Why we changed our tagline

You might have noticed a small change to our tagline. Recently, I (Catherine) changed it from “Escape games meet music” to “Escape into a world of music”. It reflects a shift in our focus, from marketing escape games to creating immersive games more broadly.

What we heard

Feedback from our advisors, playtesters and reviewers showed us that a music-themed puzzle game can feel intimidating to people without a music background. That friction keeps us from reaching the people we most want to play: those who are curious about music, or simply enjoy it, but don’t have the theory to solve musical challenges.

Why we started

It also had me asking why we created a music-themed escape game in the first place. The answer is that music and games both hold a special place in our hearts, and we want to share that passion with everyone, without making anyone feel they need a music background to join in.

Music and games both hold a special place in our hearts, and we want to share that passion with everyone.

Stories with music in them

That’s why we want to broaden what we offer while keeping the focus on immersion. Not everyone wants a traditional escape game, but plenty of people love a good story, and music-themed puzzles can feel like a lot. So we also want to tell stories where music is part of the world, even when not every part is a music puzzle. It could be a story like the Pied Piper, who lured away children with his enchanting melody. Or our new jigsaw puzzle, where we built a world of mythical creatures tied to the forces of nature and music. There are no music puzzles to solve in that one, but players still get a glimpse into a magical world where music is central to the world-building.

The Pied Piper playing his flute, from Piper’s Call — The Pied Piper, from Piper’s Call.

Beyond escape games

We also don’t want to limit ourselves to escape games, because they can’t be replayed. In the future, we may consider more tabletop games that can be played again and again. That’s a long way off, since we’re still promoting Siren’s Melody for our first-ever Kickstarter.

The elephant in the room

Why hasn’t Siren’s Melody launched on Kickstarter yet?

We’re taking the time to refine the experience based on feedback, and we’re waiting on new art (thank you, Alexis, @Cloudyning). Our old version of the game was clunky on the web, so we moved to a new host. People also loved the physical components, so we want to bring in more of that hand-drawn feel. All of that takes time.

Siren’s Melody physical components laid out on a table — The physical components of Siren’s Melody. Players loved them, so we’re bringing in more of that hand-drawn feel.

To be frank, our original goal of raising enough to manufacture at scale may not be within our means, given the high cost of marketing. So we’re going to take it slow and not rush. Thank you to our advisors, supported by Interactive Ontario, for reminding us to focus on our value proposition and strong imagery instead of heavy ad spend.

Mailers instead of boxes

With tariffs and high costs, we’re also going to use mailers instead of boxes for Siren’s Melody. That doesn’t mean giving up on a beautiful unboxing. We still plan to use our hand-drawn art to make the packaging special, so opening it feels like the start of the adventure.

For those waiting on our Kickstarter, thank you for your patience. We promise it’s worth the wait!