The combination of music and action always gets gamers' blood pumping. However, Brain Jar Games' 'Dead as Disco' goes beyond a simple rhythm game where you press buttons to a set beat. This is thanks to its 'My Music' feature, which allows players to import any song in their music library into the game with a single button and convert it into perfect combat choreography (a beatmap). Reaching 1.4 million demo players and surpassing 500,000 Early Access sales proves just how successfully this innovative system has captured players' hearts.

Armed with an original idea, the game started from a fun, intuitive concept: "Bruce Lee brawling to TikTok beats." From quiet ballads to hardcore rock exceeding 200 BPM, and even the global kids' singalong song "Baby Shark," no matter what track you load, the game engine seamlessly synchronizes the enemies' attack tempo and combat action. It perfectly fulfills everyone's dream of becoming an action movie protagonist with their own dedicated soundtrack.

At this year's gamescom booth, we met Adam Gershowitz, COO of Brain Jar Games, who was brimming with passion for music and action. We had an in-depth conversation covering everything from the secrets behind the success of this incredible rhythm action game—crafted over two and a half years by 35 veteran developers spread across the globe—to its technical background and a special tribute to Korean gamers.

Q. Playing the game firsthand, the thrill of performing action to the beat was incredible. How did you come up with the concept for such an awesome game?

"This project is a true labor of love. Our team brings together an audio director who is a composer with decades of experience and a bunch of side-scrolling action game enthusiasts. Among several concepts, the idea of 'Bruce Lee brawling to TikTok beats' hooked us. Like an action movie star coolly walking away from an explosion, we wanted to give players the experience of being a cool protagonist with their very own soundtrack.

Q. The 'My Music' feature, which allows players to import any track they want, is impressive. How were you able to seamlessly synchronize personal tracks of varying tempos with the combat system without it feeling awkward?

"The game engine analyzes the song's meter, beat, pitch, and other elements to automatically map out a beatmap that serves as the dance 'choreography.' When a user loads a song, the engine finishes analyzing it in under two minutes and calculates the enemies' attack tempo. Whether it's a fast, crazy song at 200 beats per minute (BPM) or a slow track at 90 BPM, it scales and handles it automatically. Later on, we also plan to provide detailed tools that allow players to sync action specifically to vocal tracks or drum lines.

Q. It was surprising and hilarious to see 'Baby Shark' featured in the Midsummer Update trailer. Was there a specific reason for choosing this song?

"We wanted to intuitively demonstrate that our 'My Music' feature 'can handle literally any music.' We worried that rock or rap might just look like standard background music, but then our video editor, Yosh, brought us a version of Baby Shark from an indie label. There was no song more perfect. Since the original nursery rhyme is in the public domain, we're seriously considering adding a version where our in-game character 'Hemlock' sings Baby Shark himself later on.

Q. In that case, do you have any 'dream artists' or music IPs you would love to collaborate with in the future?

"Classic disco hits like 'Saturday Night Fever' are a given, and we'd also love to work with rapper 'bbno$'. If it were up to us, we'd put every musician in the world into the game. What's funny is that players imported K-pop songs like BTS into the game, and even though it's a disco game, it fit surprisingly well, which shocked us too. Thanks to our Early Access success, many collaboration doors are opening up, so we're really excited.

Q. When it comes to control schemes, which do you recommend more: a controller (gamepad) or mouse/keyboard?

"We optimized both completely, but for the majority of players, we slightly recommend a 'controller.' Just like the side-scrolling action or fighting games we used to play in arcades back in the day were all joystick-based, a controller lets you feel the game's unique rhythm in the most instinctive and natural way. By the way, playing with an arcade stick is also incredibly fun.

Q. You've set major milestones with 1.4 million demo players and 500,000 Early Access sales. You're also sitting at an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam. Did you expect such an explosive response?

"Since writing our first code in early 2024, our team of 35 developers has been sprinting for two and a half years with earnest hopes, but I wouldn't be arrogant enough to say we expected it. From the early stages of development, we constantly asked players four questions: 'Is it fun?', 'Would you recommend it to a friend?', 'What did you like?', and 'What should we improve?' We only moved on to the next phase if the fun score was a 9 or 10. I think our philosophy—that we wouldn't release the game unless players genuinely found it fun—really resonated.

Q. You have numerous communities, including a Discord server with over 90,000 members. Which user feedback was most memorable or significantly influenced your development direction?

"The question we hear the most is by far, 'When is it coming to Nintendo Switch 2 or consoles?' In-game feedback varies depending on player tendencies. There are 'UGC (User-Generated Content) players' who craft their own outfits or maps, and 'mechanics-focused players' who want leaderboards, hardcore modes, and tighter timing windows. The 'automatic music analysis' feature added this time was a great middle ground that both of these player groups had wanted for a long time.

There was also completely unexpected feedback. After launching the demo, seeing so many players enjoying Vocaloid tracks like Hatsune Miku, we directly reached out to a professional Vocaloid composer in Japan to create an exclusive track called 'Nico Nico, Let's go.' Additionally, player reactions to the boss (Idol) entry cutscene animations were so explosive that we decided to significantly increase our budget to produce even more animated sequences.

Q. How large is the development team currently, and when are you targeting the full 1.0 release?

"Brain Jar Games is a remote team of 35 working spread across the globe, holding offline workshops twice a year. After writing our first code in early 2024, we've been running nonstop for two and a half years.

We want to move toward full 1.0 release as quickly as possible, but it definitely won't be 'within this year.' That's because we first need to secure enough volume of content to satisfy our players' appetite. Instead, we plan to steadily deliver very substantial and exciting patches for existing Early Access players throughout this year. We also hope to share good news soon regarding future console ports.

Q. Finally, do you have any message you would like to share with Korean gamers?

"The Korean music scene (including K-pop) holds a very special and important place in our development team's hearts. For the theme song of the in-game boss 'Aurora,' we brought in a singer who was actually a former K-pop idol trainee to record vocals, pouring real authenticity into it. Moving forward, we plan to partner with various labels to secure 'authentic local music' from regions around the world, including Korea.

We also know well that Korean players love 'high-skill rhythm games' where they can show off overwhelming mechanics. We plan to steadily add challenging, sophisticated content for skilled players—such as a hardcore mode where missing the timing causes attacks to miss completely—so we ask for Korean players' continued interest and sharp feedback.