Soldier: Unknown™ began as a graphic novel I created over twenty-five years ago, back in high school. The story has evolved since then, but its heart remains the same: a tale of loss and redemption set against the backdrop of World War II.
I'm Nick James; dad, designer and art school drop-out. For the last two decades, I've worked in branding and product design, while quietly chipping away at my own creative projects: illustration, coding and music. But like many people, I never had the bandwidth to fully realize something this ambitious...
But that changed in 2024, when the company I worked for shut down overnight. Two months later, Hurricane Helene swept through Asheville and displaced my family for several months. In the middle of all that chaos and a brutal tech-job market, something unexpected happened: life cracked open just enough space for Soldier: Unknown™.
The 
audio production on this site is the end result of that time and space.
It began as something I made for myself—simply to hear the story I'd written on paper come to life. But now that it exists, I can't keep it bottled up. This readthrough is just Act 1 of a much larger interactive experience—a tactical RPG with deep storytelling, turn-based and real-time combat, and a character-driven power fantasy at its heart.
I believe that after listening, you'll want to play this story too.
WHAT'S ALREADY BUILT
Behind the audio production is a solid foundation:
GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
Covers mechanics, systems, economy, lore, worldbuilding, and player progression. There are 17 core playable characters with 10 more secret party members.
SCREENPLAY
A full three-act script with a core main story and plenty of optional content (only Act 1 is voiced so far).
GAMEPLAY PROTOTYPES
Hand-coded early-stage prototypes made in the Unity game engine. Designed to test concepts, gameplay elements-not visual polish.
CONCEPT ART
A library of concept art for characters, locations, and themes.
A NOTE ON AI VOICES
Yes—some voices in this production are AI-generated. Controversial? Maybe. But I'm a one-man studio with kids, a mortgage and a thin wallet. While I don't envision AI in the final version, it's a powerful way to prototype this ambitious story and bring it to life. Using AI doesn't ≠ easy. It means I can get a line re-read for the 30th time at 2am. This is was not a push one-button and done production, this project represents hundreds of hours of my own blood, sweat & tears.
That said, I wasn't satisfied with off-the-shelf AI tools. So I built my own.
I created Legion TTS, a tool that lets me assign voices to characters, tweak emotional delivery, and layer in music and sound effects—like any film editor would.
LET'S TALK
If you're a game director, studio producer, or even someone from the film/TV side who's curious about this project, I'd love to hear from you.
nick@rebuildhim.com
Thanks for listening,
