Downloads: Music

[ConLao]

I just wanted to add a quick message to say how fantastic the two pieces of music that are available to download are.

Really moving and quite emotional, yet quite calming at the same time. I think they will be on my mp3 player as I travel to and from work tomorrow... Thanks guys, it was just what I needed to destress :)

ConLao :)

[Caesar Alan]

*puts CotN music on continuous loop*

Mmmmm .... soothing.

I couldn't agree more. Much Kudos to Keith for producing yet another masterpiece. As ever, I'm sure the rest of the soundtrack will manage to exceed our expectations.

Keep up the good work...

[EmperorJay]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. The music is indeed really wonderful, especially when you are looking at a screenshot with the music open in another browser.. it's almost like you're already playing. :)

[Keith]

Keith Zizza and Henry Beckett did a great job in Pharaoh. I can only expect the same results once again with CotN.

Pharaoh's music is still my favorite of all the Impression's citybuilders. And there were so many tracks to listen to. I hope Keith proves to be just as prodigeous as he was with Pharaoh and gives us a huge selection to listen to in CotN.

May they can be convinced to produce a music CD for general sale. This was done prior to Pharaoh's release for promotional purposes, and only one was ever give out to the general public. From what I recall it had more music on it than was included with the game.

Game music is proving to be a very popular genre in the music industry. Look at the sales success of music CDs based on console and PC games. The Medal of Honor series of games and Secret Weapons Over Normandy music CDs were particular hits. I'm still waiting for a release of the MOH: Rising Sun music on CD.

I can only hope we might get treated to such a CD for CotN.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)

Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Nefermenu]

I have loved Pharaoh's music so much. I enjoyed it very much while playing, and I also listened to it while surfing or just doing whatever with the computer.

So, I was very glad when I learned that the same guy will write music for this game also :D And it seems he has succeeded in composing great music once again. I love these two tunes already, will listen to them many many times, and I eagerly wait for other songs.

Very nice sounds, interesting instruments, melodic tunes. Makes you wanna hum along. Always a sign of good music.

Thank you so much, so far! :)

[Keith Zizza]

Hi everyone,

Wow! Thanks so much for the kind words, I'm blushing from all the compliments. :o As I mentioned on the Music page, I hope you enjoy listening to the tunes as much as I enjoyed writing them... but it already sounds like you are!

We thought we'd put up a couple of tunes for the launch of the CotN site, just to give you a preview of what's in store -- and we'll be releasing many more of them over the coming months. Hint: there's nearly an hour of music so far.

Thanks again and stay tuned (I know, bad pun :p ),

Keith

[Afterburner]

If I could make one small request of Mr. Zizza:

Like many others, I loved the Pharaoh music and used to play it on infinite repeat even when I wasn't playing Pharaoh. Whenever I go back to playing Pharaoh after a lengthy break, the music that greets me when I first start the game gives me a serious emotional thrill.

I'm just wondering if it might be possible to include one or two "feature length" musical pieces, in addition to the numerous short pieces.

I mean, seriously, if someone had released a CD of Pharaoh music, with "extended versions" of all the music, I would have been all over that, and would have gladly shelled out COLD HARD CASH for such a product.

Just something to think about... :D

[Elvenwarrior2001]

You guys all just reminded me to go and download that music! One of the people I was SO glad to see join Tilted Mill was Keith Zizza. His work in Lords of Magic, and Lords of Magic Special Edition blew me away. I'm very excited to be able to download some of his music for this project. Thanx, Keith! We all love you! :)

Elven

[Keith]

If I could make one small request of Mr. Zizza:

Like many others, I loved the Pharaoh music and used to play it on infinite repeat even when I wasn't playing Pharaoh. Whenever I go back to playing Pharaoh after a lengthy break, the music that greets me when I first start the game gives me a serious emotional thrill.

I'm just wondering if it might be possible to include one or two "feature length" musical pieces, in addition to the numerous short pieces.

I mean, seriously, if someone had released a CD of Pharaoh music, with "extended versions" of all the music, I would have been all over that, and would have gladly shelled out COLD HARD CASH for such a product.

Just something to think about... :DGame music CDs are starting to become big (good) business. There are some major film composer's doing game music now including the likes of Michael Giacchino (MOH, SWON), Lalo Schifrin (Splinter Cell 2), Christopher Lennertz (MOH: Rising Sun), etc.

Also, make sure you grab the 4 "lost tracks" of Pharaoh. You can get them from the link on my Jukebox page. These are the music tracks for use behind the mission briefing narrations of the game. The names are: Egypt, Mission_1, Mission_2, Mission_3. Of the 4 I like Mission_1 the most.

I'll definitely be looking forward to more music from Mr. Zizza.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)

Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Keith]

Hi everyone,

Wow! Thanks so much for the kind words, I'm blushing from all the compliments. :o As I mentioned on the Music page, I hope you enjoy listening to the tunes as much as I enjoyed writing them... but it already sounds like you are!

We thought we'd put up a couple of tunes for the launch of the CotN site, just to give you a preview of what's in store -- and we'll be releasing many more of them over the coming months. Hint: there's nearly an hour of music so far.

