[India] Please Post - Call for Chapter Proposals - Edited Volume on Roguelites

[James Cartlidge]

Call for Abstracts / Chapter Proposals

Edited Volume on Roguelites



I’m trying to put together an edited volume of essays on rogue-lite video
games – like ‘*Hades*’, ‘*Slay the Spire*’, ‘*Dead Cells*’, ‘*Binding of
Isaac*’, ‘*Spelunky*’, ‘*FTL*’ and so on. There have been some excellent
books about the nature and history of roguelikes that have appeared
recently and I think it would be great to have a collection of essays which
discusses roguelites, exploring the continued influence roguelike games
have on video game culture from a variety of perspectives.



I spoke to a publisher that is interested in the general idea of the
project but requested more specific information about the content of the
individual chapters and the book’s structure before they can evaluate the
proposal properly. So, if you have something interesting to say about
roguelites that could be a chapter in the book, I want to hear it. I invite
you all to send a title and abstract (300-500 words) on any topic
pertaining to roguelite video games to the following email address:



roguelitebook at gmail.com



Feel free to distribute this to anyone that might be interested. You can
find a tentative description of the book below, for inspiration. I look
forward to hearing your ideas!

Thanks and all the best,

James Cartlidge



‘The Rise of the Roguelite: How Roguelikes are Influencing Contemporary
Video Game Culture’

“The ‘roguelike’ genre of video games is arguably one of the most
interesting, but its status as one of the most influential is beyond doubt:
its gameplay mechanics and innovations in design have indelibly impacted
video game culture up to the present day. This is evidenced profoundly by
the recent creative boom of ‘roguelite’ titles, which creatively
appropriate and subvert various roguelike features and blend them with
other genres. This has resulted in some of the best, most critically
acclaimed, and noteworthy games of the past decade, from the
multi-award-winning ‘*Hades*’, the influential ‘*Slay the Spire*’, the
popular ‘*Dead Cells*’ and many others. Roguelites represent the most
recent chapter in the storied history of one of gaming’s most important
genres and are introducing swathes of gamers to roguelike ideas using 21st
century ideas and technology. Understanding the rise of the roguelite is
crucial to understanding current trends in gaming, but despite admirable
texts on roguelikes appearing, the research usually does not discuss the
most recent developments of the movement, often stopping at 2008’s ‘
*Spelunky*’, 2011’s ‘*Binding of Isaac*’ or 2012’s ‘*FTL: Faster Than Light*’
– often not discussing them in much detail either.

The proposed interdisciplinary volume would contribute to filling this gap,
complementing the already existing research by commenting on the
developments of the past decade. Its essays would discuss the historical
development and significance of roguelites, issues of genre and
categorization, critical perspectives, the influence of roguelikes on
roguelites, the differences between the two, and how roguelites make use of
and subvert roguelike mechanics. Essays on history, design and case studies
of significant roguelite titles would probably take up much of the book,
but essays on narrative, psychological elements and philosophical themes of
roguelites (or even how to play them) would certainly be welcomed for
consideration. Roguelikes have a complicated and controversial history, but
in the recent burst of roguelite titles, we can see how they continue to
tangibly influence contemporary video games. The proposed volume will
analyze this important wave of games and put them in historical context,
informing readers about their development out of and relation to the
roguelike genre that inspired them.”
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