Developer/publisher Daniel Mullins Games Format PC Release 2018
Six videogame characters walk into a bar. The Hex has the setup of a classic music-hall joke, delivered by one of the medium’s most dedicated comedians. Not too long ago, in E396’s preview of Pony Island 2, developer Daniel Mullins described the mechanically inventive twists that characterise his games as “pranks”. It made us think about the way other games employ basic comedic structure: introducing an idea, letting it sit for a moment, then subverting it in some unexpected way, jiggling your neurons just so to produce an involuntary bodily reaction. Which is not always, necessarily, laughter.
Consider how FromSoftware’s games delight in wrongfooting your expectations, with a well-hidden trap or extraneous boss phase, or the ways that in Nintendo finds new uses for Mushroom Kingdom staples, delivering its game-design punchlines with the density of a classic Simpsons episode. But for Mullins, this structure is the foundation of his entire back catalogue, all the way to his game-jam roots. Both and grew from Ludum Dare entries, and
