Dan Tompkins, lead singer of progressive metal band Tesseract, has been working on a game based around the band’s fifth album, War of Being.
He started live-streaming on Twitch during the Covid-19 pandemic and experimenting with VR performances.
That inspired him to team up with a programmer, designer and concept artist, as well as teaching himself to use video game engine Unreal 5 to create the virtual reality game.
Players navigate a world based on the album, unlocking parts of a song which they get to hear in full at the end.
War of Being has had a positive reaction since the release of an early access version, which Dan is continuing to work on alongside making music.
He admits the project has “just kind of snowballed and gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” and probably isn’t something many others could replicate.
But he estimates that the band’s following has grown by thousands since he started working on the game, and it has helped them make connections within gaming.
Tesseract recently recorded an end credits track for Wild West-themed shooter Soulslinger and he thinks tie-ups like this will become more achievable in future.
For him, he sees it as one of the ways bands can “develop a following and retain it and reward your fans for their commitment to supporting you and doing interesting things.”
