Hello everybody, Jacob here! A few weeks ago, I released Siren's Call: Escape Velocity on early access! Don't let the early access fool you; the game is playable from start to finish. This is the full, definitive version of Siren's Call, with new story content, CG art, quality of life features, endings, and music! Only the translations and some of the new music is missing. If you enjoyed the public beta (Siren's Call), then consider giving Escape Velocity a look over here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2469950/Sirens_Call_Escape_Velocity/ If any of you have any questions about this more complete version of the game, don't hesitate to ask! Enjoy reaching Escape Velocity! Yours, Jacob

Hello everybody, Jacob here! A few weeks ago, I released Siren's Call: Escape Velocity on early access! This is the full, definitive version of Siren's Call, with new story content, CG art, quality of life features, endings, and music! If you enjoyed the public beta (Siren's Call), then consider giving Escape Velocity a look over here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2469950/Sirens_Call_Escape_Velocity/ If any of you have any questions about this more complete version of the game, don't hesitate to ask! Enjoy reaching Escape Velocity! Yours, Jacob

Link to the discussion here: (you have to apparently click on this event itself for the link to show up. It's also on the store page if this link doesn't show up) https://steamcommunity.com/games/2952590/announcements/detail/4140575709421860093?snr=2___ I'm excited to hear what you all think! Yours ~Jacob

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!

Hello everybody, I just released a small, 30 minute or so prequel to Siren's Call! It's called Sunflower Pie! You can download it on steam or click here!
A short story about a parasitic sunflower and her loyal son. Eat everything you can. Enjoy the sunshine. Do whatever it takes to make her happy. This one is much more focused on horror than the previous game. If you play it and enjoy it, be sure to let me know what you think in the Steam Reviews! Stay cool! ~Jacob

Hello everybody, I just released a small, 30 minute or so prequel to Siren's Call! It's called Sunflower Pie! You can download it on steam or click here!
A short story about a parasitic sunflower and her loyal son. Eat everything you can. Enjoy the sunshine. Do whatever it takes to make her happy. This one is much more focused on horror than the previous game. If you play it and enjoy it, be sure to let me know what you think in the Steam Reviews! Stay cool! ~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 dont know
...we ended up getting there! Over 10,000$ was raised for the game! It's amazing! To everybody thats 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. Weve come so far thanks to all of your hope. Our last kickstarter a year ago wasnt 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 developers 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 isnt going to happen, at least not on a grand scale like we planned. I wont 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, were 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 well do with voices, but for now, that is mostly a surprise. So now that all of that is out of the way, whats happening now? What exactly is next for Sirens Call? Well, were hard at work prepare both the physical and digital rewards for our backers to start! We havent received our funding from kickstarter just yet (that normally happens around two weeks after the campaign ends), but that doesnt mean we havent 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 Ive even found ways to animate some of them! You can get a taste of what I mean closer towards the end of Escape Velocitys demo, if youre 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 directors notes for the translators so that the vibe of the original English script can still be felt even as its translated into other languages. The thing Im most excited about though is finding a publisher. Weve 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 Sirens Call: Escape Velocity to be the best game it can be, well need a good publisher to launch it into orbit and put it in front of as many peoples faces as possible. More eyes means more reviews on steam and itch, and from there, things will start to really build. Weve got a great project here thats going to be made even better thanks to the kickstarter...now we just need a little more professional help. Im excited to see what the future holds. Ill 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 yall. Until then, stay cool everybody! ~Jacob

Happy spooky month friends. It's my favorite time of the year, as I'm sure you may have assumed. So you can bet that once that clock hit midnight and it became October, I was ready to upload something special for ya'll. That's right. Siren's Call: Escape Velocity will be participating in this month's Steam Next Fest. Which means...you guys get a free demo of the commercial release. You can find it here! See you all on the 9th.

