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.
[h2]Questions you might be having:[/h2]
If this game is part-sequel, why not just make Prove You Arent Dead a standalone game?
The truth is that without the context of the first game, PYAD just isnt as powerful of a story. Dont get me wrong, PYAD is easily the thing Im most proud of writing in my entire career, but it needs people to beat Sirens Call to get full emotional value from it. While this is true for all sequels to some extent, our install base doesnt really justify us making an entirely separate game just to finish up Violets story. There would just be too many people that would see this game on the Steam store, not have the context of Sirens Call, and then pass up on it. Not only that, but having it be a heafty unlockable for devoted players makes more sense ludonarratively. Going from completing Olivers story to starting Violets story is gonna be way more satisfying than having to boot up an entirely separate game. The two stories need each other, so we think it makes sense to be in the same package.
Is anything about the plot/characters going to be changed? I didnt really like X or Y; can you fix that?
Were cutting down on some of Andis monologues a bit, but other than the re-contextualization the new true ending and PYAD will provide, the plot of Sirens Call will still be alive and well in Escape Velocity.
Along with the plot, the cast as a whole has been largely well received. While a vocal minority of individuals didnt jive well with some of Olivers character traits, he has fared way better than your average uncontrollable/belligerent VN protagonist in terms of public reception, so were keeping him as is outside of the True Ending. Based on the reviews, he accomplished his role in the story and then some, so axing core aspects of his character has the potential to greatly weaken the narrative and its themes. Most of the disdain has been centered on him ignoring player choices throughout the game anyway, so the new Lucidity System should help offset that a bit.
One thing we are changing is making Miss Lawrences role in the story more clear. Not spoiling how were going to do that, but lets just say that people that wanted to see more of her wont be disappointed.
Okay, so the plot and characters are mostly staying the same, but is anything being added to the original story of Sirens Call outside of CGs? Or is it just a copy of what Ive already read?
The opening chapter is being spiced up a bit to help aide with player retention and immersion. We noticed from play time on Steam that once people met Violet in the opening chapter, they were in it for the long-haul. To help bridge people to that point, we added some extra points of intrigue and trimmed down some of the slower sections of meeting up with Olivers friends for the first time. The new CGs are also going to help make some of those first meetings more emotionally impactful.
All and all, the additions to the main story are going to be relatively unobtrusive, as not to weaken what we already have, but still meaningful. We wouldnt be satisfied with a straight-up copy. There are also going to be changes in the games opening splash-screens, main menu, and UI to help set the appropriate tone for new players. While that may not seem worth mentioning, presentation is everything (especially for VNs) and weve learned a lot in the past year. Typically if you dont hold a players interest in the first 5 seconds, youve already lost them. So we made these changes in presentation with that in mind.
So when is it coming out then?
Its going to take about two years to make the remaining CGs, as well as a lot of time to amass the funds needed for translations. Currently, this is all still coming out of pocket, but if our crowdfunding endeavors are successful, then these aspects of the game have the potential to be made quicker. Writing and programming are on lock; I can easily get all the bugs fixed that arent rooted to the Visual Novel Maker engine done in a years time and the story is basically done (just gotta program it). If there are bugs that require me to completely switch engines though, it could take years of free time learning/switching everything over to something like RenPy. Ideally it wont come to that though.
So honestly, around two years, assuming things go as projected. Maybe less if we get some ground-swell going. Maybe more if there is just no saving VNMaker, but I know other devs that have used the engine to make more stable games, so not all hope is lost (the base game runs great on most recent hardware anyway). It all depends.
Are the translations needed? Cant we get the game quicker if you cut those and some of the CGs?
As of the time of writing this, roughly 33% of people that booted our game for the first time did so in North America. This is a lot smaller than I was expecting. Honestly, the foreign market for Sirens Call has been nuts (maybe people just like Floirda that much idk). Regardless, Im grateful, and I want to show that. So not translating the game into as many languages as possible seems like a big loss for everyone involved. I know its not realistic for a team as small as ours to amass the funds needed for lots of translations, but its worth a shot.
As for trimming CGs, all I can say is that itll be worth the wait and better for the game on the whole. There are 12 that are absolutely essential to the story, while the other 12 serve mostly to heighten already emotional scenes. So trimming isnt completely off the table, but would really defeat the purpose of this version being the best it could be.
I think you should just make another game entirely given that this one ending up being so ___ and ___. Why focus on it anymore?
Because Im not done with it yet.
[h3]In conclusion:[/h3]
I know all of this is kind of a big look behind the curtain so to speak, but Im not in the business of being secretive. People need to know what goes into making a VN. So please know this: I am very very very excited to be working on what I think will be the best version of Sirens Call possible. This game is everything to me and my team, and for those that found meaning in Olivers story, this game is for you, plain and simple. We wouldnt be continuing this project without you guys because other than some vain sense of completeness on my part, theres no point in polishing up a game people dont find meaning in. So the fact this little game of ours has been emotionally resonate in any respect to anybody is more than we couldve ever asked. So were going to keep polishing it, and provide a conclusion to this story thats as good as it can possibly be.
Were going to keep moving forward.
Stay sweet everyone.
~Jacob
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