Musical differences in Video Games (and why indie tunes are so damn good)

Music in video games come in many forms. Mostly the complexity and breadth of the music stems from the wallet of the producers. A triple A developer can spend heaps of money on music, hiring an orchestra and proper editing software. While indie developers have to make do with simple online soft wear like musescore and bit tunes which limit their ability to produce layered and complex sounds.

So why is it that i can remember the tune of world 4-4 Super Meat Boy but not the main theme of XCOM Enemy Unknown? Well the concept for most themes for big budget games is two fold, complicated, and background. Triple A developers feel as though they need to include the most amount of layers, instruments, and dynamics in they're pieces. This can create a sweeping melody but usually the tune is buried in the rest of the music. Humans and only sing/hum/whistle one tune at a time, so if something is composed of hundreds of instruments than a person has a hard time remembering it as they cant play it back to themselves in any form. Additionally most game composers (Mick Gordan excluded, bless his music) agree that music should be in the background, influencing the player slightly but mostly out of mind. The opposite is true for Indie developers, They're software can only handle so many layers before it starts to slow down so the compose a main tune to keep players interest. Additionally most of the time indie developers don't have a specific music developer so they don't fallow the ideas and concepts of more recognised professionals, this allows them to present ideas that others wouldn't have thought about.

So is more recognisable music something that we should achieve all of the time. Not necessarily, I don't remember a-lot of the music from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim but i probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy my country side galavanting so much if i was so focused on the music.