That's right everyone. This is closer to happening than ever before. To everybody that has pledged so far, thank you so much for taking the time to do so. It helps us keep making games more than anything else. To everyone interested in pledging that hasn't done so, you can help us get there by going to our kickstarter here!! Until next time, stay cool everyone! ~Jacob

Our game is very close to being fully funded, but we need the support of each and every one of you to help make this dream a reality. Please click here or search "Siren's Call: Escape Velocity Kickstarter" online to find our campaign and offer your support. We legit cannot do this without your help. You can also sign up to get some cool exclusive merch as well as the game early. So don't miss out! ~Jacob

The time has come! The moment we have been working towards for over a year! Kickstarter link here! If you are even remotely interested in our project, this kickstarter is the best way to support it. In fact, for the next two days, every tier is discounted by 5$ So if you want to pre-order the game for cheap AND get your name in credits, this is an easy way to make that happen. ;) This only happens with YOUR help! So in advance, thank you for your interest in this little game of ours. It means more than I can ever articulate. I love you all. Jacob

Hey there friends, Jacob here! It's the 15th of the month again, and this time, I thought I'd go over some of the new post-game content I just finished programming, as well as some new features that tie nicely into that content. Let's get right to it! The new timeline menu lets you experience the game your way!
Along with the journal and gallery you all are familiar with, Siren's Call: Escape Velocity will also feature a simple timeline menu highlighting the key events for Oliver's main story, the Finishing Touches, AND Prove You Aren't Dead (more on that one later). Basically, whenever you complete the game once, this menu will unlock and can be accessed from the title screen. Then, upon completing more scenes in the post-game and going for more endings, the timeline will update accordingly. Much like Oliver's Journal, this new menu exists to add greater context to the events of the game as a whole, without exactly beating players over the head with that context. Like the journal, this timeline is completely optional to engage with for that reason. Confused or curious players can refer back to this like an index of sorts to get a bigger picture of what's going on, but it's not mandatory. Our goal is to make your experience with Siren's Call as deep as you want it to be, so if you're feeling lost at any point once the credits roll, give this new menu a shot! Or maybe visit it after 100%-ing the game to see if what's in your head matches up with reality. Or maybe you'll notice something new all together if you stare long enough... ;) Prove You Aren't Dead- a mini VN that changes everything.
This is the big one. As of this time, I have officially completed writing and programming Violet's chapter of the game: Prove You Aren't Dead (called PYAD from this point on). While the aspects of the game will change with feedback and such, I'm feeling pretty damn great about how this turned out. And I hope all of you will enjoy what Violet's POV brings to the table.
Upon getting the main game's true ending, PYAD will unlock along with the rest of the game's post content. While I'm not going to be giving away any major story details here, what I CAN say is that Violet handles stressful situations with Judith MUCH differently than her boyfriend does. So how will the two of them bounce off each other as a category 6 hurricane is rolling into Siren's Call? Will they be able to weather out this storm? Or will their inability to see eye to eye be the death of them all?
I'm just so happy this story is going to get to be told. PYAD was one of the main pieces of content I simply didn't have the time or money needed to put in the prototype version of the game and I feel it really brings Oliver, Violet and Judith's arcs together in a fantastic way. I think it's also the perfect reward for those that are tenacious enough to find the game's true ending. Honestly, I'm so excited to see what everybody thinks of it, but alas, we must wait. I promise it will be worth it though. Kickstarter updates
We are officially one month away from the Kickstarter launching! Dev log #3 goes over everything that entails a little bit more, but I will say that the dakimarura artist as well as all the physical merch production has been finalized. This is going to be a big event, so if you haven't signed up for launch notifications, please do so here! It helps more than you can even imagine, and this (in conjunction with leaving a good review on our steam page <3) is the best way to help make this game the best it can be. Art update Ray is hard at work on the CG for THAT moment with Violet on the beach. It should be done soon, but for those of you that know, you know.
So be sure to be nice and let Oliver go, okay? After all, who could say no to that face? Also, all the discord requested maid CGs are done. While I won't show all of them here, I do think Emil's eagerness to crossdress is something to be admired.
The dude is #1 in my heart. Any who, that's all I have for now! I'll give you guys more news as things progress, so until then, stay cool. Yours and stuck in Florida forever, Jacob Last weeks dev log is here!

