Steam News17 October 20258mo ago

Mini-Devlog #3: Music & SFX

Hey Everyone! It’s Barry here and today we’re going to talk a bit about the music and sound effects of BIRDCAGE. When developing BIRDCAGE, we set out to tackle each design element equally.

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Full BIRDCAGE update

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Hey Everyone!

What changed

0 fixes1 addition8 changes0 removals

UI and audio
Maps
Gameplay

changedIt’s Barry here and today we’re going to talk a bit about the music and sound effects of BIRDCAGE. When developing BIRDCAGE, we set out to tackle each design element equally. This led to some really cool stuff being inspired by our audio and vice versa, some of our mechanics and story elements, ended up being inspired by our audio!

changedEGG MUSICThe 1990s change from sound chips to CD audio has always been the period of video game music that has influenced me the most. BIRDCAGE draws on this influence and weaves it together with more modern sounds and styles. I spent a lot of time listening to classic 90s video game music; to try to better understand what it is about those soundtracks, that evoke such a strong sense of time and place.

changedEGG MUSICThe BIRDCAGE soundtrack is fast, energetic, electronic and often epic and impactful. I used a lot of genuine 90s sampler hardware throughout, to try and recall some of the retro magic mentioned above. Any time I did this in an arrangement, I’d balance it out with a more modern sound; this is really the essence of the BIRDCAGE soundtrack. I think you’ll probably get a better understanding of what this all means from listening to some tracks!

changedNATALITYNATALITY is our Stage 1 theme, which introduces the HALCYON as it escapes from Space Colony CAGE’s NATALITY branch. NATALITY begins with an orchestral swell that establishes one of the HALCYON’s leitmotifs. To me, the start of this piece creates the image of a fledgling leaving the nest for the first time.

changedNATALITYDuring Stage 1 we encounter a blackout, intended to stall our progress. Here, we switch over to the game’s first instance of dynamic music. Normally reserved for our boss calls, I wrote these lo-fi, stripped-down versions of all our stage music to help to emphasise a change in tone.

changedNATALITYJust a wee disclaimer here to say that there are currently no plans to release our dynamic stage tracks as part of any forthcoming soundtrack releases. If there's enough interest, we may look at releasing them in future but for now, no plans. Thank you for your understanding!

BIRDCAGE changes

changedThe 1990s change from sound chips to CD audio has always been the period of video game music that has influenced me the most. BIRDCAGE draws on this influence and weaves it together with more modern sounds and styles. I spent a lot of time listening to classic 90s video game music; to try to better understand what it is about those soundtracks, that evoke such a strong sense of time and place.

changedThe BIRDCAGE soundtrack is fast, energetic, electronic and often epic and impactful. I used a lot of genuine 90s sampler hardware throughout, to try and recall some of the retro magic mentioned above. Any time I did this in an arrangement, I’d balance it out with a more modern sound; this is really the essence of the BIRDCAGE soundtrack. I think you’ll probably get a better understanding of what this all means from listening to some tracks!

changedNATALITY is our Stage 1 theme, which introduces the HALCYON as it escapes from Space Colony CAGE’s NATALITY branch. NATALITY begins with an orchestral swell that establishes one of the HALCYON’s leitmotifs. To me, the start of this piece creates the image of a fledgling leaving the nest for the first time.

changedDuring Stage 1 we encounter a blackout, intended to stall our progress. Here, we switch over to the game’s first instance of dynamic music. Normally reserved for our boss calls, I wrote these lo-fi, stripped-down versions of all our stage music to help to emphasise a change in tone.

It’s Barry here and today we’re going to talk a bit about the music and sound effects of BIRDCAGE. When developing BIRDCAGE, we set out to tackle each design element equally. This led to some really cool stuff being inspired by our audio and vice versa, some of our mechanics and story elements, ended up being inspired by our audio!

EGG MUSIC

The 1990s change from sound chips to CD audio has always been the period of video game music that has influenced me the most. BIRDCAGE draws on this influence and weaves it together with more modern sounds and styles. I spent a lot of time listening to classic 90s video game music; to try to better understand what it is about those soundtracks, that evoke such a strong sense of time and place.

The BIRDCAGE soundtrack is fast, energetic, electronic and often epic and impactful. I used a lot of genuine 90s sampler hardware throughout, to try and recall some of the retro magic mentioned above. Any time I did this in an arrangement, I’d balance it out with a more modern sound; this is really the essence of the BIRDCAGE soundtrack. I think you’ll probably get a better understanding of what this all means from listening to some tracks!

NATALITY

NATALITY is our Stage 1 theme, which introduces the HALCYON as it escapes from Space Colony CAGE’s NATALITY branch. NATALITY begins with an orchestral swell that establishes one of the HALCYON’s leitmotifs. To me, the start of this piece creates the image of a fledgling leaving the nest for the first time.

During Stage 1 we encounter a blackout, intended to stall our progress. Here, we switch over to the game’s first instance of dynamic music. Normally reserved for our boss calls, I wrote these lo-fi, stripped-down versions of all our stage music to help to emphasise a change in tone.

Just a wee disclaimer here to say that there are currently no plans to release our dynamic stage tracks as part of any forthcoming soundtrack releases. If there's enough interest, we may look at releasing them in future but for now, no plans. Thank you for your understanding!

FISSION

FISSION is our Stage 2 theme, which sees the HALCYON breaking through CAGE’s residential district and hydroponic block. I wanted this track to have a more organic, optimistic feel than our other stage tracks. We hear the sound of animals, the call of birds and our Pilot begins to experience her first sensory messages of freedom.

DREAMSTATE

DREAMSTATE accompanies BIRDCAGE’s tutorial and was written to aurally recall demo discs, keygen music, the kind of really catchy track you’d suddenly hear in the middle of a survival horror game. I like to think of this as the kind of music that would score other parts of BIRDCAGE’s world; not necessarily in the cockpit but on the streets of Space Colony CAGE itself.

BRANCH ERA SOUNDS

A lot of 90s games, shooting games especially, opt for mono sound effects. This can help to communicate audio queues and help with the optimisation process. I went against this somewhat because I wanted our soundstage to be as wide as possible, while still maintaining coherence. Sound design should always fit with and be informed by a game’s music, it’s mechanics and even its story. For example, we’ve made a game with a big SWORD in it, so of course there are SWORD like sounds present in our UI SFX! Here’s a video we took during development with some our in-game SFX isolated.

…AND MORE!

There’s a lot of depth to the BIRDCAGE soundtrack and I’ve really tried to make something that can stand alongside the other great shooting game OSTs of the era. I always hope to recall my influences, while adding something fresh to them. There’s so much more to talk about here as we’ve only really scratched the surface of our 20+ track, nearly 50-minute soundtrack but I hope this has given you some insight into the process.

The BIRDCAGE Original Soundtrack will be available on launch day, via Bandcamp, Steam and all the usual platforms. You can preorder it now by visiting the link below! https://nostoppingepoch.bandcamp.com/album/birdcage-original-soundtrack

Cheers!

Barry & Giannis

Source

Steam News / 17 October 2025

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