Words by Sarah DiMuzio
Independent video games have been growing and refining since the early 1980s. It wasn’t until approximately 2005 that developers started identifying themselves as “indie developers”. From then on, the world of indie gaming as we know it was born. Fast forward to 2022, the indie gaming industry is bigger, louder, and more diverse than ever before. Meet just some of the passionate composers that are shaping the sound of some of our favourite indie games.
JESSICA CURRY
Who are they? Jessica Curry is a composer, writer, and radio presenter who’s been working in the games industry for 10 years. The first title she worked on was Dear Esther, a game she and her husband made together as a tiny experiment that wound up selling over a million copies and launched the couple headfirst into the games industry, and led to the founding of their games company The Chinese Room. Jessica prefers to follow her heart when it comes to projects she takes part in, and this has led to some fascinating collaborations ranging from a Requiem for a Second Life character for the Royal Opera House to writing lullabies for Great Ormond Street Hospital, scoring the VR game So Let Us Melt, and writing and presenting radio shows about games music for stations such as ClassicFM, BBC Radio 3 and Scala.
What are they excited about in the indie gaming world? Jessica is excited about the endless possibilities of the indie games world in juxtaposition with major games franchises. In her experience indie games often dive deeper into the human experience, tackling subjects such as grief, mental health, love, illness, and existentialism. This also opens the door for the indie games composer to be more experimental when writing the soundtrack where major franchises are bound by player expectations and appealing to the widest demographic possible. Indie games are often shorter in length than major-label games and tend to have smaller production budgets which can lead to exciting challenges for the indie games composer, allowing for more attention to small details that may otherwise be overlooked in a 60-hour campaign game.
What are they working on next? Jessica is currently working on the new The Chinese Room game, which is currently under tight wraps, but the soundtrack is shaping up to be folk-driven in a new direction for her as a composer. On the side, she is also continuing to write choral music and will have her work performed by the National Youth Choir in the coming year.
STAR
Who are they? Star, also known as Slide20XX is a composer who’s dreamt of writing video games music since the age of 13. After taking part in the Red Bull Music Academy, attending Berklee College of Music, and finding solace in Seattle, Washington, they have made this dream a reality. Star wrote the soundtrack for Calico (a delightful game about magical people running a cat cafe), contributed to the billion-dollar VR title Rec Room, and created music for the anti-racist public service announcements put out by Cartoon Network series Steven Universe.
What are they excited about in the indie gaming world? Star has been immersed in the indie game world their whole life and is excited to see some of the familiar creators who made flash games back in the day are now founding big games companies and creating indie mega-hits. Star is also excited by the greater focus on bringing underrepresented voices into the games industry and is hopeful that we'll continue to see more of this progress as the industry continues to grow.
What are they working on next? Star is currently hard at work on planned updates for Calico which was originally released in December of 2020. They are also working on a few album-related projects for Infloresce Records, the new digital fusion label from Aivi (of aivi & surasshu), which marks the start of a new artist era for Star. Additionally, they are making contributions to the addictive iOS card game Nova Island, and are also working behind the scenes on a few projects with the game company they co-founded, Games Without Words.
LOUIS DURRANT
Who are they? Louis Durrant is a digital artist, developer, and composer currently based in Bristol. While he works predominantly as an illustrator, he began writing soundtracks just over five years ago to accompany his first game Crossing to the Cold Valley. While composing for games started out as an extension of his music production hobby, it is now a large part of his work, especially in regards to his upcoming game The Garden Path.
What are they excited about in the indie gaming world? Louis is excited to see that the indie game scene is starting to look more and more like the indie music scene with its small teams and bedroom developers who are building games that aren’t just stereotyped as “experimental”. This opens the door for honing in on niche ideas that bigger budgets might otherwise generalise. It also leads to more diversity in who is making these games, and who can deliver to today’s excitable audience.
What are they working on next? Louis is currently continuing work on The Garden Path, a “stop and smell the roses” kind of game, and his biggest game development endeavour so far. The soundtrack is inspired by minimalist composers of the 1970s and includes two distinct halves representing Day and Night. Day has shaped up to be more organic and orchestrated, Night is more simple, mostly analogue synths and electric pianos, often just 2-3 layers. Louis finds the simplicity makes it much harder to write and enjoys the challenge that arises when every note feels more deliberate and considered.
MONA MUR
Who are they? Mona is a singer, performer, and music producer signed with London-based, Oscar-nominated film production company Spring Films. She has brought her “violent electro-orchestral sounds of the darkest shades” to movies such as Fatih Akin's drama Head On/Gegen die Wand, and most recently Monika Treut’s documentary, Genderation. She has also found success as a composer and sound designer for major video game titles such as Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Velvet Assassin, and most recently Anomaly Games’ The Fermi Paradox.
What are they excited about in the indie gaming world? Having worked with AAA studios, such as IO Interactive, which can employ large teams of more than 200 people, Mona is excited by the way the indie games industry has revolutionised game development to a point where small, effective, sometimes even one-person teams are creating fresh and exciting new games. Many of these games are coming out of indie games collective DER SAFTLADEN, such as punk-inspired DEATH TRASH by Crafting Legends, or The Fermi Paradox by Anomaly Games which Mona composed the electronic ambient music score, as well as designed the UI sound effects.
What are they working on next? Mona is currently working on her latest solo artist album Snake Island, created in her Berlin studio with her longtime partner Ralf Goldkind, and set to be released in the fall on US indie label GIVE/TAKE. She is also looking forward to working with directors Rudolph Herzog and Elfi Mikesch, respectively, on their upcoming documentaries where she plans to utilise her self-designed sound worlds, sample layers and voices.