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It's easy to look to the past with the eye of a critic, but it's far more difficult to look to the future and imagine the next level of creative possibility. GameSpot asked those interviewed for this feature to consider how humor might evolve in games, what comedic films might teach developers a thing or two, and how each might spend $1 million dollars if given the chance to make a truly and intentionally funny game.

Tim Schafer cites Being John Malkovich as a humorous movie that developers could learn from, because it's so fearless: "So many times you're brainstorming for a game and you come up with the idea that makes you all laugh and laugh and then you get all serious and think, 'Yes, that was funny, but it's just too out-there for a game. Too bizarre.' And so you chicken out. But in Being John Malkovich, when they had an idea like that, they put it in!"

What does the future hold for humor in games? Schafer's Psychonauts might be part of that picture.

Schafer's team at Double Fine is currently working on Psychonauts, an action game for the Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 2 due out in 2005. Dan Harnett says Psychonauts is "absolutely hysterical." "The incorporation of humor in games is improving as games have gotten better at providing a more emotive or evocative experience," he says. "For example, I think the Oddworld games did a great job of having people relate to the main character, probably because their character development and story were so evolved that they allowed players to see a lot of themselves in the character's plight and persona. As a result, many of the character's moves and sounds are funny." Psychonauts, he says, is funny because of its originality, storyline, and character development. "So maybe that's it," he concludes. "Maybe you need a great storyline and a fully realized character who players can relate to in order to then deliver quality humor."

Schafer says that humor is a large part of Psychonauts. "This is the first game where I feel I really haven't held back at all, especially with the comedy writing. Even though I had a lot of creative freedom at LucasArts, I still [had a] boss, and in the back of my mind would always be the question, 'Hmm. Will this line get me fired? Will this line make George Lucas mad?'" On Psychonauts, he says, "I've only had to worry about, 'Hmm. Is this funny?' If it's funny, it goes in without worrying if it might get us in trouble. Maybe we'll pay for that later, but I think the game is much more entertaining because of it."

Harnett thinks that This is Spinal Tap and Monty Python and the Holy Grail are two humorous films that game developers could learn from, for the same reason: "Both films were very subtle in the delivery of their humor. There was a scene in Spinal Tap where PR hack Bobbi Fleckman held a party for the launch of the band's new album, Smell the Glove. The whole band shows up at this Fleckman fete, and as the camera pans around the circle, we notice--not at first, perhaps--that every band member has a canker sore on his lip. In the movie, no one even acknowledges it--it's as if canker sores and rock bands go hand in hand--but it's there for the audience to pick up on."

Game designers and writers could look to comics for inspiration.

Sylvan Clebsch would not recommend anything from the cinema for other developers to learn from. "Movies are the antithesis of games, in nearly every way," he says. "The more the game industry tries to copy the movie industry, the more money it seems to lose." Similarly, Rory Root suggests game developers look to comics and graphic novels, instead of movies, for humorous inspiration. Look to "the marginalia of Sergio Aragones, or Evan Dorkin," or to Top 10, the "hilarious" series of graphic novels by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Xander Cannon. "A Hill Street Blues-meets-Watchmen type of series absolutely chock-full of visual and verbal puns," he says. "The through story works, and being from Alan Moore works well, but the Easter Eggs scattered on every page add another level to enjoy.

Matt Soell, on the other hand, thinks that developers could use a "healthy dose of early film-comedy pioneers like Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin," because they did more with less. "I also appreciate the satire-as-sledgehammer of Brass Eye," he says. Geithman agrees with Harnett that Monty Python is a good place to start, adding, "There is a range of what's funny--campy humor to witty humor. Evil Dead to anything Monty Python to The Daily Show. It depends on the game and what slant you want to take. I don't think Jon Stewart's writers would do a good job writing funny dialogue for a platformer."

Geithman also notes that humor is not all about dialogue: "Art style and little animations and gestures from characters can add a lot of personality and humor to a game. Someone has to think that's worthwhile to set aside the bandwidth to make characters do a large variety of funny things just because."

If given $1 million to make a game, Geithman says her choice would be easy. "I'd buy back my game that got canned, call my creative partner, and finish that puppy off. And laugh all the way to the bank."

"If I only had a million dollars," Schafer says, "I would have to use South Park as my inspiration because they are a great example of being funny on the cheap."

Clebsch says he'd put the money in a numbered bank account in Switzerland. "That kind of funding for any game is unnecessary, and a perfect example of why games are becoming dull and repetitive (large corporations investing millions of dollars aren't interested in taking chances on games, but are looking for 'sure things', much like Hollywood)." But he does have a game idea. "My first task would be identifying my audience. Who is the game for? The best bet is kids, and the younger the better, since repetition is a learning tool for them, rather than a smash-your-PC-because-it-keeps-making-that-noise tool," he says. "Instead of looking for a funny script or premise, I'd look for exaggerated gameplay--that's what makes Mario Kart, an otherwise traditional driving game, entertaining." He adds that the "attempts at actual jokes" in Mario Kart got old for him quickly, but that the humor of "surreal weapons and unnatural physics is lasting."

Root says he'd use his money to acquire inspiration to create a series of funny games: "I'd hire Terry Pratchett. His Disc World Universe is large, complex, and side-splittingly funny. Besides, since he writes in English, the problem with translating puns would not arise."

The Seinfeld approach of finding humor in everyday life might be another direction for funny games to go in.

Harnett would look for inspiration in the trials and tribulations of everyday life. "I would nose through the wreckage of other people's relationships," he says. "I would kick over the rock of their carefully constructed public personas to get at their real selves. I would look through the medicine cabinets of great men and women, and then I would scream in terror at what I had found. Once the screaming stopped, I would be prepared to develop the world's greatest comedic video game." But where would all that money go? "I'd do it for free," he says, "or for one last shot at finishing 3D World Runner." Soell says the best funny stuff he conjures up "just falls out of the ether and into my skull," noting he would "use that money to buy a lot of ether" to inspire the process. "I think games are still in the cave-painting stage when it comes to generating an intense and immediate emotional reaction, be it laughter or tears," he says. "That's not to say games haven't gotten better at it or won't continue to do so--just that we have a long road ahead of us."