In this GDC 2018 talk, Asymmetric's Zack Johnson, creative director of acclaimed slap-stick-figure cowboy RPG West of Loathing, discusses the team's approach to comedy in the video game space.

From the very beginning, West of Loathing was slated to be a comedy game, not an adventure game or RPG with comedy elements. "Instead of a game with jokes in it, which happens all the time, this was sort of a game made out of jokes," Johnson explains.

The talk also explores the lessons the Asymmetric team learned in their decade-plus experience of writing video game gags, and came to the conclusion that comedy in games works best if you fully commit to it, and do it in a joyful way instead of a mean way.

It was an informative talk that's definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn't miss the opportunity to do so now that it's freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

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