Leisure Suite Larry in The Land of The Lounge Lizards was one of video games earliest forays into this seedy underworld of gags. While often disregarded as 'cheap', low-brow humor is one of the most guiltily enjoyed aspects of video games - and it's been experimented with digitally even from the early days. Of course the lower we climb down on the ladder of good taste, the closer we get to one of the most common and controversial categories of comedy, crude humor. And since the evolution of ragdoll physics, many of the biggest LOLs in games these days are simply the result of simulated gravity! Sandbox games like Goat Simulator, Octodad and I Am Bread have capitalized on this style of humor allowing players to create as much chaos on screen as possible. Characters can be subjected to all sorts of simulated pain and torment purely for our amusement, and just like a Saturday morning cartoon - the humor isn't derived from the pain or injury suffered, but instead from the ridiculous nature of the situation. Without the restrictions of real life injury or death, physical humor is practically limitless in video games.

Perhaps the second easiest way to get a laugh in a game is through the tried and tested art of physical or slapstick comedy. This same witty approach to writing was nurtured from adolescence to adulthood by the talented team at LucasArts who delivered some of the finest writing in comedy games history, combining sharp dialogue with memorable characters and proving that great humour can link audiences to even the strangest of video game settings.Īnd while intelligent verbal comedy has certainly taken a back seat to gameplay and graphics in modern games, titles like Portal 2, Thomas Was Alone and the Stanley Parable prove that there's still a huge audience for highbrow, well written, conceptual comedy, or maybe everything just sounds funny narrated in a British accent? Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy put players in direct control of the absurd space adventure, delivering dry quips and humorous retorts to standard player inputs.

Like a good joke at a party - humour derived from text and dialogue allows for deliberate pacing, clever setups and witty punch lines.Įarly text based games hinged upon crafted humour. One of the most successful ways games can be humorous however is through the written or spoken word. Well comedy in games is actually quite hard, jokes often come in second to mechanics timing can be off or missed entirely not to mention comedy is also extremely subjective, what tickles one person's funny bone can induce eye rolls and yawns for others.

When compared to other forms of entertainment like film and TV, why are funny video games so uncommon? But today there seem to be far fewer games dedicated solely to the act of splitting our sides. So what's the deal with comedy games? It feels like 20 years ago every game was trying hard to make us giggle, chuckle or ROFL, whatever that means! The 'comedy game' felt as much a legitimate category as action or adventure.

Octodad and i am bread game