Development of the games' "super compelling" and "rich" backstory took 16 months. The ClueFinders adventures take place in the real contemporary world incorporating some elements of fantasy and science fiction, with merely the continued presence of LapTrap pushing the series into the realm of science fiction. They simultaneously had a sense of urgency toward an end goal while allowing players to explore and use their minds on puzzles. Nevertheless, the opening titles from "The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures" place the series in the present day. The main cast of "complex" and "flawed" characters include ClueFinders founder and tomboy Joni Savage, skater dude Owen Lam (Asian-American), mechanically-minded Santiago Rivera (Spanish-American), literary-minded Leslie Clark (African-American), artificial intelligent LapTrap, and intelligent dog Socrates. They were chosen to be around the same age as the players after the art director ran various character designs by a group of kids; unsuccessful designs included animals, rock stars, and FBI agents, which came across as babysitters instead of teammates. They were designed with distinct personalities and with identifiable faults to increase their relatability. The developers used a character grid to aid their writing; it contained information such as: "their flaws, their fears, how they met, where they grew up, and their likely reactions to certain situations."