Thanks again and stay tuned (I know, bad pun :p ),

KeithAbsolutely! I still enjoy your work in Pharaoh most of all. I still listen to it regularly while surfing the net, hence my page below. This is the first chance I and others have had to compliment you on your work. You never seemed to drop in on the old Impressions Games messageboards before they were closed down.

So let me say, I like your work. (Hey, us Keiths have to stick together. ;) ) I'll be anxiously awaiting for your new efforts and will appropriately enshrine them with a Children of the Nile music player page of their own when the time comes.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)

Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Celebithil Dae]

Heh, yeah, theres some good music on games. But I gotta admit, Mr. Zizza is in my opinion, one of the best out there. The stuff ive heard of his just blows me awaay every time i hear it. Its great :)

[Elvenwarrior2001]

You got it right CD. The Myst soundtracks, and his music. The TOP game music! :D

Elven

[Nebhotep]

I loved the Pharaoh Music, and I love the CotN music. Especially the fact that you've written about how you made it :) As an aspiring computer musician, it was interesting and informative :)

[Keith Zizza]

Absolutely! I still enjoy your work in Pharaoh most of all. I still listen to it regularly while surfing the net, hence my page below. This is the first chance I and others have had to compliment you on your work. You never seemed to drop in on the old Impressions Games messageboards before they were closed down.

So let me say, I like your work. (Hey, us Keiths have to stick together. ;) ) I'll be anxiously awaiting for your new efforts and will appropriately enshrine them with a Children of the Nile music player page of their own when the time comes.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)

Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

Ahh, go on…

…

…I mean go ON and ON! :D

Seriously though, thank you for all the generous praise. It’s been (and will be) an honor and pleasure to work with the most talented people in the business, here at Tilted Mill. And of course, talking to you in the Forum!

To the other Keith: nice name you have there. And I love the jukebox… but you know, it’s about time for an update! ;) This is the first soundtrack I’ve done for a City Builder in three years, and it’s coming soon.

Someone else commented about having full-length tunes in the game; if by “full-length” you mean an average of 3-4 minutes each, then you’re in luck – all of them except for “Welcome” fit this category. Some of them are even longer than 4 minutes each.

As for the CD request, I’ve wanted to create one for some time now. I’m sure if there’s enough interest, we’ll be able to do it! There are always a few tunes that for one reason or another don’t make it into the game (space issues, differences in style, etc) but these are just the kind of tunes that are fun to put in a compilation.

Nice meeting everyone and talk to you soon,

-Keith Z

[Nebhotep]

I'd buy the CD! I'd probably buy it twice, just in case. :)

[Keith]

Ahh, go on…

…

…I mean go ON and ON! :D

Seriously though, thank you for all the generous praise. It’s been (and will be) an honor and pleasure to work with the most talented people in the business, here at Tilted Mill. And of course, talking to you in the Forum!

To the other Keith: nice name you have there. And I love the jukebox… but you know, it’s about time for an update! ;) This is the first soundtrack I’ve done for a City Builder in three years, and it’s coming soon.

Someone else commented about having full-length tunes in the game; if by “full-length” you mean an average of 3-4 minutes each, then you’re in luck – all of them except for “Welcome” fit this category. Some of them are even longer than 4 minutes each.

As for the CD request, I’ve wanted to create one for some time now. I’m sure if there’s enough interest, we’ll be able to do it! There are always a few tunes that for one reason or another don’t make it into the game (space issues, differences in style, etc) but these are just the kind of tunes that are fun to put in a compilation.

Nice meeting everyone and talk to you soon,

-Keith ZHave your promo people contact the folks at Music4Games (http://www.music4games.net/) They cover the game music market with interviews, samples, etc. Also, have them get in touch with Lalaland Records (http://www.lalalandrecords.com/), they have been releasing game music CDs as of late, and it's where I got my autographed copy of Secret Weapons Over Normandy music CD.

Like I mentioned earlier, even the film composers are getting in on the game music market. I just saw that Lalo Schifrin is doing the music for Tom Clancey's Spinter Cell 2. Michael Giacchino, who created the music for the show Alias, has done Medal of Honor and Secret Weapons Over Normandy (I own a copy of SWON music CD.) Christopher Lennertz has done music for Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.

As for the music being "full-length", it doesn't have to be long to be good. There are many short pieces in Pharoah that are very nice. One of my favorite pieces from Pharaoh is "Longing" which is just 58 seconds long. However, I won't complain if we get music that plays for a longer duration. ;)

Do you have any idea how many individual tracks might be included with the finished product....ball park? With Pharaoh you spoiled us with nearly 40 musical tracks, none of the successors has even come close to matching that.

Will there be any musical easter eggs like "Ekplixi" in Zeus? That was a bit of fun that hasn't been carried over to Emperor Rise of the Middle Kingdom unfortunately.

I've got music player pages for all the citybuilders starting with Caesar III Music Player, being the oldest, I had taken it down after a couple of years and put it back up about two years ago. Zeus Music Jukebox and Emperor's Music Jukebox.

