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A Study on Aspect of Genre Differentiation in Digital Games - Focused on 'Roguelike' and 'Metroidvania'  

Ahn, Jin Kyoung (Department of Convergence Contents, Ewha Womans University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Society for Computer Game / v.31, no.4, 2018 , pp. 51-59 More about this Journal
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze genre differentiation in digital games and examine the changing characteristics of core genre elements. Especially this study focuses on the aspect that how players recognize genre differentiation based on the conceptual blending theory. The evolution of the genre does not end with decline or extinction. The genre keeps being divided into sub-genres through partial use of genre elements. The differentiation of the genre results from the principle of frame confrontation or expansion with a parent genre. Rogue-like games are differentiated from Role-playing games by frame conflict, while Metroidvania games are differentiated from Platform adventure games by frame expansion. In the former case, the core genre elements are independent and easily combined with other genres. For example, the core mechanism of Rogue-like genre like 'perma-death' or 'procedural generation' has a decisive effect on the differentiation of the game experience become an independent genre element. In the latter case of Metroidvania, the core genre elements strongly reveals context dependency and are difficult to use outside the genre convention. The core mechanism of Metroidvania is 'backtracking' in the labyrinth style map, but it could be effective genre element within the specific context like side-scrolling action-platformer.
Keywords
Digital Game Genres; Genre Differentiation; Roguelike; Metroidvania;
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