For many listeners, Barry “Epoch” Topping first made his mark with the unforgettable soundtrack to Paradise Killer, while others know him through his city pop-inspired solo project, The Needs. With BIRDCAGE, however, he takes on an even broader creative role; not only composing its nostalgic, '90s-inspired soundtrack but also serving as director and co-founder of developer POLYGON BIRD.

In our conversation, Epoch shares valuable insights on the making of BIRDCAGE, his passion for retro game music and physical media, the surprising return of the MiniDisc, his musical influences, and what it was like to shape a game and its soundtrack side by side. He also shares his favorite game soundtracks of all time, discusses upcoming projects, and offers advice for aspiring game composers.

How is Barry “Epoch” Topping doing these days? What’s keeping you busy?

Epoch: Things are going good! It’s been a busy start to 2026, following on from a busy 2025 but I’m happy to be hard at it. Still making music, still making games. BIRDCAGE is coming to consoles this summer, after a great PC launch. I’m also working on a few unannounced projects; a couple of games with really cool studios. Lots to look forward to!

People know you from your work for Paradise Killer and as the mastermind behind the stand-alone music of The Needs. Both musical projects have a pretty identical musical direction. How was it for you to switch genres for BIRDCAGE? What were the challenges?

Epoch: Honestly, I’m more than happy to jump between styles. There’s so much fun and creativity in exploring how a specific type of music is made. Understanding sounds and genres, reinterpreting them in your own way, it’s challenging for sure, but I really enjoy it. There’s a shared musical identity you can find across my work. The Needs for example, was written during BIRDCAGE development and to me at least, I can hear bits and pieces of each, in the other.

The aesthetics of BIRDCAGE are really influenced by the 90s, so it’s quite obvious why you went for the musical direction of the soundtrack. Please describe anyway how you dove into this project and where you took the influences from.

Epoch: I listened to the many great video game soundtracks of the 90s, with a view to understanding why I loved them so much. When the 90s came around, composers understood there were fewer rules for defining what was and wasn’t “video game music”. With the advent of CD audio, composers could bring in styles and sounds from a much wider range of influences. I think the really special elements, came from the technology of the time; specific sample libraries, drum machines or synthesisers. I tried to use as much old tech as I could get my hands on, contrasting those sounds with modern sounds and arranging techniques.

The soundtrack for BIRDCAGE is not only released on vinyl, but you also resurrected a format that many people would believe is no longer existing. What fascinates you about MiniDiscs?

Epoch: “Y2K” and its related aesthetic is rooted in a cultural and technological emergence that begins around 1995. I can say this confidently because I’ve read hundreds of Japanese guitar catalogues and ’95 is very much when the vibe kicks in. MiniDisc had been going for a few years at that point and was carried on the wave of the coming years, to reach its peak around ‘98 / ‘99. BIRDCAGE is a project which is so informed by the games, music and films of that era, that having the soundtrack release on MiniDisc felt essential. It was something we decided on right at the beginning of the project and it’s so cool that we could work with Black Screen Records to make it real and get it into people’s hands.

Do you still own a player and listen to MDs? Do you know if there’s still a market for this?

Epoch: MiniDisc was really only successful in Europe and Japan but I can assure our American readers that it was indeed real, popular and many kids at my school had one. Sadly, my high school MiniDisc recorder is no longer around but I did pick one up recently. MiniDisc really shines in 2026 as portable, physical media. Like vinyl, or CD, you have a tangible connection to the music. In a time where I want less and less to do with my phone, having a pocket sized, portable music player has been a fun exercise in curating my own listening a bit more. I would like to see more video game soundtracks released this way and would encourage folks to keep an eye out for a player or recorder at their local car boot sale or thrift store.

What musical fields apart from souly city pop and 90s electronic are appealing to you as well?

Epoch: I really like all sorts of electronic music but I find myself more commonly arranging for bigger ensembles; strings, horns etc. I’d love to work on something more orchestral. Anything I can do to keep my process and my output varied and interesting.

You’re not only involved with BIRDCAGE as the composer of the soundtrack, but you’re also listed as the director of POLYGON BIRD, the developer and publisher of the game. How has that influenced you approach to the music? 

