As the Ocean Lures
As the Ocean Lures is an interactive novel about being a Merfolk. You will go on hunts, learn more about humans, and perhaps explore the land above.
As the Ocean Lures is a 16+ game with themes that may be triggering to audiences. This includes drowning, murder, death, body horror, dark humor towards death, potential transphobia, and the MC will exhibit sadistic traits with certain choices. This will be updated as the game goes on.
This game is loosely inspired by the Little Mermaid, and has taken inspiration from games like Beyond The Waves and Abysm's Veil.
Basically a rip off version of the Little Mermaid but darker.
For updates, you should check out my tumblr, posted right here!
Everyone has heard of sirens. Mysterious humanlike beasts who use their powerful singing voice to lure sailors to their untimely death. However, the only thing modern mythology mistaked was the fact that sirens retained bird-like features rather than fish tails.
You, on the other hand, are a Merfolk. As a Merfolk, you maintain most of the qualities often associated with mermaids and "sirens". With your family, you work to bring down sailors using your voice and abilities under the sea.
But do you actually want this fate? Is this what you want for the rest of your life?
It was.
At least, that was what you had always thought.
When you meet a captain who is dead set on showing you everything about the surface, you are quite literally pushed into a whole new world. And you discover that perhaps the human world...is not as bad as you were told.
But now you have a dilemma. Will you question everything you know? Or will you remain a part of the ocean?
- Customize who you are as a Merfolk, from gender, pronouns, looks and personality.
- Helping your family to sink ships full of sailors (or not...)
- Watch a captain drown or save them from certain death.
- Maintain your relationships with your family—follow what you have been told your whole life or go against everything they have taught you.
- Romance one of four characters: your best merfriend, the strange siren who assists your family on their hunts, the human captain you saved(?) or that royal who seems to love spending time by the sea...or no one since being a Merfolk is already hard as it is.
- Will you live out of the sea or under the sea? The choice is yours.
Kai/Kaia (He/him or She/her): The Best Merfriend
Your best...er, merfriend. You have known them your entire life and they remain a constant in your life. K has always been interested in the surface, whether you agreed with them or not. If given an opportunity—any, really—to go on land, they would jump at the chance. Friendly and caring, K is loyal to a fault, never-ending when it comes to you and your family. But is there something underlying your friendship? Guess you'll have to find out.
Echo (They/them): The Siren
Echo is...in short terms, a mystery. They first came to your family's rescue during one of the worst hunts of your life, and has stuck around ever since. Your mother treats them like her sixth child, though you are sure the sentiment is not reciprocated. Despite knowing Echo for almost eight months, you have yet to learn anything about them beyond their name and pronouns. It seems like they don't want to get attached to you or your family. They are professional, keeping away from personal questions. Will you be able to break down their walls?
Louis/Eloise (He/him or She/her): The Royal
You don't know much about them, besides knowing they are the heir to the throne of Oceanic. They can sometimes be found standing by the ocean on their private beach, eyes closed as if they are in another world. They address the world with such maturity, garnering them fans across the kingdom. And it certainly helps that they are attractive. Many look forward to the day they take the throne from their father.
Anthony/Anne Maddox (He/him or She/her): The Captain
The captain who you (or someone else) saved from certain death. They once claimed mermaids existed, which brought a reputation that preceded them. To prove it, they recruited a group of sailors to join them. The day they sailed out was the day you found them, the only survivor. A has a knack for getting into trouble, as well as a sense for adventure. Now knowing you exist, they want to show you the human world. Will you let them?
This game takes inspiration from two games: Beyond The Waves and Abysm's Veil, both of which inspired the creation of merfolk. They are amazing and contain two different species: mermaids and the rusalka. Go check them out!
This game would not have been possible without the help of the Internet. Thanks to people like idrellegames who gives how-to guides on a lot of things like creating stat bars! You should check out their game, Wayfarer. Also a great game.
The notifications were created by Chapel. Here is the github where I got it! It's an incredible piece of code and it has greatly helped me with the codex.
The banners and icon were made on Canva. The images on the UI bar and side of the game page come from Unsplash.
And of course, big thanks to The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen and Disney's animated version. The whole reason why I decided to make this. There are a lot of references you may find within the narrative.