We'll all be looking forward to your next music downloads.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (http://mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com/)

Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Ineti]

I was fortunate enough to get one of the promo CDs for Pharaoh when it was released, and I have to say that CD gets a ton of playtime on the way to and from work and at home when I need an Egypt/Pharaoh fix. It's especially nice to write to. :)

I'd gladly pay for a compilation CD for CotN.

Keep up the great work, Keith! And do tell us about your work outside Egypt. :)

[Keith Zizza]

We'll definitely be contacting music4games in the near future (the correct URL is actually www.music4games.net). The amount of tunes in CotN is still up in the air, but rest assured there will be at least 60 minutes of it to listen to (15-20 tunes). Pharaoh came in at around 10 minutes longer, but there you had two composers working for a year, and only on music.

As far as Easter Eggs are concerned, well... I'll never tell. :rolleyes:

[Keith]

I was fortunate enough to get one of the promo CDs for Pharaoh when it was released, and I have to say that CD gets a ton of playtime on the way to and from work and at home when I need an Egypt/Pharaoh fix. It's especially nice to write to. :)

I'd gladly pay for a compilation CD for CotN.

Keep up the great work, Keith! And do tell us about your work outside Egypt. :)
How did you get it? We were always told that that the CD was not available to the public and only one was given away to the winner of the Pharaoh "Eye of Ra" contest.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Keith]

We'll definitely be contacting music4games in the near future (the correct URL is actually www.music4games.net (http://www.music4games.net/)). The amount of tunes in CotN is still up in the air, but rest assured there will be at least 60 minutes of it to listen to (15-20 tunes). Pharaoh came in at around 10 minutes longer, but there you had two composers working for a year, and only on music.

As far as Easter Eggs are concerned, well... I'll never tell. :rolleyes:
You sure that was only 10 minutes? I'm fairly certain end-to-end the music was longer than that. 60 minutes sounds excellent.

I'll have to fix that erroneous link I posted above just to avoid confusion.

As for the easter eggs, the humor in the games was added to the enjoyment, and Explixi was one of the best examples of that humor.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Ineti]

How did you get it? We were always told that that the CD was not available to the public and only one was given away to the winner of the Pharaoh "Eye of Ra" contest.

When I bought Pharaoh, the clerk at the store (I think it was an EBX) told me that there was supposed to be a promotional CD that went with it. He dug around the stockroom and found a handful of them, and gave me one. It has a short demo version of Pharaoh, and something like 20 or so audio tracks on it.

Is that the CD you're thinking of? The one I have is titled "Pharaoh: Music to Build Pyramids By."

[Keith]

When I bought Pharaoh, the clerk at the store (I think it was an EBX) told me that there was supposed to be a promotional CD that went with it. He dug around the stockroom and found a handful of them, and gave me one. It has a short demo version of Pharaoh, and something like 20 or so audio tracks on it.

Is that the CD you're thinking of? The one I have is titled "Pharaoh: Music to Build Pyramids By."
Sounds like it, but then I wouldn't know since I never saw one. As far as I know they were all supposed to be handed out at E3 and none were for public release.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Ineti]

Sounds like it, but then I wouldn't know since I never saw one. As far as I know they were all supposed to be handed out at E3 and none were for public release.

Ah. IIRC, the Pharaoh website mentioned that there would be a limited number of them handed out for folks buying the game in stores when it was first released. I know I got the tip online somewhere...

[Keith]

Ah. IIRC, the Pharaoh website mentioned that there would be a limited number of them handed out for folks buying the game in stores when it was first released. I know I got the tip online somewhere...You are probably right. I don't recall.

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (http://mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com/)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Sinuhe]

They said the title of the CD was 'Music to Build Pyramids By'. I too thought it was only ever given to the Eye of Ra contest winners. You can consider yourself very lucky, Ineti. :D Are there any additional tracks on the CD, by the way? :)


And indeed, I am absolutely loving the sample music from Children of the Nile. Very smooth, and while to an extent reminiscent of Pharaoh, it is also fresh and sparkling. I can hardly wait to hear some more. :)

Pharaoh came in at around 10 minutes longer, but there you had two composers working for a year, and only on music.
What else are you working on then? :D

[Henry Beckett]

I was the other composer on Pharaoh, and would be happy to put up some music on my website in .mp3 format for those who can't find it elsewhere.

[Keith]

I was the other composer on Pharaoh, and would be happy to put up some music on my website in .mp3 format for those who can't find it elsewhere.
Got anything made for the game that didn't make the release version?

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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Henry Beckett]

Sounds like it, but then I wouldn't know since I never saw one. As far as I know they were all supposed to be handed out at E3 and none were for public release.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

As I remember, it was a bit of a mystery where all those "Music to build Pyramids by" CDs were destined. It was really in the hands of marketing, and out of our own. I don't think they were ever meant explicitly "not for public release", as much as the CDs went quickly and there weren't more to distribute. So I don't think there was any secrecy/shady doin's about it, just a limited CD pressing.

[Ineti]

You can consider yourself very lucky, Ineti. :D Are there any additional tracks on the CD, by the way? :)

Based on what I'm hearing from you all, I guess I got lucky. :)

I don't have the game on my work computer, so I can't say which tracks are in the game and which aren't, but here's a list of the tracks on the CD I have, along with their lengths as determined by Windows Media player. I'll check when I get home to see if the files in Pharaoh match up.

