A trio of former Epic Games staff have formed a brand new studio called Noodle Cat.

This venture has already attracted $4.1 million in seed funding led by Makers Fund, with 1Up and Epyllion also chipping in cash.

Noodle Cat's founders are Epic's former lead systems designer David Hunt, who is serving as CEO, former head of publishing Ed Zobrist and principal programmer Michael Noland who is the studio's CTO. The studio has also attracted former employees of EA, BioWare, Popcap and Flying Lab Software.

Noodle Cat's ethos is around making sure developers are well looked after, with flexible work hours and the option of a four-day working week.

"Our industry is notorious for demanding immense personal sacrifices in order to get a game to the finish line," Hunt wrote in a blog post earlier this year.

"Usually, it's not malicious. The time pressure and fleeting nature of financial success make it easy to stack one seemingly minor sacrifice on top of another. I've seen this grind too many coworkers to dust. In one heartbreaking case, I lost a friend and mentor to heart failure far too early in his life, due to overwork."