Siren's Call: Escape Velocity News

Hello everyone! Jacob here (the main developer for Siren's Call: Escape Velocity) to do an AMA (ask me anything). How have you all enjoyed this small taste of the final game? Have you left a review for the Prologue or wishlisted the final game yet? Is there anything in particular you're looking to see in the final release? This is an open discussion, so feel free to ask me anything or put down what you'd like to see in the final game.

I'm happy to hear what you guys think!

We will be doing a live stream of the first chapter of Escape Velocity at 6PM EST on 3/13/2024! We will be answering any all all questions about the game! Can't wait to see you all there!

~Jacob

We will be doing a live stream of the first chapter of Escape Velocity at 6PM EST on 3/13/2024! We will be answering any all all questions about the game! Can't wait to see you all there!

~Jacob

Hey there everyone! It's Jacob. Happy December!

I've decided that at the start of every month, I'm going to update both the kickstarter and steam pages with how things have been going for Siren's Call: Escape Velocity. There's a lot to report, so let's jump right into it!

Music production is officially underway

Now that the kickstarter budget has been reallocated, my team has begun making music for all the extra content in Siren's Call: Escape Velocity. Our hope is to replace every single instance of stock music from VisualNovelMaker with new, original tracks. So far, that's around 20 pieces of music ready to be swapped out, most of which are going to be creepy, ambient vibes. Violet's story is definitely a lot more mellow than what Oliver goes through in the base game, and I'm excited to see what the band cooks up with that in mind.

Several of the tracks from the original game are also going to be completely remastered per the request of Josh (our main songwritter)! Originally, I was only going to ask for enough music to replace the stock tracks we were using as placeholders, but Josh insisted on creating TONS of new tracks and remasters. This does mean that the digital soundtrack might take a bit longer to get to you guys than the other digital rewards, but it also means that we're getting like...a lot more than what I initially projected. Expect more than a few teasers/demos for these tracks in the coming months.

Spanish Translation has begun, with the German translation making steady progress

Contracts for the Spanish translation have been signed and production has officially begun! The German translation, likewise, has also been making good progress. By the time we enter the beta-testing phase for this version of the game a year from now, we should have more than enough translated to provide feedback on. If you were part of the beta-tier on the kickstarter, expect the option to play large chunks of the game in three different languages by the time your beta keys get to you in a year!

Digital Rewards Progress

This is more for the kickstarter backers, but even so, it's good info to know. Judith's Cookbook is nearly done, with Andi's fitness plan being completely written and entering the design phase of production soon. The art book is something we're going to focus on more once these other two are done, as that gives Raeis more time to finish the remaining CGs so that the book will be more robust with its sketches and descriptions. The deadline for us sending everything out is still April 15th, 2024.

Of note, due to the kindness of one of our higher backers, every backer for the kickstarter will be receiving SFW versions of Andi and Judith's exclusive dakimakura art on the 25th of December! Violet's daki art will also be sent at this time to the backers that secured it, so check your kickstarter inboxes if you're interested in seeing the art/making it into a pillow! Some resizing may be required if you plan on using an online service to turn this art into pillows, but at the very least, Judith and Andi are on the table for everyone now. Happy Holidays!

My adventure in social media marketing Hell and my solution:

Given that we have shifted into the bug fixing and asset production period of Siren's Call: Escape Velocity, there's...a lot of waiting that I personally have to do while I playtest the game and search for bugs and typeos. I don't like waiting, so while the music, CGs, translations, and digital rewards are in production, I decided to do some research and see what my options were for marketing the game without a publisher...

Bad news...it's all social media marketing.

I'm not good a TikTok, being funny, or following trends in general, but for a few weeks in November, I earnestly tried to fit my square-shaped brain into the triangle-shaped hole that is content creation.
Surprise surprise, it was miserable. Like, legitimately miserable. I could actively feel my brain beginning to rot the longer I spent on TikTok. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I COULD spend another year and a half learning how to be a content creation machine...or I could find a more...creative solution.

So I'm going to make another game.

Introducing: Sunflower Pie

Sunflower Pie is going to be a short, twenty minute game set before the events of Siren's Call. While I don't want to give too much away, my intention is to make it a relatively self-contained, digestible horror experience that digs into exactly why Oliver...doesn't live with his parents anymore. Parasites are involved. The script is already done and under-review. I plan on releasing it for 1$ on Steam/Itch.io and making it almost entirely by myself, only using assets I already own (with the exception of Oliver's Mom's sprite, which I'm paying for out of pocket).

