Cue of the Week: “Rise of the Middle Kingdom”

Each nation in Empires Apart has its own musical theme, evoking its cultural character as embodied in the game. (Picking a country here is a little like picking a race or class in a traditional RPG, with resulting abilities and audio-visual trappings.)

The Chinese melody, accompanying the early phases during which the player’s town is built, suggests the bustle of commerce and the ingenuity of ancient technology. I tried to preserve the lyrical pentatonic quality of Chinese folk music, as well as some of its instrumentation, while giving it the forward-direction appropriate for gameplay.