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Thread: Comedy In Games

  1. #1

    Comedy In Games

    I suppose this is the best place for this post so I'll stick it here. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on comedy in games. Since games are used to tell a story just like movies, how come games just aren't that funny. Maybe it's just down to a lack of decent writing for games. The only time I've seen half funny stuff in games is in those point and click adventures(Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle/Maniac Mansion, Leisure Suit Larry). The fact that these types of games are usually the only ones with anything resembling a proper story is perhaps no coincidence. What do you guys think. If there is a place for comedy in games, what is funny in games? Because of the nature of games as a way of telling a story as well as allowing the viewer deeper immersion into the game world (more so than a book or film), does this mean that something funny in a game would need to take advantage of the interactive nature of games?
    Isometric game development blog http://isoenginedev.blogspot.com/

  2. #2

    Comedy In Games

    I think many games lack a good story line these days and I think the reason is that most games have a basic outline that just doesn't allow a good (funny) story to develop... look at shoot 'm ups, they are based on shooting and shooting only, lately they implement some puzzles in those games and even a bit of a story line, like with Medal of Honor, but these games just don't have room for comedy... the fact is that games like the old adventure games are not made anymore and its almost all RTS or Shoot 'm ups and some are arcade, but these games mostly have a story that develops outside of the gameplay... with that I mean you play a level and when you beat the level you get more information on the storyline to bring you to the next level... sometimes these games have some sort of comedy, but that's mostly in the shape of a stupid or silly character...

    The only game-type (in my opinion) that still has a bit of room for comedy, but lacks to use it are RPG games, since adventure games are no longer made except for a few exceptions, the RPG game is one of the only game-type left for comedy and I doubt they will really use it !

    I still don't see why the adventure game-type should be dead, since there are a lot of fans out there screaming for new adventure games and to be honests I dislike the 3D adventure game ideas that are around now... I think 2D adventure games still have a future, but then again I'm no specialist in marketing and request/demand kinda things... I just like programing and playing adventure games!

    Man... I really hope they'll make another larry version someday... AL LOWE WHERE ARE YOU!!!
    Do it by the book, but be the author!
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  3. #3

    Comedy In Games

    Most 3D Adventures are actualy action adventures like tombraider. I like to see those as 3D Mario Bros.

    I do think that there could be a future for real 3D Adventures like Gabriel Knight 3. You can also find some humor in there.

    It is waiting for a 3D Samnmax or Dott. Maybe sometime in the future...
    http://3das.noeska.com - create adventure games without programming

  4. #4

    Comedy In Games

    Monkey Island!!!!!

    Although... without a doubt, possibly the funniest game in the world is ZeroWing.. well.. the intro, and thats about it .
    :idea: So what we've got to do is translate all the ingame text to Japanese and back again, and hey presto, a badly translated game which will take the world by storm!*

    I could just be pessimistic and say that many publishers go the path of "we can't market a funny/immersive game storyline", so they must have fancy graphics.

    *Not 100% guaranteed.

  5. #5

    Comedy In Games

    Yay!, ZeroWing. I still love it when somebody sneaks an "All Your Base" into a game or anywhere, there was even one in a episode of Futurama. But those sorts of gags seem to be as far as comedy goes in most games, stuff that only geeks (or Nerds* if you prefer) will get, which is cool and all but what about a proper funny game. Maybe it's due to the relatively small reach of games. Perhaps as the industry grows into a proper mainstream community then the genres of games will meet the genres of movies. So a game might be considered FPS-RomCom or FlightSim-Comedy or what about MMO-Porno.

    *What's better/worse, being called a geek or a nerd? Is a geek a cooler form of nerd or vice versa? Something to consider.
    Isometric game development blog http://isoenginedev.blogspot.com/

  6. #6
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    Comedy In Games

    Good point... Last game I recall that had comedy in it was Final Fantasy 6(3 for the SNES). Well thats funny comedy though. Not kids trying to be funny by being vulgar. Then there is the right in your face. Could be that everyone just wants a game that they can take seriously, probably as an escape from reality in a way. Or that they actually want to be a part of something more than what real life offers them due to a lack of adventure... so it's focused so much on that that it leaves no room for comedy.

    Ah... I miss the good old days of gaming; Anything Sierra(early to about mid 90s), Star Control 3, Lost Vikings... Those games had good humour in them. I'm sure there were more, just can't remember them though. :/
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
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  7. #7

    Comedy In Games

    Comedy in games can be found in: http://ron.the-underdogs.org. You can find a great deal of humor and comedy in those ron games. But that leads back to that the only humor and comedy can only be found in point and click adventure games and that a story is realy important.
    http://3das.noeska.com - create adventure games without programming

  8. #8

    Comedy In Games

    Story line is mainly apparent in games that go through the trouble of getting it, most new shooters don't care much, because, well, it doesn't matter much for a shooter. Half-Life kind of started an unfinished trend, they had a god story, involving, yet almost no other game had a good storyline after that.

    If you want GREAT story, you should play Planescape: Torment(My absolute favorite in story, characters and even humor, it's got loads and loads of very good humor, mainly in conversations with your party NPCs).
    Another one to consider is Fallout, which has a great atmosphere, and some good grim humor here and there put into it.

    Making a game which runs along the lines of humor will almost always be an adventure, because it's hard to imagine a game where you shoot loads and loads of enemies row after row as something you put humor into, nor is it likely that you put humor into the war/strategy-game with a serious backtone, it wouldn't fit.

    That's also something I like about games, and something that makes games good: atmosphere. THat is also something I miss, a strong atmosphere, most of the modern-day games don't HAVE any atmosphere, it's all just mainstream general stuff you've seen millions of times. *sigh*
    -Sander

  9. #9
    iLLUNis
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    Comedy In Games

    Personally when it comes to comedy there is nothing like Discworld 2 and Discworld 3 :Noir....the story line is simply amazing and the script is so funny you cannot have enough of the game.....if you havent played yet.....WHAT ARE U WAITING FOR??.... :evil:

  10. #10

    Comedy In Games

    Personally I like Star Trek Bridge Commander. The story has alot of twists and plots (space sim, go figure ), and it has good gameplay on top of that. You can even finish the single player game at two ways, but it's a pity the rest of the story is hardcoded. You can't go anywhere without the game 'commanding' you to go there for the story. But the battles (only thing everyone cares about right?) are never boring

    ZeroWing translation rocks All your base are belong to us But they're not getting my Delphi :twisted:

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