Silliness vs Seriousness, How much is too much? Options

[Shaddow]

So, I'm writing a game that is rather silly in dialogue and overall plot, but I still plan to make it a full game with seriousness happening. I like to think that I have a good balance to it, but that leads to my question.

How far can you go in silliness in a game before it becomes a silly game and loses all credit?

[Sparrowsmith]

A story that takes itself too seriously is far worse than one that doesn't take itself seriously enough.
I can't think of a single example for this, there are just too many. Basically any pixar film is silly, but there is usually a decent plot in there. The largest webcomics usually have loads of silliness, but there are still some breathtakingly brilliant plots.
Sometimes when a story is silly, you're aloud to get away with more, and your audience won't question it. It's like a magic trick, you make something ordinary and simple look more impressive by joking around, and you can make something impressive look amazing.

Basically, it's easier to make silly look good. Take the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The books are incredible. The film is almost as incredible. The plot is consistent, resolves itself, and always heads somewhere. The characters are interesting, dynamic, and believable. But it's also REALLY silly. The plot is usually resolved by some random chance, but that's okay, because they have a spaceship that runs on random.

So don't be afraid to have a somewhat silly story, just make sure it's consistent and believable, even if it's silly.

Also, there's no such thing as a story that's too silly. You can always turn silliness into brilliant if you're a good writer.
Alice in Wonderland is an example of this.

[X-M-O]

I can't think of a single example for this, there are just too many. Basically any pixar film is silly, but there is usually a decent plot in there.

Kung Fu Panda (both films) is very silly (almost constantly) but it has a serious plot as well. =]
I think it has the perfect balance, though that is also because I enjoy the particular humour in most Pixar films (the animation matches perfectly with the type of comedy they are writing, so it works well - you can have the right writing, but bad implementation and still come off all right, but generally it loses the reader/viewer/player when it doesn't match well).