Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal and Exploding Kittens on how intrusive thoughts led him to design Horrible Therapist

Matt, it’s great to connect. Horrible Therapist comes with a note explaining how the game was inspired by your experiences with intrusive thoughts – these being distressing, unwanted thoughts that suddenly enter your mind. How did you come to realise this could be fuel for a game?
I’m 42 and didn’t know what an intrusive thought was until about two years ago. I had no idea they were normal, and they were especially frequent during therapy. So I’d be trying to improve my mental state, and my mind would be swarmed with these twisted, messed up thoughts. When I found out this was normal, I felt a lot better. Therapy is a place where you’re supposed to be able to say anything, but my intrusive thoughts were still way out of the realm of socially acceptable. This got me thinking about how funny it would be if both patient and therapist embraced this chaotic, intrusive energy.

The game sees players craft comics – all set inside a therapy session. A question card and an answer card are drawn by the ‘Therapist’, and everyone else puts forward a ‘Treatment Card’ which ends the comic. And the game works whether players choose to go for laughs, randomness or an attempt to end the comic in a way that makes sense. What went into crafting these Treatment Cards? Was there a knack to ensuring they worked in such a broad way?
There’s always going to be an element of luck in these kinds of games. In that, some combinations will be outstanding and some won’t work as well. One thing I really wanted to avoid was making the treatment cards lazy and leaning too heavily on the shock factor. You’re never gonna get that golden combo if the cards are all dick jokes. We tried to make these cards a little smarter, so that people can use their wit to build jokes rather than relying on having the most offensive or perverse card.

There are several games that have this kind of structure – but with words and phrases, where players contribute a funny or shocking end to a sentence. Were you wary of the fact that these types of games are so prevalent? And do you feel the comic-creation format introduces a different kind of experience for players?
Yeah. There’s a ton of these games and they’ve been around for a while. I never had an interest in making this kind of game until I came up with the comic and therapy format. The question, answer, and reaction lets players tell a story in just three beats, which I think is pretty cool. Plus, the end result is more than just cards; you’ve got your very own comic that stands on its own.

Absolutely. Now, Horrible Therapist carries The Oatmeal branding in a way that’s more prominent than on other Exploding Kittens titles. Is there potential for Horrible Therapist to be the first of a line that have their origins more firmly grounded in The Oatmeal and the cartoons you create for that site?
I hope so. Cartooning has always been my passion, so I’d love to work on games that integrate comedy in a more meaningful way. I want to make more expansions to Horrible Therapist as well. The cards are really fun to draw.

Yes, it’s worth saying this first edition of the game is the ‘Extra Horrible’ Edition. Is there a more polite edition on the way? Or an Extra Extra Horrible version in the pipeline?
There will be a somewhat more ‘polite’ edition launching next year, though I will say that politeness is Horrible Therapist’s worst enemy. An Extra Extra Horrible edition would be fun – but I fear the dark depths of our minds the team would have to explore to create it.

Ha! And in terms of your day-to-day, do you find yourself coming up with ideas for games a lot? Does creating comics often spark thoughts for games?
It’s not a matter of coming up with ideas for games, but coming up with good ideas. It’s all sort of about finding comedy in life and figuring out how to distill that into a fun experience. I find that inspiration everywhere, but making comics definitely gets me in that headspace of “Okay, what’s funny and what’s fun about this thing?”

And what fuels your creativity?
Science. People think science is boring but the insect and animal kingdoms are filled with grotesque and incredible creatures. I used to write longform comics about the mantis shrimp, history, Nicola Tesla, all sorts of topics.

Good answer! And what kills creativity for you?
I wouldn’t say this “kills” creativity, but being so busy can limit where you channel it. Over the past 10 years I’ve been focused on Exploding Kittens, its growth, the Netflix show, and that has occupied the bulk of my time. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m so grateful for the experience, but I can feel that itch to dive back into science and nature and longform comics. That’s what I’m looking to get back into.

Nice. And one last question, was the therapist always a bunny?
We needed an innocent face to be the therapist that ruins people’s lives. A beady-eyed bunny wormed its way into my mind, and the rest was history.

Matt, a huge thanks again and congrats on Horrible Therapist.

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