(text-colour:red)[(text-style:"shadow","buoy")[''MAROON'']]
[[Start->Opening]]
(Title screen: a small boat on waves)
(On new game the title simply lifts and you join the boat on the title screen.)
(Loud splashing is heard. A net is pulled from the water, there is thrashing from within. A horrific creature looks out through the weave, golden eyes with horizontal pupils, hair like seaweed and near-transparent skin.)
Meron: Look what I’ve caught, a little human.
Meron: Best let me go, else curses be upon ye.
[[>Release->End 1]]
[[>Don't Release->Begin Game]]Really? Did you even want to play the game?
[[>Restart->Title screen]]
Meron: There be a storm on the way. Run along.
Meron: I said to let me go.
(Thunder and loud, high pitched screaming of inhuman quality as the waves pick up immediately and the screen goes black after a dark wave passes over.)
[[>>>->p1]](An empty beach. The Meron lays in the sand still struggling to get out of the net.)
Meron: Now we’ve washed up. Release me.
> “You’re bleeding.”
Meron: Aye, genius that ye are, you’ve noticed.
Meron: Tch. Foolish human, you’re really going to try to hold me after all of that?
Meron: Hm. Fine. I can use you. Humans have medicine; we fish simply make do. You’ll heal my wound and in turn I will not tear you to shreds.
Meron: I know where we are. Head north; there is a cave.
[[East->E Beach1]]
[[North->B Path]]
/Dev notes: Research on vernacular must be done. A balance of the vernacular speech is necessary so as not to sound like silly pirates.
Meron: I said North, fool.
[[North->B Path]](An animal’s path. Plants, twigs, and assorted detritus line the narrow walkway. These are interactable items randomly generated each in-game day.)
[[North->Home Clearing]]
[[South->South1]](A clearing with a cave at the northern side. The clearing has more assorted plants and detritus.)
>[[Investigate->Clearing 1]]
>[[North->Home Cave 1]]
Meron: Keep going.
[[North->Home Clearing]]Meron: The cave is right there, fool. Hurry; I'll dry up.
>[[North->Home Cave 1]]
(A cave with a large pool of water occupying the main space.)
Meron: Let me from the net.
[You stumble back as you release the net, taking quick steps backward in case the Meron decides to attack. It does not, rather it crawls to the pool, pale arms reaching and pulling its body across the stone floor, and submerges itself.]
/Dev note: add more cutscene description and inner monologue to earlier parts/
(The Meron resurfaces, head barely poking from the water.)
Meron: Smart of you to scramble away. But, mind, you’re easy pickings for me.
Meron: Mistreat me, and I will rend you from your belly open.
(Its teeth flash in a smile at you, sharp like the creatures that dwell too far under the sea. Reasonably, you know that it can’t possibly make it across the land to the beach on its own. It’s much too far a distance.)
Meron: Go get me some food.
>[[Speak->Speak1]]
>[[Exit->Clearing2]]Meron: The sun will set soon. Dally not. You don’t want me hungry.
>[[Exit->Clearing2]]
(Clearing.)
> [[East->Clearing3]] (No time to explore. The sun is setting.)
> [[South->Clearing3]] (No time to explore. The sun is setting.)
> [[Examine mushrooms->Mushrooms]] (These look like what your wife cooks. You take them.)
> [[Examine twigs->Twigs]] (You’ll need a fire to keep yourself warm.)
>[[Return (with items. Don’t skip it, lazy.)->Home2]]
No time to explore. The sun is setting.
[[>>>->Clearing2]]These look like what your wife cooks. You take them.
[[>>>->Clearing2]]You’ll need a fire to keep yourself warm. Who knows how cold it will get here. You take the twigs.
[[>>>->Clearing2]]
Meron: Well? Do you have food for me?
[[>Give->Feed1]]Meron: My, I’ll take these here. No, no, keep the spotted ones for yourself.
>Eat
(You feel ill.)
Meron: Ha! Take that as a lesson; be careful what you scrounge.
(It gives you back one brown mushroom.)
Meron: Have this one.
(It eats one before you do. You eat it. You feel a little better.)
(HP bar changes through interaction.)
[[>>>->Home3]]
Meron: Oho, perhaps you’re not as stupid as you seem. You didn’t even need my help. That will scare away whatever lived here before. But should it return, I’ll kill it before it kills you.
Meron: A win for both of us. I feast, you make it through the night.
> [[Sleep->End Day 1]]
End of Day 1.
(Over the crackle of the fire, you awaken to loud, animalistic screams of pain. Whatever the creature was, it can’t be seen through the flames. But its fate is clear as the Meron is illuminated close by, face stained red as it gnashes its teeth.
You roll back over and try to sleep on the stone ground.)
