Project Voice - Outline

Project Basics: Read Here
Intended Gameplay: Similar to a choose your own adventure book, basically. Start from the initial situation, make choices to go down a few different paths interacting with the other character, usually leading to intimacy down the road. Choices influence what kind of relationship will develop and what sort of sex scene you'll end up in. At some point after sex, the story will end with your new relationship established.

Story Themes: As a secondary goal, I'd like to explore the lifestyle of a blind person and what things are different and what stays the same when one cannot see, especially when it comes to intimacy. This may explore ideas of vulnerability, pride, and self-sufficiency, but I also feel like a lot of those have already been done a lot by now, so I'm hoping to do some research going into this and maybe try to approach it from a unique angle.

Other than that, themes will include the difficult boundary between friend and lover, the complication that reliance and asymmetrical relationships bring to such situations, and hopefully a little humor and sex-positivity.

Sexual Themes: First time, experimenting, light dominance and submission, snuggling. By necessity, the NPC you'll be interacting with will be male.

Strengths: In the ideal outcome, this game will be a unique experience in the field that achieves a much more intense sense of intimacy through the immediacy of hearing another person's voice murmuring in your ear. It should be a charming, mellow, heart-warming experience that one can relax with, and it may help serve as inspiration to improve other sexual audio experiences in the future.

Weaknesses: This game comes with many, many limitations. As mentioned above, I will be the only voice actor by necessity, so players with no interest in interacting with males may find little to enjoy in this game. The content is limited and plain, the gameplay is almost non-existent, and it's entirely possible that I won't be able to do any better than others and it will be a cringy, embarrassing experience for everyone involved. That's the risk I've accepted going into this.

Scores:
Emotional Engagement: 4
Character Presence: 4
Gameplay Strength: 1
Erotic Potential: 3
Broad/Newcomer Appeal: 2

Major Design Questions
-How far should I push the "embrace blind life" concept? I've contemplated interviewing blind people to get a more accurate account of the factors involved and trying to make the game itself as welcoming an experience as possible for blind players, but that may add a great deal more work, especially if that means needing to voice all narration for what's happening in scenes. Would normal players enjoy full narration as well? Would that get in the way of the general soundscape experience intended?

-Should this even be a branching experience, or more of a semi-linear one? This project is explicitly meant to be as small as possible as an exploration of an idea and a challenge to myself, so committing to too many variants and possibilities may make it a burden that outlasts its benefits.

Levels of Implementation
Barebones: Literally a sound file or video instead of a game. Technically could achieve many of the goals involved, but would be much less engaging.
Assets Needed: Strong audio editing capabilities, possible video editing.

Basic: A semi-linear story with a minimalist text interface and voicing only for the character's speech as one-time clips.
Assets Needed: Basic game engine, decent audio engine, basic text management.

Full: A branching story with text and a graphic representing the player character and their surroundings to hint at a blind person's various senses. Full voice narration optional for all text descriptions. Interface set up specifically to be fully accessible to the blind. Audio with loops and smooth transitions reacting to player choice for an "ideal audio experience."
Assets Needed: Basic game engine, very strong audio engine, some GUI management, basic text engine, one piece of art.

Why This is a Side Project: This is an excellent example of my desire to experiment and try new things without necessarily wanting it to be "a full project" down the line. The most robust ideal for this project is that it serves as both a testing ground for technology I could take to other games, and as a source of inspiration for other creators to try new things with the audio in their own work. I don't have much experience actually working as a voice actor or making audio in games "work," and this project is hopefully a remedy to both those concerns.