The Challenge

Sesame had a set of popular digital books that were live on the appstores but had not been updated for some period

The Outcome

Tintash reviewed the legacy technology and updated it for best performance and best practices on the latest devices

Sesame Workshop engaged Tintash across 2020 for a vital project. The Monster at the End of this Book and Another Monster at the End of this Book are some of the most loved titles published by Sesame, whether in physical or digital form. But they were live on the appstores in legacy technologies since 2018 and could use a refresh with a view to their longevity.

Through an RFP process, Tintash diligently evaluated the legacy code and art assets and concluded that it was best to port the apps from the existing cocos 2dx framework to Unity. This would allow slicker performance across the latest iOS and Android phones and tablets while also allowing the incorporation of key contemporary features such as analytics support and integration of relevant third-party services.

The project plan was developed following careful review of the existing art assets and animations. The art assets had to be re-used with the highest fidelity to stay true to the Sesame brand and the animations had to be timed to perfection through careful engineering and testing since all the interactive elements in the digital books followed strict pedagogical guidelines that could never be compromised.

Through the project, Tintash interacted closely with a team of three professionals from Sesame Workshop overseeing the project and providing guidance. Weekly calls allowed in-depth discussions and alignment opportunities as well as vigorous debate over priorities. The shared project management tools such as the Jira board ensured all discussions were documented and could be referenced as needed.

Tintash identified early on that a fair amount of the architecture could be re-used between the two books and planned accordingly. Each page of the books was meticulously developed using the Spine tool taking into account that the complexity of art and animations could vary tremendously across pages. A balance was struck between automating the animations where practical, and manual development where it was needed, to stay true to the spirit of the original product.

Tintash also brought these properties to Amazon Fire TV which was among the first such efforts for Sesame. This involved setting up carefully choreographed interactions across this hardware and was a key component of the launch plan.

We worked on a tight timeline to have things ready in time for Sesame’s marketing efforts in November for their launch on HBO. We agreed on a set of pre-launch and post-launch priorities to have something live for this big event and then wrap up some items at a more leisurely pace later. The final products live on the appstores are tightly integrated with Sesame APIs including their cross-promotional efforts and are thus robust products that can serve for the near future.

Tintash is proud to become part of the Sesame family and support the mission of making children ‘smarter, stronger and kinder’. It has been a privilege to work together to ensure that the goal of educating children was not compromised in a year of covid uncertainty