Jessica Curry: ‘Everybody’s Gone to The Rapture”s business side “hurt me deeply”

Composer Jessica Curry has reflected on her time creating Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, and revealed that being involved with the business side of the game “scarred” her.

As well as composing the game, Curry was also studio head at The Chinese Room.  Speaking to NME, Curry described creating Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture as “the best and worst of times,” and shared that she also experienced a negative side to development.

“After Rapture we found publishers very averse to carry on exploring deeper stories and that’s one of the reasons that I stopped running The Chinese Room with [co-founder Dan Pinchbeck]. The algorithmic profit spreadsheets were just too much for me, I honestly couldn’t bear it. Great art isn’t ever created with a view to the bottom line.”

Though “making the game itself was enthralling, intoxicating and joyful,” Curry shared that she found being involved with the business-oriented side of development much harder.

“The business side of making the game hurt me deeply and it scarred me; scars that I carry to this day. It’s why I didn’t go on to work on AAA games and I’ve laid pretty low since. I never quite recovered in some ways,” said Curry.

In regards to Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, Curry was still pleased with the finished product: “Artistically I think that the game is what we all strive for creatively – that exquisite alchemy, a knowledge that it has all just come together to form something truly special. I wouldn’t change that for the world – or should I say the end of the world.”

The Chinese Room is currently working on two projects that are yet to be announced. While details are currently firmly under wraps, The Chinese Room co-founder Dan Pinchbeck recent told NME that they are “bigger titles” in “more traditional genres.”

You can read our full interview with Curry here.

In other gaming news, former Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has suggested that fans shouldn’t hold their breath for more Earthbound.