Unknown Soldier 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 the Unknown Soldier.
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.
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. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done in a way that's immersive and expressive enough to do the story justice.
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,