Hope you enjoy!
Development log
- Update and Semi-hiatus39 days ago
- Fixed bug for missing passage!94 days ago
- Chapter 2! [7/31/24]96 days ago
- Semi Big Update to the Game!Sep 24, 2023
- I have a Tumblr!Sep 07, 2023
- Thanks for almost 150 followers and more than a thousand browser plays!Sep 04, 2023
- NEW RELEASE [8/30/23]Aug 30, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
YOU LEFT ME ON A CLIFFHANGER I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU /lh
thank you for playing lol it’s too bad there’s a cliffhanger!
sunday spotted
indeed !!!! i love sunday 🫶
Absolutely love the game. I was so excited for the update but, I think it's just me, I can't access my "profile" and I'm about half-way through chapter 2.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that! Is this a new save? I tend to fix a bunch of stuff including the profile trigger so it might have changed in the update. Hopefully if you replay the game it will work. And thank you so much for playing! If it still doesn’t work, please let me know :)
No, it didn't work. I made a new file and received a notification that it was unlocked but it still said "Sorry, you have to complete the first chapter before you can unlock this page!"
Ah I got it! It’s fixed, but you will likely have to wait for a bit since I want to release it along with the rest of the edits. Sorry for the inconvenience!
It's alright
it's lovely and amazing so far, I love all the characters and RO's, especially Kai and our Cora xD (I'm so sad we killed people :( ) I'm looking forward to more shenanigans with our friends and off to rescue the Captain xD
Thank you so much for playing! Ah yes, it is sad, but at least you can rebel! Though not without consequences…
Loving it so far. It's great there's so many gender options; as a trans guy it's always appreciated when there's an option to be trans in these sorts of games. I also am a huge fan of merfolk so that combined with this being one of my favorite types of games here on itch.io...this is great. I hope your motivation is ever plentiful!
thank you so much for playing! I thought it would be interesting to write about trans merfolk so I’m glad you are happy about it!!
Finally a mermaid text based game I am fully onboard with this I love this but no pressure of course
ah thanks for playing! It’s no pressure at all :)
This is so unique I don't think I've seen a Text-based game like this before I love it!
Thank you for playing the game! Glad to hear that you love it :)
You're welcome and thank you for making this masterpiece!
Love it❤can't wait for more👍
Thank you so much for playing! glad to hear it :)
I need more merfolk themed IF‘s if anyone has recommendations PLEASE spill
I made a list of some a while ago, though there’s not any that are VNs: https://www.tumblr.com/aurelim/754940661190524928/hey-do-you-know-any-other-mermaidsiren-whatever?source=share
THANK YOU SM
No problem!
both the names Eloise and Anthony are names of my family members... this game could potentially be awkward XD
Ah well...that could get a little awkward...
I love this so much please don't stop writing it I love it so much this is my childhood dream to be a mermaid and now i can't stop reading please i love it so mush and your and amazing writer i have been waiting for chapter 2 and i love it so much
Chapter 3 will take a while but I'm glad to hear you love it! Thanks for playing :)
when I choose to be angry at Cora and yell at her I got this
i did too, i'm not sure why maybe we need to choose a different choice?
Yep, that was an accident with the link. I fixed it now so it should work! And it's definitely not because you need to choose a different answer. Anyways, thank you for playing :)
awesome sauce, thanks!!!
little question, at the point after you find your lil sister, there's an error message that says "chapter2pg25 dosent exist" i'm not sure if this is because that page is apart of chapter 3, but if not i just wanted to make sure you knew 🫶
Sorry, I accidentally misplaced a | in the link haha. You can try it out now and see what happens. Thanks for playing!
Absolutely love the idea of being a mermaid!! I can't wait for more!!!
Ah thanks for playing! Sorry for the late reply :)
Hey! Thanks for the feedback- actually, when it says, "Any protests you have about your mother's decision dies on your lips the moment you meet her stare." I was referring to the role that MC's mother assigned them, not that MC was feeling reluctant about hunting. Regardless of whether or not MC likes hunting or not, they have to contribute to the hunt, or at the very least, participate in it. I'll make sure to edit this and make it more understandable since it sounds confusing.
