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The Living Dungeon: Space, Convention, and Reinvention in Dungeon Games

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The Living Dungeon: Space, Convention, and Reinvention in Dungeon Games The Living Dungeon: Space, Convention, and Reinvention in Dungeon Games by Zachary Selman Palmer thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of #aster of rts Department of Digital Humanities %niversity of lberta & Zachary Selman Palmer, 2019 Abstract cross digital and tabletop gaming, the ‘dungeon’ has been a generic setting with enduring popularity for decades. staple of games of medieval fantasy-themed adventure, the traditional dungeon is a subterranean labyrinth full of monsters, traps, and treasures into which brave or foolish adventurers face danger for glory or gold. This thesis recogni0es ‘the dungeon’ as it relates to game production and game culture as a peculiarly rich spatial concept. Through this work, I ans-er ans-ering not just “-hat is a dungeon?6 – but, more provocatively, “-hat could be a dungeon?6 or 4-hat does a dungeon do56 Ultimately, I argue the dungeon operates much like a genre, establishing a commonly-understood range of expectations for game creators and a comfortable range of expectations for game audiences and providing opportunities for subversion. I turn to game studies, implementation of genre as more than a taxonomic label, but a communication tool that provides a range of predictable expressions and experiences for creators and audiences that also creates the possibility for subversion. I argue that the dungeon convention provides much the same advantages of a genre to game creators and game audiences. s a dungeon is a convention of space and not a cultural work in itself, my understanding of genre is supplemented by an understanding of space as actively and culturally constructed through human action. To support this argument, I engage in close readings of several dungeon games from distinct but related backgrounds. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (1998) is emblematic of the conventional dungeon game and illustrates its conventions when embedded within games that value simulation and coherence. Rogue (1980) and the many ‘roguelikes, it has inspired demonstrate the utility of the dungeon space as one that can be constructed through automatic rules rather than intentional design and also one that can simultaneously accommodate a variety of interactive and ii thematic styles. I use several more recent rogueli1es that use dungeon settings to demonstrate the dungeon’s a!finity with hybrid game designs, providing a useful point of reference for players and a point of departure for designers. My final case study, Darkest Dungeon, shows the dungeon’s potential for not just hybridi0ation but transformation through subversion of the convention. Through thematic appeals to the cultural language of horror fiction and through the establishment of game states that generate negative a!fect like tension, fear, and guilt, Darkest Dungeon reframes the dungeon from a source of fun adventure to a source of horror. iii Acknowledgements This thesis would not exist without the tangible and intangible contributions of so many. I am grateful to you all. I offer my deepest and sincerest thanks to my supervisor Maureen Engel. =our astounding and unflagging patience and support is the number one reason this thesis exists, but what you have taught me transcends this document. My writing, my scholarly reading, and my thinking have all reached a higher level thanks to you. I would also like to thank everyone at Humanities Computing/Digital Humanities: Geoffrey Roc1-ell and Sean Gouglas, who stand on my thesis committee, as well as strid Ensslin and Harvey ?uamen, excellent instructors whose lessons have all contributed to this thesis in some form. Thanks to @icola Di@icola for helping keep things organi0ed. I’m also grateful to H%CO>D$ for the chance to meet and learn alongside Jane Kuznetsova, Rob Budac, ndrea Budac, Jocelyn Beyer, Maren Eilson, Caitlyn Ensley, Sheng Zhang, Grady Zielke, John Montague, and more, all of whom helped shape my scholarship. Thanks to Fiona Nicoll, David Bryenton, and everyone at E1 for being so accommodating as I brought this thesis to a close. =ou made this far easier than you had to. Thanks also to my excellent friends Dennis Goulden, Shaun Kerr, Paige Hamilton, Lucas Smart, Eill Mitchell, Murray Cullen, sia Smart, Charlie Pearson, StGphane Drouin-Moreland, and everyone else who offered me so much encouragement even as I cancelled yet another wee1,s game night during my final push. #y parents Jan Selman and Curtis Palmer have provided me with so much over my whole life, but I would like to single out the extraordinary amount of help and comfort you gave me during my final fe- weeks of writing. It really would have been impossible without you. Finally, to my lifelong friends Ian Lauder and Jordan Thompson, if you hadn’t – independently – invited me to play D&D with you all those years ago, this thesis would not exist. lso, I would be a completely di!ferent person. Thanks for everything. iv Table of Contents Abstract.....................................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents......................................................................................................................................v List of Figures.........................................................................................................................................vii Introduction..............................................................................................................................................1 Ehat Is a Dungeon?.............................................................................................................................' Theoretical Frame-ork........................................................................................................................6 Game..............................................................................................................................................I Space..............................................................................................................................................: Genre............................................................................................................................................)' #ethodology......................................................................................................................................)J Autline of the Eork............................................................................................................................16 Chapter One: Might and Magic VI: The Orthodox Dungeon............................................................18 The Heterotopia and the Game Eorld................................................................................................20 The esthetics of MMVI....................................................................................................................'' The Narrative of MMVI......................................................................................................................K' ?uests...........................................................................................................................................KK The Mechanics of MMVI...................................................................................................................JJ Spatial Interaction........................................................................................................................44 Purpose: Challenge and Re-ard, but Mostly Re-ard.................................................................46 Separation: The Rules of Heterotopia..........................................................................................L( #echanical Conclusions..............................................................................................................L) MMVI Conclusions............................................................................................................................L' Chapter Two: Rogue and Roguelikes: The Elemental Dungeon........................................................54 Rogue and Rogueli1es Background...................................................................................................55 Classical Roguelikes..........................................................................................................................L: Classical Roguelike Mechanics....................................................................................................L* Classical Roguelike esthetics....................................................................................................HL Classical Roguelike Narrative......................................................................................................H* “Second Eave6 Dungeon Roguelikes: Hybridi0ation.......................................................................72 v Dungeons of Dredmor: The Dungeon Is Funny...........................................................................IK Cr pt of the NecroDancer: The Dungeon Is ccommodating.....................................................75 Rogue Legac : The Dungeon Is Tradition...................................................................................77 Slay the Spire: The Dungeon is Eeird.........................................................................................78
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