Given they have very clean graphic lines, it was important not to clutter their silhouettes, so any little addition had to be carefully considered. The athletic tape hints at a team that is ready for any action – it is about practicality rather than vanity. Since we wanted to push the characterisation of Sonic and friends to fit our narrative, I thought it more appropriate to make them a touch older by adjusting their head, hand and feet proportions. We explored various costume options and quickly found the limits of what works and what doesn’t. The objective was to make the characters instantly recognisable as being from Sonic Boom. Rafei explains why Sonic and his chums look the way they do: Of course, no matter how similar Sonic Boom is to classic titles from the franchise, it's going to be tricky for hardcore fans to accept the new character designs - easily the most talked-about element of yesterday's reveal. This might seem like an innovative new concept, but it actually proves that Big Red Button has been casting a keen eye over the history of the Sonic series - a similar feature was used in Knuckles' Chaotix on the ill-fated Sega 32X. Constantly connected by an energy beam, players can't leave each other behind, but this mechanic has other uses - such as stretching the beam to create a catapult effect. One of the most interesting features of the game is a tethering system which bonds players together and removes the need for a split-screen view. Our take was to integrate 2D and 3D seamlessly within the level in a way that made sense, keeping things fresh for the player. We also love what Sonic Team did with Sonic Generations, giving the player 2D and 3D variations of the same level.

We believe this is a great approach and modelled Sonic Boom after it. In Sonic Adventure, the game’s structure offered exploration and discovery that opened up more as the player progressed. Sonic 2 had a ‘team’ vibe between Sonic and Tails and we wanted to recapture that plus kick things up a notch by adding Amy and Knuckles to the equation.

Big red button game studio