1. Agbj 1:10
2. Horus 2:49
3. Tuning Up 0:26
4. spS 2:09
5. rwD 2:22
6. sthA 1:57
7. jA 3:05
8. jrj-Hb-sd 2:14
9. Htpt 1:41
10. khet 1:53
11. khu 2:28
12. nefer 2:38
13. bennu 2:13
14. amakh 2:36
15. mu 1:12
16. Ra 2:18
17. Geb 2:48
18. Khepera 3:02
19. Anquet 2:04
20. Sekhmet 2:53
21. Smr 1:20
22. heb 0:48
23. rekhi 2:52
24. rwDt 1:08

[Keith]

As I remember, it was a bit of a mystery where all those "Music to build Pyramids by" CDs were destined. It was really in the hands of marketing, and out of our own. I don't think they were ever meant explicitly "not for public release", as much as the CDs went quickly and there weren't more to distribute. So I don't think there was any secrecy/shady doin's about it, just a limited CD pressing.
It was a shame. I was in on Pharaoh from the first announcements but never did manage to come up with one. I was just curious as to whether it contained more tracks than the game or if they were longer playing tracks than those in the game.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Ineti]

Incidentally, there's a text file on the CD containing a note from the composers. I'll post it here, but if it's violating copyright or if someone would prefer it not to be posted, I'll remove it or ask the moderators to delete this post.

Composers' Notes

Thanks for listening to this prerelease of some of the music from the
Impressions Game "Pharaoh"!

As best we could find out through our own research, no one really knows
what the music in the time of the Pharaohs sounded like. So our ultimate
musical direction ended up being a combination of a number of factors. We
listened to many other artists' and composers' takes on it. We listened
to the instrument sets they use, the harmonies, the sorts of rhythmic
ideas they incorporated the melodic messages they tried to convey. We
also thought about what the general public's perception of ancient
Egyptian music might be. We saw "The Ten Commandments" more than once!
Finally, most importantly, are the musical needs of the game itself. The
game is truly epic in scope and in scale. You start with nothing but the
sand in your shoes and end ruling a Pharaoh's kingdom. What will best
help you take those steps?

On the listing of the pieces, you may first notice there are three
Kingdoms. These coincide with the true Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms of
ancient Egypt. Our idea was to have the Old Kingdom music truly sound old
and primitive, almost a soundtrack of what the people might have been
listening to then. The Middle Kingdom is meant to sound full of hope and
possibility, a time of transition. The music of the New Kingdom is meant
to reflect all the glory, magic and mysticism befitting a mighty Pharaoh.
In the game, interspersed within the Kingdom music are moments of
reflection and ambiance. A few of these are also included on the CD to
help better demonstrate the feel of the game. In addition we have
included a few specialty pieces, for example, one of the Mission Briefing
pieces, as well as music from a video from the game website
www.pharaoh1.com. The names of the pieces will perhaps be recognizable to
scholars of ancient Egypt. Each term has a specific and special
connection to the piece it names.

The game itself will contain many more pieces. We suspect that when you
play the game you will be transported to a place of wonder you'll never
want to leave. And we hope the music helps take you there!

Henry Beckett and Keith Zizza
Composers
Impressions Games, Sierra On-Line

1. Agbj
2. Horus
3. Tuning Up

- The Old Kingdom
4. spS
5. rwD
6. sthA
7. jA
8. jrj-Hb-sd

9. Htpt

- The Middle Kingdom
10. khet
11. khu
12. nefer
13. bennu
14. amakh

15. mu

- The New Kingdom
16. Ra
17. Geb
18. Khepera
19. Anquet
20. Sekhmet

21. Smr
22. heb
23. rekhi
24. rwDt

[Keith]

Based on what I'm hearing from you all, I guess I got lucky. :)

I don't have the game on my work computer, so I can't say which tracks are in the game and which aren't, but here's a list of the tracks on the CD I have, along with their lengths as determined by Windows Media player. I'll check when I get home to see if the files in Pharaoh match up.

1. Agbj 1:10
2. Horus 2:49
3. Tuning Up 0:26
4. spS 2:09
5. rwD 2:22
6. sthA 1:57
7. jA 3:05
8. jrj-Hb-sd 2:14
9. Htpt 1:41
10. khet 1:53
11. khu 2:28
12. nefer 2:38
13. bennu 2:13
14. amakh 2:36
15. mu 1:12
16. Ra 2:18
17. Geb 2:48
18. Khepera 3:02
19. Anquet 2:04
20. Sekhmet 2:53
21. Smr 1:20
22. heb 0:48
23. rekhi 2:52
24. rwDt 1:08
Looks like Horus, Tuning Up, Htpt, mu, and heb are the only ones not in the game, unless they were renamed. I know that at least one or two of the demo game's music were renamed and used int he release game. One that comes to mind is Geb.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Henry Beckett]

It was a shame. I was in on Pharaoh from the first announcements but never did manage to come up with one. I was just curious as to whether it contained more tracks than the game or if they were longer playing tracks than those in the game.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

I'd have to cross-check to be sure, but I'm pretty certain the CD contained at least one or two tracks that were not in the game, and that the game contained naturally a lot of music that was not on the CD. But which was which is a bit foggy! I do know "Tuning Up" was of little use in the game as a music track. ;) (If you haven't heard it, it was just the sound of a pseudo ancient Egyptian stringed instrument tuning up. It was done on a synthesizer, but hopefully didn't sound like one! But of course with all the cool instruments Keith is using on COTN, you'll get the real thing!)

