ASHEVILLE — Yes, Adam Blumenthal loves the Grateful Dead.

As a college student in the late 1980s and early '90s, Blumenthal was researching virtual reality at the same time he was attending a number of Dead concerts. With a passion for the Dead's groundbreaking fusion of music genres and improvisational performances, as well as digital simulations, Blumenthal started thinking about using digital technology to re-create some of the band's legendary shows.

"I wrote a letter to the band at this time (around 1990) but never sent it. They were the world's highest-grossing touring act, and I was a college kid thinking nothing would come of it," Blumenthal said in an email. "So I rewrote the letter for an up-and-coming band, Phish. I proposed to Phish that we make a digital experience based on their music. I got a letter back from Trey Anastasio saying, 'Sounds great, let's talk more about it,'" he said.

That led to a seven-year collaboration with the band and sent Blumenthal into a career in New York media and advertising. He went on to create his own company, Curious Sense, which built digital games and online communities for the media and entertainment industry. But Blumenthal never let go of his dream of working with the Dead. He eventually approached the Grateful Dead through licensing partner Rhino Entertainment with the idea of creating an online game based on the band's legacy. The two sides reached agreement, and the game, called "The Epic Tour," was born.

Blumenthal moved Curious Sense and its eight employees from Research Triangle in Raleigh to Asheville in 2010. Blumenthal's wife, Juditta Musette, is the company's creative director, and the two always loved visiting the mountains and decided the time was right to move.

Here's more from Blumenthal about the development of the unique video game:

Question: What's the status of the game?

Answer: The game itself is not launched yet. What we have launched is a preview/pre-order experience that is telling the backstory of the game that allows players to begin to build their in-game character (a dancing bear) and that gives Dead Heads the chance to vote for their favorite Grateful Dead shows. At the end of January we will close the voting, and the top 10 shows, as voted by the fans, will be the shows we reimagine and visit in the game, 'The Epic Tour.'

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Q: Do you have a favorite piece of album cover art that you incorporated into the game or another favorite visual that is featured in the game?

A: I have always loved the San Francisco rock posters that Bill Graham and other promoters commissioned during the Grateful Dead's early days. This is my favorite body of visual art. This is an example of an element of the Grateful Dead legacy that we are honoring and extending in the game. Presently, Dead Heads are voting on the favorite Dead concerts. When we close the voting at the end of January and we have the 10 "most epic shows" as voted by fans, we're going to commission artists to produce "post-concert" posters for each of the most epic shows. Visual elements from the posters will contribute to the visual environments we'll build in the game to represent each show. So far we have commissioned one artist to produce the poster for the game itself — Joshua Marc Levy — a newcomer to Asheville from New York City.

Q: What are a couple of songs or characters that really translate well in the game experience? Can you describe how one song or character comes alive in the game?

A: So far, we have chosen to bring to life the dancing bears and the Uncle Sam character. The dancing bears were an obvious choice because they are almost universally beloved. They are customizable in an infinite number of ways and thus a good character for a player's avatar. They appeal to men and women, and they're appealing to adults and kids. The Uncle Sam skeleton is sort of the guide in the game, sometimes helpful, sometimes a prankster. He has brothers and sisters, too, like a new character we created who's the conductor of a Grateful Dead space railway — the vehicle that will take players on the trip through Grateful Dead time and space. We're not going to be translating songs into game experiences. We heard from Dead Heads that they didn't want us messing with their own visual imaginings of what the songs look and feel like. This insight was one thing that inspired the idea of the game journey being about the shows rather than about stepping into the songs.

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Q: How do players interact with the Grateful Dead music in the game experience?

A: Every bit of sound, sound effect, and music comes from Grateful Dead source material. One of the reasons I wanted to build the game was to leverage interactive technology to create new ways for fans to interact with the music. I can't say too much about the game experience yet, but I'm certain one of the first game experiences we'll create will be one that allows players to bring their dancing bears to life in a cool dancing game, like digital puppetry.

Q: How have Dead Heads reacted to the game?

A: Dead Heads are excited! They're making their bears, they're buying our membership packages, they're voting, they're sharing ideas with us, they're sharing stories of their lives with the Dead, and they're anxious to start playing. We know that there's a contingency of Dead Heads who want their Dead to be free, so we're using a business model called a "freemium" model in which the game is free and fun for those who aren't willing or able to pay. But for those who are willing and able, there are (and will be) many awesome premium features.

Q: What's next for Curious Sense? Do you have other video games in the works?

A: This is all for now. It's a big project. It's the most important project of my career. We've actually turned down another project with another major entertainment brand because we need to focus on the Grateful Dead and make sure it's truckin' smoothly.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say, or would like people to know about curious sense or the Grateful Dead game?

A: It's a joy to work side by side with my wife, Juditta Musette, the creative director at Curious Sense. She's an artist and designer, and not a Dead Head. She's an amazing storyteller, writer and visual artist, and unlike me, she has enough distance from the Dead to contribute very fresh ideas and to evaluate ideas from the perspective of the second audience we want to reach: not-yet-Dead-Heads.