Hey there everybody! Jacob here! We've had some exciting stuff happen sense last month, so let's get right to it! Art update!
First, before we get into the really big announcements, we have some art that has been completed! Raeis finished up not one, but TWO new CGs for the opening section of the game. This first one is for when you end up visiting Judith a bit earlier than she expected. And this second one...
...this second one might be my favorite CG in the game. New potential cover art? We shall see. The VAs have been decided! After a month of auditions and lots of great takes, my team and I have decided on who will be voicing each character if the kickstarter is successful! It's really exciting to have something like this on the table, so without further delay, here is our talent! As Oliver, we have cast Charles Nguyn! [previewyoutube=GmkauBycMJE;full][/previewyoutube] As Violet, we have cast Estelle Son! [previewyoutube=nQeLP4HOX3A;full][/previewyoutube] As Judith, we have cast Phebe Fabacher [previewyoutube=UvDTv4nel4k;full][/previewyoutube] As Ashton, we have cast Bradley Gareth [previewyoutube=3Q6OIJHNvvs;full][/previewyoutube] As Andi, we have cast Maganda Marie [previewyoutube=7Mp-w2MW930;full][/previewyoutube] As Emil, we have cast Grant Paulsen [previewyoutube=cfpZICGYQGE;full][/previewyoutube] And finally, we have cast Savvi Lee as Miss Lawrence [previewyoutube=85PhU74Gn-E;full][/previewyoutube] This is a really exciting opportunity to bring the story of Siren's Call to life even more. We have decided that voice acting will be the main focus of the upcoming kickstarter, as we feel its inclusion will really help give the scenes it's in a bit more punch. Which brings me to my next announcement... Escape Velocity's kickstarter begins September 15th!!! That's right! In two months, we are launching our kickstarter campaign. We still need a bit more time to spread the word and finalize some aspects of the page, but now that the voice auditions are done and the cast has been selected, I feel confident in setting this date in stone. Here's a few things you can expect from the reward tiers: *Dakimakuras of any character pairing you desire *Physical copies of Oliver's journal, Judith's cookbook, and much more *Beta access that lets you play the game long before anybody else *Oliver's T-shirt in the size of your choosing +AND LOADS MORE!!! For more kickstarter updates, please follow me either on twitter or follow the kickstarter's prelaunch page here. We've got lots more to reveal, and with your help, you can make this game the best it can possibly be! I legit cannot do this without your help, so if this project interests you at all, please consider giving these pages a follow. Anywho, that's about all I got for now! I'll give you guys more news as things progress, so until then, stay cool. Yours and stuck in Florida forever, Jacob

Hey there everybody, Jacob here. A LOT has happened since our last dev log, so let's just get right into the juicy stuff, shall we?
Both the game's new steam page and the game's upcoming kickstarter are now live! The steam page is here and the kickstarter page is right here! Both got approved the first time I requested it, which is honestly nuts to me. Seriously, when I was trying to get the steam page for the prototype version of the game up (the version ya'll are familiar with), it took 5 attempts. It was hell. Thankfully, things went smooth this time. You're gonna hear me promote these pages and beg ya'll to follow, wishlist, and subscribe to them a lot for a couple of reasons... These metrics, such as wishlists and kickstarter follows and such, help give me and the rest of the team an idea of how big the launch is going to be. More groundswell means more features for the final release, such as voice acting, more translations, and even more story content on top of the new content we're adding. This is true not only for the kickstarter, but also for the steam page. After hitting certain metrics (10,000 wishlists being the big one) Steam starts showing the game to a LOT more people. Which works out great for everyone. So please, hit every button on these pages. Wishlisting is free. Following the kickstarter is free. So please press the buttons. The future of the project quite literately depends on it. We also have a casting call on-going for the game's voice acting! That's right! Depending on how well Escape Velocity's kickstarter goes, the game is going to have VOICE ACTING. Partial voice acting, sure, but all the most important scenes (in my opinion) will be voice acted. We might be able to get full voice acting if we can find a publisher (that's still not going well, lol), but for now, we're focusing on the kickstarter, because that's something we can realistically achieve. If you or anybody you know is interested in trying out for a role, you can scope out the competition/apply here! Check out and see if you can guess who the team is thinking of for each role. ;) Seriously, there is some real talent that has auditioned and maybe even a few names ya'll will recognize... Raies' CG grind continues! In addition to the new art of Judith greeting you at the door, another CG of her is in the works. This will likely be her last one for the opening act, with Violet coming up next. Yeah, there's gonna be a LOT more CGs in the first chapter, so get excited. :) Here's a preview on the one Ray is currently working on.
I think the oven mitts are adorable, personally. About the 500 review goal for the game... So I did promise I would talk about this more in the last dev log. Essentially, the reason I'm focusing so much on the kickstarter, steam, social media and all that stuff funnels back to one thing: Steam Reviews. It's no secret that having your game on the steam marketplace is costly as a developer (with steam taking around 25% of the total profits your game makes last time I checked). Thankfully, they DO market your game really intensely if it crosses certain thresholds. The first is having over 10,000 wishlists before you launch. The second is...of course...having steam reviews. And I mean a LOT of steam reviews. Here's some more info on exactly how that works. TLDR: Once your game hits over 10 reviews, steam essentially knows it's not shovelware and starts showing it to more people. This continues at the 50 and 500 review benchmarks, with 500 reviews putting you in such a high percent of steam's games overall that they do a huge bulk of the marketing on the storefront for you. For indie games with almost no marketing power like ours, this is a dream come true and the main appeal of the platform...and the most reliable way to secure the means to make more games. So, while the rest of the game's assets are being finished, securing those 500 reviews in the first couple days of the game's official launch is going to be everything. We already know we have a great experience on our hands, but getting people to not only know about it, but also review it, is going to be the main battle. So far with the prototype version, we're only at 176 reviews, so clearly we can't just do what we did last time again and call it a day. So I'm thinking of giving out 1000 review copies of the commercial release to anybody I know is willing to leave a helpful review. It will be closer to the final release of the game when I give out review copies, but I'm fairly certain I can give them out to anybody. Still, I gotta know they're willing to leave a review in the first place, which is tricky to discern, but reaching out to people that have already left a review on the prototype version is one way I'm thinking about doing that. Steam might not let me do that though. I don't know; this is all just me spitballing anyway, and if anybody has any better ideas to reach that goal (asking Markiplier is not an idea; no influencers have returned my emails), then I'm super open to hear them. Anywho, that's about all I got for now! I'll give you guys more news as things progress, so until then, stay cool. Yours and stuck in Florida forever, Jacob