[Keith]

I'd have to cross-check to be sure, but I'm pretty certain the CD contained at least one or two tracks that were not in the game, and that the game contained naturally a lot of music that was not on the CD. But which was which is a bit foggy! I do know "Tuning Up" was of little use in the game as a music track. ;) (If you haven't heard it, it was just the sound of a pseudo ancient Egyptian stringed instrument tuning up. It was done on a synthesizer, but hopefully didn't sound like one! But of course with all the cool instruments Keith is using on COTN, you'll get the real thing!)Do you recall what all those cryptic names stood for? Example: jrj-Hb-sd

I'm assuming "Hb" stands for Henry Beckett.

If you got stuff that didn't make the game please post it.
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Keith Heitmann
dheitm8612@aol.com (mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)

[Ineti]

Do you recall what all those cryptic names stood for? Example: jrj-Hb-sd

Is it possible some of the names are from Egyptian hieroglyphs? I know hb sd was for a pharaoh's 'heb-sed' festival. I'll have to check my Egyptian grammar book when I get home to see if any of the others match up.

[Henry Beckett]

Do you recall what all those cryptic names stood for? Example: jrj-Hb-sd

I'm assuming "Hb" stands for Henry Beckett.



Actually, the "Hb" there is just a coincidence. Some of the names are of gods, and others more cryptic. The most cryptic names are an attempt to use real ancient Egyptian (at least as described by certain resources we were able to track down, among them a German scholar who actually put together a dictionary of ancient Egyptian). We tried to map the names to the feel of the music, with the added "game", for interested people, to try to track down the names' translations. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever did. There seem to be a few ancient Egyptian dictionaries on the web now, but back then we could only find one, namely that one in Germany.

In any case, here are some translations (apologies in advance for anything we now learn we got wrong!):

sps: to build
rwD: to grow
sthA: to seduce/tempt
jA: to worship
jrj-Hb-sd: to celebrate an anniversary
Smr: friend
m-twr: pure
Daq: to call
mAa-jb: sinless
Agbj: flood
Htpt: peace
rwDt: success
waj: alone
jAkb: to mourn
watj: solitary
Hapj-aA: great flood
mqmq: to rest/slee
Dd-M-ann: to chant
m-srf: warm
sstj: to learn to drum

[Keith]

Actually, the "Hb" there is just a coincidence. Some of the names are of gods, and others more cryptic. The most cryptic names are an attempt to use real ancient Egyptian (at least as described by certain resources we were able to track down, among them a German scholar who actually put together a dictionary of ancient Egyptian). We tried to map the names to the feel of the music, with the added "game", for interested people, to try to track down the names' translations. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever did. There seem to be a few ancient Egyptian dictionaries on the web now, but back then we could only find one, namely that one in Germany.

In any case, here are some translations (apologies in advance for anything we now learn we got wrong!):

sps: to build
rwD: to grow
sthA: to seduce/tempt
jA: to worship
jrj-Hb-sd: to celebrate an anniversary
Smr: friend
m-twr: pure
Daq: to call
mAa-jb: sinless
Agbj: flood
Htpt: peace
rwDt: success
waj: alone
jAkb: to mourn
watj: solitary
Hapj-aA: great flood
mqmq: to rest/slee
Dd-M-ann: to chant
m-srf: warm
sstj: to learn to drum
I would have never have guessed those in a million years! :D

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[Jaguar]

I already love the music for CotN :) Great work Keith.

Looking forward to downloading the next musical pieces when they come out.

[Ineti]

Keith (Zizza), I like the write-up regarding the instruments you're using for the music in the game. Peter Gabriel and many of the fine artists on the RealWorld Records label use them in their work. I'm looking forward to hearing how you make use of them. From the samples, sounds like we're in for a real melodic treat.

[Afterburner]

Peter Gabriel and many of the fine artists on the RealWorld Records label use them in their work.

You'll take any opportunity to mention Peter Gabriel, won't you?

Shameful.

:D

[Azeem]

Most fascinating. Good of you to lift the veil of this secret. I've been wondering all this time what those names were supposed to mean. ;) I suppose this explanation is our little "Rosetta stone." :)

By the way, one of the words caught my interest:
Smr: friend

I'm no linguist, but could it be the origin to the Arabic name "Samir," meaning "good company"? :)

[Ineti]

You'll take any opportunity to mention Peter Gabriel, won't you?

Shameful.

I am ruthless in my fan-ness. :D

[Ineti]

By the way, one of the words caught my interest:
Smr: friend

I'm no linguist, but could it be the origin to the Arabic name "Samir," meaning "good company"? :)

I'm not a linguist either, but that would certainly make sense to me. Indeed, that could be one of the ways to pronounce "smr."

