Monday, January 20, 2025
Injecting Humour
When
a visual novel reaches an ending the general practice make it a
serious conclusion to the narrative stakes, but what if instead it
took all of the build up and made a joke about it? Such is the
purpose of the Joke Ending which aims to add levity to an otherwise
serious game. This is distinct from humorous endings in a visual
novel focused exclusively on comedy since the power of the Joke
Ending is in its contrast with what surrounds it. Through breaking
the tension of an earnest story, they can provide it with some much
needed levity and prevent it from becoming too self serious if that
is not what the developers are aiming for. Should the visual novel
have a more free-form structure which allows exploration then these
Joke Ending can be a type of fun reward for the curious. In isolation
they can act as a light punishment for the player when they fail to
commit to which route they want to follow by abruptly ending the game
in a silly fashion. There is a great deal of flexibility to how these
endings can be integrated. Let’s have a good laugh and look at the
complexities of the Joke Ending.
Breaking Tension
Not
every visual novel wants to be taken seriously all the time and some want to give themselves some much need levity while still holding on to a sense of
weight when it really matters. Joke Endings offer a way to add the
needed humour and keep it mostly isolated from the ongoing plot.
Since they are effectively dead ends in the narrative it is easy to
communicate to the player how they should think about them and set
their expectations for the importance of what is happening. Once this
distance from the main story is established the Joke Ending can be as
far from the original tone as it likes and fully take advantage of
any inherent absurdities present in the game. All stories rely on
some sort of contrivance for dramatic effect, be it magical or
mundane in nature, and the player accepts them as necessary for
events to move forward smoothly. However, a tension still exists
between the story and the player’s understanding of the real world
which is more pronounced in titles aims for fantastical narratives. A Joke
Ending can lean into this tension and acts a valve to relieve the
pressure. Through highlighting the silly elements of the game it can
get a laugh at its own expense in order to level the ground between
it and the player so they become more willing to engage with future
content in good faith.
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| Jin's obsession with his brother has gone a little far... |
One of most prolific users of the Joke Ending
is the Blazblue series and it works well with its character
orientated humour. The overarching plot of these titles take its seriously as their heroes fight through mortal danger and
yet it sits right next to the over the top antics of its fight game
half. In order to balance out the contradiction between these two
parts, Blazblue leans into a good helping of comedy and creates a
common silliness between them. Obviously this includes Joke Endings
but there are also dedicated comedy characters like Taokaka and Bang
who are humorous even outside of those endings. The role of Joke
Endings here is as a cathartic outlet for player’s who picks the
silly options the games present and relieve the tension
between the silly and serious elements of the title. Each one takes the
serious setting and characters surrounding it and completely
undermines them through various means, such as having characters
pretend to be other ones like the whole things was a poorly put
together school play. They pop up just enough to be memorable yet
understand they are not the main attraction so stay out of important
plot moments.
Rewards For The Curious
There
is a good degree of adaptability to how different types of endings
can be implemented when a visual novel adopts a free-form style of
narrative structure. Here the various endings aim to reward the
player who is willing to properly explore what the game has to offer.
Of course if everything is serious all the time then this exploration
might become somewhat monotonous and this is where the Joke Ending
can come in. It gives a means of adding something to snap the player
wake if they had just been mindlessly clicking through the story and
readjusts their expectations for what sort of ride they are in for.
In keeping things fresh it can work to complement the parts of the
story which direct the overall flow of the experience as it
encourages people to poke in all the nooks available and so have a
complete understanding of the plot before it moves into its ending.
As a trick it must be used sparingly and with a proper distribution
throughout the game or it will quickly irritate the player as it
overstay its welcome. Clear signposting can help with this issue,
if the choices obviously indicate the presence of a Joke Ending then
everyone knows where they stand when entering one, but this weakens
the surprise and impact many of them rely on. It is ultimately a
situational dilemma that can only be solved through careful
consideration of the context around the Joke Ending.
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| There is a mix of serious and silly in the wide space of Kagetsu Tohya |
Kagetsu Tohya is
a visual novel with an open and winding structure and it loves to take
advantage of the Joke Ending. It tries to tread the line between the
serious elements of its setting with its magical antagonists and the
goofier character interactions which play up their individual
personalities to their extremes. The various endings are broadly
divided into these two camps and the Joke Endings take the role of
representing the silly qualities for the cast. Some are sudden where
the player’s choice is immediacy met with a quick and punchy gag
before being send back to the start while others are expansive and
lead to a roller-coaster ride of references and funny situations.
Through varying the lengths of the endings, Kagetsu Tohya can use the
Joke Endings as a surprise factor for the player to keep the engaged
in a way a more rigid and serious ending could never manage. Being a
fandisc helps the game avoid the pitfall of the Joke Endings feeling
out of place since it can rely on the player’s existing knowledge
of the characters and their quirks to leverage its humour rather than
having to build it up itself.
Light Slap On The Wrist
Perhaps
the simplest application of the Joke Ending is as a sort of light
punishment for the player. Commonly this is done if they have failed
to score enough points with any of the heroines to end up in a
route and it a clean indication of this fact while keeping the tone
somewhat light. Rather than a direct and mechanical notice of the
player’s failure, it instead turned into an in-joke between game
and player so they are not drawn out of the experience by organically
merging the signpost into the narrative. They are also generally of a
simple construction being a joke main character death or a poke at
how they will be alone forever. It just needs to be snappy and have a
direct punch to its joke so the player can move on as fast as
possible back to selecting their desired route. Katawa Shoujo is a
good example of this practice as it kills of its protagonist in
a darkly humorous fashion. Here the reason for this outcome is
clearly communicated as the player’s lack of commitment to any
heroine and presents it within the brand of humour which runs
throughout the title. Many modern titles now simply have a default
route they put the player on if they have not committed to any
specific other route rather than a Joke Ending. However, this can lead to confusion on the part
of the player who is expecting an entirely different route to what they got and it
does communicate the cause of this outcome in the clean way a Joke
Ending is able to achieve.
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| Better make the right choices if you don't want to die a silly death |
Conclusion
Humour
is an important part of any visual novel and Joke Endings offer a
flexible and fun way to integrate it. They allow a game to break the
tension of a serious story and prevent it from becoming overbearing while
synergising with the tone of other gameplay elements. It can be a
light and funny punishment for the player’s indecisiveness which
clearly communicates how they can avoid this fate in future.
Alongside other types of routes it can be a contrasting part of a
rewards package for a curious player who want to explore the
narrative space of a more free-form visual novel. Overall, the Joke
Ending is something worth considering if you plan on add some humour
to your visual novel.
