Outward: an adventure story that only moves forward when you go outside

Description and use

Outward is an offline PWA that turns real‑world walks into an adventure story, unlocking chapters only after the user walks, using a 241 MB Gemma model and Whisper for voice input.

Problem

A 4B storyteller model is too large for a phone and requires internet, preventing an offline walk‑based adventure game.

Outcome

Outward delivers a fully offline, on‑device story game that unlocks chapters only after real‑world walks, using a distilled 241 MB Gemma model and Whisper voice input, achieving near‑teacher performance (4.75/5) with 2–3 s generation time.

Workflow

• Install the PWA on a phone via Wi‑Fi to download the 241 MB storyteller and 44 MB voice model.
• Enable airplane mode to confirm offline operation.
• Choose a walk duration (10, 30, or 60 min) and walk the required distance (250 m, 700 m, or 1.4 km) tracked by GPS.
• After completing the walk, describe the discovered object via voice or text.
• The on‑device Gemma model generates the next chapter incorporating the discovery.
• The chapter is narrated and added to the field journal, and the companion Sprig celebrates.
• Repeat for subsequent chapters.
• Use Practice mode in Settings to skip the walk for testing the loop on a desk.
• Use Diagnostics to view installed model, token throughput, and recent chapters.

Evidence

After one install, it works fully offline: no signal needed, and nothing about your location, voice or walks leaves the phone.

Source

A 270M model at 241 MB comes within 0.04 points of its 4B teacher.

Source

The chapter after "a chalk heart drawn on the pavement" is written live with the network switched off, in about 2–3 seconds.

Source