Hey there everybody! Jacob here with some updates about the game that ya'll may find interesting. Some pretty cool stuff has been happening since my last post on here, so I thought it might be fun to give everybody the details.
The German translation for the game has officially begun! And not only that, but we've got the entire first chapter translated! Thanks to the hard work of Pan over in the discord, I've been given a lot to work with. Which is great, because between waiting for the rest of the art to finish and completing the script as a whole, I've been itching to get back to some programming. VNMaker has its problems, sure, but actually plugging the translations into the script has been an absolute breeze. It's a little time consuming, because text has to be shifted and certain parts of the UI have to be reprogrammed to accommodate for longer German sentences, but it's not difficult (for context, plugging in the script and adding the lines of code that pace the dialogue properly took me about 5 days with Blue Skies Ahead-- the game's first chapter). I was definitely worried that the translation process would manifest some new bugs for the game...somehow...but thankfully this seems like it was just me being paranoid. So yes, German Siren's Call is happening and it's fitting into the game's code great so far! Expect more to come.
New art is in the works! In addition to the new art of Andi up above, Ray is also in the process of making another new CG for the start of the game-- this time for when Oliver meets with Judith alone for the first time! She's a little surprised to seem him this early, it seems. Everything he's made for the game has been freaking awesome, but I'm especially looking forward to this CG because it's gonna be the first big hint that Judith...might not be everything she seems.
I think it'll be a really fun moment for people playing the game for the first time. Also, maid outfits may or may not be in the works. Maybe. Almost definitely (blame the discord for this one). Major bugs for the game have been fixed! The game takes a bit longer to load at the start now, but everything else runs smooth as butter. It's still way higher in terms of RAM usage than the average VN, but I've gotten no frame rate complaints from my play testers so far, so that's a HUGE step forward. It still doesn't do great on anything with less than 4gb of ram when multiple applications are open, but most people probably aren't rocking hardware like that these days so I don't think it's worth it to switch to renpy at this point (especially if the translation programming process is gonna take as long as I think it will). Essentially, there were a few common events (little nuggets of code that run in the background) that weren't terminating when they were supposed to. Those common events now either A) don't exist anymore due to no longer being needed or B) have been baked into the main script itself so that they terminate upon the player completing the scene. A simple fix, sure, but an effective one. Sadly, the bulk of the ram usage seems to be directly tied to how many different music tracks are set to play in a scene...which smells like VNMaker not optimizing its audio code properly. So short of reaching out to the devs for a fix, I don't think there's much I can do to deal with that, but a few optimizations I've made and the common event bug fix has smoothed things out considerably. So that's nice. There was also one bug that was crashing saves that were made when certain lines of text were fading out (namely when people get an "item" or unlock a gallery image). I guess the game couldn't handle reloading in the middle of the more complex animations. Now, the common event in charge of that is set to terminate upon clicking the settings buttons, and erase the text with it. I'm pretty sure most of the load game crashes are the result of saves being made in the middle of the complex animations, so I'll be on the hunt for as many of those as possible during my translation adventures. Here's hoping to no more crashed saves! I wanna go to a convention and give out macarons. Imma be honest, I'm a very very very very shy person. But you can't be shy and have a successful visual novel so...yeah...I'm gonna have to do something if I want this game to reach 500 reviews (more on why that's important in a future update I guess). I've been looking into anime conventions in central Florida that my wife and I can potentially booth at. I know this really doesn't seem like "dev log" stuff, but I feel like if I JUST focus on the game itself at this point, and not marketing, I'm kinda shooting myself in the foot, along with anybody else that has faith in this project/wants it to succeed. So I'm gonna try and get out of my shell a bit! It'll probs be closer to the game's release, but I think it could be a fun way to get the word out. This is something I have essentially no experience with (I've gone to anime cons in the past before, but never as a dev), but I'll keep everybody updated either here and/or on my twitter if things become official. Anywho, that's about all I got for now! I'll give you guys more news as things progress, so until then, stay cool. Yours and stuck in Florida forever, Jacob

