Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Sonny Joon: Before and After

Now that everyone has seen Sonny Joon in his fully-modeled 3D form in the game, and heard his voice, I have noticed many comments about him.

One of the comments I have seen often is about how fans like the box art art version better and are disappointed withe the 3D Sonny. Here's the comparison shot:


Our Character Designer is the one who illustrates a concept sketch of each character, after reading his directions from our Designer. Once the concept illustration is done and approved, he models the character and adds the textures and colors of his outfit, hair, and other features. He is the same person who works on both the concept illustration and 3D model. His concept illustration of Sonny Joon was used in the design for the box art as well (and many of us agree: we LOVE his work!).

If you are interested in the process of how we create a character, check out this documentary film we made a while ago:


As for Sonny Joon's voice, our writer was careful about choosing the right kind of actor with an appropriate accent. For Sonny's personality, I am thrilled with how our design team has handled him (and I am a HUGE Sonny Joon fan)! In the game, he is just as quirky, easily distracted, energetic, nerdy, and mysterious as I had always expected him to be. If I can give my advice...I'd say DO judge him by his appearance, but also keep in mind that even if you have "met" him via the official trailer or the character bios, there is still the "getting to know him" element found by playing the game.

Please share your thoughts! Do you like Sonny as you see him now? What do you expect Sonny to be like when you really meet him?

Pre-orders for The Shattered Medallion are live! Will you join Team Tui on Pacific Run and find out what Sonny may be up to?

~Little Jackalope~

13 comments:

Shainnen Somerville said...

I personally think Sonny is completely fine. He's always how I pictured him to be, and the fact I know how a character sketch will come out much more different on a design illustration stand point. Technology can actually go very far, but not too far in this day in age. Soon, technology will be even MORE advanced and we'll probably be able to print sketches out and scan over onto computer design. But for now, it's all hands on work and what you guys are doing is truly amazing.

RandomEnder545 said...

Sonny looks cool

nerdalert said...

I also prefer box art Sonny. In the 3D version, his head is sort of...short, I guess, and his facial features just don't look as great as they did on the box art. Also, his hair is much better looking in the box art. It is more voluminous and lifelike. Although, his voice is great, as well as how he moves. I am excited to meet him nonetheless!
\

Unknown said...

LJ, I love this post. You did something similar for SPY, when a lot of people seemed to be up-in-arms about showing Nancy's mother, and you addressed their concerns in a way that was positive and patient. The way HER listens to their fans is really amazing.

Any negativity is wholly unearned, though. I think Sonny looks and sounds just fantastic, and I've always been a HUGE fan of him! I cannot WAIT to interact with him in the game because it's just going to be SO MUCH FUN, more time with him than I'd ever thought we'd get!

And I had no idea the 2D and 3D work (at least from the design side) was done by the same person! Great to know. :)

Isis4ever said...

I was actually pleased with the 3D animation of Sonny! In fact, I preferred it to the concept art. He just looks a lot more like Sonny Joon to me when animated. I also love his voice. I had never really imagined what his voice would sound like, but I thought it suited him quite nicely.

Overall, I was happy with how his character turned out. I was not looking forward to meeting him at first, but now I am very excited for MED. I'll be pre-ordering tomorrow, hopefully.

Great job to all of you at HeR on what looks like another great game to come! :)

~Wolfie

Beagle Cakes said...

When I heard Sonny's voice in the trailer he sounds more mature than I expected :D I thought he'd have more of a geeky kind of boy with a slight nasal accent!

Out of curiosity is Sonny Joon Korean? It's the last name that got me curious :P

ND's #1 fan said...

I will say, I'm very excited to finally meet Sonny Joon! I personally do like the concept art a little better, but his animation looks great too! :) And I loooveee the documentary..! That was really cool to see all the work you guys at HeR do to make these awesome games! :D Also, I found out that the actress who does Bridget's voice in SPY also does Jessalyn's in GTH! Two of my favorite games lol. I got curious when I heard her in the documentary say- "I've done Southern before..." ;)

Anonymous said...

I was kinda disappointed by Sonny's in-game appearance as well. I have the poster with his concept art and was so looking forward to seeing him in the game! I understand that technology might not allow for a perfect copy though. :)

However, I LOVED the trailer and have already pre-ordered. I think his voice his perfect, and like another commenter said, he is a combination of Renataro and Mason!! I love it.

I'm really hoping he's not the villain and that we get to work with him at some point; I don't want Sonny to go to jail!! :D

Anonymous said...

As far as Sonny's personality goes, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the official trailer: he is much more mysterious, suspicious, and sly than I expected, which added a whole new layer to him and the game! :D
I think his voice really fits the character too, so well done again!
I will defenately play this fun-looking game!

Abby said...

YES, the fans are right. But i get it.
Wouldn't it be funny if Bess or George did it? or Soony Joon himself? hahaha!!

Rachel Stevens said...

I do not. I am not happy with the way anything looks in the game, graphically. Everything looks too flat without enough texture, especially the characters.

ang1e said...

I personally like both works for Sonny Joon's character. Very nice.

Veshurik said...

Can you show script of the game? I mean, text of characters. It is very interesting! I see only actors in the video. text strongly conceal..