What has been a challenging aspect of this project? What about a rewarding one?

Lena: I think one of the most intimidating things about coming into any existing game is that there have been years and years of experiences players have had with it, and so suddenly introducing something new can possibly feel like an intrusion into that space. And then take into account that it's Minecraft, one of the biggest games in the world, and suddenly I'm huddled in the corner of my studio going “Oh God, what do I do!?” But the most rewarding thing for me in contrast to that has been taking into account the legacy of the game and its music, and coming up with something new that I hope compliments it well, while also adding my own little flavor to the world.

How, if at all, is writing music for Minecraft different than writing for other games?

Lena: One of the first things I ever noticed about Minecraft when I played an early version years ago was how organically it just rises up out of the world and the ambience. It really feels like a natural extension of the environment. I remember being really drawn in because of that, and was delighted when I started hearing music emerging from nothing. So I really took that to heart when writing new music for the Nether. I wanted every piece to feel like it was rising up as an extension of the existing ambience, that the sounds were being organized into music in a natural way.

Do you have any favorite memories from this project?

Lena: Writing good ambient music is often a pretty challenging exercise in restraint. There's so many opportunities to stand out that you need to pull yourself back from, because the music needs to sink into the background. I usually write extremely melodic music, but my first drafts for the Nether pieces were actually pretty restrained when it came to melodies. But I was delighted to hear back from the folks at Mojang who wanted to hear even more of my melodies, to make it really sound like "me"! So I gladly went through another pass and added some memorable passages that I hope get stuck in everyone's heads.