Hey there everybody! Jacob here with some updates about the game that ya'll may find interesting. Some pretty cool stuff has been happening since my last post on here, so I thought it might be fun to give everybody the details.
The German translation for the game has officially begun! And not only that, but we've got the entire first chapter translated! Thanks to the hard work of Pan over in the discord, I've been given a lot to work with. Which is great, because between waiting for the rest of the art to finish and completing the script as a whole, I've been itching to get back to some programming. VNMaker has its problems, sure, but actually plugging the translations into the script has been an absolute breeze. It's a little time consuming, because text has to be shifted and certain parts of the UI have to be reprogrammed to accommodate for longer German sentences, but it's not difficult (for context, plugging in the script and adding the lines of code that pace the dialogue properly took me about 5 days with Blue Skies Ahead-- the game's first chapter). I was definitely worried that the translation process would manifest some new bugs for the game...somehow...but thankfully this seems like it was just me being paranoid. So yes, German Siren's Call is happening and it's fitting into the game's code great so far! Expect more to come.
New art is in the works! In addition to the new art of Andi up above, Ray is also in the process of making another new CG for the start of the game-- this time for when Oliver meets with Judith alone for the first time! She's a little surprised to seem him this early, it seems. Everything he's made for the game has been freaking awesome, but I'm especially looking forward to this CG because it's gonna be the first big hint that Judith...might not be everything she seems.
I think it'll be a really fun moment for people playing the game for the first time. Also, maid outfits may or may not be in the works. Maybe. Almost definitely (blame the discord for this one). Major bugs for the game have been fixed! The game takes a bit longer to load at the start now, but everything else runs smooth as butter. It's still way higher in terms of RAM usage than the average VN, but I've gotten no frame rate complaints from my play testers so far, so that's a HUGE step forward. It still doesn't do great on anything with less than 4gb of ram when multiple applications are open, but most people probably aren't rocking hardware like that these days so I don't think it's worth it to switch to renpy at this point (especially if the translation programming process is gonna take as long as I think it will). Essentially, there were a few common events (little nuggets of code that run in the background) that weren't terminating when they were supposed to. Those common events now either A) don't exist anymore due to no longer being needed or B) have been baked into the main script itself so that they terminate upon the player completing the scene. A simple fix, sure, but an effective one. Sadly, the bulk of the ram usage seems to be directly tied to how many different music tracks are set to play in a scene...which smells like VNMaker not optimizing its audio code properly. So short of reaching out to the devs for a fix, I don't think there's much I can do to deal with that, but a few optimizations I've made and the common event bug fix has smoothed things out considerably. So that's nice. There was also one bug that was crashing saves that were made when certain lines of text were fading out (namely when people get an "item" or unlock a gallery image). I guess the game couldn't handle reloading in the middle of the more complex animations. Now, the common event in charge of that is set to terminate upon clicking the settings buttons, and erase the text with it. I'm pretty sure most of the load game crashes are the result of saves being made in the middle of the complex animations, so I'll be on the hunt for as many of those as possible during my translation adventures. Here's hoping to no more crashed saves! I wanna go to a convention and give out macarons. Imma be honest, I'm a very very very very shy person. But you can't be shy and have a successful visual novel so...yeah...I'm gonna have to do something if I want this game to reach 500 reviews (more on why that's important in a future update I guess). I've been looking into anime conventions in central Florida that my wife and I can potentially booth at. I know this really doesn't seem like "dev log" stuff, but I feel like if I JUST focus on the game itself at this point, and not marketing, I'm kinda shooting myself in the foot, along with anybody else that has faith in this project/wants it to succeed. So I'm gonna try and get out of my shell a bit! It'll probs be closer to the game's release, but I think it could be a fun way to get the word out. This is something I have essentially no experience with (I've gone to anime cons in the past before, but never as a dev), but I'll keep everybody updated either here and/or on my twitter if things become official. Anywho, that's about all I got for now! I'll give you guys more news as things progress, so until then, stay cool. Yours and stuck in Florida forever, Jacob

