Exploring Life & Business with Micha’El SonVega of Polykrafted Entertainment

Today we’d like to introduce you to Micha’El SonVega.

Micha’El, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Sure! I actually attended school at Trident Technical College in Charleston, SC. I went for the Associate’s Program they had at the time, Commercial Graphics.

I basically went because my father said I should use my artistic ability for something. However, after being in tech school for around 9 months or so, I realized I wanted to focus on animation. Problem was, Trident wasn’t really the place to be, at least around that time, if one wanted to learn the process of animation. Much of the software and training I was learning while attending just wasn’t what was going to get me where I wanted to be.

I couldn’t afford to go to a school dedicated to the craft like Full Sail or SCAD. So, I made the decision to leave, and focus on teaching myself. I bought the book, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, and began practicing. Luckily, Trident did have a course teaching Macromedia Flash (Yes, I’m old enough to remember them before Abobe bought them out, lol). That program’s animation tools were what I used in the beginning.

Hardly anyone remembers anymore, but the internet was full of flash animations at the time. All sorts of small titles became successful, launching the careers of several directors and animators. A couple I remember are Ninjai, the Little Ninja and Genryu’s Blade.

After practicing for a time, I decided to get in on the action. In 2006, I began production on the first episode of a samurai series I had been planning. It was called Duelsman. Over the course of 7 months, I toiled day and night on that project. When I finished, I showed my friends and family. Of course, the liked it, lol. It was, however, when I showed colleagues, and the reception was still good, that I thought I had something.

There was a small company, Atom Films, that I pitched the series to. They loved the first episode, and I was about to get green-lit. However, Viacom, took over the company and decided to focus on comedy. I ran around trying to pitch the film to as many studios as I could, but I couldn’t get anyone to pick it up.

That project took so much out of me. I had done everything myself; the art, animation, music, and direction. It cost me money, a considerable amount of time, and sacrifice. I would have finished it, but honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to. I had a young family that I was trying to provide for and I just couldn’t take the time away.

So, I learned to program and focused on web design. Fortunately, Flash, now owned by Adobe, was capable of that as well. I worked gigs as I got them and supplemented my income with restaurant work until I decided to make the move to metro Atlanta 15 years back. With my ability to write software, and my background as a short film maker, I managed to get work as a game developer. Additionally, I was contracted by Amazon’s Createspace Publishing as an Illustrator around this time.

I started in Casino Games before moving on to apps. Then, I later went on to educational and MMO game development. I did everything from app development for construction companies to working with big names like Floyd Country Productions (Archer Animated Television Show), Age of Learning (ABC Mouse), and Jump Start Games (Developer of Dreamworks School of Dragons MMO). During this period, in the background, I had also illustrated around 20 books by this time.

I never forgot, though, about my roots as a story teller. I worked on pet projects throughout the years. The Dream Compass, being one, and Super Mean Monkeys (released in 2021).

During Covid, though, my creativity was fully rekindled. I released KOBU, my first music album (released in 2024). I liked the story and so decided to create a full movie based off the book, Watcher at the Realm (released in 2025).

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
LOL!! I wish it was smooth. Everything that can go wrong, does. That’s the nature of any form of entertainment. Quite honestly, anything great one wants to accomplish will be this way.

Life threw all kinds of problems at me that stalled projects in all sorts of ways. I’ve had set backs with money, family issues, bodily injury, and most recently a divorce.

But you keep moving, you know. You always have to spend more time looking forward than you do looking back.

We’ve been impressed with Polykrafted Entertainment, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Polykrafted Entertainment is really a DBA for my main LLC, Minute Games LLC. I opened it back in 2021 with a focus on crafting small stories that I could achieve easily.

We specialize in small games, narrative music albums, and film work. We’re known for the puzzle game Super Mean Monkeys (2021), the narrative album KOBU (2024), and the feature film Watcher at the Realm (2025). We’re proud of all the work we’ve produced.

What we want folks to know first and foremost is that we do not and will not use Generative AI for our work. That is, unless certain guidelines are implemented by the government and business entities that make it fair for the artists that have had their artwork stolen so that anybody can “create” work based off of their hard work and sacrifices.

Our work is genuine. Our work is real. Our work is human. Our work is Polykrafted.

How do you define success?
Completion. If you don’t have a product to sell, you don’t have any engine to produce profit. None of the work we’ve created and put on the market has done as well as I would have liked. That said, it exists. It’s IP that, while it may not be making money now, could suddenly blow up one day. You never know.

I’ve known many people who have dreamt and planned. I know many who require perfection. That doesn’t work. Grind it out, and get the job done. Someday, someone will place value on what you created so long as you keep pushing it.

Pricing:

• Watcher at the Realm (Free to watch on Fawesome.tv and other services)
• KOBU (free to stream on various platforms)
• Super Mean Monkeys (2.99 on the App Store)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sonvega.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micha_el_sonvega?igsh=emp5bG43YzQ3Zms1&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556216057069
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micha-el-sonvega-98010a74
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@michaelsonvega-o6c?si=5YgLQij22eosJ4G8
• Soundcloud: https://micha-el.bandcamp.com/album/kobu
• Other: https://www.threads.com/@micha_el_sonvega?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==