I've been thinking about how to make comedy in a video game and make it not to be repetitive. Of course, I found no concrete info about the subject but I did find
this and through examples of comedic video games like Stubbs The Zombie, Destroy All Humans, Theme Hospital, Banjo-Kazooie, etc I came to the conclusion that a key factor in what makes these games's jokes NOT repetitive is variety.
Take the Anal Probe from Destroy All Humans for example. It's fun because it's dumb, it also serves an in-game purpouse (I recall it gave you people's brains which served as a form of currency to acquire upgrades and etc). These motives serve to use that mechanic the first few times, but it'll get boring if you use it consistenly.
Yet, I can say I've anally probed my way (Oh god. sorry.) through to the end without getting tired of it. How so? Thanks to variety. While my motives to use said mechanic are upgrading my character and it's comedic aspect, what kept me going with it through to the end was the variety of the NPC's reactions. Policemen react differently to the housewives passing by to the mysterious G-men.
Come to think of it. There was also challenge. The Anal Probe was, possibly the weakest weapon, thus defeating a greater enemy with it (A G-man over a policeman) made it that much more rewarding -not to mention you'd get more points.
I think it's important to think about these kind of things since comedy will be core to this project. How can we apply this concepts to an AOS? How to make the game fun and comedic and not making it repetitive and boring on the long run? For now, I'd say knowledge of 'Comedy' and what makes something funny; Variety; and subtlety.