Update? Really want to play this because this is the only merfolk story thing uhh game on itch I think ...
ah sorry about that, I’m hoping the game will be updated in the summer! I have more time then so I will be able to write faster. For now, there is Kalopsia and Beyond the Waves, the latter of which has not been updated in a long time. I took inspiration from Beyond the Waves and Abysm’s Veil (it is on dashingdon). You can check those out in the meanwhile :)
it's okay take your time I know it's hard to come up with something and I hope you have a good day :)
actually there is one more to my knowledge, a visual novel, however it's not been updated for almost 4 years..:(
What's the name?
Alright. It's called The Ocean At Night. A BL demo by Twohalfstudios(The people that made A date with death)
Thanks :)
very good I screamed noooooo when the demo end I want merman to help humans :O >3> maybe fall in with the captain or the prince <3 or you best friend you know wall them are good choices :D
Thanks for playing! Glad you're excited for the ROs (and yeah maybe you can help the humans, who knows?)
WOW!!!! What an incredible demo! I can't wait for the ROs to meet my ethereally (if there's such a word) beautiful mermaid MC, who can captivate anyone with just a glance. Can't wait to see their reactions! 😘
Thanks for playing! No matter what, I'm sure your Merfolk is going to be unbelievably beautiful. Most, if not all merfolk get the good genes, which is why you see so many of them depicted as stunning and unnervingly captivating creatures in paintings and such. Humans are definitely going to be surprised by this once they see MC :)
Aaa I loved it!!
thanks for playing! Glad you love it so far :)
OUGH I REALLY LIKE THIS
i can be a merfolk ! that's already a plus-
the writing? the characters?? the concepts??? I ADORE. really looking forward to seeing how this goes :0
Aaa, thanks for playing! I’m glad you love the game so far!! hope you’re looking forward to the rest ;)
!!! I AM
VERY EXCITED JHHJKKHJLKJH
How cool.. I look forward to the rest💚💚💚
Thanks for playing! Hope you enjoyed the game so far.
Hi there! This is really good so far. I love when there's family dynamics in interactive fictions. A lot of them put almost all the focus on romance, so it's nice to see how the MC can interact with their siblings! And K is lovely so far.
Just one super tiny little thing I noticed. In the scene where the MC is thinking about the time Caspian got harpooned, there's a line that says: "Your mother was reluctant to give up, but upon seeing the state of her only son, she gave in"
At this point in the story, the player hasn't input their MCs gender. If the MC is male, Caspian wouldn't be their mothers only son.
Anyways, I'll be eagerly following along with your progress! Good luck. ^-^
Hey, thanks for playing! I'm glad you're enjoying the family dynamic and K so far! Actually, about what you have written, I addressed this from an ask about it, which you can find right here! I had to do some digging for this post lol, but I have already corrected this. I have not updated the game yet, so it is still the original file. Once I update this, it will include the change! Thanks anyway :)
Ah, awesome! Thanks for doing all that digging just to let me know, haha. :)
Love it! Need morre 😍😍😍. I shall drown them with meh love
Thanks for playing! They shall all perish by your loving death grip-
Well it's unique it's the first time I see a merfolk as a MC. I'm so excited can't wait for more chapter
Thanks for playing! There likely isn't a lot of MCs that are merfolk- so I decided to try writing one.
I've immediately fallen in love with this so far and am quite looking forward to any and all further updates to the story as they come!!! I always love taking dark twists on the more classic or disney-ised tales, not to mention how much The 'Tism has always made me adore tales based off The Little Mermaid since I was small, so this shall feed it (and as such me) very well!!!!
Biting and Eating this!!! Affectionately!!!!!!
Thanks for playing! I’m so glad you love the game so far! Darker twists on classic tales are always fun to read, so I hope it was an interesting read.
The game looks quite good, do you have a tumbrl, and also will there be a cheat mode for the game?
Thanks for playing! At the moment I do not have a tumblr. I plan to, but I haven’t gone making it yet. Once I do, I’ll let you know. And I don’t know what you mean by a cheat mode. You don’t need to cheat.
Hey an update! I actually just created my tumblr. It is right here!
