“It’s worth highlighting that the music and sound design are great across the board. Traditional instruments and melodies evoking the spirit of each faction start out simple and build to something more epic as you advance through the ages.” IGN
“The music is masterful as well, each campaign has stark musical characteristics ranging from gorgeous classical to thunderous Asiatic folk music reminiscent of Mongolian metal band, ‘the Hu’.” XBox Era
“Each civ has its own soundtrack too, which mixes in beautifully from the menu music and evolves throughout the ages.” PC Gamer
I began working on ‘Age of Empires IV’ in 2017, having joined Relic at the end of 2015 to help ship ‘Dawn of War 3’
I remember the day Shannon Loftis and other Microsoft execs came to the Relic studio to let us all know we’d be partnering on the next title in the Age franchise – the excitement on both teams was palpable. A large number of devs from the DoW3 team moved over to Age, codenamed Cardinal, to learn more about what the small incubation team had been cooking up so far.
Pre-production
We were lucky in that we had a generous pre-production time, where I was able to research, plan and collaborate with Relic’s audio director Bryan Rennie and Microsoft’s audio director Todd Masten. In short, I knew I wanted the music to contain the following features:
- Unique music per Civilization (Civ) and per age
- The music progresses in complexity with each new age
- A dynamic system where music changes based on combat state
- Music that contains some randomness on both the vertical (multiple dynamic layers) and horizontal (interchangeable random segments)
- Special transition moments to mark the ‘Age Up’ moments
I started to build the music system in Wwise, and soon realized that the best way to assess the paper design would be to get some custom music composed, to prove out the creative ideas and the system. We were also lucky enough to have budget for this and we worked with Vancouver composer Riley Koenig on placeholder content for the English Civ. We recorded some musicians from the Early Music Vancouver ensemble at Monarch Studios, to help set up tone for live orchestration as well. This was an invaluable part of the process, and it helped us pin down which ideas really worked, and which might need some additional thought and design.
Production
As we moved out of pre-production, it was time to select the composers to pull off the grand plan. I knew from the start I wanted multiple composers, as I wanted each civilization to have a really unique feel. While the civilizations’ instrumentation and cultural references would be the main defining features, I also knew that having separate composers would also bring diversity to this huge score. I started compiling a list of potential composers, reaching out to their agents and getting pitch material. Todd Masten suggested Dynamedion, a talented composition team from Germany; their communication and pitch material all hit the mark.
We started by having Dynamedion’s Lead Composer Tillman Sillescu reimagine the classic Age of Empires theme. This would help us hone down the mood and define core elements of our orchestral palette. He did a fantastic job on this – staying true to the franchise, but bringing the production values up to date, incorporating just enough subtle cultural elements, and also providing 15 and 30 second edits, the former being used when you launch the game.
For the gameplay music we decided to start with two very different Civs, to understand how far we could push the boundaries of our different musical cultures, so Tilman composed the Mongols, and Alex Roeder the English. We spent a lot of time on iteration, really nailing down the feel and density for each of the layers, in each of the ages. The music was delivered in building blocks that would work for the system I’d built (along with the help of programmers Max Lu, Tyler Nychka and Taz Brakis), and getting everything to sit ‘just so’ was an intricate process.
Once we had dialled in the first two Civs, it was time to work on the others. The process for starting a new Civ was me doing initial research on instruments, musical modes and techniques commonly used in that culture, specifically around different medieval time periods, and then choosing a composer who would do an even deeper dive and carry out the composition. The whole game team was extremely focused on staying as culturally respectful and accurate as we possibly could, so for each of the Civs we consulted with subject matter experts (SMEs). In addition, Microsoft had a GeoPol department who would review and approve final design plans.