Including samar, samer, samor, samur, semar, semer, semir, semor, semur, and so on. Lack of vowels means a multitude of possible pronunciations. :)

[Ammurit]

Most fascinating. Good of you to lift the veil of this secret. I've been wondering all this time what those names were supposed to mean. ;) I suppose this explanation is our little "Rosetta stone." :)

By the way, one of the words caught my interest:
Smr: friend

I'm no linguist, but could it be the origin to the Arabic name "Samir," meaning "good company"? :)


That is a possibility. It could also be a common Afro-Asiatic root. I wonder if a similar word exists in Hebrew, or perhaps some of the Berber languages.

[Keith]

That is a possibility. It could also be a common Afro-Asiatic root. I wonder if a similar word exists in Hebrew, or perhaps some of the Berber languages.I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Arabs and Jews are all decendants of the Semites (http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/semites.htm).Or, here (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/S/Semite.asp).
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[Ammurit]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Arabs and Jews are all decendants of the Semites (http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/semites.htm).Or, here (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/S/Semite.asp).
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Indeed they are. However, Egyptian forms its own branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Berber languages form a third branch. Finding the "smr" root in both Arabic and Hebrew might possibly confirm a common Semitic root, as you suggest, and finding a cognate root in Egyptian and the Berber languages, because they are indeed separate branches, might lend credence to the common Afro-Asiatic origin of the root. Another possibility is that Arabic borrowed the root from Egyptian. Interestingly enough, Bartleby's Semitic roots chart does not have "smr", which suggests either that it is indeed borrowed, or that perhaps the root actually isn't "smr".

http://www.bartleby.com/61/Sroots.html

[Josh]

Allow me to add myself to the list of Keith Zizza's fans

Here's to hoping every single song you create gets on the disk (I hope you dont have to fight polygons) because between your music and the graphics, I think the music draws me into the game the most.

[quijote]

Congratulations Keith and Henry. I loved Pharaoh and Zeus music, probably the only videogame BGM I`ve ever played on winamp. And "Craftsmems song" is awesome. Can´t wait to hear more of them.

[Jaguar]

A new piece of music is available for download. It's called journey down the Nile and sounds great just like the other two :)

[Nefermenu]

I was just about to say the same, sounds as great and beautiful as the others :)

And a big thank-you for releasing the songs, we appreciate it a lot, and it makes the wait a little easier ;)

[Elvenwarrior2001]

I'll have to get on that then. ;)

Elven

[Celebithil Dae]

Workin on it... Slow connection

[EmperorJay]

What I especially like about the music is that it isn't obvious... it's kinda hard to explain... I hear it, it's relaxing but it's not detracting me from what I'm doing. It's just superb!

[Keith]

A new piece of music is available for download. It's called journey down the Nile and sounds great just like the other two :)
More! :D

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[Ineti]

More! :D

Yes, please.

[Eddy]

Let me also add to the praise for the Pharaoh/Cleopatra music. One of the first things I did was copy the music into a directory on my hard drive and make a winamp playlist. It goes very well when I am reading Usenet, or composing my own thoughts for a diary or something. Very few soundtracks have earned that honor.

[Keith]

Keith! (Mr. Zizza) I was wondering if we could get a nice MP3 of the music in the E3 trailer posted as well, before it becomes a "lost track."
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[parrotslave]

My conure really loved the tracks.

He started clicking along to the drum beat, squawking and pinning his eyes with excitement while we were listening to the tracks.

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Keith Zizza is a multi-species celebrity! :D

Elven

[Eddy]

Well, now that is good publicity. Gentlemen, on the game box, instead of quoting reviewers, I propose you put Parrotslave's quote. If I were hesitant about buying a game and I read that, I'd buy it!

[Elvenwarrior2001]

lol. Very true! I think it'd be a kick! And maybe even a good marketing ploy. ;)

Elven

[Keith]

Keith! (Mr. Zizza) I was wondering if we could get a nice MP3 of the music in the E3 trailer posted as well, before it becomes a "lost track."

Thanks, Keith! It sounds much cleaner than the one I "skimmed" off the video.http://community.vugames.com/Images/emoticons/ltdance.gif

Memories of Thebes sounds wonderful too.:D
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[Ineti]

Memories of Thebes is fantastic. Listening to it really makes me hope we'll see a CD compilation of the music. :)

[Keith Zizza]

Thanks, Keith! It sounds much cleaner than the one I "skimmed" off the video.http://community.vugames.com/Images/emoticons/ltdance.gif

Memories of Thebes sounds wonderful too.:D
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You're welcome Keith! Also glad you enjoyed Memories of Thebes.

I like the little guy dancing... a festival dance, maybe? :D

[Keith]

The little guy represents a "happy dance". Or, festival, if you will.:D

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming! I like the fact that "Memories of Thebes" is a longer piece. That much more to enjoy!
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[Keith]

Better and better! "On the Falcons Wings" is another excellent piece!:cool:

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[EmperorJay]

I enqued (sp?) all songs in WinAmp a couple of days ago and this song is again wonderful, I don't think I've listened to a CD the last days :D .