I meant cheat mode to rise the stats like strength, voice and speed
Well, every choice has consequences. Depending on what you choose even the littlest stats can change. As for the strength, voice and speed, you have already gotten a huge boost in whatever choice you made. There are other opportunities to get more boosts in the future, but when (and I mean there will be) there is a checkpoint, you should rely on your strongest boost to help you. I don’t think you need a cheat mode to raise your stats to be the same. I hope you understand why I’m not planning on adding one, and likely never will.
Hi, I really love your take on mermaid/merfolk so my question is, do you have tumblr? I'd love to see this game progress or maybe ask some more question there.
Oh I was wondering if this question was going to come up! At the moment, I don’t have a tumblr. I will, but I haven’t gotten around creating it yet. It might take some time before it comes up. I’ll let you know when it’s up! In the meantime, you can ask me questions here if you feel comfortable enough to share it. Thanks for playing!
Hey an update! I actually just created my tumblr. It is right here!
Is mc the princess/prince of some underwater kingdom??
No, unfortunately they are not. There is no true ruler or underwater kingdom, as the merfolk tend to keep to their own families (and/or friends). Some may speak of Poseidon, but no one knows if he’s real or not. This is not the same as the Little Mermaid. I hope this doesn’t dissuade you from playing!
Oh, I thought... :/
Yeah sorry about the confusion :(
Kai is adorable. This was so great i love fantasy and your writing is captivating ♥️
Thanks for playing! I’m glad you love it so far (and K).
WAIT THIS IS SO GOOD TF
haha, I hope that’s in a positive way! It seems like it, though! Thanks for playing :)
It very much is in a positive way!! And of course I’m excited to see how this develops in future years, I’m hooked!!
I need more! <3
it’ll come in it’s own time :) thanks for playing!
Merfolk curse words are killing me 😂😂
oh thanks lol! You’ll definitely be seeing more of them in the upcoming chapters ;) they’re only going to get more creative from here on out. Thanks for playing!
I really enjoyed it. Thank you for making such an awesome IF . It's so unique. Looking forward to the upcoming updates.❤️
Love it! You write phenomenally and so far I love it!
Here's my feedback:
-The distinction between Mermaids and Sirens is particularly interesting to me and I love the uniqueness within the world you are building.
-I think you did a lovely job with the GUI, it's not too crowded but it works well with the story and theme.
-You integrated the implementation of pronouns and appearance spectacularly and in a way that did not take away from the story at all.
-The codex entries are particularly amazing. They are short but very interesting reads and make perfect sense.
-I think you also strike a good balance of cost vs. benefit of certain choices. For example, when you can choose to help a person who has fallen into the water, if you do help them, your relationship with Marina goes down because she disagrees with you. However, if you kill them, you become ruthless. I had to genuinely weigh my options! It was brilliant.
Sorry for the word vomit, but I really think you have something special here! As someone who has tried (emphasis on tried) to write an interactive fiction novel like this, I know how hard and time consuming it is. I can't wait to see what else you have in store!
Thanks for playing, and for the feedback! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the game so far and the content inside it! Honestly I don't know how to thank you for everything you have listed; all I can truly say is thank you :) I'm sure you will be able to write something like this with perseverance and time. When you manage to make something like this, let me know! I'd love to try it out.
I'm in love with the way u write! Interested how the story will go on. Look forward for the next update :D
Thanks for playing! I feel like my style is too simple compared to other games haha so I'm glad you like it so far!
I truly enjoyed this ! I can't wait for more amazing chapters ! I think I already love Kai ;)
Thanks for playing! And you’ll definitely be seeing more of K in the future ;)
Loved it immediately
Thanks for playing! Glad you love it :)
i love this already! games like this always bring a smile to my face, being able to be lost in a fantastical world. and it also helps there's a cute prince in my route ;)
Thanks for playing! I’m glad you enjoy the world-building so far. Typically I don’t like writing fantasy worlds just because there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work and world building but I figured I’d give it a shot. The royal will take a bit before making an official appearance, but I’m happy they’re getting some love already!
aaa yay! you've done a SPECTACULAR job at writing fantasy, and i truly fell in love with the game like.. two scenes in. your writing style is amazing! i can't wait for the next chapter, whether or not the royal appears. :)
the story has an amazing start so far, it left me hooked. i love K and i look forward to more updates
Hey, thanks for playing! Hope you enjoyed the game so far :)