Yaldi Games is a studio built around one simple belief, that real life is more interesting than anything you could invent. At its centre is founder Elena Höge, who traces her path back to being sixteen and completely struck by the idea that a video game could carry real historical knowledge inside it.
That early fascination became a career plan, then a company. Yaldi's debut title, Out and About, is a cosy life simulator that weaves plant knowledge, cooking and crafting into gentle nature exploration, drawing directly on Elena's own hobby of foraging. Getting there took five years, a Kickstarter, a significant pivot, and a six person team split between Scotland and Germany.
Techscaler, delivered by CodeBase, entered Elena's story early, first through the Creative Bridge programme, later through a grant supporting sustainability work in the game, and most recently through the Techscaler Japan programme exploring new export markets.
This is a case study on building with patience, staying close to what you love, and knowing when to ask for help.
Elena's route into games started at sixteen, watching the original Assassin's Creed use real history and language to bring its world to life. She was already someone who loved history and could hold onto facts long after the lesson ended, and suddenly she could see a way to combine that with games.
The industry itself was hard to break into, with few clear paths and even fewer mentors nearby, so Elena ended up building the company earlier than planned, simply because the experience she needed didn't exist elsewhere yet. When she took up foraging in 2019, the idea for Out and About began to take shape.
Before Techscaler, Elena was carrying almost everything herself. As a solo founder, she was producer and creative director at once, the person testing every build, answering every question and making every call. Development stretched to five years, partly because there was no one nearby who had done it before to show her what good actually looked like. The games industry is notoriously hard to break into, short on entry level jobs and heavy on layoffs, which meant Elena had to learn on the job rather than in a studio. She leaned on family for support long before she had a team big enough to share the weight.
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Elena's first contact with CodeBase came through Creative Bridge, an early-stage founder programme she joined at the end of 2019. A session on grant funding changed her understanding of the resources available to her for the better. She had never considered grants as an option beyond friends, family or investment, and the exposure gave her enough confidence to found Yaldi Games in January 2020, going on to win several grants in the years that followed. It was only later that she came to know Techscaler specifically through the CodeBase ecosystem, first through a grant delivered in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise, which Elena won to support sustainability work within Out and About, and from there through the wider mentoring and international exposure that followed.
That grant process stood apart from anything Elena had experienced before. Rather than filling out a form and waiting on a plain yes or no, she worked through her application alongside someone from Techscaler partner Scottish Enterprise, who helped shape the submission itself. She calls it the friendliest, most beginner friendly funding experience she's had.
That same openness carried into Techscaler Japan, which took Elena and seven other Scottish gaming companies to Tokyo and Osaka. A visit to Q Games in Kyoto, founded by Dylan Cuthbert, gave her a connection she believes reaches Nintendo and PlayStation, one she's since learned to treat carefully rather than overuse. She came away with a sharper sense of why Japan fits Out and About, a country closely tied to nature and tourism that even non-travelling players are drawn to. Walking the landscapes showed her how different the plants, architecture and visual language are from what's already in the game, and her art lead has since returned to gather reference photography for a Japan themed DLC, along with a Japanese preference for mascot led aesthetics now shaping the expansion's design.
Elena's advice to founders considering the trip centres on patience. Relationships build slowly, closer to years than weeks, and depend on showing up consistently rather than expecting quick wins. Language is not a minor detail, without a translator or a substitution, both credibility and comfort suffer. Her practical tip is to bring something memorable, a well designed business card or small interactive memorabilia in that same considered aesthetic.
Since the Japan programme, Yaldi's plans have sharpened considerably. The team is preparing for the 1.0 launch of Out and About, the milestone expected to convert much of its existing wishlist into sales, while scoping a Japan themed DLC informed directly by what Elena saw and learned in Tokyo and Osaka. Her art lead has since returned to Japan to gather reference photography for that expansion.
Elena is also part of Yaldi's delegation to the Tokyo Games Show, deepening relationships built through Techscaler Japan, including with Q Games founder Dylan Cuthbert, whose strong industry connections Elena hopes to draw on in future. Closer to home, she's building a clearer hierarchy within her team so decisions no longer rest on her alone. The strategy going forward stays simple and deliberate, build a sustainable portfolio through DLCs and future titles, backed by an ambitious export sales target over the next three years.
For Elena, Techscaler by CodeBase was never just about funding. It gave her mentorship when she had none, a grant process that treated her like a partner, and a trip to Japan that reshaped how she thinks about Yaldi's future. Above all, it gave her a network, something she believes no founder should try to go without.
That belief sits alongside a track record she's built partly outside CodeBase too, including a £60,000 Scottish EDGE award in the programme's 2023 Round 21. As a solo, female founder working in a still male dominated industry, Elena has been candid about the extra ground women founders often have to make up early on, before they have the proven numbers that let male founders trade on confidence alone. She's built through that by proving the product works and leaning on the Kickstarter community she grew herself.
For other ecosystem builders, Elena's journey shows what happens when tailored support meets genuine curiosity.
Follow Yaldi Games on LinkedIn for updates on Out and About and what comes next.
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