[[>> DAY 2->Day 2]]
Meron: Wake up.
(You wake up.)
Meron: You have work to do. Don’t fucking sleep the day away.
(You look at the Meron, then around the cave. There are no bones or any indication of the fight that occurred that night besides a spatter of dried blood and a trail of it leading toward the water.)
Meron: Start making my medicine today. You don’t want me dying on you, do you now? A dead Meron is worth no money.
Meron: I know that’s why you’ve caught me. Greedy, foolish little human. You know not what you reckon with.
(You think back home to your wife and your daughter, just a babe, and the empty table. And the mayor up the mountain road who would pay endless amounts from his pockets, and of the men even richer than he.)
Meron: Go.
[[>>Exit->2A]]
/From here, you can travel beyond the limits of the clearing. There are new items to gather and areas to explore. You can also figure out how to do things like set up fishing traps.]
/Dev note: Research must be done on what sorts of medicine were used. Catching a fish to use its bones as a needle to suture the Meron will definitely be one of the goal points. The suturing may well be a minigame for gruesome points.]
/The player can take their time on gathering medicine, even many days; the Meron will not actually die, it just will not heal. This will also reduce friendship with the Meron. Friendship begins at 0 and will go negative.]
/New items will have different effects on the Meron; giving the Meron fish and meats will increase friendship. The Meron also has foods that it dislikes.]
[[>>Apply Medicine (for the first time)->2B]]
(You begin applying a poultice.)
“Are you a male or a female?”
Meron: (laughs) Oh my, wouldn’t you like to know. All the little sailors come close for a peek, looking for a pretty lady, and there be their end.
Meron: What... Are you trying to check?
(It swipes at you. Your arm is now bleeding. You’ll have to use that poultice on yourself, it seems.)
Meron: I am a fish. We have no need for such trivial things.
“Then I will call you a man.”
Meron: Hah! You humans truly must think in such dichotomy. Why a man? Feel guilty holding a lady hostage? Or scared you’ll be like all the other sailors and fall to lust?
(Perhaps both are reasons.)
Meron: Pathetic little thing, you are. Humans cannot think beyond their realms. Fears will always come true, the more you run from them. It will be fun to see what happens.
(The Meron crawls back into the water and does not resurface.)
[[>>SLEEP->3A]](You wrap your arm and go to sleep.)
END OF X
[Next Day]
Meron: Wake up.
(You wake up. Your arm hurts like hell. You look at it, blood seeping through the bandages.)
Meron: You have work to do.
>>Exit
(Away from the Meron’s eyes, you inspect your arm. It’s nasty.)
(You realize that you cannot stay here on this island. He will certainly kill you, or something else will.)
//From here, the Meron is referred to with he/him pronouns.]
//The day begins with low HP, regardless of how high it was the previous night. It is possible to wake up with 1HP. The player must make a poultice for themself or else HP will not increase by sleeping and will deplete after eating. This can also possibly be incorporated into an injury mechanic.]
//The player can go about normal gameplay without progression, but upon entering the beach the story will continue. The ingredients for a poultice are not located on the beach, however, discouraging an immediate progression.]
[[>>Go to Beach->3B]]
(You haven’t seen any boats pass the beach. You’ll have to make your own to get out of here.)
>Examine debris
(Not much of your boat is left. Most was lost in the storm. But maybe this is a starting point. You should keep it here, though. Don’t let the Meron know.)
//Now certain items will prompt ideas of whether they could possibly be used for the boat./
[[>> (X DAYS LATER)->4A]]
Meron: You aren’t serving me adequately, fool.
Meron: You’re all sandy, and terribly burnt… You’ve been on the beach, haven’t you? What, oh, what could you be doing there? You haven’t brought me any ocean fish.
/Dev note: Ocean fish cannot be caught.]
Meron: Hm… Oh, your little boat is there.
Meron: Coming up with little ideas, I see.
Meron: Bring it here. I am bored all day; I’d like to see you try and fail at repairing it.
[[>>(Bring boat to cave, begin working on boat)->4B]]
“What is your name, fish?”
(The Meron grins at you as it always does. It opens its mouth and no sound comes out, but your ears feel piercing and you slap your hands over them.)
Meron: Your human ears can’t hear it.
“Oh.”
Meron: Suffice it to call me “fish”, for I will only call you “human”.
(Perhaps you’d like him to call you your name. It is terribly lonely here. You’re even finding his rude jibes at your expense humorous at this point.)
//This is when the romance part of the plot begins. PC will begin to have lots of gay thoughts upon giving the Meron gifts, when working on the raft, and in the end of day cutscenes./
[[>> END OF PROTOTYPE->the end]]
#(text-style:"shadow","buoy")[🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜🧜]
(text-style:"wavy-underline","sway")[🎉🎉🎉]