[Tar]

All I can say is WOW! "On The Falcons Wings" is fantastic!!
Such quality is amazing for free :D Mega thanks. Can't wait for the game. This is gonna be good ;)

[Kazem]

Keith's music from Pharaoh and Cotn are right up there with my favourites with Jeremy Soules music from Morrowind and Brandon's for the Deus ex games. Bravo Keith Bravo! :)

[Ineti]

"Karnak by Camel" is another great track! :D

Any news on whether we might see a CotN CD?

[Keith]

"Karnak by Camel" is another great track! :D

Any news on whether we might see a CotN CD?
Very nice. Go, go, go.....more! Now pardon me while I go feed my camel. http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/pics/grin.gif

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[Keith]

The Valley of the Kings is yet another great piece. I only wish we would get these downloads more often!:cool: Keep up the good work. You know we will only want MORE!:D

I am wondering if we'll hear some music similar to the that in Pharaoh that relies a little more on the ancient musical instruments or close proximities of them.

One of my favorite old pieces from Pharaoh, among others, was the "sthA" music that involved a chime or bell, drums, wind instrument, and string instrument. It reminds me of what might have been "festival music." "Khet" with its prounouced wind instrument and simple drum beat mixed in with a harp and droning background instrument. "jAkb" is just a simple flute solo with no accompaniment. "M-SRF" is a what sounds like a Zither solo with no accompaniment. "SPS" with its zither, drum and flute is another interesting piece that I could imagine being played during the time of the Pharaohs.

Probably one the best example of what I am talking about is the tune labled "Amber" that has a sort of wooden wind chime effect mixed over a simple drum beat and occasional chime of a bell with little background music added. Another would be "Daq" with the flute with a mysterious string instrument echoing in the background.

Then there is "Dd-m-ann" that is more of a temple chant by a choir with a flute solo. Very mysterious and though provoking.

"jrj-Hb-sd" would do nicely for the music for a scene with some dancers in CotN. "sthA" would also fit nicely with some egyptian dancing girls.:D http://community.vugames.com/Images/emoticons/ltdance.gif

In otherwords, will there be anything in CotN along these more "traditional" sounding (even if they aren't really traditional) pieces from Pharaoh?
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[Keith Zizza]

Rather than continue where the music left off in Pharaoh, I always intended not to write music in the same style, because CotN is simply a different game. Here's a quote from the music section on our site:

"My goal was to write music all in a similar style and meter - and the hope that about an hour's worth would keep it fresh and interesting. I didn't set out to copy the musical style of any album or movie; in fact, I wanted to make sure the music didn't sound like anyone else's. Everything about our game is unique in some way, and I wanted the music to reflect that as well."

CotN is a very different game from Pharaoh, and when you see it I think you'll find the music to blend right in. :D

[Keith]

I am not complaining, just inquiring. I kind of like those simpler pieces of music from Pharaoh and I thought that style might go well with CotN too. Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

Now back to work! We want more! :D
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[Josh]

I just hope all these make it onto the game disk, and nothing gets "edited out"

Or atleast I hope there is some way we can still download the lost tracks (if there are any) and put them back into the game.

[Keith]

"Pharaohs Dream" yet another excellent piece of music. I hope they give Keith plenty of room on the CD for all his fine work. :D
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[tobing]

I have just downloaded all of the music and now I'm listening - actually I like it very much! So if Keith would compose just more music and maybe there would be an extra Soundtrack CD? Might be a good idea, I think, it is really nice new-age-type music!

[EmperorJay]

I really hope they might consider putting a couple of tracks on an extra CD. Battlefield Vietnam included a soundtrack CD too and altough those songs were all originals from the sixties and seventies it was still a nice compilation and a nice thing to have, it just was nice to get more than just the game.

[Keith]

I think, it is really nice new-age-type music!
You mean "New Kingdom", of course. ;) :D

I wouldn't call it new-age exactly, but it has a nice mystical feel to it.

[Atlantean Relic]

So far my favorite is The Valley of the Kings.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

Sorry to be disjointed, but...

Mr Zizza - Your Lordship,

Are you still working on more songs or the voices/effects now? Are you working on anything? The common folk would love to know i'm sure! *hint hint, grovel grovel*

[Keith Zizza]

Hi there,

Oh I'm always working on something, you can be sure of that. Right now I'm heavy into our voice production, in case you were wondering. :p But yes, there is a big chunk of music still left to post on the CotN site. In fact, there will be a new tune every couple of weeks, up until this fall... that's at least another half hour of tunes on the way! :D

[Keith]

Hi there,

Oh I'm always working on something, you can be sure of that. Right now I'm heavy into our voice production, in case you were wondering. :p But yes, there is a big chunk of music still left to post on the CotN site. In fact, there will be a new tune every couple of weeks, up until this fall... that's at least another half hour of tunes on the way! :D
Excellent! :)

[EmperorJay]

Can you (are you allowed to) tell us anything about the voices? Are they regular English or do they have a certain accent?

And thanks for all the music :) .

[Wen Kha-Ne]

Excellent! Err, Me Lordship.

