Double Fine’s Martz and Schafer explain Sesame Street game

Double Fine, who have previously only released games based on original concepts, announced recently that their next game would be based on a license: Sesame Street. It was a surprise for many. Nathan Martz, project lead on Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, and Tim Schafer, the head of Double Fine, explain in a recent interview with Gamasutra how they arrived at Sesame Street.

“It was basically like a prototype of almost a musical toy where these happy monsters of different shapes and sizes help you make your own personal happy song,” explained Martz, sharing that the project, codenamed “Happy Song”, was not originally a Sesame Street game.

Schafer added, “Nathan's original pitch to the company had a lot of Jim Henson in it. It referenced Sesame Street and The Muppets and how much they meant to us and how much they were an inspiration for these characters.”

As they were presenting the game to various publishers, Warner Bros. Interactive and Sesame Workshop signed an agreement to develop and publish games based on the series. “That was the last straw," said Schafer about the deal, especially after “more and more people” suggested it be a Sesame Street game.

As far as supporting Kinect, Martz said they “know [it] is going after that family market, which just seems natural for it.” Along with the physical activities in the game, the “aesthetic and musical activities become more intrinsically physical with Kinect, and more fun to do with your body.”

He also feels that an uplifting game is something the medium of video games needs. Martz ends, saying, “You know, we’re known for space marines who like violence, primarily. And I think our medium can do many more things than that. And I think that mission of Sesame Street, that original vision of a medium being a force for good—one that can make people feel better about their lives and one that they can learn from—I feel incredibly beholden that we make a product that lives up to that pretty audacious, inspirational goal.”

Check out the full interview at Gamasutra.