But what led Double Fine, such a child-friendly game to make? What is behind the arch surrealist Costume Quest and stacking of Jim Henson 's lovable creatures? Some time ago we had a long talk with project manager Nathan Martz, discussing everything from the history of the title to the challenges of writing games, without patronizing them or boring to teach players. To bring it 'sa fascinating insight into work at Double Fine, and the requirements of Sesame Street to interactive life ...
Why did you create it, a Sesame Street game?
Most of the core design work was actually done before we partnered with the Sesame Workshop. The original idea is almost four years old, but Jim Henson was a huge influence. He was an amazingly creative, expressive guy – The Muppets, Sesame Street, Star Wars – he left a mark on our childhoods. And for me as a craftsmen, I loved his ability to create memorable characters who were at once new and very familiar. That and Where The Wild Things Are, a little bit of Calvin and Hobbes … all this is mixed in there, along with Scott Campbell's own personal art style. He's a master at creating upbeat, fun characters.
So what was the origin of the game if it didn 't start out as a Sesame Street?
The original name of the game was Happy Song. We were just talking about how great it would be to make an uplifting game. I was dating this girl at the time and she asked, 'don't you have a happy song, a song that, when it comes on in the car radio, you just feel great?' At first I was, like, nah I don't have a happy song, but I do of course. Everyone has a happy song. So I thought about a game where some cute monsters help you make your own happy song. It was sort of like a Fisher Price version of the music program Acid. We wanted it to be like LittleBigPlanet – accessible creativity.
What happened to it?
We went back to Brutal Legend, and we had two years left on the game. After that was announced Kinect and Tim and I were already excited about taking Happy Song and moving forward. We just thought, whoah, Kinect - this is a new surface, it 's family-friendly, we're
So partly the game is about relationships?
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