[India] 2nd Call for abstracts - Edited Volume on Roguelite Video Games

[James Cartlidge]

Hello,



Would you be so kind as to circulate the following call for abstracts
please? Thanks very much.



All the best,

James Cartlidge, PhD



I sent around a call for abstracts for a collection of essays on roguelites
a while back, and I'm doing a second one, so if you're interested in
contributing I'd love to hear from you. All the details you need are below:



https://roguelitebook.wordpress.com/

roguelitebook at gmail.com



*2nd Call for Abstracts - A proposal, with selected abstracts, has been
sent to a publisher and received initially positive reviews. We are now
looking to collect more contributions and improve the proposal for a second
submission.*

*Abstracts on any topic related to roguelites will be considered, however
we are especially looking now to improve the gender diversity and
international appeal of the volume, and collect submissions on topics not
yet covered. Therefore, submissions from female authors and contributions
which relate to the following topics are especially welcome:*

   - *Gender*
   - *Race*
   - *Non-Western Perspectives*
   - *The influence of Roguelikes on Roguelites*



Original text of the 1st call:

I am currently soliciting abstracts for an interdisciplinary edited volume
of essays on ‘rogue-lite’ video games – like ‘*Hades*’, ‘*Slay the Spire*’,
‘*Dead Cells*’, ‘*Binding of Isaac*’, ‘*Spelunky*’, ‘*FTL*’ and so on.
Roguelites are an important, popular new wave of games that are heavily
inspired by, but which differ in important ways from, ‘roguelike’ games.
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 intellectual perspectives.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

   - Roguelites and Game Design
   - Roguelites and Narrative
   - Worldbuilding in Roguelite Games
   - History of Roguelite Games, and their Significance
   - The Influence of Roguelikes on Roguelites
   - How Roguelites Experiment with Roguelike Gameplay Mechanics
   - Differences Between Roguelikes and Roguelites
   - Critical Perspectives: Roguelites vs. Roguelikes
   - Difficulty
   - Meta-Progression
   - Roguelite Innovations in Procedural Generation
   - Philosophical, Phenomenological or Existential Readings of Roguelites
   - Psychological Themes and Player Motivation Analysis
   - Roguelites and Learning
   - Comparative Analysis of Roguelite Games
   - Interviews with Game Developers
   - The Future of the ‘Rogue-’ Genre

If you’re interested, please send a title and abstract (300-500 words) (or
any questions you may have) 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!



*Book Description*:

‘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.”

https://roguelitebook.wordpress.com/
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