
"After nearly thirty years of research, my life's work was about to come to
a close. In
the end it had been luck, well, luck and a hideously expensive carpet
bombing, that provided
the final breakthrough. A chance hit had scattered the magics that cloaked
the ancient
submerged city of gold, and now all its secrets, not to mention treasures,
lay bare.
The ship was in place, the diving equipment prepared; the lost nights
staring into dusty
volumes, the empty bottles, the wrecked marriage, nearly forgotten. In a
few more minutes
I would finally know if it had all been worth it."
-- Arthur D. Iverson
The Cast

Mermaid
This is the protagonist. She represents everything that is good and pure
and makes the game worth playing. She's out to save her people with no thought for
herself. She does not eat babies in her leisure time. She is you.

Bubbles of magic
These are your goal. You'll need to absorb hundreds of these - spread over
ten challenging
levels with five state-of-the-art, beautifully rendered, lovingly crafted
stages each,
all packed with challenge, completely free of cost, overt or hidden - to
recast the spell
that will cloak what remains of your city from the grubby hands of the
world above.

Diver
This is the antagonist, the ultimate incarnation of greed gone bad. He will
stop at
nothing in his pursuit of the treasures of your wrecked home. He will crush
most
creatures in his way as if they were flies (use this to your advantage),
magic
will do naught but slow him down, and as long as there is gold in easy
reach he will
let nothing distract him from filling his pockets... except, perhaps, a
mermaid.

Coins
Gold scattered when your city was bombed. Each coin intercepted by the
Diver will boost
his confidence and his speed. While you cannot allow the weight of gold to
impede your
primary goal, it is suggested that you use your guiles to lure the Diver
away from these
nuggets lest he'll become too excited to avoid.

Jellyfish, Piranha and Crocofish
The three most common denizens of the deep. Lethargic, to begin with,
nearly harmless. But
as the game progresses, they become hungrier, faster, more aggressive.
They will kill you
if allowed to get close, but are easily deposed of with magic or by using
the Diver as a
shield.

Eels
These monstrous creatures fear nothing. Magic won't touch them and even the
Diver is
smart enough to leave them be. They will try to grab a bite of mermaid
flesh as long as
you are within their field of vision, but a short attention span stops them
from active
pursuit.

Stingweed
The stingweed forests around the city were a key part of the city defense, getting rid of bothersome intruders who ventured too close to the city perimeters. Without the magic of the city, it is out of control.

Giant crab
Stealthy and deadly, it prefers to lurk in the shadows, awaiting an opportunity to strike.
Weaponry
Plenty of danger in the sea. Luckily you are not defenseless. You can
channel a small part
of the magics you collect into bullets with which you can preemptively
defend yourself by
terminating any potential adversary as soon as it gets within firing
distance; all killing
handled very ethically, of course, with a minimum of suffering and/or press
coverage.
Four kinds of destructive spells become available during the game,
automatically firing as
you move around, as well as two less devastating but nonetheless useful
triggered auras.
Single shot
One magic bullet at a time fired in the opposite of your swim direction.
Difficult to target
and provides only a minimum of offensive defense.
Multiple shot
Up to three bullets fired in a 60 degree angle behind you.
Homing shot
The same as multiple shot with the addition that you maintain enough mental
control over the
magics to guide them towards the nearest hostile.
Nova
A multitude of magic bullets launched in a a circle around you. Properly
boosted, this spell
provides the ultimate in defense through cataclysmic annihilation.
Speed, range and additional bullets
All of the above spells may be additionally improved by increasing the
magics' speed
and range, by lowering the recharge time of the spell, and by increasing
the number
of magic bullets that can be active at any one time.
More on this in the "bonuses" section.
Repellant
The first of two triggered auras. When charged, the left mouse button
activates the aura,
which will keep most enemies at bay during its activation time. Activating
the repellant
will also nullify any other active timed effect.
Attractor
The second aura. When charged, the right mouse button activates the aura
which will
exert a pull on all magic bubbles in range, aiding swift collection.
Activating the
attractor will also nullify any other active timed effect.
Controls
Simple as can be. Steer around with the mouse to grab bubbles and avoid
enemies. Activate
in-game buttons and auras with the mouse buttons.
Bonuses
Some of the bubbles have their magic packed so dense that absorbing them
carries side
effects, some pleasant, other... not so pleasant.
The timed spells will conjure an octopus into the top left screen
corner, showing the duration of the spell. A timed effect can only be
cancelled by triggering an aura or by completing a level.
Death
With an oceanworth of flora and fauna against you, death is almost
guaranteed. Luckily
there is no shortage of maids ready to shoulder the responsibility and
potential glory
of saving merkind.
Infinite lives
The loss of one life is merely a setback. Hit "continue" and score and
weaponry will
revert to their state at the beginning of the level and you reenter at
stage 1.
This can be done as many times as needed as you have an unlimited supply of
mermaids at
your disposal.
Ending a game prematurely
Should you decide to give the game up or postpone the rest for later, hit
"give up" to
return to the intro screen. If your score warrants a place in the high
score list, this
button will be replaced by an "enter name" button, taking you to a part of
the ocean
where you can record your name for posterity.
Recording your name
Hit the bubbles containing the characters in your name, delete a character
with DEL, or
the entire name with CLR. Finalize your name by popping an END.
Scoring
You get points for collecting bubbles, killing enemies, stunning the Diver,
and just
plain surviving. You lose points for each golden coin you allow the Diver
to take.
End-of-level bonuses
At the end of each sublevel a special bonus will be granted should you
fulfill the
required criterion. There are more than a dozen possible bonuses ranging
from the
simple "don't let any bubbles slip away" through the challenging "kill all
enemies" to
the downright odd "collect bubbles of one size only". If the targets for
more than one
bonus are reached, the highest scoring is the one given.
High score list
There is no need to repeatedly enter your name each time you improve you
score, as the
highest score in a session is remembered even if the stage it occurs in
is replayed
later due to death. Two sets of high scores are kept: "Clean" scores for
games where no
death has yet occured, and "Accumulated" scores, the sum total of all
participating
mermaids in a single game.
Intro screen and settings
New game
starts a new game from level 1 at the current difficulty.
Continue latest
continues where the last game (at the current difficulty) left off.
Continue best
continues the best game round (at the current difficulty) so far.
Difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard
changes difficulty levels for the game. If you manage to complete the game on "hard", you are our hero! But please don't send us your hospital bill.
Settings
configure the graphic settings. If the game doesn't run smoothly on your computer, turn off graphic effects to reduce the processing required.
Shimmer
toggles the water shimmer effects.
Ripple
toggles ripple effects in the background.
Droplets
toggles whether moving objects trail droplets.
Stabilize
switch on to avoid issues with tearing graphics, but leave it off if it slows down the game.
Full screen
changes between windowed and full screen mode. You can also press alt-enter at any time in the game to toggle display mode.
High scores
displays the current high scores. Press any key or button to return to the title screen.
Quit
lets you leave the game.