Carrie here, VoidBound head writer!
I couldn't appreciate the thoughtfulness or the feedback in this thread more. Because of that, I'd like to take a moment to address the questions and concerns I see being raised here, largely by ThisIsMe88.
First, let's talk about realism and tone. For me, managing tone in VoidBound has been threading a needle since day one. When I write Caly, I want her to be a coherent character who "makes sense" and "feels human." It's important to me to tell the best story I can, so I tend to take seriously the plot and the characters. It is no less important, however, for me to remember that the kind of story being told here is a fun space adventure.
Different kinds of stories have different rules. In a fun adventure, truly realistic reactions to trauma are simply off the table. So in VoidBound, my question is never, "How do I write this realistically?" and is always, "How do I write this realistically enough without edging into territory that infringes on fun?"
I expect to struggle with this for the duration of VoidBound. I expect to have to go back and twiddle continually with Caly's experience of fear, trauma, and pain to thread that needle.
The sexual assault scene on the urtu ship is actually a perfect example of this twiddling. Right now, I'd like to add more emotional weight to the event because I agree that it feels a little too much like Caly shrugs it off. By contrast, the last changes I made to the assault scene reduced the number of graphic descriptions of cervical agony because they were too intense. And, y'know, realistic.
I'll keep working to hit the sweet spot of "realistic enough." I doubt I'll always hit it, and I doubt that people will always agree on whether I've done so. For VoidBound, however, I'll err on the fluffy side, rather than the gritty one. Better to have players feel that Caly is unrealistic than be driven off the game by brutal sexual violence and its consequences.
Now let's talk about the plot.
Some of the questions I've seen here are answered in the game's text at present. What does Vas want on the Imperial ship? The bootlace coefficient! Why did she free Caly only to leave her with Haar? She planned to sell Caly into slavery, but Haar wouldn't allow it. Why doesn't Haar object to going on the quest? Because he thinks there's an outside chance that there's serious money in it.
Other questions will be answered later. What's Cava's deal? Why is there telepathy in this game when a universal translator is a quicker, easier explanation for a lack of language barriers? Did the Urtu Military really just fail to notice our heroes' escape? What's the first organic humanoid Caly fucks gonna look like? Huh?
However, there are still further questions which will never be answered to satisfaction. Can a small mercenary ship really exfiltrate an imperial battleship? Not in hard sci-fi, that's for sure! But in our sexy romp? Vas struck while the military was busy handling its invasion of the Sol system and Haar is a quite good pilot.
I hope this clarifies things! Keep the feedback coming. We want this to be the strongest work it can be!