Epoch: Both Giannis and I are musicians, so with BIRDCAGE, we approached some parts of the game, music first. I’d come up with a track, and we’d build the visuals and stage layout around that. A lot of my favourite parts of the game came out of us having a “flat” development structure, where different design elements shared priority. Of course, you’re somewhat limited by having to code your big ideas but we really got most of them into the final game.

BIRDCAGE is POLYGON BIRD’s first game, what have you learned from this release and what have you especially enjoyed?

Epoch: The whole thing has been a huge learning experience. Making video games is really hard, especially when it’s your first time, you’ve no prior coding experience and no development funding. At the same time, I think these factors shaped our commitment to sticking to our vision. That’s been the most fun part of it all too; learning and making and seeing how it all turns out. Of course, at the back of your mind, you’re thinking “Well I hope other people are going to enjoy this.”, so the wonderful reception the game has received, has been a huge bonus for us!

What’s different when you’re working on the game and the soundtrack at the same time instead of just the soundtrack?

Epoch: So many good game design ideas can be informed by music or other audio. These types of design relationships often become symbiotic too; your level design starts to inform your music; your sound effects change some of your ideas for UI treatment. There’s a real difference in the way that traditional artists and traditional game developers iterate on ideas and having specific parts of your game, be more developmentally siloed, is often a more traditional approach. For us though, our process of keeping things organised but often encouraging them to overlap, helped us get through the project in good shape and kept development exciting.

Can you already reveal what POLYGON BIRD is working on next?

Epoch: BIRDCAGE was a fact-finding mission in a way, a chance for us to see what it actually takes to make a video game. ECO BREAKER (our retro-styled JPRG) has been around, in the background since we started on BIRDCAGE. We identified that we had something special with ECO BREAKER and decided to set it aside, while we did all the necessary learning, during development of BIRDCAGE. From here, we’d love to see ECO BREAKER’s potential realised. There are other, smaller projects we’re interested in too; games, music, lots of stuff. All I can say for now is that there will be more POLYGON BIRD in the future. Please look forward to it!

Your album The Needs was not only a chance to release music outside the context of a game, but you also released a series of cover songs later on, still under the flag of The Needs. The originals practically came from everywhere. What made you choose especially these? Was it a good occasion to share your musical influences with the world? What would be your most important musical roots? 

Epoch: I do love to share my enthusiasm for music! I keep a list of songs that I think would be fun to cover. For The Needs: ReCovered, I tried to pick some which would be more challenging to align with our sound. I hope the track listing raised a few eyebrows! Whereas my tastes tend to change quite a lot and are often rooted in my wider interests, I’m definitely partial to concept album and will probably always be a guitarist at heart. IRON MAIDEN particularly have been a big musical influence in my life. You can see this reflected in The Needs: ReCovered, opening with a cover of The Wicker Man.

After doing The Needs and working on a game and soundtrack at the same time, what would be your next dream project?

Epoch: BIRDCAGE really was a dream project. I’d wanted to write music for a shooting game for a very long time. At the moment I’m working on a couple of JRPG-shaped things, which I think could be really special. I’d love to work on a racing game at some point, and it would be amazing to return to The Needs eventually too.

What is your top 5 of game soundtracks?

What is the game soundtrack you would have loved to do, because you’re such a fan of the game, but someone else got the job?

Epoch: Nothing immediately comes to mind but if Ganbare Goemon ever comes back and they need a guy, I am absolutely the guy.

How did you get into creating soundtracks for games?

Epoch: I got roped into playing the tuba at high school (if you wanted lessons, you had to play the instrument you were assigned), which almost killed my enthusiasm for music stone dead. I later discovered rock music and due to being blacklisted for quitting the tuba, decided to teach myself to play on my dad’s terrible 1970s acoustic guitar. From there, I started playing in bands and got a taste for performing and writing my own music.

Then it’s really a very long period of studying music and production, while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. You’ll appreciate that there aren’t a lot of opportunities out there for people looking to compose music professionally, even fewer in Scotland. I really just persevered, working bad jobs, while chipping away at a music career on the side. I think that’s really the most important thing, just keep making stuff and it’ll happen. Do any music related work you can get your hands on. I played in a wedding band for years and cherish that experience. Eventually for me, smaller opportunities grew into larger ones and I’ve been doing this full time for the last 5-6 years. I do it primarily for the love of it but I’m so thankful to anyone who ever has taken the time to listen to my music or check out the games I’ve worked on. Long may it continue!