Executive Producer Dale DeSharone stated the game's concepts were inspired by the Skittles television commercials of the "Taste the Rainbow" campaign. DeSharone led a team of over 50 people in Kiev across two years, working on "Darkened Skye" simultaneously with "M&M's The Lost Formulas". By the time "Darkened Skye" was finished, Simon & Schuster considered removing the Skittles association, but the developers already incorporated the candy into the gameplay and in-game text, so it ended up with only no references to Skittles on the box cover.