I want to use this game as way not only to expand Siren's Call: Escape Velocity's reach, but also as a way to creatively use my writing and programing skills. My logic is this: I'm pretty decent at making visual novels, not TikToks. It makes more sense for me to ride the wave of publicity that Steam naturally provides to paid games and use the skills I already have rather than to gamble for a year and a half on social media. There's always more than one way to slice an onion, after all. This could be the best way for me to do things, maybe.

Plus, it's been a bit since I finished the script for Escape Velocity. If I don't start writing again, I'm gonna go nuts. Naturally, Siren's Call will always take up the bulk of my attention, so when it comes time for me to do BIG stuff in engine, such as plug in the new music, translations, and new art as they roll in, that is what I'm focusing on no matter what.

Also, a twenty minute game isn't gonna take a lot of time to program, maybe a month at most. This is game jam level material I'm talking about. I'm putting my heart and soul into it, don't get me wrong, but this is more or less just something I'm doing to flex my creative juices and (maybe) get more eyes on what's going on with Escape Velocity. Seeing Oliver's parents is also going to be neat. Based on the script I have, I think this is going to be an excellent prelude to the events of the main game.

Anyways, that's all for now everyone! So far, things are progressing really smoothly in a post-funding world...much better than I expected. I'm excited to see what music Josh comes up with in the coming months, as well as how the rest of the CGs and the translations end up.

Until next time, stay cool.
~Jacob

Hello there everyone, Jacob here.

So for those of that don’t know…



...we ended up getting there! Over 10,000$ was raised for the game! It's amazing!

To everybody that’s supported the kickstarter, be it either backing the project or telling others about it, I want to start off by ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart. Even days after the fact, the funding of this project feels like nothing short of a miracle to me. We’ve come so far thanks to all of your hope. Our last kickstarter a year ago wasn’t even able to get close to its goal, but now, things are so much more different, and I intend to honor this newfound wave of support to the best of my ability. This support is going to start with a new wave of developer’s logs to explores this game in a post-kickstarter world. Expect detailed updates on how the project is progressing, how the funds are being used, in depth looks at the characters and my thought process behind creating them, and much more.

But first, there are a few things that I need to go over with all of you in regards to voice acting.

In short, until we get a publisher, it sadly isn’t going to happen, at least not on a grand scale like we planned. I won’t dwell on the details because this entire scandal is something everybody on the team is ready to move past, but you can read more about why our voice cast has mostly left over here on our kickstarter updates, if that is something you are interested in:

Having voice acting was sort of...the entire point of the kickstarter...but after polling the backers about how they wished to have the money for the project reallocated, the majority of them said they wanted either more music, art, and translations, or that they just wanted to support the game as best they could. Results can be seen here for context:

I still want robust voice acting in the game, but after all of this, the majority of our team agreed it would be best to leave such casting and directing in the hands of a potential publisher. In short, we’re going to stick with what our team is good at and not poke the bear a second time, so to speak. If we do not get a publisher, we will still have SOMETHING fun we’ll do with voices, but for now, that is mostly a surprise.

So now that all of that is out of the way, what’s happening now? What exactly is next for Siren’s Call?

Well, we’re hard at work prepare both the physical and digital rewards for our backers to start! We haven’t received our funding from kickstarter just yet (that normally happens around two weeks after the campaign ends), but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been plugging away at getting those things done! Many emails and DMs have been sent making sure all avenues are ready once the funding rolls in. Some new art may also be in the works for certain pledges as well… ;)

On the game side of things, Raeis got a handful of Cgs done since the last update and I’ve even found ways to animate some of them! You can get a taste of what I mean closer towards the end of Escape Velocity’s demo, if you’re interested.

More music is also going to be in the works, and my intention is to replace as much of the music from the VNMaker engine with original tracks from The Pocket Protectors (our music team). Now that the kickstarter is done, I also been able to go back to fixing bugs in the commercial release and writing director’s notes for the translators so that the vibe of the original English script can still be felt even as it’s translated into other languages.

The thing I’m most excited about though is finding a publisher. We’ve been in talks with several different companies, but noting is set in stone yet, unfortunately. Right now, I feel like the kickstarter was a good start, but in order for Siren’s Call: Escape Velocity to be the best game it can be, we’ll need a good publisher to launch it into orbit and put it in front of as many people’s faces as possible. More eyes means more reviews on steam and itch, and from there, things will start to really build. We’ve got a great project here that’s going to be made even better thanks to the kickstarter...now we just need a little more professional help. I’m excited to see what the future holds.

I’ll wrap this dev log up by say that our next one is likely going to be more character focused. I plan on writing a bit about Violet-- kind of a behind the scenes look at what we wanted to do with her character, her design, fun stuff like that. I think that will be a fun reprieve from all this business related stuff and I look forward to exploring her conceptually with all of ya’ll.

Until then, stay cool everybody!

~Jacob