Jeff Van Dyck, "Big Al", and now Keith Zizza to cross off my 'musicians to bother' list! :D

Are the accents authentic? Or are they random American accents (like in Zeus) or random British accents (apparently in Caesar) or are they as close to authentic as you can get nowadays? One thing I liked about AoM were the Greek accents and the Egyptian accents. They seemed to fit perfectly with the language.

[Keith]

Excellent! Err, Me Lordship.

Jeff Van Dyck, "Big Al", and now Keith Zizza to cross off my 'musicians to bother' list! :D

Are the accents authentic? Or are they random American accents (like in Zeus) or random British accents (apparently in Caesar) or are they as close to authentic as you can get nowadays? One thing I liked about AoM were the Greek accents and the Egyptian accents. They seemed to fit perfectly with the language.There was a similar debate about voices early on. While we still don't know what they'll use for CotN, I think most of us were satisfied with the announcer voice used for Pharaoh.

There was some discussion about the British voices used in Caesar III too.
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[Maatkaamun]

As for the CD request, I’ve wanted to create one for some time now. I’m sure if there’s enough interest, we’ll be able to do it!
-Keith Z

Well, count *me* in! To add yet another voice to the praise, I love the music, and would buy a CD in a heartbeat. :D

[Maatkaamun]

Actually, the "Hb" there is just a coincidence. Some of the names are of gods, and others more cryptic. The most cryptic names are an attempt to use real ancient Egyptian (at least as described by certain resources we were able to track down, among them a German scholar who actually put together a dictionary of ancient Egyptian). We tried to map the names to the feel of the music, with the added "game", for interested people, to try to track down the names' translations. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever did. There seem to be a few ancient Egyptian dictionaries on the web now, but back then we could only find one, namely that one in Germany.


A very good Egyptian grammar (so I'm told) is Alan Gardiner's _Egyptian_Grammar_, 3rd Ed., by Oxford Univ. Press, 1957, NY.

I believe it's out of print now, but there should be some used copies circulating on the secondary market.

The recommendation came from _Forgotten_Scripts_ "Their Ongoing Discovery and Decipnerment", by Cyrus H. Gordon, 1968. Reprinted by Basic Books, Inc. 1982. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which covers Heiroglyphics, Old Persian, Cuneiform, and many more.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

I had found that thread (with the voices) as a lurker, but when I registered, I lost it. How I love old threads. On the grammar point, I once saw a book that was basically an Ancient Egyptian-English dictionary. It listed everything and it was generally like a tourist's phrasebook, as it had phrases and some glyph meanings too. it was excellent, but I never found it again and I didn't get a chance to buy it, but it does show that these books are still in circulation. (this one was published in 1996)

Surely there are some websites on this?

[Keith]

I had found that thread (with the voices) as a lurker, but when I registered, I lost it. How I love old threads. On the grammar point, I once saw a book that was basically an Ancient Egyptian-English dictionary. It listed everything and it was generally like a tourist's phrasebook, as it had phrases and some glyph meanings too. it was excellent, but I never found it again and I didn't get a chance to buy it, but it does show that these books are still in circulation. (this one was published in 1996)

Surely there are some websites on this?
You may want to try this one:

http://www.hieroglyphs.net/0301/cgi/pager.pl?p=16

[Wen Kha-Ne]

An amazing resource, and I am sure I am not the only one grateful for that. Thankyou.

[Keith Zizza]

Can you (are you allowed to) tell us anything about the voices? Are they regular English or do they have a certain accent?

And thanks for all the music :) .


All I can tell you is, the voices will definitely have a middle eastern flavor, and that there will be a lot of them... :)

... and you're welcome! :D

[Wen Kha-Ne]

Sounds great, well not literally but it sounds as if you actually mean Middle-Eastern like a couple of voices on Pharaoh rather than a couple of other voices on Phraraoh which sounded suspiciously like a Caribbean accent. :p

[EmperorJay]

All I can tell you is, the voices will definitely have a middle eastern flavor, and that there will be a lot of them... :)

... and you're welcome! :D
Thanks. Looking forward to hearing the voices :) .

[Cironir]

All I can tell you is, the voices will definitely have a middle eastern flavor, and that there will be a lot of them... :) ... and you're welcome! :D

You, Sir, are a tease! :) In the German version of Pharaoh, the narrative voice was that of a Middle Eastern man, too. He had a great Arab accent, which, at least to me, added quite a bit to the atmosphere. Good news that CotN will pay attention to such seemingly minor (but actually major) details, too!

On a side note, thanks for the enjoyable MP3 tunes we are given every two weeks. I tend to loop them while working. Good job there!

[JDF]

I love all the music so far.

As for work, I tried playing one here at work (oops! I didn't say that!) and it choked the computer so bad I had to reboot.

I listen to the music at home. Great stuff!

[Wen Kha-Ne]

I have been listening to them on a shuffled loop (and on the music box) for nearly the whole two days I have been at the computer. The only time on here I haven't is when I was playing Pharaoh yesterday afternoon. That is how addictive they are. This has not been repetitive either! Even now it is playing.

[Keith]

"The Garden of Egypt" is a nice piece of minimalist music. Very peaceful and restful. I can easily imagine Pharaoh's hunting party resting under the trees in some date grove.;)