Tech
I’ve written a lengthy blog post about the tech used (Wwise, Essence Engine) and the music system I designed for the AudioKinetic blog, so rather than repeat that, for anyone interested in a more in- depth technical read, check it out! https://www.audiokinetic.com/en/blog/the-music-of-age-of-empires-iv/
Live Recordings
I knew I wanted a largely live score to allow us to accurately represent different cultures and time periods authentically, without the use of sometimes cringe-able virtual instruments. We hired Dynamedion for the orchestration, as well as for scheduling and producing the sessions. Most of the strings and brass, as well as lutes and cimbalom were recorded in Budapest, with other sessions as far afield as Mongolia and China. We recorded soloists from all over the world, including recorder experts in England and Switzerland, as well as choirs in Sofia, Bulgaria. I was able to remote in for many of these sessions using Source Connect, co-directing from my studio on the West Coast of Canada.
This is a pretty popular YouTube Dev Diary, which has interviews with some of the composers, myself and the wider team:
There are some wonderful comments, showing how much players and fans enjoyed the music.
Dynamedion also wrote a great blog:
Timelines and Release Schedule
As mentioned, I began working on this title in 2017, and I stayed on the project for 6 years before moving to an Audio Director role at a new studio in 2023.
Age of Empires IV initially shipped on Windows in October 2021 (it was ported to Xbox, released August 2023). We initially shipped with 8 Civilizations, with music by the following composers:
English – Alex Roeder
Chinese – Alex Roeder
Mongols – Tilman Sillescu
French – Mikolai Stroinski (our only non-Dynamedion composer)
Holy Roman Empire – Tilman Sillescu
Rus – Henning Nugel
Delhi Sultanate – Armin Haas
Abbasid Dynasty – Henning Nugel
Front End Loop – Tilman Sillescu
The Anniversary Edition (celebrating 25 years of the franchise!) shipped a year later in October 2022 with two new Civs:
Malians – Henning Nugel, Armin Haas
Ottomans – Alex Roeder, Chris Wirtz
The Sultans Ascend is an expansion which was released in November 2023:
Byzantines – Henning Nugel, Chris Wirtz
Japanese – Dominik Morgenroth, Nicolai Patricio
The single player campaign featured the Abbasid, with music for the cinematics composed by Henning Nugel
Wrap up
There are so many moments in this score which I love, and so many magical moments during the creation of the music for this title over those 6 years, it’s hard to pick one favourite thing over another. It’s also difficult to not make this post super long – I could easily write several pages about each Civ! The whole audio team worked so hard in their respective areas, pouring their talent and passion into making the overall soundscape polished and detailed.
A highlight for me was the fantastic flow and communication loop I got into with each of the composers. We were on different time-zones but that didn’t matter, in fact it worked to an advantage. I would usually feed back with detailed notes in an email, and the next day, thanks to the time difference, a revision was ready for me. We also communicated fairly regularly by Teams too, and I always loved seeing the instrument collection behind the composers grow with each new Civ!
Musically, there’s so much great content – the Rus choirs, the beautiful French melodies, the Mongolian throat-singing, and so much more – such a rich bounty of instruments, melodies and performances.
As a teen I’d studied classical piano and played classical percussion in orchestras, as well as completed a music degree, so this project felt like a culmination of my studies, and career to date – a meeting of my love of game audio technology and my past experience with classical music.
Accolades and Awards
There’s a notable Reddit thread wondering why the AoEIV music isn’t more widely praised. Much like on the Dev Diary thread, it’s clear there’s a large number of players who notice and really appreciate all the attention to the minutiae detail that the composers and I obsessed over.
I had suggested early on to the composers that if they could sometimes weave in the main melody from the Age of Empires Main Theme, that would be awesome. It shows up occasionally, in some layers, in some Civs, in some ages (deliberately randomly) and I love that some players noticed this easter egg!
Finally, while we didn’t get the Grammy nomination I was hoping for, we did win the Best Score/Soundtrack at the Canadian Game Awards 2022 🙂
Original Soundtrack
I worked with Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering for the mastering of the OST, which consists of carefully curated edits of the gameplay music. It’s on all the streams and Steam – check it out and enjoy!
