I’ve been hiding something from you.
Disclaimer: this is a copy of the newsletter. Actual subscribers get all the prizes, votes, and exclusives.
“I’ve been hiding something from you.”
Before I get to why your faction claimed you, I need to confess something…
About 20 hours in, I was ready to hit “delete”.
It’s been over a month since I started working on Faction Quiz v2 for you guys. Now that it’s finally ready, I wanted to share with you how it all came together (sort of).
First, I had to break down what would make v2 better than any other quiz…
This was probably the easiest part. All I had to do was think about what we, as fantasy lovers, LOVE.
- Epic music
- Gripping audio narration
- Sound effects that help us see the scene
- Visual effects that make it feel alive
- And the thing I’ve been hiding from you (I’ll share at the end)
I took the easy path first, and started with epic music.
While I may not be a social media guru, one of my favorite parts of making social media content is finding really awesome background music to fit the tone (go check them out).
There were two main musical aspects I needed to nail to give the vibe I wanted for v2.
#1: Background music that flowed through the whole thing.
This may sound like a simple task, but I probably listened to over 40 tracks to find the music that plays behind the quiz now. You’re probably thinking, “What the heck? Why would you need to listen to that much music?”
Well, it can’t be too happy, and it can’t be too sad. Otherwise, it’ll clash with the vibe. And if it’s too fast or slow, it’ll mess with the flow of each scene. It had to be fantasy in its aura, but not overwhelming to the point it would overpower the narrated voice. So, I found a song, tweaked it a bit, and might have created a new genre in the process: “mepic (mellow + epic)”.
The song chosen has the perfect balance between fantasy and brewing emotion.
Next, for #2, were the individual faction theme songs.
Listening to the tracks for these ones, man, I felt like I was in a movie. Dozens of songs for each faction were sifted through, some so close I started to question whether I had just listened to the same song twice.
I had to really picture myself as the Huntress, the Imperator, the Headmaster, and the Veiled One in order to really think about what THEY would want expressed. I basically wanted it to feel like if you read the slogan, you’d know the song. And if you heard the song, you’d feel the slogan. For a refresher, here’s each faction’s slogan:
Grafter Corps
Metal. Merit. Might.
Strength, but also order, unity, and fortitude.
The Eyrie
Order through revelation.
Secrecy, hidden knowledge, a whisper that could kill.
Bellevar Academy
Purpose before power.
Conviction and a willingness to sacrifice for a greater mission.
The Dark Star
Doubt before devotion.
Impending doom. It is only a matter of time before all is known.
Now, when you retake the quiz, at the end screen, you will get to hear YOUR faction’s specific theme song. I’m curious if you think I got it right.
The audio narration was… INFURIATING.
I had to learn how to use audio editing programs to cut, clip, and overall edit my takes for the scenes because sometimes this dude (me) had to breathe (lame). Other times, I spoke the words too fast, but then at another point, would pause too long between sections.
What ended up coming together surprised even me, and from the teaser I gave in the last email, several even asked me to narrate the book! (I don’t know though…)
The sound effects were initially some of the quickest things. I mean, it’s fairly simple to type “water boiling” and get some pretty close examples. But let me tell you, the sound of Cass tightening his hands into a fist, or the Grafter’s steps on wooden floor, or even a singe of Yenna’s hair are, strangely enough, not common sound effects. (You’ll never guess what I used for Grafter footsteps. Hint: Yee-haw!)
Visual effects were subtle by design. Originally I had made videos for each scene, but they were so distracting. These scenes are about the gravity and pressure from YOUR choices. So I opted for branded pictures for each scene (scene 7’s picture is a teaser from something Steph is working on). I added colored elements to highlight in-world phrases among a few other visual assets.
And last up was the thing I’ve been hiding from you. I think we can all agree that when we’ve taken quizzes for our favorite shows or books, we do it because we want to know how WE’D fit into that world. The issue is, most of the quizzes out there are designed to be YOU choosing your path. Not the path choosing you.
Yet, we explicitly state that it is the four great factions that are watching and judging your choices. That is when it clicked that at the results screen, you should have a short explanation, based on your actual choices, on why that faction chose you. I shouldn’t hide that information from you. You will now know when you take v2.
Now, I need your honest response: was it worth it? Meaning, when you go and take the Faction Quiz v2, come back and let me know if it did this one thing: made you feel more connected to the world and story of The First Stone.
Also, everyone who takes Faction Quiz v2 will get a sneak peek at what Steph has been drawing (hint: it’s YOU, but in-world).
Thanks for reading, thanks for taking the quiz, and thanks for sharing your experience with me.
~Robert
Disclaimer: this is a copy of the newsletter. Actual subscribers get all the prizes, votes, and exclusives.
