Epoch: Return

Nathan Moller - Creative Director - After working on Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars, Scribblenauts, and Halo titles, Nathan founded Innate Games and began development on the Epoch series, a concept he has been working on for the last few years. Return is the first game in the series.

Cookie Everman - Lead Writer - An experienced editor and writer, Cookie has been an integral part of the writing teams of Mass Effect, Sonic Chronicles, and other projects. The wisdom and skills she honed in the industry give heart to the story and relationship of Return's characters.

Kochun Hu - Composer and Sound Designer - Kochun has worked in the game industry for over a decade, and he has the passion to fully explore and innovate how music and sound design influences the gamer's experience, as well as a particular devotion to the sci-fi genre.

Ryan Gatts - Lead Artist/Mathematician - A relative newcomer to the industry, Ryan has the youthful energy needed to get a project like this off the ground. His immense talent and craftmanship make the visuals of Return an effectively evocative part of the story and experience.

Justin Loudermilk - Gameplay Programmer/Physicist - A Unity engine expert who worked on A-10 Warthogs in the Air Force, Justin decided the only way he could top that was to work on games with us. Let's prove him right.

Allyce Rusnak - Environment Artist - A Full Sail graduate who's been professionally creating game art since 2009, Allyce brings our intergalactic worlds to life with her technical skills and expertise.

Taryn Trousdale - Concept Artist - A painter generally working in acrylics and watercolors, Taryn's expressive visual style connects the player to the emotional core of Return's story, world, and characters.

Eddie Willett - Technical Artist - With extensive programming experience and specialized training in shader development, Eddie is the magical wizard we go to when we need something to look shiny (You didn't think we'd miss a chance to make a Firefly reference, did you?).

Gary Simmons - Gameplay Designer - A veteran of the Scribblenauts series, Gary is helping with the development of traversal game mechanics and related level design.

Explore an unknown alien world to discover its secrets. Salvage the remains of crashed ships to repair your own ship and return home.

Be a part of an ambitious indie project to deliver a focused, engaging experience of exploration and discovery. Help us develop a game that will immerse players in a story about sharing the adventures, trials, and triumphs of life with your better half, told against the backdrop of a blasted, alien world.

This isn't how it's supposed to go. Something went wrong. The para-matter readings were off the charts, but there were none of the usual signs of a dangerous landing. Your wife says the ship is still viable but she needs to do extensive repairs, and the containment breach burned all your fuel.

Luckily, it looks like you aren't the first suckers to get drawn in by matter scans that promised the kind of riches that you can retire on. During the crash, your wife picked up readings from dozens of other wrecked ships. Your gear survived the crash, and now you must suit up and find those crash sites to salvage parts and fuel.

You're the expert in all things para-matter, so maybe along the way you can find enough viable deposits to make this trip profitable, though you'd settle for just figuring out what's going on with this world. Something about it is just…off.

• Moving, personal story designed by industry veterans of such titles as Mass Effect and Halo 4, where the player gets the final say
• First-person terrain traversal gameplay — leap, slide, and slope-run across the barren landscape
• Freedom to explore an enormous alien world and discover its secrets however the player wishes
• Epic, symphonic-electronic soundtrack of haunting themes, using live instruments and analog synthesizers
• Vivid and impactful visual design inspired by classic animation to encourage curiosity and inspire exploration
• Narrative Design integrated across all disciplines to focus on immersion and emotional engagement
• Launching for Windows on PC. We plan to make other platforms part of our stretch go