Hello everybody, Jacob here. And yes, this is what its all been leading up to. Half-sequel and half-update, Sirens Call: Escape Velocity aims to take everything weve learned from the past year and use it to make the best version of this story imaginable. And Im not just talking minor bug fixes and UI updates either Heres a couple things to expect upon release: *A true ending that can only be unlocked through our games new Lucidity System. Depending on player choices, Oliver will end things differently than in the original build of the game. *An unlockable epilogue chapter centered around a conflict unique to Violet and Judiths friendship (spoilers, its not related to Oliver). *24 new CGs-- a number of which will be used to flesh out and add tension to the original story. *An optional hint system create a more streamlined visual novel experience. *Updated character sprites for Miss Lawrence. *Translations into Spanish, German and Russian with more languages being added after the games release! *The complete original story of Sirens Call that remains (mostly) untouched in terms of its narrative. *And much more! While improved UI and bug fixes are a big goal of ours, the truth is that theres a lot of story content we had to cut to meet our release date last year (and even more art assets and gameplay features that were left out due to lack of budget or time constraints). Since the release, Ive been working tirelessly on polishing up the game to better meet my initial vision. The feedback everybody has provided in both the Steam Reviews and Sirens Call discord has been illuminating and paramount in shaping the direction of this game. As such, I think its only fair to talk about some of these changes and why theyre being made. If you want to know more about why were doing things the way were going to, please read on! 1. The Lucidity System. Along with a new UI comes a new gameplay mechanic: The Lucidity System. Essentially, the more Oliver is made to explore Sirens Call through the players choices, the more hell get closer to the truth of what is happening, gaining lucidity in the process. This lucidity can be used not only to unlock hints during particularly difficult social interactions, but also as a means to unlock the games new, true ending. Essentially, Lucidity functions as a sort of cognitive currency. While reception of Sirens Call has been very positive at the time of writing this update, one of the complaints we did receive was that player choices on the whole felt like they lacked weight. There is intention in this, of course, and while we did try to make the different choices matter in some respect though the games unlockables, there were people that still wanted more control of Oliver. People wanted to better shape the story through him. While complete control over Oliver and his story cannot be given to the player for major plot reasons, we did still want to provide more ways for the player to feel as if they are helping him reach the truth. Whats more, we also wanted to find a way to reduce the rate at which players got stuck in some of the trickier loops. A currency system that could pay for optional hints, as well as open the way to a better ending seemed like a natural solution. Even better, it could be implemented without taking away what makes Olivers role as a protagonist interesting. For now, it seems like a win-win that wont take away from the games mystery and tone, but well see how it stacks up in playtesting. For now though, were feeling great about its inclusion. 2. Violets Epilogue: Prove You Arent Dead After waking up from a strange seizure on the beach, Violet is taken to her old high school to wade out the deadliest hurricane in the history of Sirens Call. There, her and Judith are forced to work together to uncover the truth of their situation...as well as the nature of this bizarre, otherworldly storm. Both Oliver and Judith had playable sections of Sirens Call, so from the start, I really wanted to give Violets character the same attention. Her friendship with Judith is also something I wanted to explore in greater detail, as it always had the potential to be the deepest and most complex friendship out of the group. So in addition to being the completion of Violets character arc (as well as the games overall story), it serves as a nice bit of extra story content for those wanting to see everything Sirens Call: Escape Velocity has to offer. 3. 24 New Cgs and updated versions of Miss Lawrences sprites Raies, one of the artists weve been working with over the years, has agreed to create a batch of new CGs for scenes that desperately needed them. Not only that, but Miss Lawrences sprite will also be polished afterwards to better fit her new look in these CGs. Raies has done great work for us in the past (the art as been cited as one of the games strongest features), so we really just want to double down on the already great art hes done and enhance the opening sections of the game in particular. 4. Pricing for Sirens Call: Escape Velocity While Sirens Call itself is always going to be free, the reality is that this game (at least at the time of writing) has been made entirely out of pocket. As such, while the base version of Sirens Call will stay free (and we have no plans of removing it from the store), Escape Velocity is going to need to cost something in order for my friends and I to continue making games. Weve kind of hit a brick wall in development where in order to bring this VN up to the standards of the industry, were going to need funds of some kind. Theres also the Steam Algorithm to take into consideration. Simply put, if a game doesnt make Steam money, theyre just not going to show it to people. So making Sirens Call: Escape Velocity cost something is kind of a necessary evil at this point. While the amount of people that have downloaded Sirens Call already has far exceeded our expectations, in order to get this game the kind of attention our fans believe it deserves, weve gotta play things by Steams rules for the time. That being said, were not charging more than 5 dollars for Escape Velocity. And were going to go hard with steam sales whenever we get the chance. None of this has ever been about the money, but if we can make enough to cover the costs of developing Escape Velocity, then the odds of us making future games is much higher. If we eventually get a publisher, that 5 dollar price may have to change due to contracts and such, but it will also open the door to things like professional voice acting and more translations, so itll be well worth it. For now though, were sticking with self-publishing, which means we get to set what we consider an honest price for this project. We hope this seems like a fair, consumer friendly way to handle things in the future. TLDR: Sirens Call is always going to be free, but Escape Velocity has to cost something for Steam to show it more to people and for us to keep making games. We hope you guys understand and find the new content worth the price.

