Whenever a prominent prize-giving event nears, you'll find a clamor to include fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles of one title, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition completely during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Just some logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent small games, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
