Vermis I and the art-book in relation to videogames
Keywords:
book-art, videogames, games-art, paratextsAbstract
In 2022, Hollow Press published a book entitled Vermis I - Lost dungeons and forbiden woods, which, according to a text on its cover, serves as an official guide to understand and complete the video game of the same name. That is, through text and images, it describes the fictional world of Vermis I and its rules while giving advice on how to survive to complete the adventure. The highlight of this is that Vermis I is the official guide to a video game that never existed. The book was created by artist Plastiboo by replicating a number of elements that are common in video game guides to lend verisimilitude to the work. However, despite the fact that there is no real-world reference to the subject matter covered in the guide, it manages to evoke the idea that a video game called Vermis I does or did exist. That said, the purpose of this essay is to explain what resources are used in the Plastiboo guide to evoke the idea that it belongs to a video game, even though it does not exist, and how this creative exercise is inscribed within the so-called book-art.
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