During the development of Double Fine's
Brütal Legend, issues with publishers put the game's fate in question. To bolster the company,
Tim Schafer had split the company into four groups over a two-week period to design prototypes for a new game. After this "Amnesia Fortnight", taking place around 2007–2008, the whole company reviewed the generated prototypes and found them to be sound ideas from which to build. After
Brütal Legend was completed, they were told by
Electronic Arts that there would not likely be a sequel; Schafer turned back to these four games and set the company to develop the titles further while selling the idea of these smaller games to publishers. Though
Once Upon a Monster was the first game to be completed as a prototype during the Amnesia Fortnight, it was the fourth game published, following
Costume Quest,
Stacking, and
Iron Brigade. The original game involved monsters singing and dancing, inspired by the antics of
Sesame Street and
The Muppets. In designing the prototype, Martz set about to make a game that was "uplifting", citing games like
LocoRoco that he called "overtly and passionately upbeat". Schafer, Martz, and several other Double Fine staff were childhood fans of the show, and once they were successful in negotiating the license for
Once Upon a Monster, they felt it was important to stay true to the Workshop's vision; as Schafer described, he "felt this responsibility, just how serious it is to work with the characters, and how important they are". They visited the Jim Henson studio in New York twice to review and discuss the construction of the Muppets for the show, which they then translated into their game engine; the engine includes dynamic fur simulation and skeleton animations that mimic the behavior of the Muppets. Once they had begun working with Sesame Workshop, Double Fine learned that the non-profit organization had several goals that they built into
Sesame Street that were not immediately obvious, including a "Whole Child Curriculum" that helped to foster social and emotional development in children, and a "Healthy Habits for Life" aimed at nutrition and fitness, the latter which the Kinect controller would promote. They worked alongside the Workshop's Education Research and Outreach program, which reviews all
Sesame Street-licensed products, to assure that the goals of the game would promote the mission of the Workshop. As a result, the game became what Mantz described as "emotional entertainment", teaching younger players "real human themes like shyness, friendship, bravery, sensitivity, empathy". While Schafer recognized that part of their job in developing the game was to promote the Workshop's educational goals, he also reflected that
Sesame Street involves a good amount of humor; Schafer compared the performers that control the Muppets as live comedy performers, reacting to the situation as need be. Schafer and Martz also recognized that much of the humor is aimed at both parents and their children, and wanted to capture that for the game, allowing parents and children to play it together instead of letting the game be an "electronic babysitter". ==Cast==