Game Design Deep Dive: Roguelikes

Book Description Game Design Deep Dive: Roguelikes examines the history and rise of the often-confusing roguelike genre. Despite being more than 30 years old, the roguelike genre remains a mystery to a lot of consumers and developers. Procedural generation, or having the game generate content, has been a cornerstone and point of complexity since its inception. The 2010s saw an explosion of new designs and examples, along with a debate about what a roguelike is. The genre found its way back to mainstream audiences with the award-winning Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Since then, roguelikes have revolutionized the way we see and design games. Author and game design critic Joshua Bycer explains the differences between the various roguelike designs and give a detailed blueprint showing what makes the best ones work.

• The first of its kind talking about the roguelike genre
• Examines the design and methodology of roguelike games and the different variations
• A high-level discussion and breakdown of procedural and random content generation

Content

1. Introduction
2. The Birth of the Rogue
3. Basic Roguelike Design
4. Off-Brand Roguelikes
5. Generating Content
6. Advanced Roguelike Design
7. The Roguelike Rises
8. AAA Roguelikes
9. The Roguelike Confusion
10. Expert Roguelike Design