Former Rare Employee: “Something Fundamental has been Lost”

Chris Seavor, an artist who worked on several games during Rare’s golden age, recently sat down for an interview with RareFanDaBase. The interview mostly touches upon the challenges of designing art for games, but they do have a brief discussion about what Rare used to be, and what it is now.

“Tim and Chris would still be around, Mark B, Simon, loads of other people who subsequently left as well… Even me maybe,” Chris says when asked what Rare would be like today if Nintendo had retained ownership. “A company isn’t defined by bricks and mortar. It’s a people thing, so yeah , bar a few tweaks it would have been pretty much the same, both the good and the bad”

When asked for his thoughts on the current state of Rare, he replied, “I don’t really think about Rare… I do have to listen to other people’s opinions about it sometimes, and I feel sad for them that they feel something fundamental has been lost, like an old friend gone to pasture, suddenly replaced by the zany new kid and his fancy boots . But tbh nothing lasts forever, people move on, things change.. that’s just the way it is… Like I said earlier, expensive business now, with no room for noble auteurs and old design hippies like me to toss off 6 months and a million quid on a crazy idea. Shame, but hey ho”

Chris also let slip a few details about a Conker sequel called Other Bad Day. When further prodded, he revealed some information about the canned game. “well it was pretty much designed in outline…. The story, the levels, some of the gameplay (loosely) which movies were ripe for parody, and general tests for the graphics. A ton of artwork was done, which spilled over into the multiplayer only game called Getting Medieval, based in the Conker universe with Gregg the Grim Reaper as the principle protagonist rather than Conker.. It all got a bit messy and tbh I couldn’t face another 3 years of the squirrel and gang. Summat like that…. Not really sure when it stopped exactly, we just kinda moved onto something else. Looking back, probably should have stuck with Other Bad Day, but hey ho, we live and learn. What would I have expected? Erm… it would have been fucking brilliant and JK Rowling would definitely have sued…”

My favorite part of the interview is most definitely the end, in which he gives advice to aspiring game developers: “If you wouldn’t buy it yourself, don’t fucking make it…”

While it’s sad to concede that all good things may come to an end, it sounds like Rare would still be the sacred cow they once were. This certainly doesn’t conflict with other reports. Grant Kirkhope, for example, says that “Rare have completely fucked themselves. And – it isn’t their fault; it’s Microsoft’s fault. They have completely ruined that company, and it makes me cry every day of my life.” Donnachadh Murphy, however, is more hopeful about Rare’s future. Regardless, it’s nice to see that some of these guys have landed back on their feet.

If you’re interested in readon more about what Chris Seavor is up to now, or what it was like working for Rare, you can read the full interview here.