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Creating music for an epic game with several different "powers" or ethnic groups represented adds additional elements to the score. Stephen Rippy of Ensemble Studios knows this quite well. He is working on the music for the upcoming Ensemble/Microsoft title Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. "Although the 'in-game' music is a hybrid of many styles and sounds, there are points in the 'pre-game' where each civilization has a unique musical fanfare. I tried to make each one authentic to its culture, and hopefully they add one more layer of distinctiveness to the civilizations. As far as scenarios go, in Age II they are set up to revolve around major characters of the time period. Each character will have a theme that will at least be rooted in its culture. Beyond that... we'll have to wait and see!"

Age of Empires II is the much anticipated sequel of last year's smash hit and covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the European Renaissance, and offered a challenge since that period of time isn't fondly remembered for its music. "The theme of a game has a definite effect on the music in that you want it to reflect what's on the screen. Working on Age II has been interesting in that regard. The game's time frame has been moved up to a point at which we have a much better idea of what the music sounded like, historically. We know better what instruments were used, we have a good idea of how they were played, and it's desirable to represent that in the soundtrack. The trick is to take that information from each of the game's 13 cultures and mix all of it together into something that translates well to a modern Western ear. Conversely, the music has a strong impact on the way the game feels. Early on, the music had a European Renaissance sound to it that worked in some ways, and was certainly more authentic than what's in now, but was jarring to a player who was using an Asian or Middle Eastern culture. The solution was to pull elements from each culture -- instruments, modes, etc. -- and mix them with more contemporary ideas (the hip-hop drum loop, for example). The result is a soundtrack that, to my mind, sounds like the game."