Questions you might be having:

In conclusion:

Hello everybody, Jacob here! We here at ThePenSword just launched a kickstarter campaign for extra story content for Siren's Call! This story will be called "Prove You Aren't Dead" and follows Violet as a playable character. If you would like to support this project, please follow the link down bellow! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1856615525/sirens-call-extra-story-content?ref=creator_nav

*Fixed an issue with the quick save, where loading a game from an quick save and then quick saving again would halt any inputs the player would make after loading.

*The final finishing touches are now out, thus completing all of the current story content for Siren's Call. Any updates from this point on will mostly be to fix any technical issues.

*The end is coming. *Spelling errors fixed.

*New story content added under Finishing Touches. *Spelling errors fixed.

*Ash's new character sprite added to Finishing Touch story #2 *Spelling errors fixed

*New story in Finishing Touches following Andi and Emil *Some updated UI elements *Extra hidden scenes in the prologue/Blue Skies Ahead *Spelling errors and bugs fixed

*New story in Finishing Touch centering around Ashton and Judith. *New sprite for Judith. *Extra hidden scenes in Blue Skies Ahead.

Siren's Call: Finishing Touch is a series of short stories following the life and times of The Midnight Guard, set before the events of the main game. These stories will be released via free updates weekly over the course of the next 8 weeks and can be accessed from the main menu. The first story, Andi and Violet, is now live. While best enjoyed after beating the base game, feel free to play these stories at your leisure. Welcome back to Siren's Call.

*Siren's Call: Finishing Touch has been added to the main menu. This will contain bonus, cannon story content that will be updated weekly for the next 8 weeks. *New character sprites for Andi added, as well as other extra content.

*Major performance fixes across the board as a result from switching from nw.js to Electron. Loading times improved, less lag, reduced ram usage, ect.

A test version of Siren's Call running on Electron can now be accessed in the beta branches. This new version may have some compatibility issues with the older versions of Siren's Call, but the benefits are as follows: *Major performance fixes across the board as a result from switching from nw.js to Electron. Loading times improved, less lag, reduced ram usage, ect. *Potential for a mac version of the game that can theoretically run on m1 chip mac computers. (more testing required) *Most, if not all, of the bugs from Visual Novel Maker should be fixed. It is recommenced that a backup of your game files be made or you complete Siren's Call before testing this version. If memory errors or game corruption occur however, you can access the developer scene select by pressing the escape key on the main menu. Assuming there are no major bugs or issues with the game after upgrading to Electron, this build will likely go live as the default version shortly. Until then, it can be accessed in the beta branches. The password needed to unlock this branch is halfanapress If you encounter any bugs, please report them to our game's official discord channel (https://discord.gg/cqCSSgqh85) or make a post on the forums here. I hope you enjoy this new, smoother version of Siren's Call! Stay cool! ~Jacob

*Fixed an issue where the game would soft-lock after beating Emil's boss fight or Andi's boss fight and then not proceeding to complete the category after beating it.

