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~

19 responses to “Sonny Joon: Before and After”

  1. 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.

  2. RandomEnder545 says:

    Sonny looks cool

  3. nerdalert says:

    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!

  4. Chelsea G. says:

    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. πŸ™‚

  5. Isis4ever says:

    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! πŸ™‚

    ~Wolfie

  6. Beagle Cakes says:

    When I heard Sonny’s voice in the trailer he sounds more mature than I expected πŸ˜€ 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 πŸ˜›

  7. ND's #1 fan says:

    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! πŸ™‚ And I loooveee the documentary..! That was really cool to see all the work you guys at HeR do to make these awesome games! πŸ˜€ 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…” πŸ˜‰

  8. 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. πŸ™‚

    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!! πŸ˜€

  9. Anonymous says:

    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! πŸ˜€
    I think his voice really fits the character too, so well done again!
    I will defenately play this fun-looking game!

  10. Abby says:

    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!!

  11. Rachel Stevens says:

    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.

  12. ang1e says:

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

  13. NoAuNyCnYuIeStTuHrEiBnOkB says:

    Sonny is in no way how I imagined him i mean i like this versoin better than the one i visioned , it potrays Sonny in was that shows his persobality.

  14. E says:

    I think Sonny looks much much better in the box art. More realistic looking, and handsome to boot, game Sonny, and his voice? Not so much.

  15. Stephanie says:

    First of all, I am 18, and I think he’s cute πŸ™‚ I have like a major crush on him after playing this game even though he’s a computer character haha. I’m not even sure HOW I imagined him, but it definitely wasn’t half as great as he actually turned out! Keep up the good work, HER! I rarely have complaints about the games!

  16. Stephen says:

    I just finished the game. Thought Sonny looked fine and the voice acting was well done. My only complaint is after all of the years, we as players of the Nancy Drew game series, have grown to learn about Sonny – just the way Nancy does. I was disappointed that when Nancy finally meets him – nothing happens. Just a normal conversation with no discussion of past experiences or past adventures. I would have thought that considering the roads that both characters had traveled, Nancy’s reactions would have been stronger than the “no big deal” attitude that they both had to seeing each other for the first time. This was a major event for us players (who have played every game), and Nancy as well, to finally meet Sonny (a type of fun nemesis) and have some type of fanfare between the two characters and Her Interactive missed the opportunity.

  17. pamela says:

    I am great fan of Nancy Drew but I think, although this may be down to age, that the character Sonny Joon sucked. It was due to him being pathetic,the poor story and poor location that The Shattered Medallion was the poorest game. I imagine Nancy and the rest of cast felt like me. SEND HIM BACK INTO
    SPACE!

  18. Emma says:

    Personally, I was surprised to see how perfect sonny’s voice and appearance matched to what I had in my head of what he looked and sounded like. Great, great job Her Interactive! I would love love love to see more of sonny in future games. : ) (he is def my favourite character)

    • Little Jackalope says:

      Glad you liked him, Emma! I hope Sonny makes another appearance in the future, too. πŸ˜‰

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