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How to Best Add Humor

It's difficult to decide how to add humor when an ample situation is uncovered. Choosing the right humor for the situation is absolutely necessary - toilet humor works in some places, while a pun will work best in others. Also, the type of humor needs to get to the audience(s) the game is intended to reach. Most children will not appreciate lewd jokes just as most adults will not appreciate childish jokes. Be appropriate with the types of humor utilized. Do not offend people. Racial slurs and jokes about school violence are entirely inappropriate anywhere. Try to avoid offensive religious jokes as well - nobody wants the entire Christian community boycotting his product.

Once you have decided the type of humor and have avoided all the pitfalls, it's time to implement something. Humor often relies heavily on catching the viewer off guard - that is, do something players won't expect. Simple jokes are often successful because the end result is something unexpected and relatively funny. This feature is generally true for all types of humor. Few people expect a high pitched shrill when an alien is blasted or a giant walking head or a cute flesh-eating chicken, and if done correctly similar humor can often leave players crippled in laughter. Run-on-gags work as well, but they can backfire if the gag isn't innately humorous.

Now that you have implemented something funny, test it on people. Test it on MANY people. Make sure it is genuinely funny, and not the product of a deranged mind or an incredibly bland sense of humor. Also makes sure it doesn't offend anyone. You may not think it's offensive, but the thousands of people who kept slaves didn't think that was bad either.

Once the comedic part has been fully implemented, remember it. Often jokes set themselves up for other jokes later on, and it'd be a shame to miss an opportunity for something hilarious to be added.

Finding Inspiration

There are plenty of places to find inspiration for humor if someone is not innately funny. Stand-up comedy is easily viewable on television as well as series like Saturday Night Live. Numerous books, including the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Discworld series, are an excellent place to find inspiration. Comedy oriented games are also a good place to look. Games such as the Monkey Island and Space Quest series are good examples.

The best place to find humor, however, is in real life. Most everyone is at least a little funny or has a humorous friend. Living, breathing people keep with current humor trends better than twenty year old books or games, and they are an inexhaustible resource. People are the first place any developer should look to incorporate humor.

Conclusion

Humor can obviously be a very tricky thing to add effectively, but players really appreciate it. Developers should thoroughly consider whether comedy would work within their game. Afterwards, they must thoroughly consider when, how, and what types to add. Even though humor can be hard to add, it should certainly not be neglected - it is an invaluable tool in any developer's list of qualities.