2024

Lead Writer

Magic Notion/ Netflix Games
02.2023 - 04.2024

Writer

Ubisoft Paris
08.2022 - 12.2022

Narrative Lead

Gamehouse: Original Stories
04.2021 - 06.2024

Narrative Designer

Space Ape Games/Supercell
11.2017 - 04.2021

Game Narrative Designer & Senior Writer

Freelance
02.2017 - 09.2025

Game Writer

Mediatonic
06.2016 - 04.2017

Quest Designer

Pretty Simple Games
06.2014 - 10.2015

Film and TV Scriptwriter

Freelance
06.2009 - 09.2025

MA - Scriptwriting for Film and Television

Screen Academy Scotland

BA - Politics, Sociology and Literature

University of East Anglia

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Michael Cumes