How Sonic Boom is influenced by Adventure Time
Sonic Boom creative director Bob Rafei says that part of making Sonic into a western property is understanding that kids' pop culture requires a mixture of story and humor, and references shows like Adventure Time as examples.
Sonic Boom is another attempt to modernize and update the classic Sega character, but this time the publisher is handing it off to western developer Big Red Button. Creative director Bob Rafei is heading up the effort, and says he's thinks kids' properties need the sensibilities of popular shows like Adventure Time and Phineas and Ferb.
"Kids' pop culture today requires a healthy blend of story and humor--just take a look at TV shows like Phineas and Ferb, Adventure Time or Amazing World of Gumball, to name a few examples," he told Gamasutra. "Story and humor are also necessary for a successful family/kids game today to be competitive. As a parent of kids ages 9 and 11, I can barely keep up with the sharp humor of these shows myself, so imagine the challenge a non-Western developer would have to try to capture this in their games."
Those examples have fairly strong adult fan-bases in addition to the usual kid set, which also appears to be a goal for Sonic Boom as well. Though Rafei says the target audience is kids aged 6-11, he says they want adults to be able to join in local play with their kids. "We set out to make Boom simply fun by finding the right balance of accessibility for new fans, yet have enough challenge, depth and player expression for established fans or more seasoned gamers," he said. "Boom's gameplay encourages working together to defeat enemies."
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, How Sonic Boom is influenced by Adventure Time.
Sonic Boom creative director Bob Rafei says that part of making Sonic into a western property is understanding that kids' pop culture requires a mixture of story and humor, and references shows like Adventure Time as examples.-
Hmm, for a second there I let myself get excited from reading the headline, but nah. As much as I want a Sonic franchise to be awesome again, these are the words of a producer who has a good idea of what makes money in children's entertainment these days. There's no evidence of him understanding that the great shows, and great old games, came about from passionate people doing what they loved, not a studio being told what elements to put into a property to squeeze blood from the stone of an old IP. Give me someone who says that the Genesis Sonic games were his favorite and everything since then has filled his inner child with a hollow emptiness and I'll get excited for the game, cartoon, comic book, whatever that guy makes.
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