To Mari, From the Deep
Drama/Nautical/Visual Novel
Write a letter to your beloved daughter.
This under-1,000-word game was designed for O2A2 (Again!) - A Visual Novel Jam.
This under-1,000-word game was designed for O2A2 (Again!) - A Visual Novel Jam.
Contribution: Narrative design, writing, UI/UX design, programming
True End Gameplay
In-Game Screenshots
Title Screen
Preferences Menu
Gameplay Screenshot 1
Gameplay Screenshot 2
Full Game Script
True End Path Narrative Script
Dearest Mari,
I don't know how much time I have left, but I choose to give it to you.
When I left, I did it to...
Choice:
Return to the sea
Make a living
...return to the ocean. I met your father while working on a merchant vessel, and I've not seen him since that voyage.
Choice:
Return to the sea
Make a living
...return to the ocean. I met your father while working on a merchant vessel, and I've not seen him since that voyage.
Maybe one day you'll be able to meet him in my stead.
The sea was my life before you transformed it, and it has never left me.
I waited for as long as I could... raised you until you could sally forth on adventures of your own.
But there came a time where I knew that to stay ashore would have frozen my heart.
I could feel that ice forming deep inside my soul, and feared that you would see it growing -- swelling, like an insurmountable wave.
Mari, you are a beacon of luminous joy... the lighthouse that has kept me from crashing into the jagged rocks of despondency.
A raging fire that has kept me warm on land for longer than I ever thought possible.
But this is who I am. My blood is as salty as it is red. As I bleed, I yearn for the sea.
Maybe one day you'll feel it too. That pull. That siren's call. When you do, you'll understand...
...and if you don't ever feel it, I hope you can forgive me for the miles I've put between us.
You have never been distant in my thoughts.
If I heard about someone who suffered this fate, I wouldn't believe it. It's the sort of yarn two drunkards would weave.
Ship destroyed, crewmates dead, only the boatswain left alive to tell a tale in one final note 'fore the end.
It's almost funny. Hundreds of fathoms under water and my luck's run dry.
Bea: (Heh... I can't stop shaking...)
Choice:
Admit your fear
Put on a brave face
Admit your fear
Put on a brave face
Mari, you are my guiding light. I look up to the sky, and see your visage in the stars.
But one has to travel to be able to return, and my soul is a traveler.
I'm the last one left, but I've been alone before. I'm not out of the game yet.
I've always been a gambler. My luck may be gone but there's still time for one last roll of the dice. One small chance.
There's air in my lungs still, and as I breathe, I fight. For myself. For home. For you.
Some way or another I'll find my way back.
The parchment feels heavy in my hands, as if the words add weight to the page itself.
The cavernous maw of the beast that has consumed me stretches above. I look at the bottle by my side.
I curl the paper up, tight enough to slide into the mouth of the bottle.
I slip it in and press the cork in as deeply as I can. If any water penetrates, there'll be nothing left to read.
Bea: Promised I'd try to get back to her. Can't let that be a lie, now, can I?
I turn and look at those clenched jaws. The shattered mast.
Splinters of wood from the demolished longboat and the remains of my crewmates are scattered everywhere.
Bea: Well, the only way out is how I got in.
There's a grin on my face that's more tenacious than anything else. It feels as if my teeth are as pointed as those of the beast I'm inside of.
A last desperate bid, but a chance. I've never given up on anything I wanted before, and I'm not about to start now.
Here goes, Mari. It's time to give the dice that final roll.
Bea: Heh... who knows... maybe I can even rig the game.
