HTML About humor in games

[DrKriegersIntern]

I'm currently making a really dark CYOA game in HTML, and i'm unsure if i should add some humor here and there to break it up a bit.

What do you guys think of this?

Have you played any similar games where humor made the game better/worse?

 

[freedom.call]

Some here and there where it 'fits', humor is tricky. It's extremely annoying if it's not 'my/his/your kind' of humor.

I mean if there is a lot of it. Some humor is fine.

 

[Sphere42]

Why is your game "really dark"? Is it supposed to be that way or is it an unfortunate consequence of trying to justify other aspects of the setting? (can't really have a zombie apocalypse without a large number of people dying and turning into said zombies for example)

Gallows humour can work but it needs to be sparse and in-universe, anything more will seem jarring in a setting which otherwise tries to be serious. The other extreme can work as well but then you need to go all-out with the parody and have the game openly poke fun at its own darker elements.

 

[Kitchentable]

Humour sadly is waning trait. Even though life is dead serious.
I mean, I haven't met anyone yet who's espcaped it with their life.

Ask 10 people and they all claim they got humour.
Let 10 of 'em have a mishap and only 1 is laughing about it.

Then there are the different kinds of humour.

For me a threesome between Monty Pyton, Frank Drebin and
Hot Shots is fine. For others it might not be.

But generally life is better if taken with humour.
It doesn't really fit every kind of story tho.

 

[Doorknob22]

My advice: don't aim for humor. If you have a funny idea, throw it in but don't overdo it.
1. If it's done bad, loading the game with humor is cringy and distracting
2. If it's done good, loading the game with humor is distracting from the main work.

 

[NoK_E]

In small doses, probably

 

[Vhaerun]

The important thing about putting humor into a game is doing it within the bounds of that game.

For example, you said your game is "really dark." To me, that means things like rape, murder, blood, etc. If you want to add humor to it, a quote from Family Guy isn't going to work -- unless it is geared toward your genre. Is it humor about the rape, murder, blood, etc.? Then it might work.

Humor is touchy. There are games that go way overboard with it, and by the time you are at the tenth release, it's like watching the last few seasons of a dying comedy show that was once pretty good.

 

[woody554]

if you're a funny guy, you already know you're funny. then do what you always do.

if you're not the funny guy, or have ANY doubts whether you're funny or not, you're not. and when you're not the funny guy, no matter how much you enjoy actually funny people, DO NOT TRY TO BE FUNNY. save us from the cringe, go the other way, the one you're built for.

nothing is more painful than people trying to be funny. there is no try.

most of us are not funny, at best we're amusing with disclaimers. we're the audience, not the performer. if we go on the stage it'll be just painful for everyone.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

What woody554 said. Are you funny? Sure, put some humor in, if it fits your story. Otherwise, no, don't. There's nothing worse than trying to play an adult game and getting cringe seizures because the dev thought he was hilarious. Extra points if it's political humor. Just don't.

 

[God3333]

Humour is very hard to get right. In some countries what's considered funny can be considered outright rude and distasteful.
I personally love a bit of humour in games, DrPinkCake does this quite well. I've played some games where it's full on memes and that's okay, but it might turn people away . I'd say, if you're going for a long and deep story where you develop characters then humour is a must because it can really increase immersion. I'd say that jokes aren't really needed, but quick witty writing can really tie a games story together. I.e you could have a incest game where you start of by saying, "Our story starts in a quaint suburb of Alabama *because of course it does*". That kind of humour is nice every now and again, but it kind of takes away from the immersion, hence why I'd put it at the start of the game.
I definitely think humour is great for a game. If you know how to be funny go with it. Do be careful with colloquial humour though...

 

[Guntag]

If the game is dark, the humor should be scarce AND quite dark. Think Game of Thrones (TV show) humor (Tyrion's humor for example).