The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Northern Ostrobothnia in Finland has granted Oulu-based Yrdvaab Ltd more than €130,000 in funding for the development of its strategy game Ephemeris.
The funding, which originates from the European Structural Investment Funds, allows the game to take major steps towards its initial release.
“While this year has been challenging for the game industry in general, we have been quite fortunate”, says Tuomas Pöyhtäri, the lead designer and programmer for Ephemeris. “Earlier in the year, we received a substantial amount of private funding, which is now supplemented by this support from the EU. We have already been able to hire a second programmer, allowing us to take a giant leap ahead in game development.”
Slated for initial release on Windows, Ephemeris is a 4X space strategy game that includes real-time, truly three-dimensional combat mechanics. Tuomas Pöyhtäri has been developing the technology related to the game for several years, and the new EU funding has allowed for expanding the team. The aim is to reach an initial release within approximately one year, and you can already wishlist the game on Steam to stay updated on its progress.
Ephemeris draws inspiration from genre classics such as Master of Orion, Homeworld and Total War while also adding features that have never been seen before. The player is tasked with conquering space before their computer-controlled opponents which are also encountered in real-time tactical space battles. During combat, all the ships are subject to Newtonian physics; this means that, in contrast to many other games, they do not simply glide along planes in space. This makes combat exceptionally impressive and may also affect the course of the battle. There are also large size differences between the ships which force the player to rethink their attack and defence strategies.
The game also contains a turn-based 4X part (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) where the player develops their empire, guides its resource production and utilises the newly conquered areas. This part has been fine-tuned to be extremely player friendly, eradicating the need for micro-management even for large empires. Furthermore, various aspects of the game’s universe, such as available technologies, are randomised for each playthrough, which will substantially add to the replay value.
Contact
Yrdvaab Oy, Tuomas Pöyhtäri, tuomas@yrdvaab.com
Further information
https://yrdvaab.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3179370/Ephemeris/ (Steam page)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ae6zyVjvPAhk_SudjsZUVfQnbI15-JTW (Press kit)
https://www.youtube.com/@yrdvaab/videos (videos)