First up: thank you! I am really glad the game has created this feeling for you. When you put so much into a game and find it connects with somebody in this way it makes it seem worthwhile. Your words mean a lot.

With respect to the music-- excellent question. It's kind of a cool story, I was slightly terrified for a second when I learned that the song was used in another game (I didn't know it was until somebody posted on the Giant Bomb quicklook thread.)

Basically yesso released a bunch of tracks as free-to-use on a website, indiegamemusic.com:

http://www.indiegamemusic.com/viewartist.php?id=48

My best guess is that's where Zeboyd got the song from. I don't think Zeboyd was very well-known when they made BoDIV so he likely didn't have the resources to commission an entire OST-- this is pretty much the same boat I was in when making Texas. But this is a guess, I actually tried to contact Mark Zeboyd just to make sure that he hadn't commissioned the song and I had accidentally used it but I couldn't really find a way to contact him.

However the weird thing is I have been friends with yesso for years and years (on IRC), and I didn't even know his music was on this site (it wouldn't have mattered though.) We used to hang out and do "one hour compos" which are basically where you have one hour to make a song, then everybody votes on the songs; it's a fun little thing and actually I think at least some of the OST tracks were made by yesso in this way (in one hour-- yup! he is seriously talented,)

So anyhow I just had a bunch of his songs somehow, I think he made a zip file of all his music at some point and I just got it from him. When I started making Texas, I was just listening to his music and realized how awesomely it fit. So I asked him if I could pick and choose from his music for the game and he agreed (he gets a cut of the money that the game makes.)

So that's the long and the short of it, basically I ended up picking one of the same songs that Zeboyd picked, even though we both came to yesso's music catalogue separately. However unlike BoD IV all the songs in the Texas OST are by yesso, whereas I think Horse and Carriage is the only one by him that was used in BoD IV (the rest seem to be by other composers.)

If I knew the song was used in another game I probably would have picked a different one just to avoid the multiple association, but as it is I think the story behind it is interesting enough and the song is really just a fantastic town theme. So not surprising that it was used more than once I guess maybe that gives a special distinction of being the ultimate RPG town theme.

Anyhow thanks for asking! I never really did get a chance to explain this situation anywhere so maybe if somebody else is wondering they'll find this post.

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Takin' it EASY, riding my BIKE, makin' my GAMES.
http://www.kittylambda.com

One Sad Cowboy's Dream is truly amazing.

The cool thing about having all the music up-front is I think it let the game be shaped by the music, when normally the opposite is true. It definitely was inspiring to be able to develop the game and to already have all the music up front to set the mood.

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Takin' it EASY, riding my BIKE, makin' my GAMES.
http://www.kittylambda.com

I really agree 100%, and yes, especially with RPGs. I just fired up morrowind for the first time (my first Elder Scrolls game was Skyrim, yikes! I really enjoyed Skyrim... =) and I was amazed at how good the music was, and how much it pulled me in in the same way as Skyrim, just by virtue of the fact that the music was so similar.

Actually I think starting with the music and then constructing the game's mood around it is a very nice way to work. The music on it's own probably souldn't shape the entire game but to have it in mind, as a way to build the indefinable character of a game, is a really useful technique for me.

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o._
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O O

Takin' it EASY, riding my BIKE, makin' my GAMES.
http://www.kittylambda.com