soundtrack scoring, composing, desert What instruments to use when scoring a desert scene?

I am scoring a scene on my game where it was set on a desert with medium vegetation. It's an action music but is more laidback.

I would lean toward a more Arabian sound. Maybe contrabass, pizzicato, cello, strings, some percussions.

It'll probably be good to look up some ideas on youtube as well.

African desert? Djembe, conga, atenteben, kalimba

Arabian desert? Tabla, sitar/sintir, lute, lyre 

I would use an oriental scale, or the egyptian, or the argelian... there are many of them.

For example:

Egyptian (pentatonic): C - D - F - G - Bb

Arabic (also named Bizantina): C - Db - E  - F - G - Ab - B

Argelian (octatonic): C - D - Eb - F - F# - G - Ab - B

All of them can be transported to any tone.

IMO you can't do iconic "desert" music without the "Oud" sound (basically an arabic lute that's also played in parts of africa).

On that note, if possible try to use quarter tones and the traditional maqam system. You'll need to use 24-TET to do this, and it isn't as hard to implement as other alternative tuning systems. 

A desert land can also be cold :D
Sinfonia Antartica by RVW has a lot of orchestration ideas "recycled" by film and game composers

The oboe and clarinet can both sound very eastern. 

However, in my opinion the instrumentation is not the only thing to keep in mind when you want to create music in a certain style. Harmony and melody are factors that also have a huge influence on the atmosphere.

flute, pan flute, reed pipes, if you make your own instrument you get bonus points!

I know I am quite late to this, but I have studied nintendo desert music, and they seem to use a few set of instruments

Take New Super Mario Bros. DS' desert theme. It uses a simple set of instruments

Sitar, Kalimba, Electric Guitar, a Bass Synth, Calliope Synth, Pan Flute, Strings, a normal Flute, (insert Bahp sound here), A surdo, Timbales, and shakers. Is it simple? Yeah. Does it get the job done? Also yeah.

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Anyway:

Duduk is basically always the cliche, go-to instrument.

The bouzouki, oud, Turkish violin and clarinet, santoor, baglama, and a duo of female singers (or low male choir) are also very common.

However, you can make just about anything sound "desert" with the Phrygian Dominant mode.

Listen to and study Alexander Borodin's "In The Steppes Of Central Asia."  I've never heard more descriptive desert music.  

You all speak about eastern music, but you do know there's a desert in Nevada and California right?

Well my advice - make use of more feelings of emotion than feelings of style.

A desert does not have much visible life due to lack of water and plants - so maybe use low dynamics, in volume, rhythm, and orchestration.

For the first its easy - keep most of the piece on actual low dynamics.

For rhythmical dynamic - what I do is having no more than three different rhythms at all time, and at least one of them with long rhythmic values - in slow tempo, quarters are enough. In fast tempo, I'd use at least half notes.

For orchestration, I usually do woodwinds in pairs, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, some percussion (here I do use eastern percussion more), and strings. I frequently have the strings muted. Also, most of the time, in the winds and brass, only one of each instrument will play. I use both only rarely, and almost never a2 - my most frequent use of both instruments of a pair is when one plays a melody and the other a countermelody (almost never with the same rhythm) or imitation, with quiet strings in long notes (sometimes tremolo), or in the brass when the two do some kind of triumphant call, also then usually they won't do the same rhythm, or they will do imitation. The brass thing usually stands for the sun or sunrise.

Also another trick - to indicate night, have the flute play high to give a feeling of cold, and the muted brass play some spooky night melody, again preferably in slow rhythm. The 1st violins should play high while the rest of the winds should play quiet tremolo (the 1st violins might play that quiet tremolo too, but again, high).