*Added the option to skip to the start of certain "boss" encounters upon reloading the scene after failing one. This is to cut down on the amount of skipping needed to get back to these encounters and reduce player frustration. Hints were also added if the player fails the encounter multiple times. *Made the text easier to read during one scene in particular where the screen is tinted red.

*Due to some confusion among the player-base and to aid with conveyance/player progression, a "Game Over" screen has been added when players fail to say goodbye to their friends properly in the first two sections of the game (right before the day resets). A text blurb has also been added to assist players who think they have "beaten" the game upon clearing the first chapter. *Various spelling errors fixed.

*Fixed a bug where the player could get softlocked in category 1 by visiting Violet, then Emil, the Andi, and then going back to Violet's house. Now Judith's house will be accessible in that situation. *Fixed a bug where the last 6 CGs didn't count towards the CG completion total of the results menu. *Fixed a bug where some players would get softlocked in category 1's puzzle and not be able to select the option that would allow them to progress. *Fixed a bug where upon completing the game, the afterstory would only be accessible in it's entirety from the scene selection menu. *Numerous spelling errors fixed.

Version 1.03 is now out and the default version. *Spelling errors corrected *Fixed some bugs with the scene select feature *Fixed a bug that would soft-lock the game at Category 3 upon completing the game once

*Fixed a bug where restarting the game after completing it had a chance to soft-lock you in Category 3, unless you used the scene selection feature. *Fixed some spelling errors.

*Fixed a bug where Violet and Oliver would disappear behind the background after one of the beach conversations. *Fixed a bug where the game would crash upon changing menus in the library in Category 2. *Fixed a bug where Violet's sprite would hover above the ground at the end of Category 3.

*Added a finalized linux version of Siren's Call (if there are any errors, please report them to jacobcumiskey@yahoo.com or message down here in this update)

*Fixed an issue where the game's icon was not displaying properly.

IMPORTANT, before updating this game be aware that there is a risk that your save files will not function from version 1.00 to version 1.01. This is due to a bug with Visual Novel Maker that we are working to fix. If loading a save file after the game updates causes the game to crash either: A). Downgrade to version 1.00 using the "beta" tab under the game's properties. B). Select the continue option and skip forward to whatever part of that chapter you were on, Updating will not erase your overall progress, it just runs the risk of corrupting saves from older versions on some PCs. Patch notes: *Fixed a bug where certain CGs were not unlocking in the gallery *Some scenes were not select-able during the scene select *Fixed a bug where the game would crash upon right clicking in certain menus *Other bugs fixed, including ones that effected the game's performance. *Typeos addressed If you experience any issues with the patch, please contact Jacob Cumiskey either at jacobcumiskey@yahoo.com or on the Siren's Call Discord here: https://discord.gg/cqCSSgqh85

IMPORTANT, before updating this game be aware that there is a risk that your save files will no function from version 1.00 to version 1.01. This is due to a dub with Visual Novel Maker that we are working to fix. If loading a save file after the game updates causes the game to crash either: A). Downgrade to version 1.00 using the "beta" tab under the game's properties. B). Select the continue option and skip forward to whatever part of that chapter you were on, Updating will not erase your overall progress, it just runs the risk of corrupting saves from older versions on some PCs. Patch notes: *Fixed a bug where certain CGs were not unlocking in the gallery *Fixed a bug where the game would crash upon right clicking in certain menus *Other bugs fixed, including ones that effected the game's performance. *Typeos addressed If you experience any issues with the patch, please contact Jacob Cumiskey either at jacobcumiskey@yahoo.com or on the Siren's Call Discord here: https://discord.gg/cqCSSgqh85

Version 1.01 of Siren's Call can now be accessed and installed. Changes include: *Fixed a bug where right clicking on some menus would cause the game to crash *Fixed a bug where certain scenes were not select-able in the scene select *Addressed a few typeos *Addressed performance issues