Funniest Game Ever?

What's the funniest game you've ever played? Why was it so funny? Have you gone back and played it because of the humor alone? I think comedic talent is very hard to come by in video game development. There are a few truly funny games, Ratchet and Clank and Stubbs the Zombie come to mind. I've not played, but I've heard both good and bad things about Conker. Most of that is just very witty writing, which is great, but can you remember the last time you laughed at a "slap stick" moment in a video game? Has a game ever made you roll on the floor, cry, and have difficulty breathing like those classic TV Shows and movies?

Can stuff from sketch comedy translate into video games? What about stand up comedy? Can you make a game as funny as a Bill Cosby routine? Can you cause an image to burn into the psyche of the player from a video game the way I will always remember "There's a wainbow hanging from the pbottom of my libpbp!". Would it be possible to do a video game version of a sitcom (instead of a sitcom about video games)?

What's your favorite funny movie? The Ghostbusters game in the eighties never made me laugh the way the movie did. Why not? Some of it just comes down to talent. Bill Murray is just darn funny. Who's the Bill Murray, the Robin Williams or even the Woody Allen of video games?

Quote:Comedy is tragedy plus time. The night Lincoln was shot, you couldn't joke about it. You just couldn't do it. But now, time has gone by, and now it's fair game. See what I mean? It's tragedy plus time.

I don't know about you, but I think video game developers have a tendency to shy away from comedy because of their fear of failure. It's scary as hell trying to make someone laugh and there's nothing worse then trying to make someone laugh, and failing.

Some things to think about:

1. Laughter begets laughter. That's what the laugh track in shows is for. Do any of your characters laugh?
2. Physical comedy was a key element of cartoons' success as an industry... sure they had some sly adult humor thrown into the mix, but they didn't need to be entirely vulgar like south park to be popular. Video games haven't really touched it, from what I've seen.
3. Comedic timing is hard. Comedic writing is hard. But we have a couple things going for us: We have moving pictures and audio... comic strips don't even get that, and they come up with funny stuff every week... mostly.
4. You know what one of the funniest games is? Halo (and Halo 2). Laughter releases tension, it breaks the monotony and provides a great hook to keep the player wanting more and then to play it all over again. My wife and I played through the last level of the original several times on Legendary, just to get the hilarious ending. You're game doesn't have to be a comedy to be funny.
5. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. One of the funniest things I've ever seen in a game wasn't in a game. It was a little in engine footage from the RPG Summoner on the PS2. You can catch the video here: video.google.com/videoplay?docid=840960313659062542&q=summoner

Now, I have no idea if anyone will find what we're doing in our game all that funny. I hope so, but regardless of the outcome, I've had a blast putting it together. There are certainly places where we've worked on being overtly funny, but some things are more subtle. For example, let me introduce you to one our concepts now that you may or may not recognize. He was based on the infamous mythological creature: the wookalar.
Half pig, half human...

Quote:suck your brains right out your nose.

What do you think? Should we add a little pig tail? :)

-Andrew
theoreticalgames.com